What Happened to Creighton

[Aces0976]

Sometimes I think terms like tough and soft get thrown around way too much. I don't think Creighton is "soft". To say Doug isn't tough would be silly with the beating he takes. From what I've seen, they lack aggression. They are way too content to stand back and jack up 3's. When they're falling, everything is great and they can beat anybody. When they're not falling, they need someone to step up and take the ball inside. Geez, with Mcdermott and Echenique, going inside should be option 1, 2 and 3. Tired legs could be part of it, but I just don't think that's everything. I will say this, if Echenique was tough and aggressive, I think he should be averaging over 10 boards. The dude is a beast, but he just doesn't seem to have that killer instinct. I don't see them play as much as many on here do, but I know in the last 2 years, I've seen Troy Taylor just go up and take I don't how many rebounds from him in those 5 game just for no other reason than just wanting the ball more.

[bradley_brave1989]

I have stated this many times in other threads...Creighton is incredibly easy to scout. St. Marys carved them up because they played their weaknesses

1. Double Doug he good real good.
2. They dont give the ball to GE, so dont worry about him
3. Gibbs is great, but looks for doug to much, I have seen some very nice takes to the hole from him when Doug isnt on the floor
4. Wragge-He trips over the three point line more than i have ever seen. He is a tremendous shooter but he should switch it up try taking somebody off the dribble, even if goes of your foot you give the defense something else to think about. I remember he took a three from out of bounds!
5. There is a reason i do not cannot remember anybody elses name.

[BCPanther]

My main concern is the coaching. And i have a ? for UNI fans. You say Greg is a bad coach, bad guy, etc. Is this anger at him leaving UNI, or do you really believe this? I have a hard time thinking you really believe he is a bad coach considering he took over your program at UNI when UNI was consistantly one of the worst teams in the Valley , and turned them into a team that made the NCAA 3 years in a row his last 3 years. That was a quick and impressive overhaul of your program. I'm asking cause I agree with you guys that he seems to have done a terrible job this year with this Creighton team, but I keep looking at his overall resume as a coach and it seems like he has been a great coach overall for most of his career. Id like to know what UNI fans really think of him as a coach when he was there at UNI, and put your anger at him leaving your program aside while giving your opinion? Thanks.

For me the anger is pretty much gone. Would we be different with Doug? Yes. Would Doug be putting up the same numbers he is if he were at UNI? Absolutely not.

That said, Mac caught lightning in a bottle in Cedar Falls. He was fortunate in recruiting in that Creighton took Nate Funk over Ben Jacobson (the player) and nobody expected David Gruber, who wasn't even close to the best player on his JUCO team, to be the scorer and player he was. He had a collection of four guys (Jacobson, Crawford, Little, and McKowen) that were tough as nails and all big time winners. His set play style worked well for that team. We totally appreciate what he did here, but we know we are better off with the head coach we have now.

Mac was never an overly friendly guy up here and came off poorly in social situations quite often. I think the biggest problem I have with him is the fact that after we lost to Georgetown in his 3rd tournament he went to the press conference and talked about UNI being his 'dream job' and that he and his family wanted to be here for a long time. He then stopped in Chicago on the way back to CF to interview for the K-State job. He took the Iowa State job a week later and started talking about that one being his 'dream job'.

[agrinut]

Does anyone now what McDermott's career record is in February?

[Khan4Cats]

My main concern is the coaching. And i have a ? for UNI fans. You say Greg is a bad coach, bad guy, etc. Is this anger at him leaving UNI, or do you really believe this? I have a hard time thinking you really believe he is a bad coach considering he took over your program at UNI when UNI was consistantly one of the worst teams in the Valley , and turned them into a team that made the NCAA 3 years in a row his last 3 years. That was a quick and impressive overhaul of your program. I'm asking cause I agree with you guys that he seems to have done a terrible job this year with this Creighton team, but I keep looking at his overall resume as a coach and it seems like he has been a great coach overall for most of his career. Id like to know what UNI fans really think of him as a coach when he was there at UNI, and put your anger at him leaving your program aside while giving your opinion? Thanks.

There's anger with him leaving and that has a lot to do with how he left and the "dream job" comments that BC mentioned (hard to believe he's on his third "dream job" in 8 years). The Doug thing really hurts and only raised the ire of UNI fans even more after it had started to simmer down for his bolting for Iowa State. The fact that there were no repercussions for breaking the LOI and it appeared that Doug was part of a package deal in Mac getting the job and it just doesn't sit well. I used to think of Greg as a pretty good guy when he was here. He was friendly towards fans and boosters, approachable at call-in shows or other appearances, etc. However, that appears to be the outer image as his later actions have tarnished that.

As BC also pointed out, he managed to help turn UNI around (and we are grateful for that) in getting Benny Jacobson after Creighton passed over him for Funk (worked out fine for both schools). He also got a transfer in Erik Crawford from Bowling Green, jucos in David Gruber and Matt Schneiderman, and landed a couple of small-town Iowa kids in Brooks McKowen and Grant Stout. Now who was responsible for these guys? Was it Mac or was it Jake, who was the lead recruiter or even Kyle Green who has been a key recruiter as well? I am also not sure how much credit you can give Greg for evaluating talent when he himself noted that Doug wasn't good enough to play in the Big XII and that he needed a year to redshirt as a freshman because he wasn't ready for college ball yet.

As for his coaching ability, look at his tenure at Iowa State. How did that go for him? That might tell you his level of ability. We at UNI always questioned his rotations and lack of use of his bench (our last NCAA team only went 7 deep and really struggled in mid-season when Crawford was out with an injury). Mac has been picked to win the Valley 3 times now (the last year at UNI and the last two at Creighton) and looks like he will have gone 0-3 in those years. And his February record is not the greatest as well.

[valleychamp]

My opinion has always been that Mac underachieved when he was here with the talent that we had. We will be forever grateful for what he did here, resurrecting the program and all that (believe me, that was not small task), but truthfully we could have done much more. 12-6 was his best MVC record here, with no titles, and just the 1 tourney title with zero NCAA wins. Mac heavily rode on the back of Benny Jacobson (and Coach Jake as well) at UNI, IMO. Benny made Mac a millionaire...

Should he get credit for bringing guys like Benny, Gruber, Stout, Coleman to UNI? Absolutely. In fact, he's been proven to be a really good recruiter at all of his stops. But what's he getting out of them on the court? At Iowa State he recruited multiple guys that made it to the NBA, but they literally were a cellar dweller during his entire tenure at ISU, not even making a single postseason tournament of any kind. What's that tell you? I think he really rides some players hard, and I know for a fact that he was not well liked at Iowa State by many players and that really was a big issue there. I mean, he recruited Wes Johnson to ISU (who ended up being a lottery pick as Jr), but he drove him off to Syracuse because he rode him so hard.

We always, always had a big slump in February just as CU has this year and last. I mean, its laughably identical right now with the short bench, mystifying losses, riding players etc. Let me ask you this Jays fans, if he didn't luck out with Doug, where do you honestly think you guys would be program-wise the last few years (W/L, recruiting, conference play, etc)? He lucked out BIG TIME with that situation (its quite remarkable how it worked out for him), and just like he did with Benny he is riding Doug HARD right now.

I definitely agree with Kahn and BC about the other things they mentioned as well. He comes across as pretty disingenuous if you ask me, with some of his actions. He does a fantastic job of having this "nice guy" public persona, but that's what it is, a public persona. And make no mistake Jays fans, if he can parlay this CU job into more money at someplace else, HE WILL. He will say that this is his new "dream job" (his 3rd dream job, btw) and he will never leave, and 10 minutes later he will have another job.

[unipanther99]

Does this thread from February 2006 on Panthernation sound familiar to Creighton fans? This was Benny Jacobson, Erik Crawford, and John Little's senior year, coming off two straight NCAA appearances. Much was expected of this team. They had a great start, then faded at the end and limped into the tournament again.

http://www.panthernation.com/showthread ... ight=coach

Greg McDermott will likely be inducted into the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame as a coach some day. I really don't have a problem with that, but it will hopefully be several years down the road. Perhaps after he has retired. As for now, he's an opposing coach at a rival conference school, competing for the same pool of recruits. As Rush Limbaugh might say, I hope he fails.

[Deanthonybowdenfan]

Hmm. He had to do something right with UNI. I guess it sounds like you guys think he just had real good players when he was there. Was/Is he just a great recruiter then? Or do you think he just got lucky to get all those guys to go to UNI? I mean if he didnt coach the guys well at UNI, then he had to of just had really good players. If thats the case , how did he get those kind of players to go to UNI? which at the time wasn't somewhere good recruits would want to go.

I'm asking cause I really had a lot of faith in him, I thought we hired a real good coach. But the more I think about whats happened to Creighton this season, the more it dawns on me that its not so much the players faults, but really it seems like its just been a terrible coaching job. Just when a team is better to begin the year, than it is to finish the year, how can you explain that other than coaching. I don't think its likely that the players just got that much worse from playing basketball all winter. Time will tell, but I do have a slight doubt about how Creighton will be under McDermott. As for the recruits we have "committed" for 2013 and 2014 at this time, we have 5 either committed or verbals, all 5 are white. We are going after some guys who have interest in Creighton who are VERY good athletes, I mean guys that would be some of the best athletes in the league. But none of them have decided yet or verbal'ed to anyone yet. Just sayin that of the 5 recruits we are sure to get for either next year or the year after, all 5 are white, and not exactly Nate Funk kinda white. You need a good balance. Altman's teams were so good, I believe, cause he always had a good balance of high IQ players, shooters, and athletes/talented players. Wichita state would be better if they just traded one or two of their athletes for one or two of the IQ/shooter types. Vice versa for Creighton this year. I'm worried McDermotts teams could be way too much skilled players, and no athletes.

[shocktheheart]

Hmm. He had to do something right with UNI. I guess it sounds like you guys think he just had real good players when he was there. Was/Is he just a great recruiter then? Or do you think he just got lucky to get all those guys to go to UNI? I mean if he didnt coach the guys well at UNI, then he had to of just had really good players. If thats the case , how did he get those kind of players to go to UNI? which at the time wasn't somewhere good recruits would want to go.

I'm asking cause I really had a lot of faith in him, I thought we hired a real good coach. But the more I think about whats happened to Creighton this season, the more it dawns on me that its not so much the players faults, but really it seems like its just been a terrible coaching job. Just when a team is better to begin the year, than it is to finish the year, how can you explain that other than coaching. I don't think its likely that the players just got that much worse from playing basketball all winter. Time will tell, but I do have a slight doubt about how Creighton will be under McDermott. As for the recruits we have "committed" for 2013 and 2014 at this time, we have 5 either committed or verbals, all 5 are white. We are going after some guys who have interest in Creighton who are VERY good athletes, I mean guys that would be some of the best athletes in the league. But none of them have decided yet or verbal'ed to anyone yet. Just sayin that of the 5 recruits we are sure to get for either next year or the year after, all 5 are white, and not exactly Nate Funk kinda white. You need a good balance. Altman's teams were so good, I believe, cause he always had a good balance of high IQ players, shooters, and athletes/talented players. Wichita state would be better if they just traded one or two of their athletes for one or two of the IQ/shooter types. Vice versa for Creighton this year. I'm worried McDermotts teams could be way too much skilled players, and no athletes.

WSU has those players, but they are hurt on the bench. Wessell and Baker are those two players.

[WhiskeySierraUniform]

Wichita state would be better if they just traded one or two of their athletes for one or two of the IQ/shooter types.

The scary thing is that Wichita State has all the athletes PLUS two of these on the roster. The problem is they are currently injured. Ron Baker (6'3" RFR sharp shooter) and Evan Wessel (6'5" SO) were starters before going down with injuries. Baker may be back for the conference tourney, Wessel is done for the year.