Creighton Preview

Don't be ashamed...you might have had to look up where Creighton was. Its OK. They thought Bowling Green was in Kentucky.

What they are is a very good basketball team. An NIT #1 seed, they were very close to an at-large berth in the tournament. They were 26-7 for the season, 15-2 at home, and won the MVC regular season championship. They are only hear because they ran into a buzzsaw in the tournament and got beaten by Illinois State.

Speaking of which, they were 1-2 to Illinois State, a team that schooled us pretty good. On the other hand, that was early in the year.

The Jays are led by Booker Woodfox, who is either MVC player of the year, or a member of the House of Lords. He averaged 15.9 points per game, but if that doesn't sound like a lot, remember he played only 25 minutes per game. He also shot 49% from beyond the arc. That is 3rd in the country, and better than some of our guys shoot from six inches away from the basket.

Sorry.

Anyway, it is going to be a true test and a real victory for us if we can pull it off. Dana Altman is their coach, and, if you recall, he accepted the Arkansas job and returned to Omaha after reconsidering.

They led their conference in scoring and points allowed. They were the third best shooting team in the conference and also allowed third on FG% defense. They force turnovers on about 24% of their opponent's possessions.

As mentioned, Creighton plays with lots of depth. They are just a few seconds from having 11 players averaging 10 minutes a game. They have two players who are 6'9", but they aren't a huge team.

To beat Creighton, BG is going to have to play a very complete game. We are a very good road team, and I hope we're not going to be intimidated in their gym. We are going to have to defend like crazy, make our shots, protect the boards and not turn the ball over.

This is March Madness...the time of upsets. It will certainly be one if we win, but why not? We just need to play our complete game on both ends of the floor. One thing I am certain of...we won't win without our best effort.