Add Florida A M to Schedule

According to Jeff Goodman’s blog, on the rundown of the MEAC conference teams, it is mentioned that Florida A&M will have a game against the Bluejays this seasion.    Florida A&M was ranked 321 out of the 347 teams in Division I last season and had a 10-21 record.  The Rattlers are filled with young players as only 2 starters return, but also had one of their veteran players,  senior Josh Davis, transfer out of the program.

As the budget crunch has hit Florida A&M, here is more from Mr. Goodman:

For the next 10 days, Eugene Harris is a one-man show.

While many high-major staffs whine to me that they need and want the NCAA to allow a fourth staff member to take the road during the July recruiting period, the Florida A&M head coach will be out for the entire 10 days all by his lonesome.

“It’s pretty difficult,” Harris said. “Especially when you’ve got to cover four courts in one game. I try to watch a volume of players in the summer, but there’s no way one person can get the job done correctly.”

Harris doesn’t have a secretary and hasn’t been allowed to replace assistant Johnny Jones – who retired this past January – due to the economy. His one assistant, Reggie Sharp, is expecting his first child any day.

“I didn’t want him to come out on the road, with this being his first child,” Harris said. “I’m a family man and sometimes we get caught up in this business. I believe the first four weeks is the most important time of a child’s life and he can help his wife, too.”

Harris, who said he had 10 buy games and pulled in an excess of $600,000 last year for the school, feels good about this year’s team. Entering his third season at the helm, he’ll have a roster filled with players he recruited.

“A year ago, we had a 5-foot-10 small forward,” he said. “Now we’ll have three guys at that spot who are all 6-foot-6.”

So there you go, here is one of those guarantee games for the Jays for the coming season.

Around the Rim–6/17/09

There have been a lot of speculation by many sites this week on the different teams in the Valley.  Take a look at all the opinions.

• A Bradley fan that writes for the Examiner is having his own Fantasy draft of MVC players.  He took P’Allen Stinnett #1.  He evaluated the Valley coaches and gave Dana Altman the only A grade with Jim Les on the same level as Gregg Marshall.  He also conducted a survey on Valley favorites.  Now after reading all of this, I am getting the feeling he might be a Creighton fan hiding behind that Bradley cap.
• A new Southern Illinois fan website is around now and they took the Valley coach evaluation and took it a step farther by including the whole coaching staffs.  Dana Altman and his staff come out on top there while their own Chris Lowery and his staff come in at 6th.  They are about to put up a post on ranking the Valley basketball facilities/arenas.
• Creighton and Nebraska may be looking at Elliott Eliason from Chadron, but Tubby Smith and Minnesota are trying to lure him to the Gophers as well.
• Looks like Kenton Walker is headed to St. Mary’s.
• 3 new rule changes for next season.  It will be interesting to see how this affects all the charges Creighton players take.
• Will Kyle Korver’s record go down?  Well, kickball record that is.
• We all may know that Omaha is submitting a proposal to again host the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA Tournament for one of the seasons in 2011, 2012, or 2013 well Wichita is now throwing their hat into the ring.

Creighton-Kentucky Ticket Update

For those who have not gotten their tickets yet for what will probably be a sold out Qwest Center, here is some updated information.

• If you want to buy non-season ticket holder tickets in the upper bowl, you can purchase them from Ticketmaster.com or any other Ticketmaster outlet.  There were originally 1400 tickets of these type available.  As of yesterday, I had heard there were only about 500 of those left.
• If you are a season ticket holder, you can still purchase your same seat tickets on Friday until 5:30 PM. and from Noon-3PM Saturday at the Qwest Center Box Office only.
• If the season ticket holder tickets are not purchased–The remaining lower bowl tickets will go on sale to the general public starting at approximately 5PM on Saturday.  However, for the rest of Saturday, you will only be able to purchase the tickets  at Ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets (Baker’s, Younkers, etc.)  You cannot purchase these tickets at the Qwest Center Box office until Sunday starting at 11AM until 4PM or Monday starting at 10AM until game time.

So your best bet if you want lower bowl tickets and not a season ticket holder who already has tickets,  is to get online Saturday evening and to purchase them or head out to another Ticketmaster outlet right away. after 5PM.    You may be out of luck come Sunday if you want to purchase at the Qwest Center Box Office.

I know Kentucky fans travel well, so it is up to Creighton fans to take the initiative to purchase the tickets and pack the Qwest Center.

Southern Illinois White-Out

Today, the Creighton Athletic office started advertising that January 14th’s game against Southern Illinois will be a White-Out for the regional television audience on Fox Sports Net.  The White-Out has been done in the past, but this year fans are being offered free White-Out t-shirts:

WHITE OUT FOR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS ON WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14

CU Athletics is requesting all fans wear a white shirt on Wednesday, Jan. 14 when the Bluejays host the Southern Illinois Salukis to create a “white-out” effect for the regional television audience. The game, which will tip-off at 7:05 p.m., and be played on First National Bank Court at Qwest Center Omaha, will be televised live regionally as the Missouri Valley Conference “Game of the Week” on Fox Sports Net Midwest. Fans can pick up free “White Out” T-shirts starting on Thursday, Jan. 1 by showing their game ticket at the Horseshoe Casino’s Total Rewards Center. While there, fans can also register for a chance to win a trip to St. Louis for the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship to be held Thursday-Sunday, March 5-8 at Scottrade Center. The prize includes game tickets, hotel accommodations
and round-trip airfare.

So now people do not have an excuse to not wear white to the White-Out….of course unless you leave your shirt at home when you go to the game :)  You can get your shirt as early as New Year’s Day!

Don’t be confused either…this is for the January 14th game against SIU, not the next home game against Northern Iowa on the 6th.

Gametime Primer: Jays vs. New Mexico

VS 

Sunday, November 16th, 2PM
Qwest Center Omaha

Radio: Big Sports 590 AM or Bigsports590.com
TV: None, Video Streaming Available

Creighton Game Notes | New Mexico Game Notes

Audio to Listen to:
Big Sports 590 Interview with P’Allen Stinnett
Big Sports 590 Interview with a writer from Albuquerque Journal
Big Sports 590 Interview with Steve Alford
1620 the Zone Interview with Steve Alford

Since the season ending blowout at Florida last season in the NIT, I’m sure the fans and the Creighton Basketball team started counting down the days until the start of a new season.  For the second straight season, the Jays will start the season a home against a tougher opponent than most teams that play cupcakes.   No San Diego, No Alcorn St.,  No Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  Creighton gets New Mexico.  Here is what you need to know:

• Coach Steve Alford made some controversy this summer when a congressional candidate was advertising a fund raising event that said people could meet Alford and have their picture taken for $1000.
• For the Lobos preseason, they scrimmaged Arizona St. and played their lone exhibition against Western New Mexico, a D2 school that plays in the same conference as the University of Nebraska-Kearney.  Western was picked to finish 5th in the RMAC this season.
• New Mexico returns 4 of 5 starters and all-conference guard Tony Danridge that was out all of last season with a broken leg.  They also return the school’s all-time leader in 3 pt. percentage in Chad Toppert.
• New Mexico gets a slight advantage due to a game with Southeast Missouri St. (who keeps getting news for the wrong reasons) on Friday night.
• The Lobos can promote having the first woman player to score in a Division I-A football game.
• New Mexico is 2-0 against the Jays in the school’s meetings.

This game has been hyped for weeks and months due to the fact that it is the first regular season game on the schedule.  There are a lot of unknowns with the Jays and how they will come out of the gates to start the season.  What we do know is that the Jays and Lobos have a good amount of experience coming back and both teams were right on the edge last season of making the NCAA Tournament.  Scheduling this game is a way to build the schedule which has led to the formation of the Mountain West Conference-Missouri Valley Conference challenge that will start next season.

The other thing you may or may not know is that Coach Altman and Coach Alford have had some great matchups over the years.  In Alford’s time at the school formerly known as Southwest Missouri St., he was 6-5 and a career 7-6 against the Jays going 1-1 while at Iowa.  However, he was 1-4 in Omaha and the last time the two coaches met was in the NCAA Tourmament in 2001 where Iowa came away the winner.  New Mexico last visited Omaha in 1966 when they were #6 in the nation.

So with the history of the coaches, it could be considered a bit of a personal rivalry between them which may overshadow the game itself.  Hopefully the Jays have the jitters out of their system because they will need to be ready to play on Sunday afternoon.   They seemed a little nervous with all the turnovers and streaky shooting.  However, I think they had a lot of things to watch this week to make them a better team and they will be ready to go in this one.

It will come down to the inside game for both teams.  If Kenny Lawson and Kenton Walker play like they did on Sunday with their inspired play, this will be the difference in the game.  It will be interesting to see if Booker Woodfox will start like he did in the exhibition game or if he will be a spark off the bench.  Will Cavel Witter get a lot of time at the SG to give freshman Antione Young some early big game experience?  Last season Chad Millard made an impact in the first game of the season playing the point on the press and getting some big steals against Depaul.  That ended up being one of his better games of the year.  Will he be able to have another big game to kick off the season and give him the confidence he needs?  Will Caseb Korriman (Casey Harriman and Kaleb Korver) make an impact rebounding and shooting the 3?    Will we remember that Josh Dotzler has a solid game despite not scoring points but instead controlling and dishing the rock?    So many questions…but yet so many things to get excited about to kick off the season.

I’m kind of tired of writing and hyping this game and just want to see the season start.  The crowd will be in full force come Sunday.  I heard that there is a large contingent of Iowa fans buying tickets and coming to Omaha to welcome back Mr. Alford to the midlands.  With it being the first game, at home, most likely a large crowd excited to see the Jays kick off the season and the Qwest Center full of energy, I see the Jays winning a battle.

Prediction:  Creighton 80, New Mexico 72

Home Games–Pack the Qwest, Make Some Noise

Dear Creighton Fans–Rabid or Casual,

The Jays open the regular season this Sunday a 2:05 at the Qwest Center against New Mexico.  This past Sunday the Jays played their only Exhibition game to a reported crowed of over 15,000.  However many on the message boards have said that there were more like 11000-13000 if that.   Empty seats are not a good thing and the team and coaches notice this.  Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski chastised the Duke fans the other night for not filling up the student section:

“We played well, but there was something a little bit missing,” Krzyzewski said. “The same thing with the crowd. We should remind all our Duke fans that we start our season on Monday and every game counts, and if you’re not going to come, let us know and we’ll sell the seats.”

Anyway, as the season starts it is our jobs as fans to fill the arena and make some noise.  Since there are people who always hope that the crowd is pumped up and that there is a large crowd, here is a beginning of the season plea to fans and casual fans to make the Qwest Center one of the toughest places to play and to help make this a special season for the Jays basketball team:

1. First of all to all season ticket holders–BASKETBALL SEASON HAS STARTED!! Game dates and times are known well in advance.  There are upwards to almost 15,000 season tickets out there and obviously they are not all being used.  Now is the time to get in the know with your friends and the places you work with to get tickets.  For example, today is Monday and the Jays play New Mexico on Sunday.  If you work for a business that has season tickets, take the time to find out if they will be using the tickets or if they can give them away to you the fan that will use the tickets.   They should know before Sunday morning if the tickets will be used.  Honestly enough fans come so there should not be an empty seat in the lower bowl.
2. If you are a season ticket holder and you will not be using your tickets for the games, find someone that will. There are people all the time that would love to sit in the lower bowl or at least get a ticket to the game.    Also, I think you also have the opportunity to turn your tickets into the box office or CU Athletics so they can be available for others to purchase if you can’t find someone to take your tickets.
3. If you are going to the game get there early and take your seat so that you can take part in the pre-game festivities and the “tunnel walk” for the Jays.  Nothing brings a team down more than seeing that the stands are not full until 5-8 minutes into the game.  The start of the game should be one of the better parts and will sort of define how the team will play.  Yes, Husker football fan is given a hard time from the Creighton fans, but at least they are getting in their seats early to cheer on the team and get them pumped up.
4. If you are going to the game, why leave at the 4 minute mark or earlier?  I mean really, is it that hard to commit a couple hours of your life to the game that leaving about 15 minutes earlier is really going to “beat” traffic.   Especially if the game is under 10 points.   If you are so concerned about the traffic in this metro area when really you can get from end to end in around 20 minutes, then please don’t leave the city of Omaha.   You will be shocked.  And why waste your time coming to the game anyway when you were also one of those that got into their seats at the 15 minute mark of the first half anyway.  I can think of about a dozen places where you can go have a couple beers a lot cheaper, have conversations with the buds, and not have to pay for parking.  Dustin Sitzmann and the other walk-ons work their tail off during the season that if they get into the game, it is a big deal.  With only a few people there to bask in their excitement is kind of disheartening.  Stay for the whole game.
   
5. Don’t be afraid to stand up out of your seat and cheer the Jays on.  One of the best times to do this is when it is a really close game with under 5 minutes to go.  Oh, the atmosphere that could be created.  Also, it is perfectly OK to start chants and clap your hands to cheer the team on.

These are just a few things that will help make this season special.  NEW MEXICO is a BIG game just as each game is a big game.   Also this game is Sunday afternoon.  This is not a weeknight game and the kids won’t have to be in bed before 5PM, so no one really has excuses this week.  If the fan base is there to buy the number of season tickets that are being sold, then they should be able to be used and come to the game.  We hope to see you all at the Creighton home games this season

Sincerely,

Other Rabid Creighton Fans

An Exhibition? More Like a Reality Check

Usually when you think about somebody calling something an “exhibition” you sort of think of the term as “to show publicly especially for purposes of competition or demonstration.”  Some people see it more as the demonstration part instead of the competition.  Today’s “exhibition” game against Central Missouri turned out to not be a demonstration but instead a competition.

I wasn’t going to post something until I actually saw the game.  However, with the complaints people had of even watching the live video stream today, I’ll just go with what I heard. I’m driving down the highway today in western Nebraska and yes you can hear Big Sports 590 in Atchinson, NE.  I was hoping to watch the game this evening, but it isn’t avaialble yet and the On Demand archives are only as recent as early October, so I bet it won’t be on there for quite a while.

Anyway, the story of the game for me is that you play like you practice and if today’s indication is any sign, then the Jays have a little work to do before next Sunday’s opening game against New Mexico.  Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.  The Jays had way too many which resulted in 24 points for the Central Missouri Mules.  Offensive rebounds were another as there were 14 second chance points.  And finally, too many open 3’s for the mules that if they were not 2-22, then the Jays could have suffered a loss.  They did just enough in the first 5-8 minutes of the game to hold on to win 78-65.

Creighton was out of the gates in a hurry and got that 12-15 point lead right away and sort of just tried to keep Central Missouri from getting too close.  Maybe it was nerves maybe it was excitement.  I know I would have a little of both.  I understand how that closed door scrimmage probably really helped the team, but having an extra game in front of a crowd would probably help tame the nerves.

Here’s the good–We found out today that Kenny Lawson has some backup in Kenton Walker.  It sounds like from the time Kenton got into the game until the final whistle, he was making plays getting rebounds, blocking shots, taking charges.  To me he was the story of the game finishing with 14 points and 8 rebounds.  Yes Kenny started the game and led the team with 16 points, but Kenton sounded like he was out there with a purpose.  He was probably motivated by the fact that the first guy to come in and play behind Kenny at the 5 position was Chad Millard.  However Chad seemed to get lost in the shuffle after the explosion by Kenton and Chad only ended up playing 8 minutes.   We’ll have to see.

Another interesting story in the game was that Josh Dotzler and Cavel Witter were on the floor at the same time a few times during the game.  Cavel moved over to the 2-guard and that gives the Jays an opportunity for a few things.  #1–Two great ball handlers to get the team moving and down the court and #2–The opportunity to get Antoine Young on the floor.  Listing to T. Scott and Nick Bahe, it sounded like Antoine has quite the speed and intensity that will bring another dimension to the team.  But the other side of the coin is that with Witter playing some SG, I almost think barring injury, that Josh Jones might be looking at a redshirt.  It just creates a log jam I think for the 2-guard spot–Witter, Booker Woodfox, and P’Allen Stinnett are already competing for time there.  The other downside is that I hope it doesn’t keep Cavel from making “simple plays” and keeping from making turnovers as he led the team with 4 today.  Josh D. had a solid day at the point just leading the team and doing the little things.

Speaking of P’Allen, he seemed quiet on the radio broadcast, but he had a solid day.  Only one turnover with all the times he had the ball and looking for teammates with four assists is a nice deal.  Booker Woodfox was also the solid instant offense and at the same time a quiet contribution for him as well and showed the moved back 3-point line didn’t bother him any as he hit 2 of the 3 three pointers for the Jays today.

Casey Harriman got the start today and took a few great charges.  Kaleb Korver got a few great offensive rebounds.  Between him and Kaleb Korver, those two guys both played the gritty minutes and showed that they can do more than just shoot.  If anyone remembers the Jeffony Tolliday (combo minutes of Jeff Day and Anthony Tolliver) a couple seasons back, maybe we have a Caseb Koriman player this season :)

I haven’t even mentioned Justin Carter today, but I think I will give him a pass as it sounded like he struggled a little bit with his shooting from the field, free throws and holding onto the basketball.  However, he did have the good in getting 7 rebounds.  He has been given a lot of buildup to the season (myself included) and yet we have to remember that he is still adjusting to a new program and a new environment.  I think we will see a different player next Sunday.

All in all, I think today’s game is a good reality check for the Jays to make sure they don’t fall into the trap of the hype that the Jays team two seasons ago fell into.  There was talk of a tougher press.  However, they can’t in turn give those turnovers back.  They are definitely not unbeatable, but the talent is there to take them far.

Other Notes–The Omaha World Herald had their College Basketball Preview in today’s paper (only the print edition).  A nice preview of both the Valley and the Big 12 (However, I thought having Nebraska picked to finish 7th in the Big 12 this season in my Rush the Court preview was optimistic, but the OWH have the Huskers picked to finish 6th. ) In the preview there are also some words from Tom Shatel.

Iowa St. beat UNO by 20 points in their Exhibition game today.

It is nice to see Anthony Tolliver make his debut with the Spurs this past week and he made a nice contribution.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Scrimmages and Exhibitions

Sounds like everyone had a good time in Ames from what I and read from the Des Moines Register and read from the GoCyclones site.   even though there was not supposed to be anything written about it since the NCAA wants everything so secretive. Shh…Wichita St. and Kansas St. had a scrimmage this past weekend also, but don’t tell anyone.  Illinois St. is so secretive, we don’t know who they scrimmaged with.

But for the stuff we can talk about, the other Valley teams started their Exhibition season for the public last weekend:

Drake beat Truman State 77-61 with the Box Score

Evansville took 2 overtimes to barely beat Div II U of Southern Indiana 71-67 with the Box Score

Then last night a few other Valley teams got started:

Bradley defeated Lewis College 74-61 with Box Score

Missouri St tops Quincy Univeristy 79-44 with Box Score

SIU rolls over Missouri Southern 82-59 with Box Score

Indiana St. will start their Exhibition season on Saturday against Albion college in Michigan while Northern Iowa starts their Exhibition season tonight against University of Dubuque.

These exhibitions are fun to watch, but they probably won’t look like a normal game since the coaches are usually tinkering with lineups and looking for things that we as fans probably don’t notice.  So really, I don’t think how these games turn our really tells us what these teams are going to be like, but it at least lets some people take a look to see what is coming down the line and an introduction to the potential of teams.

However, the exhibition season could become a thing of the past.  The coaches talk about how they enjoy the closed scrimmages so much more and get so much out of it.  Just on the Jays opponents this year, there are several who opted for a closed scrimmage instead of 2 exhibition games:

• New Mexico scrimmaged Arizona St.
• Arkansas-Little Rock scrimmaged Tennessee tech (at a neutral site nonetheless)
• St. Louis scrimmaged Memphis
• Depaul scrimmaged at Iowa
• Marquette scrimmaged Nebraska
• Arkansas-Pine Bluff scrimmaged somebody.
• St. Joseph isn’t playing any exhibition games

Unfortunately for the fans, if coaches continue to enjoy the closed scrimmages so much because of the level of competition lets them see things a little more, then it is more likely that there will be no exhibition games down the line.  On the other hand, if the NCAA is so concerned about putting an end to early Midnight Madness, then they should be just as concerned with these scrimmages as these are potential matchups that could be real during the season.  Why can’t these teams play an actual regular season game?   But really, if you want to have these “closed door scrimmages” allow them to be public, put people in the stands.  If you want to call them exhibition games then call them exhibition games.  I feel like the fan is getting taken farther and farther out of  basketball by the NCAA. Stop trying to take the fans out of College Basketballand just let teams play and let the fans enjoy it.  The fans need an exhibition season too.

Around the Rim — 8/19/08

Man, I enjoy and wish it were summer all year round, but things are slow around here and I am already ready for some college basketball. (Though football is great too.) Just a few things going around

• As many of you may know by now, Justin Carter’s summer league team lost in the semi-finals of the Say No Classic summer league tournament with a close three point loss in overtime. However, Justin led the way again with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
• Coach Altman was playing some golf again this week in a celebrity golf tournament to help raise money for the College Basketball Experience. located at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. It is a college basketball museum, but more of an interactive look at the history of basketball.
• You can tell that basketball is getting a little bit closer as some sites start to put up some previews. ESPN did their Shootaround series on the Valley last week where they look at Creighton to be tougher than last year since they return 72% of the scoring and 66% of the rebounding. Some props to P’Allen, Booker and Cavel. ESPN questions replacing Dane Watt’s rebounding, but with improvements in Kenny Lawson’s and Kenton Walker’s (getting an overseas experience with Dane Watts earlier this summer) games and the addition of Justin Carter I think that can be replaced.
• Along the same lines, CollegeHoopsNet has their Rise and Fall series where they evaluate the different conferences progression and regression. They gave the Valley a “Status Quo” ranking between this past season and the season before because of the only NCAA bid going to Drake. I suppose that is fair especially since the rest of the Valley teams didn’t perform when they needed to against the “BCS” competition last year compared to the year before.
• Then there is a little more feel for the season upcoming as some of the Valley schools have officially released their non-conference schedules. Missouri State (@Auburn, Arkansas), Evansville (@Butler, @North Carolina) and Bradley (Florida or Syracuse at CBE Classic, @Michigan St., Butler) have released their schedules. The rest of the Valley schools might be waiting for the conference schedule to be finalized so they can release the full schedule at once. It sounds like a few Valley schools have to wait for their home venues where facilities are shared to finish scheduling to see what is open for playing games, so that is what is taking the conference so long to get the schedule finalized. It has been mentioned on here before a sampling of what the other Valley teams have on their non-conference schedule. I have tried to keep a tally of the Jays schedule so far, and with several teams releasing their schedules lately, I would have hoped to see one that had the Jays on the schedule that we didn’t know about, but no such luck so far. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Scheduling–some answers

After the full release of the field for the Las Vegas Classic that the Jays were playing in, many fans have felt this is a missed opportunity for the program to play some higher “name” teams. The debate on the BluejayCafe has been raging for weeks over not only this field, but Creighton scheduling in general. Some people think that it is just magic that Creighton can request what ever game they want and get it scheduled. Some think it is a conspiracy by bigger name schools to not even want to play the Bluejays. Others think coach Altman or AD Rasmussen aren’t working hard to try and get these games. Well, it seems like it is quite the combination of things going on. Let me explain.

A couple weeks ago, I launched conversations with 11 (12 if you count the Missouri thing) different schools and the people that schedule for those teams to see if Creighton has been approached, if they have ever approached Creighton to play a game or what is keeping them from playing Creighton. I also kept it to Home-Home series to rule out the 2 for 1 or 1 and done things. These were “Bigger Name” schools that were still advertising for games to fill on their schedule on Basketball Travelers as recent as this week. I contacted:

• Duke
• Alabama
• Marquette
• Oregon
• Maryland
• Memphis
• Georgetown
• Wisconsin
• Gonzaga
• Kansas
• Purdue

At this point, I have had responses to my inquiries from Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Kansas, Maryland, Memphis, Marquette, Alabama and Purdue. Basically what these teams do for their schedule is based on these main factors:

• TV
• Recruiting
• Alumni Reasons
• Never been approached

With Wisconsin and Kansas coming into the Qwest Center this past season as part of the NCAA Tournament, they know what our facility was like and know the environment that the Qwest Center creates. They both loved the facility and the hospitality they received, but when it comes to actually playing a home and home series against Creighton, Mr. Larry Keating from Kansas told me “We have basically only played home and home series against teams that are selected for network television and in as many cases as possible that get us into areas that we would like to play for recruiting and/or alumni purposes. (California, New York, Atlanta, etc.)” So I guess the state of Nebraska isn’t the happening place for KU recruiting :) But I appreciate his honesty. Mr. Greg Gard from Wisconsin also expressed the great time they had in Omaha at the Qwest Center and he basically said the same thing– “At this time we have our home/home series games already contracted and that is usually done years in advance for TV purposes.”

Okay, so lets take a former Valley coach, Matt Painter, at Purdue and check with the Supervisor of Basketball Operations, Mr. Elliott Bloom, to see if they would give back to the Valley. No such luck. Since they play in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Wooden Tradition, and the Preseason NIT this season against possibly Boston College, Arizona or Oklahoma before the Big 10 season, that they have to be careful of over scheduling. “If Creighton or a very good quality team like Creighton is ever to make it’s way onto our schedule, we would have to be very careful about over scheduling.” So, at least the respect is there, but again, don’t have a reason to schedule the Jays.

One positive response came from Gonzaga. Mr. Jerry Krause, Directory of Basketball Relations, who is a Nebraska native said that he was interested in a series between the Zags and the Jays. “Creighton has approached and is open to play. We have not been able to get together yet, but am hopeful for the future.” So are the chances good for 09-10? I guess we will have to see.

Memphis scheduler, John Robic says that they are limited on their road games because of their contract with their facility and how they have to have so many games at home. Therefore they only play a few games away each year.

Mr. Jeff Dunlap from Alabama said that a lot of their home-home series are mapped out years in advance, so that is a factor about setting up a home-home. Also Creighton has never contacted them about playing. He goes on to say “I’m quite certain Creighton would not want to come here for a guarantee, so that limits our options.”

Then you have some some teams who won’t go on the road. Of course, I had to include the University of Maryland and our favorite coach Gary Williams. His cohort, Mr. Robert Ehsan said that Maryland schedules only one home-home per season. One freakin’ home and home. You have to be kidding me. He said that “Creighton has never contacted me nor have I ever contacted them personally.” Really. . well it looks like Coach Williams wasn’t the right person to contact, it should be Mr. Ehsan.

So the big thing seems to be that if you can get TV to buy into a matchup, it is more likely to happen. If you live in an area that is a recruiting hotbed, then you are also more appealing. Or, if you schedule like Maryland and Syracuse and never leave your state, then I guess that is okay. It is just funny that over the past few years, teams like Maryland and Syracuse complain that they don’t make the NCAA Tournament or that they are on the bubble while trying to convince everyone that they have such a tough conference season. I don’t feel sorry for Maryland at all especially since I read today that the ACC is sort of not showing that great of basketball prowess since they probably won’t have a player drafted in the NBA draft in the first round this season.

Let me leave you with one last thing. I have contacted Duke multiple times without any response. Apparently they don’t want to talk about their scheduling techniques. Accounting in the factors listed above, TV seems to be a big thing. Just updated yesterday, Duke is still looking for a game to fill that they have had listed on Basketball Travelers since April:

Duke University-Mens
Type: Game
Dates: 11/24/2008 to 11/25/2008

Duke University is seeking an opponent for a game on either November 24 or November 25, 2008. We would be interested in a flexible scheduling arrangement and pay a highly competitive guarantee. We have the potential for extensive television coverage as well. Please contact Associate AD Mike Cragg at 919 613-7501 or mcragg@duke.edu.
Contact: Mike Cragg, 919 613-7501
mcragg@duke.edu
Date Posted: 04/28/2008
Last Updated: 06/17/2008

Obviously, they are not getting that team they are looking for that is a “guaranteed win” and at the same time it seems as though there are not that many programs ready to jump in the pond and play Duke on National TV. I’ll mark my calendar for November 24th or 25th and see who they are playing. It should be worth it for sitting on this game for 2 months.

I hope this answers some people’s questions on scheduling a “Big Game” and what the reasonings are. I appreciate the honesty of the people I talked to and hopefully that will garner some respect in the long run if the Jays ever are able to schedule games against these teams. I’ll try to put something up on Marquette soon. I have a call to make to them. Georgetown and Oregon, I’m disappointed.