Drake Recap

Final Score: Creighton 67, Drake 62

Box Score

Recaps: CU | DU
Media: OWH | Des Moines Register
Photo Galleries: OWH | Des Moines Register

Over the past few years, fans on both sides on this interstate battle have become accustomed to close, hard fought games vs the Jays and Bulldogs in Des Moines. Over the past several years, no matter the disparity in the talent or success of the two teams, and no matter how lopsided some of the contests in Omaha have been, it's been a safe bet to expect Creighton-Drake games in the Knapp Center to go down to the final buzzer.

After Saturday night's game, the story could have been a scrappy last place Drake team taking the first place Jays down to the end. It could have been yet another clutch performance by Pierce Hibma in a game against Drake. It could have been Nate Funk demonstrating again why he is the favorite for MVC Player of the Year by shaking off the relentless harassment of the Drake student section to drop 20 on the road and nail the game winning shot from the right wing in a tie game. It even could have been the thousands of Creighton fans that made the trip up from Omaha to help fill the house and spark quite the two hour shouting match between the two fan bases. However, in part because of how the final minutes of the game played out, but more directly because of how Tom Davis handled himself after the game, the story of the game is the officiating and how Drake and their fans reacted to it.

A lot can be said about the officiating during the game, although that's really not unique when considering that close games invariably can be broken down into a few key possessions and that lends itself to quite a bit of second guessing and 20/20 hindsight when it comes to the calls by the referees. In this game, the most controversial call of the night was made with 19.2 seconds left with Creighton up by two when Drake freshman Josh Young drove to the basket, coming into contact with Anthony Tolliver and making a basket that appeared to tie the game. The whistle blew and Young later admitted he thought he was going to be going to the line with the chance to give Drake the lead, believing he had drawn a blocking foul on Tolliver. Tolliver, however, was set in his defensive position and referee Dan Nowakowski called the charge.

Granted it was a close call and fans certainly expect to get the benefit of doubt at home. However, the benefit of the tape from the television broadcast doesn't leave much doubt in terms of the fact that Tolliver had set defensive position. However, when driving the ball to the basket against a opposing team's center, one has to expect an attempt to draw the offensive foul. That's something that the coaching staff has to expect and prepare against, leaving other outlets such as the kick out or the dish to another cutting player.

After the play, the Bulldogs would be forced to foul immediately, sending Nick Porter to the line who split a pair of free throws giving the Jays a three point lead at 65-62. Drake would come back down the court and, with less than ten seconds remaining, ending up pinning their hopes on an Al Stewart drive to the basket hoping to extend the contest. Stewart's shot was blocked by Tolliver and the Bulldogs were incensed they did not get a goaltending call on the play. Again, with the benefit of television replay, it looks fairly clear that Tolliver was able to block the ball at the apex of the shot and avoid the goaltend. However, in this case, no matter whether a call was made or not, that doesn't excuse the mental lapse of turning down an attempt to go for the tie when you're under ten seconds left. With so little time and the number of quality foul shooters the Jays have, you have to try and set up the game tying shot in that situation.

If it was just a set of close calls towards the end of the game, that would be a story but that's not unexpected in a tight game. The biggest shock of the night was, quite frankly, the extremely unprofessional way that Drake coach Tom Davis handled his reaction to the officiating in front of the media, both to the Drake radio broadcasters as well as to reporters from both markets in the post game press conference.

Driving home from Des Moines on Saturday night, I listened to Davis' comments on KRNT-AM after the game. The first statement Davis made was that Drake is not a program expected to win these sorts of games at this point. Be it fans, or opposing players or... "administrators or officials, Drake is not expected to be able to win games like this." That's bad enough in terms of questioning the intentions and decision making of league officials, however, in his press conference remarks, Davis wasn't nearly as subtle. In the Omaha World-Herald article, Davis is quoted as saying:

"I didn't think it was a very good call. Obviously, I'm biased, but I had a good look, right in front of our bench. I try to be as impartial as I can when I look at those things.... There were six or seven calls, all down the stretch, that went Creighton's way. That seemed a little unusual but that's what good teams do. They find a way to put themselves in that position. You have to give them credit, and go from there.''

Also, Big Sports 590's Matt Perrault has more comments from Davis transcribed in his blog entry from Sunday. Perrault asked Davis about the fact that Tolliver played the last three minutes of the game with four fouls called and his response was:

"I thought we did get [Tolliver] out of the game 3 or 4 times to be honest but there were no calls. So nothing you can say, it’s a matter of judgement. I thought was key to the game for the last several minutes – how it was called and how it was officiated – sometimes you get a break – sometimes you don’t. Tonight we got nothing down the stretch.”

Finally, Rick Brown of the Des Moines Register asked Davis about the block by Tolliver, noting that the television crew of Mitch Holthus and Mac MacCausland commented that it looked like Tolliver did not commit goaltending on the play:

"Ya, well, I’d like to see again for myself. Sometimes, you know, guys get paid by certain people…..right? That’s been known to happen – so I’d look at it myself, not that I would doubt their opinion. But I think that’s why Creighton is good and they do a lot of good things and they put themselves in position to beat you…good team, well coached, good ball club."

So, in summary, it was the opinion of Coach Davis that not only were the two calls incorrect, but:

1. Anywhere from six or seven calls in a row (specifics withheld) went against the Bulldogs and broke in the Jays' favor;
2. These calls came from the fact that Creighton is perceived as the better program and that Drake either isn't expected to compete with them or that the league would rather they didn't upset the co-leaders of the league on Drake's home floor; and finally
3. The opinions of Holthus and MacCausland on the calls in question are fueled by the fact they are contractors of the MVC, and thus expected to support the supposed biases that Davis believes the league has against Drake.

Tom Davis is a coach that has been in the business for a very long time. With coaching stops at places like Boston College, Stanford and Iowa, this isn't Dr. Tom's first dance. He should know better than to come out and, quite frankly, whine about the officiating like this. It doesn't do you any good, it paints a bad picture of the league as a whole and your program in particular and it's not going to buy you any breaks for the future. Another good example of this was earlier in the game when Davis threw a fit on the sideline, claiming Ajay Calvin was undercut on a dunk. However, again, no one was even close to touching him and the video was damning.

What I think it basically comes down to is that there's been a lot of frustration in Des Moines over the total lack of direction and progression in this Drake program and the justified perception that the gap between the Bulldogs and the rest of the league is widening every year. At one time, Creighton and Drake were in similar situations. Both institutions are similar in terms of size and location. That said, Creighton has established itself as the dominant program in it's hometown, has built a financial base that is the envy of other schools of it's size and enrollment and has basketball success on a national level.

For Drake, they are at best third or fourth in the pecking order in Des Moines, don't have access to anywhere near the financial assets that Creighton and other Valley programs have and are hamstrung by a small fan base and facilities that rank them at or near the bottom of the league. Tom Davis came in a few years ago after the Kurt Kanaskie fiasco with visions of an Altmanesque turnaround, but here we sit with a senior laden Drake squad that cannot finish games, doesn't show much in the way of basketball sense and is dead last in the league yet again and doesn't look to be pulling out of the cellar any time soon.

With all the close losses to Creighton at home over the past few years, finally all that angst and frustration finally overflowed into the hissy fit that we saw Davis and his players throw on Saturday night. There has to be consequences, however, and I wouldn't be surprised if Davis ends up with a fine from the MVC front office for his comments to the press.

Going into last week, there was a lot of talk about if the Jays could split the road trip, that would do well to cement them either into first or second in the league and would set up the stretch run. With the Jays sweeping the swing through Peoria and Des Moines, that does a lot to separate the top two teams in this league from the other eight and helps set up a likely showdown this Saturday night in Carbondale for the MVC regular season championship. Also, with the Jays sporting the best road record in the Valley, an 8-2 record in their last ten games and top 25 RPI, it would take a serious collapse for Creighton to not secure an NCAA at-large bid if it is required.