(1) Thurs. Game/ Butler @ St. John's 12/23/21

[GumbyDamnit!]

Wah..Wah...Wah..Wah!!! Still crying over last year, Jays fans?

Here's the reality and I've posted this several times before. The 5 games that Nova didn't play were 2 against DePaul, the last place team, 1 against Butler the 2nd to last place team, and 2 vs. X the 7th place team, who really struggled down the stretch. We played all of the top teams twice. Now, shall we walk through the possibilities of those 5? First, are you really going to tell me that DePaul wins either one of those games? DePaul has yet to beat Nova since realignment. I think it's safe to assume that those are 2 W's. Now let's look at X. The X fans will all concede that there was an extremely thin chance of a win @ Nova. It's a monkey that they'll eventually get off their backs but last year's team was not the one that would have done it. X was also not the same team after their Covid break. In fact they dropped 6 of their last 8 in conference. But alas one of those games they did win was vs. Creighton. That particularly was not a good outcome for the Jays Championship aspirations. So you all are pinning your hopes on BOTH Butler AND X beating Nova (with a healthy Gillespie) just so you could tie for the RS title? That's some weak sauce right there. Even if I concede a loss at Cintas--which with the way X was playing at the time, would be a toss up at worst--we still hang a banner.

You guys had everything in your grasp. Our AA guard goes down in the 1st H on our home court vs. Cr8n with the game far from being decided. With your full squad you couldn't get it done. Heck, beat X and you win the title by the slimmest of % margins anyway. You all should take ownership of that. Nova, or the BE offices or Covid, or anything else, didn't prevent you from your first outright RS Championship. Your team did. Own it and move on.

And I can tell you that if you had beaten X and won by % points, I would guarantee that the Nova contingent on here would not have made a big deal of us being cheated out of a title b/c of extenuating circumstances.

That is all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to my CU brothers. You kicked the crap out of us in Omaha. Hoping we get the chance to return the favor in a couple of weeks but if we can't b/c of some Covid break, we'll see each other again soon enough.

[Omaha1]

Wah..Wah...Wah..Wah!!! Still crying over last year, Jays fans?

Here's the reality and I've posted this several times before. The 5 games that Nova didn't play were 2 against DePaul, the last place team, 1 against Butler the 2nd to last place team, and 2 vs. X the 7th place team, who really struggled down the stretch. We played all of the top teams twice. Now, shall we walk through the possibilities of those 5? First, are you really going to tell me that DePaul wins either one of those games? DePaul has yet to beat Nova since realignment. I think it's safe to assume that those are 2 W's. Now let's look at X. The X fans will all concede that there was an extremely thin chance of a win @ Nova. It's a monkey that they'll eventually get off their backs but last year's team was not the one that would have done it. X was also not the same team after their Covid break. In fact they dropped 6 of their last 8 in conference. But alas one of those games they did win was vs. Creighton. That particularly was not a good outcome for the Jays Championship aspirations. So you all are pinning your hopes on BOTH Butler AND X beating Nova (with a healthy Gillespie) just so you could tie for the RS title? That's some weak sauce right there. Even if I concede a loss at Cintas--which with the way X was playing at the time, would be a toss up at worst--we still hang a banner.

You guys had everything in your grasp. Our AA guard goes down in the 1st H on our home court vs. Cr8n with the game far from being decided. With your full squad you couldn't get it done. Heck, beat X and you win the title by the slimmest of % margins anyway. You all should take ownership of that. Nova, or the BE offices or Covid, or anything else, didn't prevent you from your first outright RS Championship. Your team did. Own it and move on.

And I can tell you that if you had beaten X and won by % points, I would guarantee that the Nova contingent on here would not have made a big deal of us being cheated out of a title b/c of extenuating circumstances.

That is all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to my CU brothers. You kicked the crap out of us in Omaha. Hoping we get the chance to return the favor in a couple of weeks but if we can't b/c of some Covid break, we'll see each other again soon enough.

Except you’re wrong. Nova didn’t play at UConn. Didn’t play XU twice. So two road games against two good teams. Nova was 3-4 in league road games last year, with losses at St. John’s, Butler, Creighton and PC. It’s not at all difficult to think that Nova might drop a couple of those games.

[Hall2012]

Wah..Wah...Wah..Wah!!! Still crying over last year, Jays fans?

Here's the reality and I've posted this several times before. The 5 games that Nova didn't play were 2 against DePaul, the last place team, 1 against Butler the 2nd to last place team, and 2 vs. X the 7th place team, who really struggled down the stretch. We played all of the top teams twice. Now, shall we walk through the possibilities of those 5? First, are you really going to tell me that DePaul wins either one of those games? DePaul has yet to beat Nova since realignment. I think it's safe to assume that those are 2 W's. Now let's look at X. The X fans will all concede that there was an extremely thin chance of a win @ Nova. It's a monkey that they'll eventually get off their backs but last year's team was not the one that would have done it. X was also not the same team after their Covid break. In fact they dropped 6 of their last 8 in conference. But alas one of those games they did win was vs. Creighton. That particularly was not a good outcome for the Jays Championship aspirations. So you all are pinning your hopes on BOTH Butler AND X beating Nova (with a healthy Gillespie) just so you could tie for the RS title? That's some weak sauce right there. Even if I concede a loss at Cintas--which with the way X was playing at the time, would be a toss up at worst--we still hang a banner.

You guys had everything in your grasp. Our AA guard goes down in the 1st H on our home court vs. Cr8n with the game far from being decided. With your full squad you couldn't get it done. Heck, beat X and you win the title by the slimmest of % margins anyway. You all should take ownership of that. Nova, or the BE offices or Covid, or anything else, didn't prevent you from your first outright RS Championship. Your team did. Own it and move on.

And I can tell you that if you had beaten X and won by % points, I would guarantee that the Nova contingent on here would not have made a big deal of us being cheated out of a title b/c of extenuating circumstances.

That is all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to my CU brothers. You kicked the crap out of us in Omaha. Hoping we get the chance to return the favor in a couple of weeks but if we can't b/c of some Covid break, we'll see each other again soon enough.

Except you’re wrong. Nova didn’t play at UConn. Didn’t play XU twice. So two road games against two good teams. Nova was 3-4 in league road games last year, with losses at St. John’s, Butler, Creighton and PC. It’s not at all difficult to think that Nova might drop a couple of those games.

Yeah, it was UConn they missed rather than Butler, but I don't think that changes much. It just means they'd have been favorites in perhaps 4 of 5 rather than all 5. The odds of Nova losing 2 of the 5 missed games was slim at best. Their most likely record would have been 4-1, with 5-0 more likely than 3-2, and anything worse being pretty much nil.

[Omaha1]

Wah..Wah...Wah..Wah!!! Still crying over last year, Jays fans?

Here's the reality and I've posted this several times before. The 5 games that Nova didn't play were 2 against DePaul, the last place team, 1 against Butler the 2nd to last place team, and 2 vs. X the 7th place team, who really struggled down the stretch. We played all of the top teams twice. Now, shall we walk through the possibilities of those 5? First, are you really going to tell me that DePaul wins either one of those games? DePaul has yet to beat Nova since realignment. I think it's safe to assume that those are 2 W's. Now let's look at X. The X fans will all concede that there was an extremely thin chance of a win @ Nova. It's a monkey that they'll eventually get off their backs but last year's team was not the one that would have done it. X was also not the same team after their Covid break. In fact they dropped 6 of their last 8 in conference. But alas one of those games they did win was vs. Creighton. That particularly was not a good outcome for the Jays Championship aspirations. So you all are pinning your hopes on BOTH Butler AND X beating Nova (with a healthy Gillespie) just so you could tie for the RS title? That's some weak sauce right there. Even if I concede a loss at Cintas--which with the way X was playing at the time, would be a toss up at worst--we still hang a banner.

You guys had everything in your grasp. Our AA guard goes down in the 1st H on our home court vs. Cr8n with the game far from being decided. With your full squad you couldn't get it done. Heck, beat X and you win the title by the slimmest of % margins anyway. You all should take ownership of that. Nova, or the BE offices or Covid, or anything else, didn't prevent you from your first outright RS Championship. Your team did. Own it and move on.

And I can tell you that if you had beaten X and won by % points, I would guarantee that the Nova contingent on here would not have made a big deal of us being cheated out of a title b/c of extenuating circumstances.

That is all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to my CU brothers. You kicked the crap out of us in Omaha. Hoping we get the chance to return the favor in a couple of weeks but if we can't b/c of some Covid break, we'll see each other again soon enough.

Except you’re wrong. Nova didn’t play at UConn. Didn’t play XU twice. So two road games against two good teams. Nova was 3-4 in league road games last year, with losses at St. John’s, Butler, Creighton and PC. It’s not at all difficult to think that Nova might drop a couple of those games.

Yeah, it was UConn they missed rather than Butler, but I don't think that changes much. It just means they'd have been favorites in perhaps 4 of 5 rather than all 5. The odds of Nova losing 2 of the 5 missed games was slim at best. Their most likely record would have been 4-1, with 5-0 more likely than 3-2, and anything worse being pretty much nil.

We can agree to disagree until the end of time. I think it’s very reasonable based on Nova’s lack of success in road games last year to think they might have dropped a couple. Who knows? The bigger issue is the apparent unwillingness for Jay to reschedule all of the games. At least that’s the way it seemed then and appears to be confirmed by the league taking over responsibility of scheduling this year to prevent “gamesmanship”.

And you realize not all 5 games need to be played. It matters if even one of those games get rescheduled it could have changed everything.. If Jay could’ve somehow figured out a way to drive to UConn… which doesn’t seem that difficult…. And lost that one game, Nova is 11-5 and behind Creighton.

[GumbyDamnit!]

We can agree to disagree until the end of time. I think it’s very reasonable based on Nova’s lack of success in road games last year to think they might have dropped a couple. Who knows? The bigger issue is the apparent unwillingness for Jay to reschedule all of the games. At least that’s the way it seemed then and appears to be confirmed by the league taking over responsibility of scheduling this year to prevent “gamesmanship”.

And you realize not all 5 games need to be played. It matters if even one of those games get rescheduled it could have changed everything.. If Jay could’ve somehow figured out a way to drive to UConn… which doesn’t seem that difficult…. And lost that one game, Nova is 11-5 and behind Creighton.

Huh? Now Jay Wright is afraid to play someone? Are you serious Omaha?!? That might be the worst take of all. So Jay W.--2x NC, 3xFF and HOF coach, who has pretty much dominated the league in every way since inception, in mid-Jan. vs. a team with their lottery pick guard in bubble wrap b/c of an injury--decides to employ gamesmanship and didn't want to risk losing (all while seeing down the road at a potential league title based on winning %). And you have something to back up this claim? Then you say if Nova had just played that one game--and lost--the Jays would have won the league. Of source there is no recognition that they didn't play DePaul either time.

Bottom line...Creighton had a chance to win the league straight out and lost to X and then Nova, without Gillespie for most of the game. But keep blaming Jay's gamesmanship. Have you seen our schedule? Do you get the impression Jay would play anyone, anywhere? Really bizzare take IMO...

Your best hope would have been a shared title if they played all of those games. If a shared banner during a pandemic makes you feel any better about your team last year, then have at it.

[Hall2012]

Yeah, it was UConn they missed rather than Butler, but I don't think that changes much. It just means they'd have been favorites in perhaps 4 of 5 rather than all 5. The odds of Nova losing 2 of the 5 missed games was slim at best. Their most likely record would have been 4-1, with 5-0 more likely than 3-2, and anything worse being pretty much nil.

We can agree to disagree until the end of time. I think it’s very reasonable based on Nova’s lack of success in road games last year to think they might have dropped a couple. Who knows? The bigger issue is the apparent unwillingness for Jay to reschedule all of the games. At least that’s the way it seemed then and appears to be confirmed by the league taking over responsibility of scheduling this year to prevent “gamesmanship”.

And you realize not all 5 games need to be played. It matters if even one of those games get rescheduled it could have changed everything.. If Jay could’ve somehow figured out a way to drive to UConn… which doesn’t seem that difficult…. And lost that one game, Nova is 11-5 and behind Creighton.

So you're gonna cherry pick only making up the game they may not have been favored in? The bottom line is 3 of the 5 games they missed were near automatic Ws. Creighton's only chance at tying them was if they went 0-2 in the others, something recent history says is unlikely.

We'd all obviously prefer a fully balanced schedule to be played every year, but suggesting Creighton got screwed out of the title when they were 2 back in the loss column seems like a stretch to me. I'd put the odds of Nova losing 2 of their unplayed games at around 15%.

[Hall2012]

Huh? Now Jay Wright is afraid to play someone? Are you serious Omaha?!? That might be the worst take of all. So Jay W.--2x NC, 3xFF and HOF coach, who has pretty much dominated the league in every way since inception, in mid-Jan. vs. a team with their lottery pick guard in bubble wrap b/c of an injury--decides to employ gamesmanship and didn't want to risk losing (all while seeing down the road at a potential league title based on winning %). And you have something to back up this claim? Then you say if Nova had just played that one game--and lost--the Jays would have won the league. Of source there is no recognition that they didn't play DePaul either time.

Bottom line...Creighton had a chance to win the league straight out and lost to X and then Nova, without Gillespie for most of the game. But keep blaming Jay's gamesmanship. Have you seen our schedule? Do you get the impression Jay would play anyone, anywhere? Really bizzare take IMO...

Your best hope would have been a shared title if they played all of those games. If a shared banner during a pandemic makes you feel any better about your team last year, then have at it.

Not just any someone. Apparently Jay Wright's afraid to play DePaul

If Jay Wright's trying to dodge games to play the system...he's awful at it. Who dodges their easy games?

[Omaha1]

Jerry Carino wrote this yesterday:

Giving the conference full authority to reschedule was important after the 2020-21 experience, when gamesmanship played a role in determining which postponed contests eventually got played. That doesn’t mean the jigsaw puzzle gets easier, though.

Of course we don’t know what would have happened but as a Creighton fan I obviously would have liked for every team to have played a full 20 game league schedule. It kind of sounds like some teams intentionally didn’t. He wrote the statement about the need for the Big East taking over because of perceived “gamesmanship” as a fact, not an opinion. Who would you suggest he was referring to?

[Novachap]

Jerry Carino wrote this yesterday:

Giving the conference full authority to reschedule was important after the 2020-21 experience, when gamesmanship played a role in determining which postponed contests eventually got played. That doesn’t mean the jigsaw puzzle gets easier, though.

Of course we don’t know what would have happened but as a Creighton fan I obviously would have liked for every team to have played a full 20 game league schedule. It kind of sounds like some teams intentionally didn’t. He wrote the statement about the need for the Big East taking over because of perceived “gamesmanship” as a fact, not an opinion. Who would you suggest he was referring to?

I can see your side of the argument, but that said, I think all would agree that everyone would have preferred a full schedule. Covid has been a bitch and scheduling last year was an even worse cluster than this year with all that was unknown. The league agreed to the structure last year, it is what it is.

That said, the BIGGEST issue from my perspective is Creighton had control of their own destiny and that is all anyone could ask for. The Jays didn't take advantage of it.

[Omaha1]

IIRC, Creighton played at least a game or two without Zegarowski during league play. Pretty sure that included the one at Butler where we got absolutely homered by the refs. Oh well. Sure was a fun season regardless.

Let’s hope we will get some hoops in 2022.