Greg McDermott: Greatest Creighton coach in history. Beats highest-rated team (#3) in Bluejay history. Betters win against #4 Villanova (by McDermott) and some other #4 long ago. I don’t remember and I go back to Eddie Sutton. Will consult with Brody Deren because I think he said it on the radio. Maybe McManus or Sutton before I got to Creighton.

He decommitted from Washington the day after Ronnie announces his transfer. Coincidence?

DU’s Coach Billips is his cousin I believe. Labor in obscurity in the Summit zleague but should be a star at that level.

Good luck to Ronnie but this sorta screws CU. Need to reconfigure the recruiting search?

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Front page story on Sam now up.

As I stated in another thread heard Mac did not want to go to Final Four as he didn't want every assistant in the world coming up to him. He already had some guys in mind.

Sources say top three candidates are So Dakota St asst and former Jay Ben Walker, former Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk and former UT-Arlington head coach Scott Cross.

Word also has it that the decision has been made. Could be one of these three or a surprise candidate.

If it's one of the three above my money would be on Cross. Very highly thought of. Did a great job at UTA and got a raw deal IMO.

Preseason bracket is up on the front page.

Apparently he’s the leading candidate for Louisville’s HC position.

Myron Metcalf and his tourney predictions...

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...-early-more-things-watch-2018-ncaa-tournament

Virginia will hold its first two opponents to under 80 points combined
North Carolina's top-five offense failed to reach 50 points in a Jan. 6 loss to Virginia. It's not crazy to predict UMBC and the Creighton-Kansas State winner won't collect 80 points combined against the Cavaliers, the greatest defensive collective of the advanced stats era, in the opening weekend.


http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...every-march-madness-team-2018-ncaa-tournament



22. Creighton Bluejays
The Bluejays have not resembled the offensive blitzkrieg and defensive force they'd become when 6-foot-9 sophomore Martin Krampelj (11.9 PPG, 8.1 RPG) was healthy, before he suffered a torn ACL in January. Yes, they beat Villanova in February without him. But that was an anomaly. Creighton enters the NCAA tournament with a 3-6 record in its past nine games against Division I teams. Marcus Foster (20.3 PPG, 42 percent from the 3-point line) is one of America's best guards. Khyri Thomas is a future pro. Still, they're incomplete without Krampelj and vulnerable for an early upset.

Coaching Changes
@CoachingChanges
We are hearing that DeVries is the choice at Drake!

Everyone but Butler and Creighton plays tonight, and after that the picture is going to be much more clear how the seedings are going to come down. I'm most interested to see if SJU can keep the streak alive @ Marquette. If Marquette runs the table, and all we do is beat DePaul we could legit end up with a 7 seed. Considering Marquette's other 2 games besides Creighton are At DePaul and Georgetown... I think we'd like to see St. John's keep the streak alive.

for those in the know, how much emphasis is put on strength Gains by the staff. We get to the second half of the season, and the team falls apart. We can’t count on toughness like so many other teams when it’s really needed down the stretch. It’s frustrating that over the last fifteen years (even with Dana) creighton was almost guaranteed to have more white shirts on under jerseys than the other team. It’s a silly observation, but it speaks to the lack of athleticism and power across the roster. We don’t need more three point shooters. We need more Ben walkers.

Ok since I derailed the other thread I will get into some bracketology. I have posted this kinda stuff before with no response so I thought no one was interested. But I was told to explain myself with my CU ten seed so I will.

First Stewart Mandall who is one of the top 5 bracketologist in the country over the last 2 years has CU a ten seed. (go to bracket project.com to see all this. my code is BIG) So I'm not the only crazy one. Second --this last bracket was done on Sunday night. Some things have changed since then but not much. Before I get into that -let me respond to ATTY who I have known a long time so none of this is personal. Look Jay Bilas cuts down the committee all the time. And as Ras said thats fine. But Jay tell us what you would have done? He never gets into specifics. So thats what I was doing with the "Ok you think I'm nuts tell me which 8-9 seed is worse than CU?" Well no one responded until finally mdmist did with a thought full response (thanks--except for that first sentence) Answer to him in a minute. I'm willing to go down this road but lets be fair--you can't say I'm an idiot and dont know what I'm talking about and then in the next sentence say I'm an expert to explain myself. No one's an expert and I certainly don't think I'm that much of an idiot so cant have it both ways so lets keep it in the middle.

Now to mdmist--Your response to my saying losing to Providence could--i repeat could-- put us in danger was to say that we have zero chance of not making the tournament. My opinion is fringe and the only reason you gave was to say we finished third in the conference. Well I would say this is the Nebraska argument that doesnt hold water. The committee does not look at conference record or conference standings. Each team is independant. We could finish third and if Marquette has a better resume and finish 7th they get in and we dont. Those are the facts that the committee abides to.

Now on to the teams you listed. I'll go one by one-First here is CU resume--so I dont have to repeat it-
-20-10,45 SOS, 235 non con SOS, 1 top 25 win, 3 Q 1 wins, 4 Q2 wins, one win away from home against Q
Okla-18-12, 22 SOS, 135 non con SOS, 5 top 25 wins, 6 Q1 wins, 3 Q2 wins, 3 wins away from home against Q1
Clearly better resume even with CU having a 2 game advantage--not even close actually

Florida ST-20-10, SOS 70, non con SOS311, 2 top 25 wins, 6 Q! wins, 1 Q2 wins, 3 wins away from home Q1
This one is much closer but here is where you have to boil down the number--FSU has 7 wins against the top 51--thats really the difference 3 Q! road wins, plus over all quality of wins pretty strong- again its close-has bad NC sos and has a bad loss--- other metrics are comparable--close but I give the edge to FSU--plus you have to remember CU's record has not been good since Martin has been out--an eye test would go FSU's way

Nevada-26-6--they have one top 25. 2 Q!, 5 Q2 so CU has an edge there but Nevada has played a tougher non con and SOS is closer. But the difference is playing a good schedule they have 6 more wins. thats a big gap plus they really meet the eye test--somewhat close but they get the edge with the number of wins

There were several other 8-9's that were not mentioned but Cu is clearly behind them

You mentioned St Marys--since my bracket they lost to BYU--this really helped CU--I would now put St Marys in last 4 in--that was a bad loss

You also mentioned Arizona St--CU and them are about even--but since my bracket their resume has weakened because other results have effected their sos etc. I would now put them slightly behind CU--however with a loss Thursday this could change

So I still have CU a ten but not in quite as much danger. Look--and again I didnt want to scare anyone but when you are the last 10 you are only 7 spots from being out You have to realize something--most years there is a difference between a no 1 9 seed and no 4 ten seed.This year the margin all up and down the bracket is razor thin. Because of that my CU ten seed could be someone elses CU11 seed, or 9 seed. Its that close. And if we lose Thursday we could very likely end up an 11--I think with the St Marys loss we will still get in. However we need teams like Alabama, Baylor, Syracuse, Washington, LSu, Okla ST,to lose early and not go on deep runs--and we cant have many bid stealers

Just saying we are not as safe as people think. But lets win Thursday and all this will be mute. (Sorry just had to do that)

Hoped this help explain my reasoning and give you some insight into what the committee looks at.

- Tremont Waters averaging 16 PPG, 7 APG, 3 RPG, 3 SPG
- Cane Broome averaging 12 PPG, 3.3 APG, 2.3RPG, 1.3 SPG
- Teddy Allen averaging 8 PPG, 3 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1 SPG

Jays take on Providence at about 1:30. Check out the front page for our preview and some words about another important event at MSG 47 years ago today.

A couple of questions / inquires for you.

John Bishop asked a while back if they could use our message board as part of their message board post of the day. I was reluctant at first but I'll throw it out to you guys and tell me if you will allow that to happen or not. Totally up to you guys. Just a couple of things. They usually pick one that they make fun of a little. But knowing the producer Stibbs he will request to use mine. John has a membership here so he would be the one pulling them. He would never pull any inside info. But it would be good pub for us and draw new members

Secondly BJB radio is looking for some back up to help us out on the show on occasion. Need to be available Monday nights from 6-7pm. PM me if interested. Thanks

it would be nice to beat these guys once

Wounded team?

So, Villanova was off?

And then you’re off to the best overtime ever?

We beat the #3 team in the country.

In the words of Nick Bahe “HOW ‘BOUT THAT.”

You were kind of smiling. I think?

So, we got a team? A coach? Here in Omaha? What you think, Tim?

no matter what happens sit back and watch this Nova team. They are so good

Decided to look at the numbers a bit, and I only used conference games since some non-con games don't tell much of a story.

Basically I just looked at halftime scores and final scores, so the only thing I cared about was point differential.

In 2014 Creighton outscored conference foes by 112 points in the first half and 49 points in the second half for a difference of 63 points. Not a great start.

In 2015 Creighton was outscored by conference foes by 47 points in the first half and 55 points in the second half for a difference of eight points. Meh, eight points over 18 games is practically nothing.

In 2016 Creighton outscored conference foes by 29 points in the first half and 29 points in the second half for no difference. Not much to decipher here, Creighton was just as strong in each half.

In 2017 Creighton outscored conference foes by 95 points in the first half, but were outscored by 18 points in the second half. That is an alarming 113 point difference over 18 conference games and definitely cause for concern. Is it a trend? Could this all be due to Mo? Could Big East coaches be catching on to Mac?

Either win or get blown out

-

This is a huge game for the Jays

I don't know if you guys feel the same but I'm done with cupcakes and ready for the Big East and find how good we are and how good we can be.

If you missed last nights Overtime show, Ravi, Alex and myself unveiled our Big East projections. BTW, the show was done in front of six big time refs, including the famous Gene Steratore of NFL fame, most recently of the Dallas- Oakland first down measurement controversy. BTW- the NFL today advised refs to not use index cards in that fashion again. The other refs last night offered up suggestions, one included using a DJs Dugout menu.

So here's our predictions

Tim. 1-10
Nova, X, SH, CU, Prov, Marq, STJ, But, DP, Gt.

Ravi 1-10
Nova,X, SH, CU, Prov, But,STJ,Gtn, Marq, DP

Alex 1-10
Nova,X, CU, SH,STJ, But, Marq, Prov, Gtn, DP

Tim,
Interested to hear what you think about our tournament chances right now. We are at 6-3 in the Big East, and we haven't played DePaul even once yet. If we win both games against DePaul, and vs. Town this weekend we finish (9-9). are we safe for the tournament at that point assuming our RPI stays in the 30s? Or do we need to win one or two vs Marquette, @Butler or vs Xavier to be truly locked.

It looks like the home games vs Marquette and Xavier are going to determine whether or not we finish 3rd, tied for 4th, or limp into 7th place. I know that where you finish in a conference guarantees nothing, but in the past, a .500 record in the Big East, a. 20W season and a win in the conference tournament has been enough every time. Thoughts?

I am also interested to hear how likely it is that should we make the tournament that we end up in the Midwest Region since it's in Omaha. Is it pretty random, are we more likely with a higher seed? Whats the story there?

Instead of writing a preview I'm giving you right here the two things you need to know

1- This could rank right up there with the biggest games in CU history. Top five team in the country. Sell out crowd. Saturday afternoon. Doesn't get any better

2- Holly Sonders will be the sideline reporter for Fox. Nuff said