Illinois State @ Creighton Saturday 9pm

[rlh04d]

Deanthony, kind of disagree with you to an extent. "i still think this years team has the ability to beat the best teams if we are shooting it well" that was last years team too. If we hit threes, we could have beaten most,if not all teams in the country. This year's team can do that too. Ok, maybe we could not have beaten UNC last year. This year's team couldn't either tho, and i don't think there is a team even as good as UNC was last year anyways.

The major disappointment is the complete lack of improvement. This years team can still win if it shoots well, but has zero chance to win if it doesn't. You would think a year of coaching and improvement would provide a team with a plan B. Currently, we have none. Terribly disappointing, and i put it on the coaching staff.

I disagree. It doesn't matter how well you're shooting it when you're abysmal defensively. Creighton last year was not such an offensive powerhouse that they could make up for their defense.

Creighton's defense is far better this year, in addition to their offense, and have a much better shot at NCAA tourney success than last year.

[rlh04d]

Not to stir the pot or anything, but your Shockers haven't exactly been lighting up the landscape lately either... It's a long season and almost every team goes through a mid-season swoon. We will see where the dust settles after March 10th, but I have confidence that the Jays will have most likely put these L's behind them.

I feel like I remember Jays fans doing the same thing to WSU fans after the three game losing streak.

In fact going so far as to bump numerous pro-WSU threads from earlier in the season.

Eat your crow >=)

[Deanthonybowdenfan]

This is a better team than last years Creighton team. We do miss Josh, and Antoine to a degree but we are better defensively and just as good offensively. I think If Nevin can keep improving and get comfortable out their we will be fine. I agree that the coaching staff hasnt done a very good job this year. I think we have a good staff though and they will figure it out, and i think they are starting to. Where they messed up is in not playing our bench more to help them improve as the season goes on. Andre and Nevin and Will Artino should have been getting more minutes earlier in the year to help them improve. Basketball is so much about energy, that u need to be playing more than 7 guys if u want the guys to be playing with high intensity the whole time they are out there. Even if Nevin or Andre or any of the bench isnt as good as the starters, a fresh slightly worse player is better than a tired slightly better player, especially defensively. And also it then allows the starters to be fresh when they are in there. We also desperately need someone that can drive to the lane-Nevin is exactly what we need if we can just get him going. Doug looks tired on defense- play Will more and Doug will be better when he is in there. Will is a good offensive player, hes no worse than Doug on D, and hes a better rebounder. We should always be fresh at the 4 and 5 position with 4 solid players at those two spots. Other than that its really pretty simple to figure out what we need to do offensively. When we play offense looking for a three first and then maybe going inside if a 3 isnt there we are bad. When we always look inside first and then only kick it out for a 3 if we are doubled inside then we are hard to stop.

A lot of it is mistakes individual players are making that can be fixed.
Doug- needs to get back on the block more and also, when hes double teamed he needs to make a good pass instead of forcing things.
Manigat- shoots way too many tough 3s, hes good when he can catch and shoot and is open, but hes not good at hitting a tough contested 3.
Greg- get him more touches offensively, and defensively instead of swatting the ball into the crowd catch the damn ball or tip it somewhere in bounds. He blocks so many shots but it never helps us cause they always get the ball right back.
Wragge- Hes just a shooter , thats all hes good at and hes been ice cold for the past month, either get his shot join or if he cant then play Will. Will is a solid player that could really help us and hes not getting but 7 minutes a game if that.
Austin and Gibbs have been playing pretty good, you cant ask much more from Gibbs, and Chatman has been good except the one thing he could do more of is driving into the lane and you have greg and doug to dish too , or if they cover both of them then the hoop should be open for a layup.

Theres no reason this team shouldnt be scoring 75 a game even against a good defense. We need to start doing what we are capable of or else we might not make the Dance. Theres no need to panic , but there is a need to dig in and ask ourselves how bad we want it.

[jwa123]

All of this talk from the Creighton fans about how their team lost because they didn't do this or they didn't do that. There was another team on the floor last night that happened to play a good game. Do you suppose they might have had something to do with it? Is it too hard to acknowledge that?

When Creighton came to Normal and won, they did so because they played a better game. I said it then and I still say it. Perhaps the outcome in last nights game is because the team in red played a better game.

[uniftw]

All of this talk from the Creighton fans about how their team lost because they didn't do this or they didn't do that. There was another team on the floor last night that happened to play a good game. Do you suppose they might have had something to do with it? Is it too hard to acknowledge that?

When Creighton came to Normal and won, they did so because they played a better game. I said it then and I still say it. Perhaps the outcome in last nights game is because the team in red played a better game.

Agreed...ISU won that won, not the other way around

[WestOmahaBluejay]

Not to stir the pot or anything, but your Shockers haven't exactly been lighting up the landscape lately either... It's a long season and almost every team goes through a mid-season swoon. We will see where the dust settles after March 10th, but I have confidence that the Jays will have most likely put these L's behind them.

I feel like I remember Jays fans doing the same thing to WSU fans after the three game losing streak.

In fact going so far as to bump numerous pro-WSU threads from earlier in the season.

Eat your crow >=)

I never predicted the Jays to go undefeated in MVC play, win the conference outright, or get to Elite 8 or Sweet 16 for that matter in the first place, FYI. Every team has it ups and downs (see Kansas for example), and teams like Illinois State\Drake\etc are going to bring their A game anytime they play one of the current "top" teams in the conference, and last night proved that. I wasn't one of those Jays fans that was talking smack about WSU's losing streak - or anything like that - I know better than that, especially after the Jays' three game losing skid last year.

The top teams in this conference have to bring their best game every night, or they are going to get beat no matter who the opponent is. While I hate to see the Jays lose - I have to say a three way tie in the MVC 13 games in, is setting up for one hell of a finish. The only thing I want to see (outside of CU winning the Valley Regular Season and Tournament of course), is the Valley getting at least 3 teams into the Big Dance and getting as high seeds as possible.

[WestOmahaBluejay]

All of this talk from the Creighton fans about how their team lost because they didn't do this or they didn't do that. There was another team on the floor last night that happened to play a good game. Do you suppose they might have had something to do with it? Is it too hard to acknowledge that?

When Creighton came to Normal and won, they did so because they played a better game. I said it then and I still say it. Perhaps the outcome in last nights game is because the team in red played a better game.

Agreed...ISU won that won, not the other way around

Can't deny that - the Redbirds played a great game and the Jays didn't... that's a recipe for a loss... all the credit goes to the Birds.

[bluejays89]

All of this talk from the Creighton fans about how their team lost because they didn't do this or they didn't do that. There was another team on the floor last night that happened to play a good game. Do you suppose they might have had something to do with it? Is it too hard to acknowledge that?

When Creighton came to Normal and won, they did so because they played a better game. I said it then and I still say it. Perhaps the outcome in last nights game is because the team in red played a better game.

Agreed...ISU won that won, not the other way around

Can't deny that - the Redbirds played a great game and the Jays didn't... that's a recipe for a loss... all the credit goes to the Birds.

Good game Redbirds!

[cu8493]

You are what your record says you are. Right now, this team is no better than so many other teams that look great on paper but can't back it up on the floor. They are no longer anywhere near a lock for an at-large, and unless they figure some things out real quick will limp into the MVC on the back side ofthe bubble as a three or four seed. I'd like to think they will get off the mat and come roaring back. I'm no longer sure they are tough enough to do that. At least they have probably played themselves into a 10-12 seed range so they won't have to worry about the dreaded 8-9 seed - if they even get there.

[WestOmahaBluejay]

You are what your record says you are. Right now, this team is no better than so many other teams that look great on paper but can't back it up on the floor. They are no longer anywhere near a lock for an at-large, and unless they figure some things out real quick will limp into the MVC on the back side ofthe bubble as a three or four seed. I'd like to think they will get off the mat and come roaring back. I'm no longer sure they are tough enough to do that. At least they have probably played themselves into a 10-12 seed range so they won't have to worry about the dreaded 8-9 seed - if they even get there.

There are certainly some troubling signs going on with the Jays right now, but no need to step towards the ledge with this team quite yet. Tomorrow night's game at UNI looms very large however... if the Jays do not play a complete game against a hungry Panthers team in Cedarloo, they will be leaving with a 3rd straight loss - which at that point - the Jays at-large hopes begin to come into question. I hate to say the game against UNI is a "must-win," but the Jays need to get back to the things that were working earlier in the year, re-build some confidence and get back on track. The keys to that are to pound the ball back inside to Echineque (which the Jays have gone away from), limit the dumb mistakes (fouls, unforced turnovers) and get their shooting touch back from long range.

With 5 conference games left to go - I think the Jays need to go at least 4-1 to be comfortable (with a BB win at St. Mary's) for an at-large bid (based on them not winning at least 2 games in St. Louis). I think 2-3 or 3-2 (which unfortunately is very possible given CU's history playing at UNI and Evansville, and vs. Wichita State), puts them potentially in a must appear in the MVC Tournament Championship Game\or win it all situation.