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I'm pretty sure he was not examined by the X docs. Fluker was on X's bench looking at Tyrique Jones

That is horribly sad news. Sorry to hear Jays fans. He is a warrior and a great player.

Well... Luv all the varied opinions, all the wellwishing from our brethren, etc., etc. (If I were in your shoes...I'd be chortling with a big Cheshire Cat grin...and some of you are. lol

Now we get to bear witness to what sort of Coach - Coach McDermott is. Is he COY material or merely a good recruiter? Is he really that good of an offensive wizard, or fortunate to have good players? We get to witness whether lil' Creighton has heart, resolve, and character - picking up the pieces and movin' on...or will the Jays fold their tent, pick up their ball, and sulk back home (woulda, coulda, shoulda)?

I think not. Roll Jays! Of course, being gtmoBlue (always the 1 to blow some blue smoke), I dare to differ. Given a bit of tweeking, reorchestration, new rotations, and duct tape - the Jays continue rolling. Creighton is not a 1-man team like days of yore (2013-2015), and sans Mo Watson will find other ways to win. #Roll Jays, #LetitFly,

Bring it Big East...we ain't runnin' away and we ain't gonna hide...Bring your best shot!

luv ya,
gtmo

Devastating loss, no doubt. I wondered why Mo was reinserted into the game, but in addition to the trainer, Mo probably said "I'm good to go". McD trusts Mo and his medical staff (X doc checked Mo out at half time and said it appeared ligaments were in tact), and he put him back in. Too bad, and while I get that many will question McD's decision in that instance, I don't. McD cares about his players like as if they were his own children, and I am certain that he would never put a kid in a situation where he was risking the kid's health/future. No way.

Now, I am also in complete agreement with those complaining that McD leaned on Mo too much and didn't develop Mintz enough. I have complained as much in other threads on this forum. But what's done is done. I think we can predict that Mintz will see more time, but I predict that we will play PG by committee with Zierden/Thomas/Foster with sprinkles of Mintz and Clement. Now our short rotation got even shorter unless Kobe, Ronnie, or someone else can win some minutes. With McD, you win minutes by showing him that you can understand and execute the team defensive scheme. That's why the rotation gets so short during the conference season. With Huff's knees getting better (seems to be moving more/better on the court the past month), maybe we see him at the three with two of Hegner/Patton/Krampelj at the 4/5?

As a Jays fan, a visit to the second weekend would be tremendous. I have enjoyed this ride a ton, but I haven't been among those saying this team had a final four in it. We are always one player in foul trouble away from a rough game. I do still think we have good talent, but you lose your floor general, and it hurts. This will be McD's greatest coaching effort if he can quickly right the ship and keep us in contention for the conference championship. If we make the sweet sixteen, McD for COY. If not, fire him

Dayton had a very similar situation happen years ago to Josh Benson (not nearly the impact player Watson is). Josh was having a very very good year avg 12 and 7-8 and hurt his knee in a game. He went through all the tests on the sideline, ran up and down the tunnel and told the staff he could come back in. They put him back in. About 5 plays later he blew his knee out. The question is always (in both) was the knee already torn or did the knee tear due to lack of strength on the play that ultimately ended their seasons. I go with the latter. I don't think, just opinion, that neither player tore their ACL on the initial plays but neither should have gone back in without the strength to play, thus doing terrible damage to the knee due to lack of strength.

cu blujs wrote:Blaming McDermott is just plain idiotic. A lot of guys bump knees and limp around for a while and keep playing without then blowing out their ACL. I am pretty sure McDermott would have listened to his trainers and would not have put him in the game if they weren't sure it was just a bruise from banging knees and there was no issue with the knee structure. People blow out ACLs without ever having had one lick of issue with a knee or leg injury in the past. Unfortunately, he landed awkwardly on the knee and it gave out. There is no way in hell McDermott or anyone else could have anticipated that would happen. I am sure Mac felt reassured by the apparent optimism of the trainers' assessment (including the X trainers who examined him) or he wouldn't have said anything.

I can tell you from experience with my daughter, who tore her ACL - non-contact while planting her foot to make a cut. Trainers and orthopedist examined it and felt that the ligaments were most likely intact. When the ACL blows, the muscles around the leg all tighten up to protect the joint. If the person has a strong leg, the strength of the leg muscles gives the appearance of stability in the knee. We got the MRI results expecting maybe a sprain, so the news of the torn ACL was unexpected in light of earlier prognosis and of course devastating to a kid who just lost the rest of her senior year of soccer.

I've heard that story coaching girls basketball way too many times(and you see it more with the girls than the guys- think I saw years back it's like 6 to 1 ratio girls to boys.)

The thing that sucks about situations like this is that the games from now on will be, effectively, what the Committee uses for seeding. They have a long history of over weighting resumes for when the team that will be in the tournament played. The most famous case being Kenyon Martin.

scoscox wrote:I'm pretty sure he was not examined by the X docs. Fluker was on X's bench looking at Tyrique Jones

Coach McDermott specifically said in his postgame press conference that Creighton trainers and Xavier's doctor did structural tests on Mo's knee.

This is tragic for the kid and Creighton program that I thought was on the cusp of a memorable season. This painfully reminds me of what could have been for Nova with Sumpter playing in 2005 and 2006 NCAA tournaments.

Except that Kenyon broke his leg in the conference tournament so there was no way to evaluate how good they could be without him. If CU can still finish strong - say at least second or a very close third by going maybe 10-2 or 9-3 rest of the way, then they will have shown the committee that they are still able to compete at a high level without Mo. I don't think they would get downgraded in that case. On the other hand, if CU goes .500 rest of the way, then that will definitely be considered by the committee, I think. But, these guys are still very good without Mo. We beat X at X without him and that was with the guys having to adjust on the fly. Granted X had its opportunities, but bottom line is CU got the W. I am hopeful guys are going to take it on themselves to win this thing for Mo.