The Jays were Preseason top 25??
- Thread starter SuperBigFan69
- Start date
Preseason polls are incredibly stupid and are a TV ratings booster more than anything.
Different sport, but football is a huge culprit of this.
Texas was preseason #1 and finished 9-3 missing the playoffs.
Penn State was preseason #2 and finished 6-6 and fired their pretty successful coach halfway into the season. Obviously missed the playoffs.
Clemson was #4 and finished 6-6. Obviously missed the playoffs.
Indiana was #20 and went undefeated winning the national title.
Florida was #15 and finished 4-8 and fired their coach.
Arizona State was #11 and finished 8-4. Obviously missed the playoffs.
LSU was #9 and finished 7-5 and fired their coach. Obviously missed the playoffs.
Illinois was #12 and finished 8-4. Obviously missed the playoffs.
South Carolina was #13 and finished 4-8.
SMU was #16 and finished 8-4.
Kansas State was #17 and finished 6-6 and their coach quit football.
Ole Miss was ranked #21 and finished the year 11-1, made the playoffs and ran to the semis. Finished ranked #3.
Different sport, but football is a huge culprit of this.
Texas was preseason #1 and finished 9-3 missing the playoffs.
Penn State was preseason #2 and finished 6-6 and fired their pretty successful coach halfway into the season. Obviously missed the playoffs.
Clemson was #4 and finished 6-6. Obviously missed the playoffs.
Indiana was #20 and went undefeated winning the national title.
Florida was #15 and finished 4-8 and fired their coach.
Arizona State was #11 and finished 8-4. Obviously missed the playoffs.
LSU was #9 and finished 7-5 and fired their coach. Obviously missed the playoffs.
Illinois was #12 and finished 8-4. Obviously missed the playoffs.
South Carolina was #13 and finished 4-8.
SMU was #16 and finished 8-4.
Kansas State was #17 and finished 6-6 and their coach quit football.
Ole Miss was ranked #21 and finished the year 11-1, made the playoffs and ran to the semis. Finished ranked #3.
Creighton basically has no playable front-court players other than Jasen Green. And while Green is a very solid role player, he's not a low-post guy you can run an offense around. I also don't think he's really 6'8".
Traudt, Freeman and Konan are just plain bad. As in, unplayably awful. The guards have had their ups and downs, and some of them were overhyped. But it's hard to get consistent guard play with no inside game whatsoever. I would also cut Josh Dix some slack because of his family situation.
McAndrew being out for the year and Hudson Greer being hurt for most of the season is part of the problem. But the Jays have a poorly constructed roster, can't grab a rebound to save their lives, can't defend the paint, and the head coach is busy picking out furnishings for his retirement condo.
Traudt, Freeman and Konan are just plain bad. As in, unplayably awful. The guards have had their ups and downs, and some of them were overhyped. But it's hard to get consistent guard play with no inside game whatsoever. I would also cut Josh Dix some slack because of his family situation.
McAndrew being out for the year and Hudson Greer being hurt for most of the season is part of the problem. But the Jays have a poorly constructed roster, can't grab a rebound to save their lives, can't defend the paint, and the head coach is busy picking out furnishings for his retirement condo.
Yeah, they just can't guard at all. I only watched the last few minutes of the first half. They commit a foul with under a second left, but other team isn't shooting yet. They then manage to give up a wide open 3 by not switching a basic screen.
Mac can't wait for the season to end, I am sure. He basically retired 3 months ago.
And the Big East is so bad this year, which really goes to show how bad the jays are...
Perhaps giving money to a bunch of iowa players that played so bad they got their coach fired...wasn't the best idea???
Dix has played okay, especially considering his mom was dying from cancer. Very sad - 47 years old.
Freeman, on the other hand, looks like he spent his entire NIL check at Taco Bell. Maybe it's due to his injuries, but Freeman's career has just gone straight into the crapper.
I think Freeman might be one of those guys that just peaked as a freshmen. It happens.
He might also like Taco Bell a lot! Ha
Yep, Freeman being AWOL has been key. IMO, the game has stopped being fun for him and he’s checked out. Probably see him at NW MO State next year or somewhere similar.
True BUT you would rather be ranked than unranked, right?
I mean, I am guessing if you look back at the last 10 final fours...out of those 40 possible teams...probably 39 of them were ranked during the season.
Does it matter? Not really. But would you rather see a # next to your teams name? I would.
And as soon as Freeman signed, Fred King fled for Murray State, where he's putting up 14 points and 9 boards per game. I'm not suggesting King is a great player, but Creighton would sure as Hell be better off with him in the middle than they are with all those 6'10" stiffs sitting on the bench.
I thought they played better defensively at the end of the first half, when they had Green and Freeman on the court at the same time. DePaul had a bunch of alley-oops when Green was on the floor without Freeman, and I don't think any when Freeman was on the floor with or without Green. I am not sure why they didn't end the game or at least the last 2 minutes with Green and Freeman on the floor at the same time. As I wrote, they extended the lead and played better defense in the paint when they were both on the floor at the end of the half.
Good point, but McDermott has always had a phobia when it comes to putting two post players on the court at the same time. There were matchups over the years when he should have played Kalkbrenner and King together, but he just wouldn't do it. Sometimes you have to prioritze rebounding and interior defense, but Mac never does.
Losing their best returning player to injury Jackson McAndrew plus transfer Owen Freeman being close to an absolute failure were not on the radar when preseason polls came out. We can reverse this and say it’s a joke that Nebraska wasn’t in the top 10 preseason.
Don’t know how the hell they beat UConn….in Storrs too. They just had a solid game all around. Good for Dix as he had a good game. Feel for any kid just losing their mom like he just did. As for the team in general, Freeman is a monumental bust. He gives them nothing. IMO, this is Creighton’s worst lineup I’ve seen Mac have. They’re not that athletic and they have no rim protector. I think most of their talent is Missouri Valley level. I’ll also be interested to see if McDermott stays as well.
UConn had a moment of silence for Dix’s mom, Creighton did not expect that gesture. Creighton’s defense struggles again, they get the win by generating just enough offense and getting downhill with their guard play
McDermott started Freeman the last game and pulled him after about 2-3 minutes. Softest 6’11 player I’ve seen in quite some time, plays like a small forward. If he’s actually 240 I’m shocked he gets ragdolled out there
Yeah this year's Jays have had no frontcourt players other than Jasen Green who are even playeable. And while Green is productive, he's probably 6'7" on his tippy toes. Konan, the freshman from Türkiye, gave them some pretty good minutes last night, so that made a difference.
Blake Harper, the transfer guard from Howard, looked like he would be a big addition this year but he hadn't done much until last night. He stepped up and had some big plays.
Big win, but not going to do much for the Jays' postseason chances. Those losses to the likes of Providence and DePaul were too costly.
To everyone who's been saying they Jays would fall back down to earth after (insert any number of guys here) left for over 20 years were finally right!!!
Don't they have like two sweet 16 appearances in their history?
The never left earth...
Google says they have 6 Sweet 16 trips all time. Elite 8 in 2023. 21-27 overall record in March Madness thru 26 appearances.
I'd say for a school like Creighton thats ptetty good.
Now lets list all of Nebraska's March accolades below.
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A school like Creighton?
They are in a major city and in a major conference, with a huge donor base.
They are not Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle.
Creighton has a living alumni network of about 82,000, compared to some schools that will have that number in 2 graduating classes.
Of course. That is the point.
The Jays are not some little program. They are the main D1 BB school in the 40th biggest city in the country. They have a huge fan/donor base with amazing support.
...until what feels like 10min ago, they were a mid major school in a conference most sports fans woukdn't be able to name if you asked them to list all the conferences. Creighton isn't a bigtime program. Never will be. I think they've punched above their weight for decades.
YMMV
Making the Sweet 16 must be pretty hard, given that the Illini have done it once in the past 20 years.
It is not that hard, it is winning two games. The Illini suck too.
I’m not a Creighton hater. I applaud their success. I’m an Omaha guy so I respect their success and do follow them and watch their games. Though they’ve had some really good players over the last five-six years, you had to wonder how they’d replace Kalkbrenner. He’s been the glue to that program over the last four years. And it’s obvious they miss him. And their guard play has been less than good after having a very good Ashford the last several years. They also really don’t have any gunslingers as they’ve had. Dix is a decent shooter, but he’s kinda hit and miss.
They made a huge mistake thinking they could take players from iowa that got their coach fired...and make them good.
Right now, the only reason they have more than 10 wins is because the Big East is horrible.
Pryce Sandfort also "got his coach fired," and he's had a pretty good season. Dix has also been okay, as has Brock Harding at TCU. Freeman is the only one who's been a total bust.
I think we can see that taking two iowa players that got their coach fired is a bad idea. One might be okay.