Valparaiso Preview
Creighton (4-3) at Valparaiso (3-6)
December 21, 2006
Stan Sheriff Center (Honolulu, HI)
TV: Cox 2 | Radio: 590 AM
Video Webcast
December 21, 2006
Stan Sheriff Center (Honolulu, HI)
TV: Cox 2 | Radio: 590 AM
Video Webcast
Creighton Starters
| Valparaiso Starters
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Overview
SID Notes: CU | VU
The Jays limp into Hawaii on Thursday, licking their wounds after a 15 point thrashing at Fresno State on Saturday night, and will look to get this ship turned back into the right direction and quickly. First up in the 43rd annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic will be the Valparaiso Crusaders, who themselves are reeling from a six game losing streak and are looking to collect themselves and make a good showing in this event.
The Crusaders have played a brutal schedule at points this season. Valpo started the run with a loss at NC State and then played three straight games vs top 25 teams (home games vs Marquette and Butler and a game at Ohio State), losing all three. Legendary head coach Homer Drew hoped to build experience and mettle with the tough non-conference schedule, although a 61-40 beatdown at Ball State makes one wonder if all the early tests have done is merely break the confidence of his green squad.
VU is led by their 6-8 sophomore forward Urule Igbavboa. His 11 points and 8.9 rebounds a game lead the team in both categories. Igbavboa is especially active on the defensive glass, rebounding 27.9% of the shots missed by opponents this season, which ranks 12th best in the NCAA so far. Another key piece for the Crusaders is 6-6 junior forward Shawn Huff. Huff is averaging 10.8 points and 4.2 boards a game and is also 45.5% from beyond the arc. Valpo will run a 8 man rotation primarily, however, with 5 freshmen and 3 sophomores on Valpo's roster, this team is very much susceptible to the ups and downs that are classic of such inexperienced teams.
For the Jays, there's going to be a lot to work on going into this game and there is going to be a lot of pressure to really show something both tonight against Valpo and in this tournament overall. Offensively, we have been pathetic for good stretches of this season. We cannot continue to miss as many open shots as we are and have any realistic expectation to win. This team needs a serious shot of chemistry and the ability to work together as a unit. One almost feels watching this team that they don't feel comfortable in their own skin.
For this Creighton team to succeed, everyone needs to know their roles. Players like Anthony Tolliver and Nate Funk are your stars and those that the offense needs to run through. Some discussion was made earlier in the week about distribution of shots and whether friction over that was leading to some of the tentativeness that we have seen by some so far. For me, the concern isn't as much about what number of shots a certain player is taking, but that each offensive set works our stars into the mix. A player like Anthony Tolliver should touch the ball on every possession at some point. Also, we need to recommit to the inside-out game. When the entry pass is made, we need the defense to have to think twice about whether or not you're going to see Tolliver take it strong to the basket, dish it off to a slashing Porter or Watts, or whether there's going to be a kick out to an open Funk or Miles for the long range bomb.
These sound like simple concepts, but we just haven't seen any sort of consistent flow in this team so far this year. Coach Altman has hammered on that quite a bit in his radio interviews and newspaper comments. Jays fans do have a bit of a tendency to attribute Holtzism to Coach's pessimistic appraisals of the situation, but I think this year we are seeing that Dana knew a lot more than we did early on in the season (no surprise that).
This tournament is going to be an opportunity for the Jays to either get back on the good path and make a statement or really take a shot below the belt. It's going to be up to them to dictate which direction they take.
Game Notes
- This will be Creighton's first meeting with Valparaiso since a win in Indiana by CU in the 1920-21 season. Coach Altman is 18-2 against Mid-Continent Conference squads and 11-2 during his time at Creighton.
- Thursday night's game is being broadcast on Honolulu's KFVE-TV as part of a package including all night games of the Rainbow Classic. All TV games involving Creighton will be picked up by Cox Cable in Omaha on Channel 2. As the bracket is constructed, Creighton must be victorious against Valpo for their remaining games to be available for broadcast. The games will be called by KFVE's Jim Leahey and Artie Wilson.
- Bluejays focused on execution - Omaha World-Herald 12/21
- It's a working holiday for the Crusaders - Northwest Indiana Times 12/21
- Crusader men tested again - Gary (IN) Post-Tribune 12/21
