2015-2016 Opponent Preview, Game 1: UC Santa Barbara

August 19, 2015November 13, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball Alan Williams, Baxter Arena, Big West, Bob Williams, Central Arkansas, CJ Carter, Colorado State Rams, Creighton Bluejays, Florida Gulf Coast, Gabe Vincent, Jake White, John Green, Kansas Jayhawks, Larry Brown, Mavtown, Michael Bryson, Mike Rostampour, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Omaha Mavericks, Oregon Ducks, Santa Barbara Gauchos, Summit league, TraDeon Hollins, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks, Washington State Cougars

So there are 13 weeks until the Mavs basketball season starts, so what is a better time to start previewing their 2015 fourteen non-conference opponents? Probably last week actually if I wanted to take it one team at a time. Crap. Oh well. Here we go.

The Mavs will open their season at the brand new Baxter Arena in Mavtown with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. Don’t you love it how nicknames of California teams (pro and college) make no sense? This will be after Mav hockey will already be 10 games into the season, but there will not be any hockey this weekend, so really it is a great weekend to open up the season for the Baxter Arena for basketball. UNO Men’s soccer should be in Denver this weekend for the Summit League tournament and championship, and hopefully the women’s soccer team will have made some noise at this point and maybe have already made the Summit League tournament. This will also be the final weekend of the regular season for the volleyball team.

I know some Mav fans were expecting a bit time opponent to open up the arena. Some were thinking the likes of Nebraska or Creighton, but the Gauchos are not a small opponent by any means. In fact, they actually finished the 2015-2016 season with an RPI of 98. If case you forgot: Creighton finished at 157; and Nebraska finished at 155, but I know it is more about the name and prestige for most. The Gauchos also finished the year with a winning record, tied for 2nd with UC Irvine in the Big West, and a trip to the CBI where they lost to Summit League team Oral Roberts.

In addition to all of this, Santa Barbara had one win over a power conference team, Washington State. I know Washington State is someone to not take incredibly seriously right now as far as power conference teams ago, but the Gauchos beat them 71-43.

Side note: My Northwest friends are mostly Washington State fans. Last year, when I heard UNO was going to Seattle and looking to play Washington or Washington State while in the Northwest, I told my Northwest friends that they might have a Mavericks versus Cougars match up. They laughed and said “there is an easy win for UNO.”

Speaking of Seattle, remember when UNO lost to them and we were incredibly shocked by it? The Gauchos beat Seattle 87-46. Looking at the rest of their 2014-2015 schedule, they had some close losses to some good teams. As mentioned, they lost to Oral Roberts by 4 in the CBI. The Gauchos also traveled to Lawrence early in the year to lose to Kansas by 10, the Jayhawks had a final RPI of 5. The team did also split games with Florida Gulf Coast, losing to Dunk City by 6 in overtime before beating them by 13 later in the non-conference schedule.

I really wish UNO and Colorado State could meet every year, the Rams are a fun team to watch, and they are “sort of local” with a large number of UNO alumni (and former Omahans) in the state of Colorado. Santa Barbara lost to the Rams by 2. Colorado State had a final RPI of 37.

Speaking of other teams I would like to see UNO play, but this is because of my wife’s fan hood, Santa Barbara lost to Oregon by 4 points in overtime in Eugene. Also, a team I hate discussing, SMU, beat Santa Barbara by 7. Larry Brown’s final experiment finished with an RPI of 27.

The Gauchos are coached by Bob Williams, who has been with Santa Barbara since 1998 after winning a Division 2 championship with (then D-2) UC Davis. Williams has made the NCAA tournament with the Gauchos 3 times, his last time was in 2010-2011.

Who did they lose?

The Gauchos lost a huge piece of their team. 6’8″ and 265lbs Alan Williams averaged a double double in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons for Santa Barbara. He was an All Big West player for all three of those seasons as well. He is actually probably solely responsible for what kept Santa Barbara in the game against Kansas, as he showed to be too much for Perry Ellis, in which Williams had 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

Williams averaged 17.3 ppg and 11.8 rpg his senior season, he also was not a terrible free throw shooter at 77%. He had a 20 rebound performance in a 65-60 overtime win over Mercer. Oh Williams also led the NCAA in rebounding in 2014 and in 2015.

Willaims did miss 6 games in 2014-2015 with the Gauchos going 4-2 in his absence, and those two losses were against UC Irvine and UC Davis, the two top teams in the Big West.

After finishing his career as a Gaucho, Williams played for the Houston Rockets and Charlotte Hornets in the NBA Summer League, where he was named All Summer League 2nd team after a 22 points and 21 rebound performance against the 76ers. He has signed professionally with a Chinese team.

I feel like Mike Rostampour would have loved competing against this guy.

Who do they have coming back?

Williams is obviously a huge loss, but he was not the only Big West 1st Team player that the Gauchos had. 6’4″ senior Michael Bryson also made the all conference team after averaging 14 points and nearly 5 rebounds a game. Bryson loves taking threes, he made about 2 threes per game in 2014-2015 with a total of 68 on the year. In comparison, CJ Carter, who led the Mavericks, made 48 on the season. Bryson also shot 85% from the free throw line.

The Gauchos return two more wing players that averaged over 10 per game last season. 6’5″ senior John Green averaged 11 points and 4 rebounds per game, though Green was mostly used at the 4 position last season since, other than Williams, the Gauchos did not have much of a post game. The team also return 6’3″ sophomore Gabe Vincent who averaged 10 per game, but did face inconsistencies throughout the year, as most freshman do. Vincent shot 41% on threes on the year, and had a total of 57.

So you’re telling me there is a chance?

Probably the Mavericks biggest weakness last season was their perimeter defense, so you get a little scared when you hear they are facing a team with their strength being their group of returning wing players. The Gauchos will be trying to adjust to life without a walking double double, and after Williams, the Gauchos did not have a reliable post game.

So the keys to the game could be how much the Mavs can work the ball into Jake White and Tre’Shawn Thurman, as well as how good of a perimeter defender new Mavericks Tra-Deon Hollins can be in the game…who sounds to be a pretty stellar defender.

This is not going to be as easy of a game as playing Central Arkansas to open up the year, but to get better the Mavs have to play the best, this is great competition. As of right now, it does sound as if Santa Barbara has the edge, but hopefully opening up the new arena (to basketball) can create a great atmosphere to give the Mavs a great home court advantage in this game.

Toughness: From Rostampour to Thurman

June 30, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball Alex Gordon, Devin Patterson, George Brett, Jake White, Kyle Korver, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Marcus Tyus, Michael Jordan, Mike Rostampour, Omaha Mavericks, Steph Curry, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks

So I started this over two weeks ago, but I got sidetracked with a few things. I work two jobs, my wife had a family reunion, and also I pumped the brakes on this because I have been listening to a bunch of motivational speech compilations on YouTube because I was motivating myself to be a bad ass for a promotion at my place of business…so I did not want this too come off too preachy…or douchey. I tried to edit this a bit to make it not too douchey, but I don’t know, screw you, I’m dumb.

Have you read Mike Rostampour’s blog? It’s actually really something special. Maybe it is the timing that I have found an interest in it. Due to some just personal situations, I have been listening to a bunch of motivational speeches on YouTube the last couple of weeks, just trying to figure this whole life thing out and whatnot. I think Rostampour’s blog and story provides some teaching lessons for athletes, but it is quite possible that the most important stories are the ones that were never told.

Side note: in the middle of writing this, by complete coincidence, I saw Tre’Shawn Thurman tweet about Mike Rostampour’s blog.

As someone who is not even 5’10”, I typically find myself pondering, what if I would have made it to 6 foot, would I of had a chance at playing basketball longer in the life? The answer is simple…the answer is fucking no. When I ask myself that question, the question is based on the assumption that you need to be tall to play basketball.

I worked pretty hard at basketball, before I understood what hard work really was too. My friends and I played basketball every day in the summer, no matter how hot it got, we played ball; if it rained, we played too. The only thing that ever stopped us was a blizzard. The unfortunate thing was that my parents did not know how to get me involved into basketball leagues. They thought me playing in the driveway was enough to prepare me. It was not until I was 14 and I participated in my high school’s basketball camp that I actually figured things out. When I first started out in the camp, I could not catch the ball from certain passes. There were just so many things that I had never seen that I could have learned when I was younger if I would have gotten involved earlier. Despite not seeing all of these situations on the court that I was seeing and learning for the first time, my strengths in basketball was my court vision, ball handling, and passing. My shooting was not too bad either back at that time, but it was not great. My weaknesses were things you would expect in a guy that had not played any real competitive games or actually been coached: poor footwork, poor defense, lack of confidence, lack of toughness.

Toward the end of camp, we were playing in a pick up game, and this kid and I were getting into it, and he started talking smack and telling me that I sucked and that I would never be on the team. Despite what the freshman team coaches told me, that I would make the team, I believed this kid’s negative talk. I walked away from competitive basketball, I quit before I even had a real chance. Essentially, like most people in this world, I was afraid of failure. I told myself a little bullshit story in my head that I would work out by myself on drills and come out my sophomore year as a new man, but I didn’t do that…I didn’t grow from failure. I still played pick up games in the gym. My sophomore year I was in a game with a kid that was First Team All State, and he dismantled me. For every 10 great plays he had, I had one great play. I let it get to me. I should have looked at it as a learning lesson to work harder, but at the time I did not see the point.

Everyone wants to be successful, but not many want to put in that work. Many college students want to be successful, but not as much as they want to party; and I admit that I was in that camp for a while. Many young people think that they can be professional partiers because of shows like Jersey Shore and Real World. Unsuccessful people try to pick apart the people that are actually working toward success, and make fun of them for working and try to expose their potential failure. I saw some people make fun of Rostampour for thinking he could be in the NBA someday. I also know about 100 dudes that said Anthony Tolliver would never make the NBA. Tolliver realized what skills he needed to make the NBA, I remember him saying he needed to add a consistent three point shot to his game to set himself apart from 6’8″ and 240lbs guys like him. He went to Europe to play, made the NBA, got cut, played in the NBDL, made the NBA, got cut, went back to Europe, went back to the NBDL again, and finally found a niche with the Golden State Warriors. How many people were making fun of him along the way and thought he should have just quit and be a really bad ass real estate agent? Too many.

So, why bring this up? Now, I know that I am not the only kid on the planet to go through this. Why the answer to, would I have made it at 6 foot is no, is because toughness is what I lacked. It does not matter if you are 5’3″ or 6’7″, if you do not try, if you quit, when you fail, then you are not going to get anywhere. If you read the Rostampour blog, you see the struggle that it is to become a division one athlete. Growing up, I thought most division one athletes were there because they were naturally gifted and everything worked out perfectly for them. Nope.

It is not until I met my wife that I understood how much work went into being a division one athlete. I learned of how many sacrifices she had to make to achieve her goals. She never went to a party in high school, because she was too busy putting up threes in the gym, or getting in as many swings as she could get in the batting cages. Her family did not go on many vacations because they put money into her softball equipment and travel expenses for her travel ball team. She did not get to spend much time with her then boyfriend (which I secretly applaud) because of all the hard work she had to put into softball, basketball, and academics. Every time I watch some movie that came out from 1998-2005 with my wife, it is basically the first time she has ever seen that movie. She did not even have the time to watch movies at that stage in her life. My wife is incredibly tough and competitive as well. We both have Fitbits and we do challenges, if I ever have more steps than her she will go crazy and walk around our apartment until she is 500 steps ahead of me and then gives me a talk on how she has to get ahead of me because she did not become the athlete she became by underestimating her opponents.

How many high school athletes have you heard of that quit on their sport because their girlfriend, that eventually broke up with them anyway, did not want to go to college where they were getting D-1 offers to? Would you rather tell people that you failed or that you quit? Not many people want to put that much work into anything anymore. It is too easy to give up. It is much easier to pay someone to fix your car (and screw you over) than it is to learn to do it for yourself. In the fitness field my wife tells many people the same thing that applies to this…that if it was easy, then everyone would be thin.

Recently, I tweeted to Rostampour saying that I thought he was EXACTLY what UNO needed when he showed up. I wrote about that, I meant it, and I still mean it. There was not much fight in a transitioning team in just their second year when he joined the team as a walk on. When I first read the Omaha World Herald article about a post player transferring from St. Cloud State, I admit it, I had negative thoughts. My first thought was: this guy just came to UNO just to say he was a D-1 guy. I under estimated everything about Rostampour, and I know I am not the only one. He became the tough guy of the boy band, added some spice, and built himself up to be the emotional leader.

When I first saw him live and up in person the year he redshirted, I saw him standing there and I just did not think much of it. Then at every timeout, when his teammates would come to the bench, Rostampour was always the first to greet his team to the bench. It was what he could contribute in games, he could have just sat there with an Ah Shucks look on his face the whole time, but he did not waste a second of that time he had to sit out. Every time his teammates would get outworked for a rebound, you could see him look up to God and ask if he could transfer his toughness to that player somehow, or if the NCAA would just randomly change a rule and he could just go into the game at that moment.

Reading about how hard he worked in that redshirt year is inspiring. There was no guarantee that he would eventually get a scholarship. It had to be earned. That is a problem with us as people. We say that a player has received a scholarship offer. We say that we have received our degree or our diploma. No. Players earn scholarship offers, and even walk on offers. We earn college degrees.

Rostampour said (paraphrasing) he hoped he left some toughness for the team to learn from it and grow. At this point, let me just say that I do think that guys like John Karhoff, Matt Hagerbaumer, Justin Simmons, CJ Carter, Alex Phillips, Jake White, Devin Patterson, Marcus Tyus, and other Mavericks have had toughness. But Rostampour toughness? This is probably where you think I will complain that the team will never have that level of toughness and intensity ever again, but no…actually I think Rostampour said after the Mavs opening game against Central Arkansas that Jake White went into that game with an incredible amount of intensity and toughness…but here I am talking about that sophomore forward Tre’Shawn Thurman could be taking over that toughness role, if not his sophomore season, then definitely in his junior season. I am not just talking about the physical toughness, I am mostly talking about mental toughness, probably one of the most important things you can have in life.

As an Omaha guy, I can tell you this about Thurman. There were mixed emotions from people that pay attention to Omaha/Nebraska high school basketball. This guy I met, who appeared to be a walking Nebraska High School Basketball Encyclopedia had nothing but great things to say about Thurman. He literally did not say one negative thing about Thurman, and there were some current and former Nebraska high school athletes that he had some negative things to say about their games and mindsets. He told me that Thurman as a freshman, is better than a bulk of what was on Creighton’s roster in 2014-2015. That he could have gone to play just about anywhere, maybe not be in every team’s rotation right away, but could play on most teams. Then there were others around here who said negative things. Some said he was too inconsistent, that he was lazy and that is why he did not end up at a bigger college, that in some games in high school it just appeared that there were nights that he did not seem to care, and other things. Go ahead and check out Husker Hoops Central on what they (mostly bitter Nebrasketball fans) said about Thurman and Benson’s Khyri Thomas (now at Creighton) when they were both in high school and locals talked about them as potential future Huskers (I think you may have to be a member to read about the recruiting, and I am not sure how long they keep it up). It was not all entirely pleasant stuff.

I am not saying that on the 2015-2016 roster that Thurman is the only player that is capable of being Rostampour tough. Devin Patterson certainly added toughness when he was brought onto the team, and he probably has his own brand of scary toughness. Jake White brought it when he came to the program. The general perception though is that Thurman was taken under Rostampour’s wing and referred to as a sponge, and wanted to learn absolutely everything that he possibly could. As a Mav fan, I so hope that Thurman learned that toughness and hard work from Rostampour (and it certainly seems that he has). When Thurman throws out tweets like “I don’t plan to be off anymore spring breaks if you get my drift,” I think he gets it. It is refreshing to see a young guy that wants to learn and can learn from the older tough minded guys like Rostampour. Per the Book of Basketball, the greatest book of all time, many younger players could not handle someone like Michael Jordan’s frame of mind and it just ruined a lot of guys. Many of them had to go, but the ones that stayed with the Bulls were the ones who realized they needed to work their freaking asses off to play with Jordan.

My favorite Thurman memory in his young career is his game against Nevada. There was a pretty big crowd given that it was Nevada, who has some prestige, and Omaha Benson’s Tyron Criswell played for the team, and it was Thurman’s first start at home and first home game since beating Marquette and giving Nebraska a show. Jake White was still out with an injury, and no one knew what was going to happen to Thurman’s playing time once White got back, so I feel it was the perfect situation for Thurman to go off. He played with a special bounce in his legs, he made shots that had fans see some things that they were not expecting to see, he basically owned that game. I was thinking to myself…so we are going to have this kid for give or take 120ish more games? Even as great as he was that day, he went 4 of 8 from the line, and that seemed to be more of what he focused on. He tweeted after the game that he needed to work on his free throws. He did not come out and say “I had 18 in a win, screw all y’all…I’m awesome.”

I think that toughness in general, for the most part, is a personality trait from people telling you that cannot do it for a number of years. Look at Alex Gordon, in the environment of Lincoln his entire life, he was told how amazing he was as a Lincoln Southeast athlete and Husker baseball player. Even as a player in the Royals farm system, George Brett and fans talked about how Gordon could turn out to be one of the greatest third basemen of all time. When he got to the MLB, it was not working out, it took a few years for him to learn that he was not God’s Gift. This is what I’ve heard from people in the know, but he didn’t want to take in hitting advice from older players and that his way of doing things always worked, so why add in anything else? After a while of being a below average hitter, and all the fans finally turning on him telling him that he sucked constantly, he finally said he was tired of getting out all the time. He was sent to Omaha to learn to be an outfielder, which at first seemed like his soul was taken from Shang Tsung at the end of Mortal Kombat. Many players in Gordon’s situation would have just asked to have been traded, they would have gone to a team that was worse than the Royals, which would have been incredibly shitty at the time, and they would have lasted a few more years before becoming a permanent triple A third basemen. Instead, he realized what he had to do to kick some ass, worked on everything that he could to be an outstanding outfielder and is regarded as one of the best outfielders in the big league today. It was not until Gordon had a few years of failure that he had to learn to be a winner.

The same in a way goes for someone like LeBron James. You may not think it, but it’s pretty true. His whole life he was told how amazing he was, no one was going up to LeBron in high school and telling he sucked at basketball and winning that debate. When he got to the NBA he lost and lost and lost at first and was told by many that Carmelo was actually a better team player and winner. If you can find his first NBA game against the Sacramento Kings that the Cavs lost, they tried to interview him after the game…which might be the only time in the history of sports that an 18 year old was interviewed after his team lost…and you can tell that LeBron was not completely mentally tough yet. You can tell he was completely nervous that the Cavs might have gone 0-82 that year and everyone would blame him. Now LeBron loses a game and says “F it, we have to go work harder now.” He had to listen to the LeBron versus Kobe debates and the LeBron versus Jordan debates forever, and still does. Averaged 7 assists a game and was told that the Cavs were not winning because he was too selfish because he scored 31 a night. LeBron thought he had it all finally figured out for a championship until the Boston Celtics pulled off a few trades to get Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to have three superstars that did not care about stats or what people had to say about them at that point in their careers.

Steph Curry was told his entire life that he was one of the best shooters that the world had seen, but when it came to being drafted many said he was too small and shooting was all he had. Hell he averaged 6 assists and 2 steals a game as a rookie in the NBA and people still said he couldn’t pass or defend. Brian Scalabrine told a story recently that as a new assistant he was telling the Warriors players that when he played with Kyle Korver that Korver would stay after practice and shoot 100 threes from everywhere behind the arch and would routinely hit 94 threes; and the Warriors players thought Scal was a loon, but then a week later after a practice he found Curry now doing the exact same thing as Korver. Curry had the perfect shot, but now was being told that someone out there might be outworking him, so why not build on perfect? Not having toughness would have been calling Scal an idiot and going home and watching Iron Man 2, Curry did the what I think is the exact opposite of that.

The greats, Jordan, Magic, and Bird all talk about people telling them they could not do it. They attribute their failures as to the reasons they succeeded so well. I think the only one that told Magic that he could not do it was Bird though. Jordan apparently needed Pippen to slap him around a little bit and humble him, and Bird was just crazy. Bird was the ultimate, he got off on people telling he could not do it and loved working at proving them wrong. Read Larry Bird’s “Drive”, seriously, the man is crazy.

So you take Thurman’s love of basketball and athletic ability, throw in a spice of “this guy is lazy” and a mix of “he wouldn’t get these numbers at Creighton or Nebraska”, but you add in a few cups of Rostampour’s Screw Them Let’s Go Show Them Wrong attitude and you have yourself a recipe for something incredibly special. Am I saying that you should scream at Thurman and tell him that he sucks in the middle of games? I’m not sure, but probably not, I like craft beer too much to make great decisions…But maybe you should appreciate his hard work other than just his dunking ability.

A look back at the players The Summit League has lost from 2014-2015

May 19, 2015November 11, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball Adam Thoseby, Brandon Bos, Brett Olson, Cam Griffin, Cameron Delaney, CJ Carter, Cody Larson, Craig Smith, DavRon Williams, DeAngelo Stewart, Denver Pioneers, Deondre Parks, Devin Patterson, Dorian Butler, Gage Davis, Garrett Covington, George Marshall, Herbert Graham, IPFW Mastadons, Isaiah McCray, IUPUI Jaguars, Jake Bittle, Jake White, Jalen Love, James Gardner, James Hunter, Joe Edwards, Jure Gunjina, Khufu Najee, Lawrence Alexander, Malik Clements, Marcus Tyus, Michael Daum, Mike Rostampour, Mohammed Conde, North Dakota Bison, Omaha Mavericks, Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, Reed Tellinghuisen, Scott Nagy, Scott Sutton, Skyler Flatten, South Dakota Coyotes, South Dakota State Jackrabbits, Steve Forbes, Taco Cannon, The Summit League, Tre'Shawn Thurman, Tyler Larson, UNO Mavericks, Western Illinois Leathernecks, Zach Horstman

Every year we as sports fans analyze teams in college sports in consideration to what players teams lost versus what they have coming back, and what they have potentially coming in. It is the easiest and the laziest way to determine who we think will be the best and worst teams. So before all of that starts, lets take a look at the players the Summit League has lost so far from the 2014-2015 season.

North Dakota State – The Bison won the Summit League championship for the second straight year, and they are only losing one player to graduation. So the lazy man will tell you that with only losing one player, they will probably go on for a three peat. No, no, no, we are talking about a potential eight peat here. That is a Bill Swerski’s Superfans reference. The problem with the They Won the Championship and Are Only Losing One Player argument is that the only player that they are losing was the best player in the entire league.

Graduated:

Lawrence Alexander – there is no doubt that it will be difficult for the Bison to make up for the loss of Alexander, the 2014-2015 Conference Player of the Year. Losing 19 points per game is no easy thing to lose, but we know players cannot stick around forever Senior to be, Kory Brown showed some moments of that he could be the guy to make up that loss, but the Bison won the Summit League the last two years behind a complete team effort, so they will have to band together again to continue their dominant run in the Summit League. They did pick up a commitment from Malik Clements, a 6’3″ junior college guard that will be a sophomore, who did at one time have an offer from the Mavericks. They also have still no player on their roster that is smaller than 6’3″.

Transferred:

Jake Showalter – After only playing 13 games and averaging 1.4 points per game, it is no surprise to see the guard from Wisconsin transfer out after his freshman year. With the addition of above mentioned Clements, Showalter was still probably going to be at the bottom of the rotation for the guards of the Bison.

South Dakota State – A team that only loses 2 players to graduation, but one player was an All Conference player and arguably the best post player in the league.

Graduated:

Zach Horstman – the senior was getting a lot of playing time before getting sidelined with an injury and being forced to miss two games against Omaha and IUPUI, this opened up more room for some of the younger guys to show off what they could do. Before missing those two games, Horstman had 5 (out of 17) games of scoring in double figures and did not have any afterwards. With lack of depth in the front court, the Jackrabbits had Horstman playing most of his time at the 4, but at 6’6″ and 205 pounds he was probably more in line to be playing the 3. The Jackrabbits will have Reed Tellinghuisen and Skyler Flatten to still pick up most of the time for Horstman, and both are very capable players. Not only that, but the Jackrabbits will have Nebraska native, Michael Daum to make up for the lost time at the 4 position, who redshirted in the 2014-2015 season.

Cody Larson – the perennial Lord of Jerkfaces and former First Team All Summit League player will definitely be tough for the Jackrabbits to make up. Sophomore to be Ian Theisen showed some strong moments of what could come in the future for the post game of the Jackrabbits, and the Jackrabbits have some pretty big expectations from Daum, but are they 9 double-doubles good? Are they 14 and 7 good? Yes, I just puked a little. I will be the first to admit it, and I have already mentioned variations of this before though, the Summit League was not stacked with really good post players this season. There was Larson, Steve Forbes, and Mike Rostampour as the top 3, and then a big drop off after that. Where was I going with this? Not entirely sure, I just started saying that and was hoping it would go somewhere. Maybe, just that the loss of Larson is not as big as it seems if no one else in the Summit League has a great post game.

Transferred:

Anders Broman – I remember coming out of high school, the Jackrabbits were incredibly excited about Broman. Every school sounds excited about every player coming out of high school though. It is not like Scott Nagy comes out to announce the players he signed and talks about his expectations of a few of them never developing and transferring out. Either way, Broman is on his way to Winthorp. Not sure his playing time was going to really increase his junior year playing behind Wisconsin transfer George Marshall, Jake Bittle, and Deondre Parks. Seriously, does that guard trio not scare you, especially with Tellinghuisen and Flatten also capable of playing the guard position?

Oral Roberts – The 2015-2016 does not look like anything the Golden Eagles are looking forward to on paper, but Scott Sutton has seen this and done this before.

Graduated:

Denell Henderson – the loss of Henderson will mean Oral Roberts will again not have much of a post game, but they have never been extremely reliable in their post game. Henderson averaged 3.5 points per game his junior year, before moving up to 8.8 points per game his senior year. Albert Owens averaged 3.8 points per game this last season as a freshman, so is it pretty safe to say Owens will just kind of take over that role. Yes, I based that off of very little. No offense to Henderson, but it is not a bunch to make up. Oral Roberts also has two freshman coming in that are taller than 6’7″, so there is really not a ton of fallout here.

Adrion Webber – I think Oral Roberts made the most appearances on ESPN3 out of all the Summit League teams last season. I watched most of their games, and I cannot remember Webber’s name ever being mentioned. He did score 9 on the Mavericks in their game in Tulsa, so it is possible I was too engulfed in anger to take in anyone’s name from the Golden Eagles during that game. Former Creighton guy, Darian Harris did see an increase in minutes toward the end of the year, I assume Harris is a guy that is capable of making up for the loss of Webber.

Transferred:

Korey Billbury – probably the biggest loss in the Summit League in terms of a guy transferring out. It sounded as if Billbury had issues off the court that forced him to leave, which is why it is not really a huge shocker that he transferred out. With Obi Emegano, I really thought these two had the chance to be the greatest guard combination in the Summit League for 2015-2016, but that will never be played out. He shot 13-19 against the Mavericks in Tulsa, that is why I cannot remember Webber’s name. On the court, he also averaged 14.4 points per game and led the Golden Eagles in rebounds with 7.4 per game. Billbury’s game will be a lot for the Golden Eagles to make up, but they did beat North Dakota State, Denver, IUPUI, and a CBI tournament game without him last season.

Dederick Lee – not a shocking loss for the Golden Eagles here. Former Maverick, Jalen Bradley will more than make up the loss for Lee.

Jabarr Singleton – another guy Bradley can make up for. Singleton did score 10 points in the Golden Eagles win over the Mavericks in Tulsa. Seriously, what the hell was going on in that game?

Bobby Word – an incredibly significant loss for the Golden Eagles. Known mostly for being a shooter, Word averaged 8.4 points per game as a sophomore. He also averaged 13.5 points per game after Billbury stopped playing, I cannot see Golden Eagle fans being super excited about losing both of those guys on the court. The Oral Roberts, are going to be a pretty young team this upcoming season.

IPFW – The Mastadons had high expectations at the beginning of the 2014-2015 season, and it was partially because of their senior trio of Joe Edwards, Steve Forbes, and Isaiah McCray, but with first year head coach Jon Coffman never really materializing the roster, and ultimately just seeming somewhat bored on the bench, the Dons fell below expectations. If their expectations were so high because of the players they lost, what are they going to be like next season without those guys? The Dons did sign three junior college players in an attempt to land some guys to be immediate impacts, so they could be the Magic 8 ball of the league in 2015-2016.

Graduated:

Joe Edwards – losing 12 points per game can be made up. The Dons picked up a 6’5″ junior college player, who at one time played at Alabama State, DeAngelo Stewart who averaged nearly 17 points per game and shot 47% from the field his sophomore year. He averaged 2 points per game as a true freshman at Alabama State, yes Alabama State is a real college.

Steve Forbes – some could argue that Forbes was the best post player in the Summit League, and really it was just because of his roundness and overall size. There was not much seen out of him from a leadership standpoint, just a Hey Lets Get Out There and Try Maybe and We Can Still Get Some Nuggets Afterwards Anyway mentality. I would have much rather had Mike Rostampour or Cody Larson as my team’s main post player last year, each guy had that leadership quality you are looking for. The Dons may have fell off the map because of how little Forbes seemed to give a shit. I watched their loss at South Dakota in March, and kept thinking that Forbes should have been dominating the Coyotes post. South Dakota’s James Hunter, who averaged 6 points a game, had 16 points in the game off of 8 of 12 shooting, because he actually cared about the game.

Kevin Harden – Kevin Harden was never the same after missing 21 games in 2012-2013 with an injury. His minutes kept dropping, his scoring kept dropping, he just fell out at IPFW. It is something that you hate watching happen, but it does happen.

Isaiah McCray – McCray was always capable of doing a lot of things at IPFW, he just never did a lot of things at IPFW. As one of the more inconsistent players in the Summit League, McCray may not be dearly missed by the Dons. They still have junior to be, Mo Evans (10.2 ppg), and senior to be Max Landis, who was on the Summit League All Newcomer team, to make McCray a forgettable player. The more I type, the more easy it is to understand why IPFW did not do as well as expected in 2014-2015.

Transferred:

Gage Davis – He did not play in 2014-2015.

Herbert Graham – everyone likes a guy named Herb, well except for the IPFW coaching staff apparently. In 3 years, he only played a total of 195 minutes at IPFW.

Jure Gunjina – he played in 243 minutes in his one year at IPFW before transferring to Division 2 Georgia Southwestern. Seriously, what has IPFW been doing the last couple of years.

South Dakota – I still feel like head coach Craig Smith did the most with the least in the Summit League in 2014-2015. The losses of Brandon Bos and Tyler Larson will be tough tough on the Coyotes, but Smith continues to bring guys in. He will have Iowa transfer Trey Dickerson and Air Force transfer Matt Mooney sitting out in 2015-2016, unless they get some form of waiver, but Smith is quickly turning South Dakota into the Transfer Here school in the Summit League, which instate foe South Dakota State cannot be too excited about.

Graduated:

Brandon Bos – It can be difficult to make up for someone who was a great shooter, but great shooters are all around the Midwest. And again, Craig Smith, he is no idiot. If you watched the game mentioned earlier with Steve Forbes full out not caring against South Dakota, you would have noticed Brandon Bos playing the game of his life scoring 29 points on 7 of 12 shooting, he also had 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

James Hunter – Hunter came into Vermillion from Washington State and did just enough to give South Dakota some form of a post game. He may have only averaged 6 points per game and 3.5 rebounds, but it is not like he was worthless. Without him, the Coyotes could of had Tyler Larson playing center. Smith will have Nebraska native Tyler Hagedorn and Minnesota guy Dan Jech to come in to fill in the post in 2015-2016, along with a core of upperclassmen guards, the Coyotes may actually have some expectations coming their way at the beginning of the year. Thanks a lot, Craig Smith.

Tyler Larson – at 6’3″ Larson averaged nearly 8 rebounds a game, and averaged 14.4 points per game. He could do a little bit of everything, which is what helped him land on First Team All Summit League team. Not to brag, but I think I called that one.

Transferred

Adam Thoseby – The Coyotes lost one of the greatest beards that the Summit League has ever seen. Thoseby’s minutes were dropped significantly from his sophomore to his junior year, so it was no surprise to see him go.

Denver – Only graduating two players can be a good thing, but only graduating arguably your two best players can prove to be a headache. Losing your two best players and not doing nearly as well as anyone would have thought you would have done, that can lead to a mystery team next season. They will essentially be playing Clue on the court in 2015-2016. Now who scored the shot from the corner last game that started with a pump fake, and can they do it again?

Graduated:

Cam Griffin – Griffin had some off the court issues, which caused his playing time to fluctuate throughout the season. Fans do not miss these guys.

Brett Olson – averaging 14 points per game at a school like Denver, who runs the Princeton offense, is like losing a guy that averages 20 points per game at a different school. One of the best shooters and most disciplined players in the entire league will not be an easy thing to make up. Denver has never been a team for the stars though, they have been successful off of team efforts. Head Coach, Joe Scott, may actually prefer not to have a main scorer on his team. Either way, losing a 2nd team All Summit League player is not anything that anyone should ever be in love with.

Transferred:

Dorian Butler – the 6’6″ California native never played for the Pioneers.

Cameron Delaney – Delaney started to pick up some minutes toward the end of the 2014-2015 season, but it was not enough to convince the Texas native to stay. Delaney and Love could have really been a decent combo for the Pioneers in 2015-2016, but we will never know. Delaney is off to Sam Houston State, which is where all great players go.

Jalen Love – surprised to see him go, I really thought he would have been a guy that would have been used to make up for the loss of Griffin and Olson. But he is off to (Hello,) Newman.

IUPUI – There have been a ton of transfers in and transferred out with the Jaguars since Jason Gardner has taken over at IUPUI, which is not entirely abnormal. I am not really sure they will miss anyone that left, mainly because I doubt the staff has had enough time to learn everyone’s names. They have lost a lot of players, but they have been one of the worst teams in the Summit League, so it is not like the guys they bring in can be any worse. With 5 guys transferring out, you may want to assume that they were leaving because they see the incoming players as guys that are going to be better than them. 6 wins though in 2014-2015 is probably 6 more wins than most people assumed the Jaguars were going to get.

Graduated:

Player name, 2014-2015 stats

Khufu Najee – 6’4″, 190lbs…7.4 ppg, 3,1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 44% FG, 28-35 FTs, 6-22 3pters

DavRon Williams – 6’7″, 225lbs…8.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.7 blg, 57% FG, 58% FT

Transferred:

PJ Boute – 5’9″ , 160lbs, Junior…5.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.0 spg, 30% FG, 32% 3ptFG, 78% FT

Josh James – 6’9″, 225 lbs, Sophomore…3.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.4 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.5 bpg, 48% FG, 69% FT

Jalen McCallum – 5’9″, 160lbs, Sophomore…2.3 ppg, 0.1 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.6 spg, 56% FG, 2-3 FT

Elijah Ray – 6’6″, 232lbs, Sophomore…4.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.3 spg, 47% FG, 70% FT

Justus Stanback – 6’8″ 220lbs, Sophomore…2.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.2 bpg, 52% FG

Omaha – Another a team only graduating two players, but also losing their two best players. On top of losing their two best players, the Mavs top returning players; Devin Patterson, Marcus Tyus, and Jake White each had a significant number of injuries during the 2014-2015 season. If Jake White can get healthy, he and Tre’Shawn Thurman can hopefully make up for what the Mavs are losing in Rostampour on the court. Neither of them really seem to have the motor and intangibles that Rostampour brought to the Mavs however, not sure anyone does really. It is still possible that the Mavs could lose some players to transfer as they have yet to announce any players leaving. The Mavs will also have to learn to deal with more buzz in 2015-2016 as it is their first year being fully eligible for division one, and they will have a brand new arena. Oh, and we cannot forget the Taco Cannon prestige.

Graduated: – I am not going to talk a lot about them at this point, because I kind of already have…

CJ Carter – 2nd Team All Summit

Mike Rostampour – Honorable Mention All Summit

Western Illinois – Although the Leathernecks only went 3-13 against the Summit League in 2014-2015, they have to be pretty optimistic about 2015-2016, when they return their two top scorers, and one of those players was a 2nd Team All Conference player. Really Western Illinois does not lose much of anything, and a number of players on the team showed some flashes of being quality players. Really, I feel like the Leathernecks spent the entire 2014-2015 campaign as a way of waiting for the summer of 2015.

Graduated:

Mohammed Conde – led the Leathernecks in rebounding at 6 per game. The Leathernecks are bringing in two 6’10 freshman, so it is possible that they will not even notice the loss, or at least will fill in the loss pretty quickly. The Leathernecks really played from the outside-in, rather than the inside-out this season, so the post game was never really anything they relied on.

Remy Roberts-Burnett – I am not sure if he had some injuries or off the court issues, but his time decreased significantly this season and he missed 9 games this last season. I also do not want to be mean, but Western Illinois went 5-4 without him. They ended the season 8-20. Math.

Transferred:

Tyson Reynold – The 6’9″ junior from New York played a total of 14 minutes and scored 2 points for Western Illinois. Remember the fallen.

Kendall Rollins- Never played.

Meet future Mav Zach Pirog

April 7, 2015November 11, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball Daniel Meyer, Jake White, JT Gibson, Mike Rostampour, North Dakota State Bison, Omaha Mavericks, Rylan Murry, South Dakota State Jackrabbits, The Summit League, TraDeon Hollins, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks, Zach Pirog

With the addition of a 6’10” center from Colorado, the first year of being fully eligible for the post season, the UNO Mavericks men’s basketball team will be one of the biggest teams in the Summit League.

Okay, so height is not everything, but it does not hurt most of the time. South Dakota State and North Dakota State have been able to be dominant the last couple of years with their balanced attack of controlling the paint with their front court while being able to shoot the ball and play strong perimeter defense with their back courts. The Mavs are starting to get more and more of that balance as they are still growing. We are also still in transfer and late commitments period, so anything could happen to the Mavs roster, or to any Summit League team still. You still have to be excited about the signing of a guy like Zach Pirog. ESPN’s recruiting database, which could basically be summed up in three words “It really sucks,” has only taken the time to rate a few of the recruits that UNO has had over the last couple of years, Nick Billingsley in 2013 and Jalen Jones in 2014, neither of them ended up at UNO. I am not saying that to anger you or scare the crap out of you, just saying that anything can happen. Either way, I hope that Pirog is completely committed to the Mavs.

It is still unclear if Pirog will redshirt or not, Derrin Hansen has a history of redshirting bigger guys, but you know, we are kind of in a new era here, so we will have to wait an see. It is going to be interesting to see what unfolds with the Mavs front court with the loss of Mike Rostampour. Jake White can hopefully be more healthy in his senior year, Tre’Shawn Thurman is already a star, and Rylan Murry and Daniel Meyer showed moments of potential during their freshmen year. Now you are going to add Pirog (and walk on 6’8″ Ben Kositzke from Millard West) to that group, Thurman and Murry also both have the potential to play the 3, so at times the Mavs could have a very big lineup on the court like when North Dakota State did when they won the 2014 Summit League tournament.

So what do you think when you watch this video? With it starting with a minute and a half of his shot blocking ability, I immediately get excited of the potential. He is not just blocking his defender, he is blocking anything that comes at him. Take notice of how well he moves and shifts on defense. Pirog next to Thurman on the court at the same time has to get you a little excited. That combo on defense will provide so much rim protection. They will basically form a gate around the paint and make it extremely difficult for teams to get easy baskets. When we get a chance to get Pirog and Thurman on the court at the same time, I am going to coin it as “The Devil’s Gate.” It is a cattle term. We are the Mavericks. It sounds scary. Deal with it.

Another thing to take notice is how well he moves without the ball, his footwork is great. Yes I know it is a highlight reel, and I have no idea who the opposing players are, but he still gets to the ball with ease and spins around his defender extremely well. There are also a few highlights of him making some 15-18 foot jump shots, which can be extremely beneficial to a offense. I have always thought it was a great addition to a team’s offense, honestly it helps when anyone on the team can make mid range shots, but extremely helpful when a big man can do it. It keeps the opposing team’s defense honest and it can mess up their plans if they love to play a zone and hate to draw their post player out of the lane. John Karhoff had that mid range weapon and it was a big help for the Mavs in his senior season. Mike Rostampour and Jake White both had a decent mid range game, but it did not really seem like it was something the Mavs were really counting on this past season, those two spent more time in the post than Karhoff did. It was a different team though (obviously), Karhoff had Rostampour and Matt Hagerbaumer to bang down low and grab his potential misses so it seemed like there was more confidence in giving Karhoff the green light for that.

I was in Denver this last weekend and staying near the Pepsi Center and by coincidence the Colorado high school all star game was going on. I only had a little time to go, so I could not stay for the entire time, but Pirog was quick for a post player and ran the floor very well. Seemed like a healthy guy, but thought maybe he needed to put on some muscle for the next level, and really what high school athlete does not need to put on some more muscle for college? In a game that featured 3 other players that would be in division one next season, and maybe a few more, Pirog was able to put up 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

Per Verbal Commits, Pirog had other offers from: Air Force, Yale, Columbia, Albany, Lafayette, Holy Cross, Tennessee Tech, Northern Colorado, and Liberty. Along with JT Gibson also getting a good amount of offers, UNO is finally getting to the point where they are winning recruiting battles, probably directly related to the reclassifying period coming to an end and a brand new arena, but dang it feels good to finally see. Early in the transition phase, I would see UNO going up against other schools for kids and I would just instantly write them off and I was right for writing them off 100% of the time. I was still in that mode before the start of this season. I saw Pirog had some other offers and took some other visits, had some great length, and I instantly went to the old, Oh He’s Not Coming Here mentality. When I saw Pirog committed to UNO, that was the moment it finally hit me that this transition phrase was coming to an end.

Per MaxPreps, Pirog averaged 14.6 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 3.4 blocks per game his senior year and led his team to the the state championship game, where he had 4 points and 9 rebounds against a team that featured a Wyoming commit and a junior center who holds offers from Pac 12, Big 12, and SEC schools. With Pirog, Gibson, Tra-Deon Hollins, Zach Jackson, and walk on Ben Kositzke, you have to find yourself wondering if UNO picked up their best recruiting class yet.

Welcome to the Mav family…I just hope he and Rylan Murry can get along…

Here is some reading material

Growth of Zach Pirog’s game with Grizzlies is matching his frame

Zach Pirog “the difference” in ThunderRidge’s win over Rock Canyon

ThunderRidge basketball star Zach Pirog commits to University of Nebraska-Omaha

How to schedule the Mavericks and the Bluejays: PART II

March 12, 2015March 12, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball CJ Carter, Creighton Bluejays, Derrin Hansen, Greg McDermott, Jake White, JaySkers, Mike Rostampour, Omaha Mavericks, The BIG EAST, Tim Miles, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks

How to schedule the Mavericks and the Bluejays: PART I

Okay, so you may be asking yourself, what does profiling all of the Creighton fans have to do with scheduling the Mavericks and the Bluejays? That is a totally fair question, so let’s move on here.

You have to understand your enemy before going after them…

Richard Creighton Fan watches the second half of the game

So Dick goes on ignoring me while his version of the Justice League is trying to save the planet from a Big East team taking over. This is all after he established that Creighton and UNO have no room to be on the same basketball court playing against each other. A Creighton guard misses a wide open shot. I tell him that CJ Carter would have made that shot, Dick becomes agitated, not saying anything, he is just upset at the game and more and more at me.

An opposing player knocks down an uncontested shot in the lane, with the Creighton post player up near the free throw line for some reason, and not anywhere near the basket to protect it. I tell Dick that Mike Rostampour would have contested that shot, he would have either fouled him to make it difficult and force him to the line, or forced that player to pass out of the lane. Dick is now disgusted and takes a drink of his Bud Light to ease the pain.

An opposing player puts some pressure on a Creighton guard and strips the ball from the Creighton guard, so of course Dick calls the opposing player a homophobic slur. The opposing player takes the ball that is now in his possession and sprints down the court for an uncontested layup, with none of the dejected Creighton player in sight. I tell Dick that Devin Patterson would not have allowed himself to get in that position to give up the ball to the opposing player, and even if he did, he would sprinted down the court with the opposing player to contest the shot. Patterson would not have just laid down showing no competitive edge.

A Creighton post player attempts and rushes a real lazy hook shot which clanks off the front of the rim. I tell Dick that Tre’Shawn Thurman would not have done that, in fact no UNO player would have just gone for the lazy hook there. Since they had an opposing player with their hand up they would have tried a post move or passed out of it. Thurman has this vintage Kobe Bryant/Vince Carter post move, where he jukes to the left and then goes right for a turn around fade away, and it is a much higher percentage shot then whatever the hell we just watched that Creighton player try.

Creighton is now down by 20 at this point with not much time left, the players are somehow playing with less energy than they already have this entire soulless game of theirs. I tell Dick that UNO has not given up in a game like that all year, even when down by 15 or so with a few minutes to go, they still tried to make a game out of it. At this point, Dick wants to punch someone and I am in the front of the line. He slams down his drink and throws out some notes as to why the UNO-Creighton game will never happen, but now he hopes that it will happen just to shut people like me up.

By the way, a side note: The Creighton fan I have based Dick Creighton Fan off of looks exactly like Jake White. If Jake White got done with college and stopped working out and let himself go a bit, and was 7 inches shorter, but still looks exactly like Jake White in the face. He cannot stand Jake White because of his Wichita State past. Every time Jake White does something cool I will text Dick with “hey, your cousin had 10 and 8 tonight, good for the fam!” Then he will text mean things back about Jake White, would you expect anything less from a Dick Creighton Fan? Dick also has season tickets for Creighton basketball, the people in his section are the people that usually bring a book to read, so you know, the real supporters and the people that make you wonder why they even came. Dick also plays basketball like you would expect a Creighton fan would…selfishly. Takes 15 threes during a 40 minute game and only makes about 4 of them at best. Also does not recognize you sprinting down the court and hustling to get open, so just jacks up threes.

Why it may not be happening.

I have no absolutely positive reason as to why UNO-Creighton may not be happening as of right now. Maybe it is money, maybe McDermott and Hansen, or the two athletic administrations cannot agree on stuff, I am not sure why. Maybe McDermott is just a really really really nice guy and does not want to beat the Mavs and cause an inner city riot. I do not think McDermott has a mean bone in his entire body.

I find myself wondering this though, could the reason be because of the JaySkers? The JaySkers that just root for anyone local, they like the Mavericks enough to take notice, but maybe not enough to go to their games yet. If UNO-Creighton happens, the JaySkers will take a little more notice and be more aware of what the Mavericks have, and that they are at least entertaining.

If the Mavericks and Creighton play, and UNO comes close or even beats the Bluejays, what would the JaySkers do with their money? They will buy a UNO shirt or two, maybe some tickets to a few games, and maybe even classify themselves as JayMavSkers, or maybe they even sift through Bull Shit Mountain enough and just become MavSkers. If they spent 50 bucks from their annual Going Out Budget on UNO stuff, that is 50 bucks less that they will spend on beer and food at the CenturyLink Center.

If a JaySker were more aware of the Mavericks and entertained by them, would they be more inclined to go to a UNO event over a Creighton event? If they could go to Aksarben, which is more centrally located than the CenturyLink Center (and Ralston Arena), pay less for parking, and walk just a little bit closer to DJs Dugout and other restaurants, do you think they would go for it? Would they rather see UNO have a shot against Oral Roberts over seeing Creighton getting dominated by a overrated Georgetown team? Seriously, Georgetown has been overrated for the past 10 years.

When the JaySker goes to a UNO hockey game, they see the Creighton University advertisement on the scoreboard, they still get that Bluejay taste in their mouth. Typically the JaySkers will make it out to UNO-North Dakota hockey, or UNO-Ohio State in the old days, the JaySkers just like the events they can brag about seeing really. There is no University of Nebraska at Omaha advertisement when the JaySker goes to a Creighton Basketball game, not even sure if it is allowed. So if UNO men’s basketball was put right in front of their faces, could the JaySker sway a little bit?

UNO and Creighton have played in a few sports, and when you go the atmosphere is a little weird. Creighton fans always have this feeling of We Will Beat the Crap Out of Our Opponent, but they have been a little more quiet when Creighton plays the inner city rival. Their attitude changes to Oh Crap We Better Not Lose to This Team. When I moved back to Omaha from Utah, one of the first things I did was get tickets UNO vs. Creighton baseball, I was pretty damn pumped for the game. I think I was scared that game was going to be a sell out, being away from Omaha for about a year I just kind of imagined that everyone in Omaha would be jacked for that match up. What a perfect gift for my return to Omaha though. The game was a little slow, Creighton players seemed to lack a little energy and it was almost as if the Bluejay fans did not want to do smack talk, especially since the people in red and black out numbered the people in blue and white. It is also hard to smack talk when your baseball team in the last few years has just become a team of Hey Let’s Just Hit the Ball to the Outfield and Hope for the Best. UNO won the game 3-2, the Creighton players looked like they were on suicide watch after the game, they did not appear to want to come out and shake the UNO players hands, and they probably knew that Ed Servais was going to have them run a marathon after losing to that reclassifying team. The Creighton fans walked out of there confused and as quiet as you exit a funeral.

How would you rank Creighton sports teams in terms of how prideful their fans are toward the team. 1. Men’s Basketball, 2. Men’s Soccer, 3. Baseball? That is their fans’ third favorite sport, and UNO showed that they can hang with them. Men’s Soccer showed that they can hang in exhibition play as well. Women’s soccer needed two overtimes to beat UNO this last season. Oh this reminds me, UNO-Creighton softball happening any time soon is probably less likely than men’s basketball happening anytime soon, but hey, that is another conversation.

When UNO can make the big dance and possibly pull of an upset, the JaySkers will come crawling. The 14 seed beating the 3 seed prestige is far more powerful then the BIG EAST team beating a SWAC team in the first/second round or whatever the hell it is anymore. That is when the prestige factor will come into play for Creighton to play UNO, the game will need to be played after that. That will make UNO men’s basketball the even that they will want to go see and Creighton will have the need to play at beat the Mavericks to show everyone who is still the boss of this town. And it is not like UNO is wanting Creighton every single season, although that would be swell, it is not necessary, UNO fans just want the acknowledgement from the Creighton fans, so once in a few years is fine. City rivalries do not necessarily happen every season, especially when the schools are not at the same level. UNO fans understand that The BIG EAST is on a different level than the Summit League, they are not psychotic.

Creighton fans also do not like to share attention. For 12 years they got to share a market with Barry Collier and Doc Sadler coached Nebraska teams that would bore and frustrate the hell out of Husker basketball fans in Omaha, so many of those fans would go watch Creighton. Even the end of the Danny Nee era at Nebraska was painful to watch. Now, the kid up the street thinks they can join the party. They are building a new arena, new dorms, new buildings on campus, but they still have shitty parking. None of this can make the Creighton fan happy. Greg McDermott is not an attention grabbing coach, his press conferences will put you right to sleep**. If you throw him Dana Altman, Tim Miles, Derrin Hansen, and Doc Sadler into a charity poker event, you are going to forget he is there. Miles would be the guy that never shuts up and annoys all the other players, but the crowd wants to keep watching. Hansen will do the same, but not as many jokes, he will feed off of the Miles jokes a little bit. Sadler would be the one accusing Miles and Hansen of having too much fun, probably folding his cards every single time. Altman would be the guy who never says anything, still betting on what he thought was a good bet, everything would be a calculated decision. You root for those guys in poker tournaments, mainly because you are dying to see what their hand is as 99% of the time they are in a hand, it is because they have a good hand. McDermott would just there, drinking his water, you would forget McDermott was even in the poker tournament, he would never grab your attention to make you wonder what he is scheming. You would just expect him to be out at some point, but not as quickly as Sadler who you assume would just get frustrated and make a bad bet so he could go home.

**That is not to say that McDermott is a bad coach. Attention Grabbing ability does not make one a good or bad coach. Nor does poker playing ability. I am now curious though if anyone has done a qualitative study of this.

Why do we want it to happen?

So the hardcore UNO fans do not really like Creighton fans, they want the opportunity to beat Creighton. They do not necessarily expect a win, but they want the chance to go to the game and maybe talk a little trash, poke fun at Creighton, and hopefully be on the winning side. UNO fans have to live in the shadow of Creighton, which is fair since Creighton has been fully division one much longer. In a way, UNO fans feel disrespected by Creighton fans. Bluejay nation still does not see UNO as division one, this is partially because a majority of Creighton fans do not know what is happening outside of Creighton basketball. A while back when Creighton was in the NIT, I had a few friends that wanted to go their game against Bowling Green, so I went down to the Qwest Center to buy the tickets, and the guy in front of me who was decked out in all Creighton gear like he was a life long fan asked as many questions as he could possible ask:

So this is the NIT?
What is the NIT?
What would have Creighton had to do to make the NCAA tournament?
Who are they playing?
Bowling Green is in what conference?
What was Bowling Green’s record this year?
What was Creighton’s record this year?
Is it a white out?
Is it a blue out?
How many fans do you expect to come?
Will Lawlor’s be selling any gear centered around the NIT?
Who does Creighton play after they win this game?
When is the next game?
Who leads the team in scoring?
They sell beer for the NIT, right?

I am pretty sure the ticket person wanted to just scream out “IT’S ON THE FREAKING INTERNET” the whole time. But that is Creighton fan hood, they want to support Creighton, and they want the event. For some reason they do not think Creighton-UNO is an event. So we need to make it an event for them.

Would inviting Tim Miles make it an event? Like, he could do the starting lineups. He could come out in a tuxedo and grab the microphone and read off the starting lineups like he is doing the intros for a famous boxing match, he could read off each player’s name with some Will Ferrell like jokes, and then he could ring the starting bell. Since there is apparently some rule that college coaches cannot attend games of their opponents, he will have to leave, and all the Creighton fans can boo him out of the building. It might be better than Christmas for Tim Miles, and Creighton fans.

How about we shoot a few things down

Dick brought up the points that any Creighton fan that thinks they pay attention will bring up, so let’s take a look at these things.

It is tough enough to schedule in college basketball as is…

Yeah, okay, I can agree with that. With the non-conference schedule taken up by early season tournaments, a rivalry game (Nebraska in this case), return games, and maybe a conference versus conference challenge, it can be a little difficult to fit a few more games in there for some teams.

It also has to be super stressful and challenging to set something up when your coaches and athletic admin attend the same charity events, local organization’s outings, AAU tournaments, and high school games. That could require talking to each other in person. Much more simple to get back and forth emails and phone calls with Tulsa and North Texas. Creighton and UNO baseball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, men’s soccer (in exhibitions), and other sports meeting up was defying all the odds in the last few years.

Playing UNO would not do much for Creighton

North Carolina A & T, Chicago State (3 times), Campbell, Houston Baptist, Presbyterian, Longwood, Alcorn State, UMKC, Long Beach State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Central Arkansas, North Carolina Central, Eastern Illinois, South Dakota, and Texas Pan-American have all played Creigthon since UNO’s transition.

Screw you.

You ever watch a city rivalry game? You can not give two craps about either team and still enjoy the hell out of it. A few years ago I watched Cincinnatti-Xavier on television, and this was post Sean Miller. I do not care for either team and I do not even know any player on either team. The rivalry was so intense, you could just feel the energy in the crowd and in the players in how important that game was to everyone there.

The UNO-Creighton men’s soccer exhibition last year was incredibly intense. I thought someone was going to get killed. It was an exhibition game…exhibition… I said exhibition, right?

Creighton would have beaten UNO by 50 (last year)

Prove it…

I think what Creighton (and Iowa) fans hate more than anything are the personality-less Nebraska football fans who think at the beginning of the every year that the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team will win the national championship solely based on the fact that the 94 and 95 ‘skers were the greatest college football teams ever. Those teams were then, and they were great, but this now. So just because Creighton had Doug McDermott a couple years ago, it does not mean that the Bluejays are still at that level of greatness. The Bluejays also do not have the same perimeter defense without Grant Gibbs. Their team has changed greatly. Yes there are a few years that Creighton would have beaten UNO by 30+, but that is not an every year thing, there are a few years that UNO could upset Creighton, and this year could have been one of them…maybe depending on when the game was played, Creighton was doing pretty well until they played North Texas. Hell I am pretty sure there were years in the D2 era that UNO could have upset the Huskers in basketball.

We are now at a point where UNO beat a team that beat Creighton (Marquette) and Creighton beat a team that beat UNO (Chicago State), so we can have these arguments, which if the two teams do not meet, it is going to add to some frustration for the few that want the game to happen. Creighton’s skill level is not as high as it was a few years ago.

I have a friend, he is a JaySker, the good kind of JaySker though, he wants them to both win, and he even roots for UNO a little bit (though he has yet to attend a basketball game). He is really just one of those guys who roots for anything local, but he owns more Creighton stuff then he does Husker and UNO stuff. He admits one thing, even though in the past they were exhibition games, UNO always played Creighton (and Nebraska) tough and close. It was the Mavericks’ one chance for a showcase back then. They watch more Creighton and Nebraska games on local television all year then they do any of their opponents, so the Mavericks have a constant recruiting tape loop on watch. They get to sit in their dorms and watch Creighton play and think to themselves, if I had to stop that guy, this is what I would do.

So this whole Creighton would beat UNO by 50 BS can stop. I am not saying it is an automatic close game, or even a win by UNO, I am just saying that it would at least be entertaining. Was Nebraska-UNO early in the season not entertaining? When it is a local rivalry, the game is more about the intangibles, not about who looks better on paper, and honestly Creighton did not look all that great on paper this season.

Tim Miles: The Inspiration

Whether it was on accident or not, Tim Miles proved something. He was interviewed on the sideline at what I think was his first Husker football game, and he answered questions with a few jokes as his charismatic self, and he finished with an infamous line, only show in the state.

Miles claims he meant that there is no Nebraska State, as he was involved in the Colorado State to Colorado relationship. He claimed to not be thinking of Creighton at this juncture, and we will never know if it was intentional not, but this caused so many Creighton fans to just lose their freaking minds. Tim Miles had not even been involved with a Nebraska-Creighton game yet and the Creighton fan base wanted his head. Creighton fans get pumped up for that Nebraska-Creighton game each and every year. In the Missouri Valley days, it was their chance to show they were better than “the big boys.” Now, beating that Tim Miles jerk is the motivation.

Now Tim Miles just loves poking fun at Creighton. He does it every chance he gets. He scheduled UNO and he took some jabs at Creighton for not doing the same thing. Creighton fans want that win over Nebraska more and more now. With Doc Sadler, Creighton lived in local basketball bliss. Sadler did not really care too much for the local thing, he held not merit to winning or losing to Creighton. He did not even really go after too many local recruits, I know someone related to Iowa’s Mike Gesell, and they told me that Sadler and Nebraska never once contacted him. Sadler did not bring much media hype to Nebraska basketball, and they were as boring to watch as it was to listen to him talk. Miles, with the help of a new arena, practice facilities, and commitment from the university has turned all of that around. Neighboring Creighton is cranky that Tim Miles is now the main character in all of this and Creighton needs a bottle of juice.

I wish there was a way to hit Creighton where it really hurts and convince Tim Miles to stop the annual Nebraska-Creighton game and start a Nebraska-UNO annual game, but I highly doubt that is an option. Creighton fans would riot in the streets of downtown Omaha. To hurt them even more, the game could be played at the CenturyLink Center, both teams could wear one of those In Memory patches during the games, and no blue would be allowed in the arena. Nebraska could even bring their floor, like they did when they played Oregon in Omaha. After the games, Tim Miles and Derrin Hansen could go out downtown to all the Creighton hang outs, put as much money as they can into the juke boxes and play the worst music possible, and just be laughing the whole time. They can even go to The Blue Jay Bar & Grill (is that place still open), and call out the bar for letting in a bunch of 19 year olds and letting them drink. Again though, highly unlikely, but I feel like Tim Miles could still jokingly bring it up as an idle threat once in a while.

So anyway, Tim Miles and his Only Show in the State comment, it charged things up for Creighton against Nebraska. With Sadler, Creighton was getting into this Oh La La attitude toward Nebraska basketball. They wanted the victory over Nebraska for sure, but they were not getting pumped for it like they used to. After Miles said that, all hell broke out, Creighton fans were pumped, they circled the game on their calendar, the ticket prices on Ticketmaster jumped up to almost $300. Creighton fans needed new shirts from Lawlor’s to show their dominance and commitment. So Tim Miles showed us one thing, to build up demand for Creighton fans, you just piss them right off.

Yes, let’s just piss off Creighton fans

It sounds so simple, and so fun. At this point you have to assume that Greg McDermott (and probably Derrin Hansen) has some objections about this game happening, and McDermott is definitely not going to do it without demand from the fans. So let’s just piss off the Creighton fans and force them to demand the game to happen. Let’s make the Creighton fans the one calling the athletic admin to ask why it is not happening.

The Senseless, The Attitude, The Coast, and the Entitled all have one thing in common. Their presentation of self suggests that they are incredibly confident and have high self esteems. In reality, their confident persona and self esteem is the front stage, in the back stage, they realize they have not proven anything and need validation, they are actually quite insecure and defensive. After all, the typical Omaha born Creighton student is the kid that you went to high school with a $30,000 car, no job, and presented it as if he bought the car on his own from all the hard work he has done. If you ever called that kid out though, he would so make sure that dumb high school girls did not think you were hot. Creighton men’s basketball somehow validates that they made the right choice in life. The basketball team is really good, so I must have picked the right school! With these people we need to attack and break down that confidence, until they want to see Creighton-UNO happen to in some way prove their oddly placed dominance.

Here are a few buttons to push:

Your school lacks innovation and looks like a sick Mongolian Hun coughed it up

When I went to school and worked at UNO they were constructing the new HPER building. I was also on student government and sat through a bunch of presentations on ways to grow the University of Nebraska of Omaha. Most of these presentations centered around facilities. The same thing happened while I was working at Weber State, consultants would come in and discuss how prospective students care most about facilities and work out facilities were always the most important. Where else are the homeboys supposed to pick up chicks other than the gym?

Anyway, UNO reconstructs HPER, and HPER is freaking awesome. It has everything a student could ask for. The student population grows from it, and continues to grow. HPER has been rated one of the top gyms in the country, the Outdoor Venture Center is also nationally ranked, and believe me, considering its location, that is a huge accomplishment. A few months after the student numbers get a jump, Nebraska-Lincoln gets a new Outdoor Venture Center, so who tilts their head like a confused puppy? Creighton opens up the Rasmussen Fitness and Sports Center a few years later, which is similar to UNO’s HPER, but considering Creighton’s student population versus UNOs, it is completely ridiculous. Creighton did not want to believe the facilities argument at first, I mean it was probably based on studies from MSNBC or something anyway. The younger cousin got a new shiny toy and they had to have one. They do not even have their own logo, they had to steal it from the Toronto Bluejays. The first thing you see in the About Us section of their website is the phrase There’s No Place Like Creighton. I feel like I have heard There Is No Place Like…but I cannot remember how the rest of it goes.

You drive by campus on Cuming Street and you look at it. While you look at it, do you see the resemblance to the exterior to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, or is that just me? Can you guys not hire a cleaning lady for that thing?

You do not actually care about the education

Nebraska basketball gets a brand new practice facility, so the Creighton moneybaggers and Monopoly players get all whiny and throw down some money for the Creighton Championship Center. That is the thing, Nebraska gets an advantage and that is all those people want to fix. This whole foundation of We Support the Jesuit Education from the boosters with more money than God is BS. If the education is what they really valued, then their students would not be sitting in the UNO library studying because it is a superior library. I am sure that The Entitled and The Attitude could not even tell you where the Creighton library is located, or what the purpose of it is. The Creighton senior days, when the players make speeches, how many of those players have you questioned if they could read or not? Have the boosters sat through those?

Your student section sucks

Oh they will show up big for Nebraska, Georgetown, or Villanova, they will come get in the front rows for the games on national television, but other than that they suck. It is after all pretty difficult to pretend that you go to Duke when your team is in 2nd to last place in something. You go to the games and you see that a majority of the student section is disinterested, they might as well be at a Rob Schneider film. Yes your team sucks at times, but that is still your team, and it is free for you, so why not go?

The UNO student section is far superior, yes I am a homer here, but it is true. The main figure for Creighton sports is men’s basketball, the main character for UNO sports is hockey, and if you go to both of these events then you already know. Even when UNO hockey is not as strong of a team as the students want to be, they still show up, because it is their team and they support it. The Creighton students do not go if the Bluejays suck in their minds.

When I was on Student Government at UNO, this was in the Division 2 days, Trev Alberts came and talked to us and asked how to engage the students into athletics. Alberts said one of the challenges was to get people to support UNO with one of the biggest athletic programs in the country just 45 minutes down the road, and while UNO was getting support for hockey there were not a lot of people there to support the Mavericks, there were more people who were just there for their love of hockey. Alberts wanted to figure out how to get people behind UNO, not just the sport of hockey. He also had the general feel that for other sports, students did not want to come to division 2 events because of the “high school” feel that it gave. I think the high school feel is gone, students are there to support UNO now, the momentum is building, and the support is growing. When the Mavs can play for post season, the crowd will become more supportive too, and the support was pretty high this last season of transition.

The Nebraska basketball student section did not want to go for a number of years, there was not much excitement in that program. Tim Miles and a new arena rejuvenated them, now they are loud and crazy, no matter the opponent. They are there to support the team now, good record or bad record, Big Ten opponent or Sun Belt opponent, they are there now. They do not even need beer.

Tre’Shawn knows Omaha

It is not just Tre’Shawn Thurman, but any current and future Maverick that in an Omaha guy. A marketing campaign we really need to start to take over JaySkers market. You can assume most JaySkers are from Omaha and support the city of Omaha in one way or another. With none of the Big East opponents really that close, and no Nebraska born scholarship players for Creighton (next year they will have Omaha North’s Justin Patton and Benson’s Khyri Thomas), it will be more difficult for these people to really connect with the Creighton program. They wont have that Omaha supportive feel as they did with 8 years of Josh Dotzler-Antoine Young-Josh Jones Local From the Area back courts leading as the faces of the program and as that connection to the Omaha fans.

UNO has that connection now with Tre’Shawn Thurman, the player that the JaySkers will recognize. We can get in Creighton’s front yard and throw a University of Nebraska at Omaha advertisement in a media timeout of a Creighton basketball game, and the video can end with the best Thurman dunk we can find. It will get the Jayskers to think, We Need to Go See That Kid. The guy they will want to see and sit around talking about his play at UNO and debating what he could have been at Creighton or Nebraska. Can we post a bunch of Tre’Shawn Knows Omaha posters all around town, even on Creighton’s campus? Is that against some rule? Can we post a picture of him standing over an aerial portrait of Omaha, with his foot over the Creighton campus? A subliminal message of, Everyone Will Get Behind This Guy and Not See You Anymore!

I am not even sure if this is totally legit. I do see a bunch of women’s athletics programs just using girls that they see as the most attractive girl on the roster for their advertisements, even if they are not that much of an athlete in comparison to their teammates, so why not this? It will not do much to anger The Attitude or The Coast, they barely care about Omaha as is. The Entitled and The Senseless though, this will screw them up a bit. The Entitled has a weird love of Omaha, mainly because they know they cannot leave it without Daddy’s permission, but they love it as if they are Batman loving Gotham City. You know if Bruce Wayne’s parents did not die, and they just spoiled the crap out of him to the point of making him a waste of talent.

We beat Marquette…

Okay, so this can get to Creighton fans just a little bit, and they will typically come back with the You Lost to Chicago State argument, and that is fair. But this still gets in their head enough to get them thinking. If you keep poking at The Attitude, they are going to get pissy, they will absolutely need Creighton-UNO basketball to happen just to shut you up. Remember, the idea is to get the fans to demand the game to happen, you want to get their reasons as to why the game is not happening out of their heads.

You are afraid to schedule us

I do not think this will work, but if you want to try it, what the the hell. The fans are not afraid to schedule UNO, they just fall into the game of We Would Beat You by 50 and Playing UNO Would Do Nothing For Creighton. The coaches and admin might be afraid, not in terms of picking up a loss on the schedule, but more so for losing the fair weathered fans that they know “support” their program.

A mass of their fans care more about the beer at the arena, and the last time I checked the new UNO arena will sell beer. My brother got me tickets to a Creighton game this year. I went to the game, sat in literally the very back row, and I sat behind these three dudes who may have been the dumbest dudes I have ever found. They hardly paid attention to the game, drank more beer than I have drank in the last 6 months, and talked about going to the casino the whole time, but this is after they discussed how dedicated they were as Creighton fans when they first sat down. If UNO had a casino near campus, those fans would come and “support” UNO too, but I do not think these were people Trev Alberts was trying to recruit to be the supporters of UNO.

Creighton though, they love these people, and they cannot possibly take the risk of scheduling UNO for these idiots. If Creighton-UNO plays, they may actually do a little more than pretend to care about the game. They may stay seated, watch, be into it, and they may spend a few less dollars on beer. OH NO! Admit it though, you love going to their games or watching them on television and seeing 1/5 of the arena not into it, just in the hallways or at the concessions not actually rooting on the team. Creighton might actually be afraid of scheduling UNO for the sake of these people. So much integrity and excellence.

Have you ever heard a Creighton fan talk about Kansas basketball? That is the team they want to play more than any but it wont get scheduled. They want Kansas to come to Omaha and slap some dumb boring tag line of Come See the Bird Fight! They want to show they belong with Kansas for some reason. Kansas is on their own scale of good. Creighton fans love to sit around and say “Kansas is afraid to schedule us”. No, Kansas is not afraid to schedule you. From what I could gather over years of listening to Creighton assistant coaches on the radio, it was Dana Altman who was afraid to schedule Kansas, for whatever reason.

Aksarben > Old Market

Creighton fans love their shiny things, and they love the downtown bars. Apparently the Jesuit foundation means sneak into every bar in the Old Market and drink so much until you pass out in the back of a 5 minute cab ride. Aksarben is now growing and it growing because of UNO, downtown does not NEED Creighton. Aksarben also does not have that 42 year old dudes hitting on 22 year old chicks feel to it, bragging up his 36k a year lifestyle to some girl in college who has never worked more than 15 hours a week. The restaurants in Aksarben are newer, the buildings are newer, and it has Amato’s. Aksarben is not even close to being done either, not that downtown ever will be, but this has to enrage the from Omaha Creightoners. I have not been to Aksarben much, just to DJs Dugout to catch a UNO hockey game or two, and a few other places, but I did notice that there are also not any douche bags that want to start a fight just for the sake of feeling tough like the Old Market. Insecure people needing validation, that is the Creighton way.

I cannot stop laughing when you tell me that Creighton is as athletic as Georgetown or Villanova

Just stop saying it! You are killing me! I cannot even feel my side anymore! Oh my God, you really think that?! You really are that delusional! How many beers did you have before half time?!?! Is there a country for people like you to get deported to?!?!?! Is it called the Republic of Dumb Shits?!?!

I had Archer on in the back ground during that…

So pissing off Creighton will be fun, and most of UNO fans probably already try it anyway, but at least now they should know that it can be productive too. It is important to know that UNO fans need the Creighton fans to want this as much as the UNO fans. As the JaySkers catch on, the UNO fans need to be welcoming of them, welcome them into a few watch parties for games at DJs Dugout maybe, let them see that Mavnation is not filled up with a bunch of arrogance like its neighbor. Go to the Creighton-UNO and Nebraska-UNO events that are happening, which I am sure you already do, and find the good kind of JaySkers, friend them up and work on getting them to be MavSkers.

A little recap of the bumps and bruises along the way in the last year of transition

March 4, 2015November 11, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball CJ Carter, Creighton Bluejays, Daniel Meyer, Derrin Hansen, Devin Patterson, Marcus Tyus, Mike Rostampour, Omaha Mavericks, Rylan Murry, Tim Miles, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks

So the season is over for the UNO men’s basketball team, as well as this long transition period, so how would you rate the transition and the 2014-2015 season?

As for the entire transition, it was obviously a learning process. Not just for the players, but for the coaching staff as well. In the first year of transition, yes they won 11 games, but only one game against a division one opponent (Northern Illinois). In the second season, the team still won 11 games, but even after a few players transferred out, and the team graduated their stop scorer, Mitch Albers, they were able to win 9 games against division one opponents. In year 3, the Mavs were able to win 15 games against division one opponents. That team had a solid core of talent, and everyone knew each other. Karhoff, Hagerbaumer, Simmons, Carter, Steffensmeier, and Phillips had established what they could do, then you got to add incredibly tough and competitive Rostampour and Patterson to that team. You have to figure 15 wins over division one teams and a post season win in the CIT was a tremendous success, considering the transition and that most of the roster was not recruited for the division one level.

From a wins perspective and conference standings point of view, you would probably want to give this season a D-, but was it really that bad? Okay, I will admit that I am a homer, but consider a few things. The Mavericks lost 5 conference games by one possession. The Mavericks were able to beat Marquette in Milwaukee without Jake White (who before the start of the season was thought to be the best player on the team). The Mavericks were affected by significant injuries to key players Devin Patterson, Marcus Tyus, and Jake White (who I already mentioned), not only to mention that a few other players got sidelined by a sickness or two throughout the season. I am still a firm believer that if the Mavs had White and Patterson against Chicago State that they would have won that game. The Mavericks were also playing with 8 guys that had never played a game as a Maverick. So with these factors thrown at you, do you upgrade that D- to a C maybe?

We knew that Jake White suffered an injury last season while he was sitting out due to transfer rules, so you had to wonder about how much he got to actually practice and get ready for his first season as a Mav. It seemed like he was a little out of funk for much of the season, partially because of injuries to his foot, and I assume just about every body part you can name in 30 seconds. Can that be a game at the new arena next year? Name more muscles than Jake White in 30 seconds, and go… We were a little teased with White at first. Not including Koang Dulouny, who only played 7 games at UNO, he was the first transfer that the Mavericks were able to pick up that came from a bigger program. So there was some excitement to see how much he could help. His first game he nearly had a double-double until he had to leave the game with a foot injury. The newspaper said it should not affect him for too long, but he missed the first road game at Seattle, then at Marquette, then at Nebraska, and so on. We were teased with this Well He Is Pretty Likely Next Game thing for a string of games. The Mavericks even had him suiting up, like the Boston Celtics did in 2008-2009 in the playoffs with Kevin Garnett who was suffering an abdomen injury, which just had you wondering as a fan WHY ARE YOU NOT PUTTING HIM IN THE DAMN GAME, DO YOU NOT RESPECT THE OTHER TEAM?!?!?!?!?!?!

Then White came back, then sat down for a few more games, and we found ourselves wondering if this was a bust. A bust in the terms of, did not live up to the hype because of injuries, not because of lack of talent. It turns out, it was NOT a bust! Admit it, a healthy Jake White versus Mike Rostampour, you have a hard time figuring out which one is the better rebounder. There was not a ton of consistency to Jake White this season, but how could anyone be with that many injuries? There were many missed “bunnies” by White, but with a constant string of injuries are you going to get mad at him for that? Did you see how extremely pissed off he was after each of those misses? He knows that is not a normal thing and that those easy shots will drop next season after he has had more time to work on things with the Mavs. There were a few plays throughout the year, where he would get bumped the wrong way, and he could not get down the court and back on defense, which was unfortunate, but that is not something that will last. Not the guy we saw grab 10 rebounds in a half, nope, that healthy guy, will be up and down the court. The (barely) less than 40% shooting for a post player, that will not be forever. If White can stay healthy, bring that shooting percentage up to the high 40s/lower 50s, and run the floor better next season, the Mavs will win more games with that.

Then the injuries to Devin Patterson and Marcus Tyus. The team runs on Patterson, he is the floor general, he gets shit done. Without him, the team’s flow is completely off. You could tell that there were a few games that he was affected by his feet and ankles, he just did not run the same. This is no diss to Kyler Erickson or Devin Newsome, but the team is just entirely different with either of them playing the point, the team does not get out and run as much, the team do noes not do all of the things that the Mavs like to do. The team does need those stretches though where they are not running nearly as much, this is not Oregon football, where the offense can score in a minute and then go sit down for 10-15 minutes of actual time, nope, this is constant back and forth stuff here. The team needs Erickson or Newsome to come in and slow it down for a stretch of time, the players do not play like a video game where it has a mathematical formula to determine how tired they are, although that would be pretty awesome. Patterson is right up there to be the best point guard in the Summit League, the best point guard is too big of a piece to have go down in order for your team to keep their rhythm and success. But this is athletics, players have to play through injuries, and teams have to figure out how to play around those injuries. I think Chip Kelly said that. Two Oregon football mentions in one paragraph? Oh man, I really have married into Oregon fanhood. I really need to check myself in somewhere, like a bar.

Then a loss of Marcus Tyus, so you end the season without your best shooter for 6 games. An awful person may say that the Mavericks were a better team without Tyus since they went 4-2 without him, but screw that person. You are never a better team when you take away your most consistent player and best three point shooter. The team’s three point shooting fell without Tyus at first. 5-18 versus South Dakota (loss), 4-19 versus Western Illinois (win), 4-19 versus Oral Roberts (loss), 3-14 versus IPFW (win), then they needed Tim Smallwood to basically do a Marcus Tyus impersonation and hit a season high 5 threes against IUPUI. If Smallwood did not have that type of game, the Mavericks more than likely do not win that game. I sometimes think that when a key scorer gets injured mid or late season, it can turn out better for a team’s win percentage.

Why? When a key scorer on the team have to think about things more and process out game as a team, and be more creative to find baskets, not just throw the ball to one player for a certain percentage of the time. Not that I think Tyus was a ball hog, not at all, not saying that. The Mavs were just forced to figure it out, after already once trying to figure it out without Jake White and/or Devin Patterson. When the Mavs lost White, the entire team was pretty new as it was, so they had to figure out playing together already, when they lost Patterson, they lost their flow. Tyus going out created a different situation, but this time it was after the mix of returners and newer players got a chance to ball and gel together already for most of the season. As a point guard, Patterson only really plays one position, so his injury basically only created more minutes for Kyler Erickson and Devin Newsome. As a post player, Jake White’s injury basically created more minutes and opportunities for Tre’Shawn Thurman and Rylan Murry. By the way, I am still going with Thurman and Murry sounds like the worst cop buddy show on USA or TNT. Tyus’ injury creates a little more opportunity, playing two positions, it created more minutes for Randy Reed, Tim Smallwood, and Kyler Erickson, as well as creating more situations for Derrin Hansen to try a bunch of different lineups. The Reed, Smallwood, Erickson combo also knew they had to bring some more energy with Tyus out, they hopefully knew and understood this was a big chance for them. With Tyus out, they all played key moments and came up huge to help the success of the Mavericks. It created a learning situation late in the year, and the players had to develop and work it out. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANY OF THIS AS ME BEING HAPPY AS MARCUS TYUS BEING INJURED, INJURIES ARE NEVER GOOD, ESPECIALLY FOR ANYTHING IN THE KNEES.

Playing with 8 new faces is kind of fun, but also pretty frustrating. The first job I ever had was in a restaurant. There was this kid that worked with me, and we were both new at about the same time, the restaurant closed at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and the two of us pretty much closed every single Friday. At first, it would take us 45 minutes to get all of the closing duties done, but after a while we both figured out what the other was better at, we both knew what the other was going to do before even doing it. After a while, we could get out of that shit hole in about 15 minutes after closing. The same thing kind of works in sports. Yes, by this time Patterson, Carter, Tyus, and Rostampour should of had that same functioning relationship on the court, but it is not like they all play every single minute of every single game. White, Reed, Smallwood, Murry, Meyer, Erickson, Newsome, and Thurman do not all have that same relationship with each other or the returning 4, and hopefully they can all return for next season to develop those on the court relationships. They will know what everyone else is doing before they even start doing it. Once the Mavs get on this trip to Europe and play together more, have a summer of working out together, all get together and practice, they are going to get better at that closing shift. So you have to be feeling good about the start of full fledged D-1 life, right? You also have to think, there is not (as of right now at least) no division one team in Nebraska with a winning record. Tim Miles has stated that his team has not improved as the season as gone on, it does not look like Creighton has improved toward the end of the year, but the Mavs did get better toward the end of rht year.

So is this similar to when the Mavs had the returning core from 2012-2013 and got to add Rostampour and Patterson to the mix? Several Summit League teams have a good deal of players returning players, as there are not many graduating seniors in men’s basketball, so we will have to wait and see if the growing chemistry is a factor for the team’s success. That is kind of obvious, right? That we would have to wait…I mean the schedule has not even come out yet. How dumb was it of me to say that?

Aside from the record that did not live up to expectations, we did see some great things this year. Okay, we won a game yesterday. If we win today it’s called “two in a row”. And if we win again tomorrow that’s called “a winning streak.” It has happened before. That is a Major League reference. If you have not seen Major League, you probably need to reevaluate your entire life. The Mavs were able to finish on a 3 game winning streak on the road. You have to be optimistic with that if the Mavs were able to make the Summit League tournament this year, that they would at least be hot going into the tournament, even as an 8 seed. A team on a 3 game road winning streak, and 4 of their last 6 overall. with the 2 losses by a total of 4 points in the final possessions, is not your typical 8 seed. But an 8 seed still has to play the 1 seed, and the Mavs did not have a good time this season against South Dakota State. Okay, I went back and looked, that is actually a Major League 2 reference. It is okay if you have not seen Major League 2, that is cool.

We also saw the ending of two fine careers, and the beginning of a few more. CJ Carter finished his career with just a couple more than 1500 points, the 5th most in school history, Mike Rostampour finished his two year career teaching the Mavericks about rebounding and toughness. The Mavs got to show off the beginning of freshman Tre’Shawn Thurman who showed a tremendous freaking upside, and Murry, Meyer, and Newsome showed glimpses of what they will be capable of. Murry a three point specialist and good ball handler for his size, Meyer a good rebounder and defender, even showed some post moves when given the chance, and Newsome showed his ability to be a floor general.

Mav fans who paid attention this year, they know that this season was more than just the season that the Mavs beat a Big East team. The Creighton Bluejays had a similar season a little while back, yes I know they were not in transition, but the last few years of Dana Altman the Jays would get ahead and build decent leads. They would lose those leads on getting tired, missing shots, and not playing quality defensive possessions down the stretch. Those teams (with Kenny Lawson, P’Allen Stinnett, Kaleb Korver, Booker Woodfox, Cavel Witter, and others) were supposed to be “the most athletic teams Creighton had in a while and supposed to run and shoot teams out of the gym, even with a bunch of new faces on the roster. Sound a little familiar? Creighton moved on from that, got better, made the NIT (almost beat Kentucky), eventually climbed the conference standings, found a stroke of accidental luck with Doug McDermott, had famous battles with Wichita State and Northern Iowa. UNO will continue to grow just like Creighton did.

Another great success was how supportive the student section became this season. This is partly because of the Pike fraternity growing a collective man crush on Derrin Hansen, and trust me, I get it. The first three years of transition, you wondered where the students were and you really just hoped that they were not at a Nebraska or Creighton game. Now they are taking notice, they knew how important it was to show guys like Carter and Rostampour their support. The energy of the crowd in college basketball is an extremely valued variable. Think of those moments the players are just exhausted and they need that reminder of who they are playing for (other than themselves, their teammates, coaches, and families). They get that extra needed jolt and ride it. The crowds at UNO hockey are extremely important, and not it is time that the other sports are getting the support. I know during division 2, UNO would invite potential new hires to UNO athletics and the candidates would ask Where are the Students? You have no idea how much of a ripple effect the student can create. It is also extremely satisfying to go to a UNO game and see that the students are into the game the entire time, it is not like when they go to that other Omaha school and the students are sitting down, drinking a beer, checking their phones constantly, and not caring about their team. They are just there for the hopes of a free t-shirt.

This reminds me. Next post on how we schedule those Creighton guys?

While a great game, senior night did not end the way we wanted, and Devin Patterson is the boss

February 20, 2015November 11, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball CJ Carter, Devin Patterson, Jake White, Karl Hess, Kyler Erickson, Marcus Tyus, Mike Rostampour, Omaha Mavericks, Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, Randy Reed, The Summit League, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks

It seems that the Mavericks have had the same story to each loss so far this season. Mavs get off to a great start, Mavs turn the ball over a bit and let the other team into the game, game gets close, CJ Carter and/or Marcus Tyus do what they can to keep the game close, Mavs miss some key free throws while the other team becomes incapable of missing free throws, and then I leave home sad. Even though last night’s game ended with a loss, it was refreshing to see a little bit of a different story.

The Mavs did not get off to the greatest start in this one. There were some poor decisions in the beginning, bad turnovers, bad luck, bad shots, and a lot of fouls. Then they fought to get back into the game a bit, kept it at a close game, got down by a few possessions, then cut it back down to a position, and even take a lead. It became a back and forth game, rather than watching than a runaway bride game. Jake White, Randy Reed, and Kyler Erickson all came off the bench to give the team a much needed jump start. Each played with great energy that has been needed of the Mavs bench all season, we saw a few lineups that we had not seen all year due to Tyus being out, Mike Rostampour in foul trouble, and CJ getting stitched up.

I brought my wife to the game, my wife does not get to many games due to a busy work and school schedule, but it is like having the world’s most critical commentator next to you. I have gone to sporting events with women in the past and they point out the things that you do not typically see as a dude, like, hey that player has stupid hair, he should cut his hair. My wife on the other hand played basketball for several years and is also coaches high school, so yes it can be emasculating at times.

Anyway, at her first game my wife sits down and asks “who is their best player”? I tell her that each of the key players brings something different that puts them in as the best at something on the team. Mike Rostampour is the best post defender and rebounder, Marcus Tyus is the best shooter, CJ Carter is the best slasher at getting to the basket, and Devin Patterson is probably just the most important player. If he has a 2-7 shooting performance, the Mavs are not going to have a good time. If he gets into foul trouble or rolls his ankle, the Mavs are not going to have a good time. 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists at Marquette, the Mavs had a good time. 2 of 8 with 7 points and 7 turnover against Kansas State, the Mavs did not have a good time. MmmmK. Things got bad for the Mavs this season when Patterson basically had to sit for 2 and a half games due to injuries, and you could tell he was still at least a little bit slowed down after that for a number of games.

My wife was a point guard, and her number in high school and in college was 3, so she has an instant respect for the junior point guard. The coach in my wife points out every miscue by the Mavericks: they are not moving, that was not the best shot available on that play, that player needs to figure out how to box out, that asshole does not want to play defense, I hate players who cannot catch the ball, but not as much as I hate players who pass an uncatchable pass, that idiot keeps dribbling the ball into traffic and he has three turnovers because of it.

So a lot of that was from the South Dakota loss, my wife did not have all of those complaints on Thursday against Oral Roberts. Mike Rostampour picked up three quick fouls and you can tell some energy is taken out of the crowd. Rostampour is the energy provider, best post defender, and it is also his senior day and he has to go sit down for 16+ minutes, so yeah there was some energy taken out of the crowd. Jake White comes in and provides some energy, but Randy Reed really brought it last night. My wife asks, we did not see him against South Dakota, why does this guy not play more? I have no answer, I do not know why really, I have felt he has needed more minutes all year.

With Rostampour limited with foul trouble, and already with no Marcus Tyus, and with CJ Carter only having 4 points at half time, many of the fans around me felt like the game was over. If you have watched the Mavs all season and seen that the story is much of the same game after game, I could see people feeling that, but this was not the typical game. The game never got so out of hand that you could see the players giving up, they fought through everything, even though the game did not end the way the Mavs wanted to, you have to proud of the effort and the fight.

I think the most frustrating thing as a player in a close loss like that is after the game you will find yourself sitting there thinking, if I would have just not turned it over on that one play, or missed that one shot, or driven right instead of left on that play with a few minutes to go in first half, we could have won that game. I can think of one play that me thinking, had that gone down differently, maybe they could have won that game. With much of the team returning for next season, the team can learn from these moments and fix a lot of the mistakes.

I never like to the blame the officials for a loss, and I still do not blame them for last night’s loss, but they were confusing and knit picky at times last night. Mid-major officials being inconsistent? Get out of here, that never happens… The Summit League officials seem to always want to keep Mike Rostampour in check, which they should do with any player, but at times it seems like they are singling him out. A double technical foul in the game AND a double foul of a block on the defender and charge on the offensive player tells you that the refs are afraid to look like bad guys. I officiated basketball for a few years, you can tell the refs that do not want to be the bad guy and the guys who do not care what you think about them. The refs that don’t want to be the bad guy call make up calls, and it makes people want to punch them in the face.

Refs are people too, they typically do not like being yelled at, and it is not like they get to explain themselves like an annoying Customer Service agent with some BS lingo. You want the refs who forget about what a player did five games ago, the Summit League has officials who want to make sure the players know they have things in check. Take Garth Algar’s advice on wanting expensive guitars, LIVE IN THE NOW! They do not look at it play by play, they look at is as Well This Guy Was a Jerk Last Month, I Will Give Him a Foul For Rolling His Eyes at Another Player. Don’t get me wrong, if some player caused a huge fight a month ago, yeah you want to make sure that guy does not do that again. Rostampour has not been out there punching dudes, there is no reason to “keep him in check” just because he plays like he cares. You want the refs that take thirty seconds of their life to proactively tell a player that they will call a foul if do that one bad thing again, there is a reason why Karl Hess is now only officiating basketball games at Nazi Summer Camp. Watch an Atlantic 10 game some time, ALL of their refs are Look at Me and I’ll Cut You refs, their players are basically not allowed to play with emotion, a guy like Mike Rostampour would only play 5 minutes a game and average 5 fouls a game in the Atlantic 10.

Mickey Gordon wanted to be the first to say farewell.

My wife and I were in Kansas City for a UNO at UMKC game in 2012-2013 and we sat directly behind the UMKC bench…we were even seen in the picture that UMKC used as the photo for the presser of the firing of Matt Brown. Anyway, there was one ref, and Matt Brown would have a complaint and try and talk to the guy, and the guy would come over and make some stupid joke and have a stupid shit eating grin on his face every time and laugh like it was the appropriate time for his failure of a comedy routine. I wanted to yell at this ref for Matt Brown. How much would that mess up that ref? He’s incompetent and trying to be a comedian for a pissed off coach, and the guy sitting behind the bench with the opposing team’s shirt gets up and calls him out as an idiot? I have not seen that ref work a Summit League game since that year, and I watch a lot of them thanks to ESPN3 replay options. If he got promoted I will be really upset. Mild mannered Derrin Hansen was even out at center court yelling at the refs that game because they were unorganized and messing things up. Comedy Ref stood there with incompetence the entire time, he just wanted to be everyone’s buddy. The Mavs won that game, I think it was their first Summit League road win, but they won that game partly with learning to deal with incompetent refs. This reminds me, why the hell is UMKC in the WAC?

A three paragraph tangent about refs might be a new record for myself. Where was I? Last night, yeah that’s right. It was a frustrating loss, but what loss is not frustrating? The most frustrating are the ones where you realize you deserved that loss due to not working hard. The ones like last night, you can actually learn something and move one, so we will do that, we will move on. We will lose two great seniors that helped set the ground work for division one, and who will not be forgotten. Last night when both were sidelined, we were shown that we will be in great hands in the future. The seniors to be, and sophomore Tre’Shawn Thurman, showed great energy and that they are ready for next year. We are in great shape because of what the two of them provided.

I say that Devin Patterson is the most important piece of the team, and that is because he keeps things moving (among other factors). Not only on offense, but on defense he can great so many bad situations for the other team. My wife averaged 4+ steals a game as a freshman in high school, and her favorite thing about basketball was being “the little girl” but also being able to install so much fear into her opponents that they would shit their pants. I have not verified if she made anyone literally shit their pants, but those were her words. Devin Patterson does that for the Mavericks, he creates fear for the opposing team and they try to keep the ball away from him, but they cannot do it. We can see that Mike Rostampour brings energy and gave the Mavs heart when they desperately needed it, and Devin Patterson brought that too when he came to Omaha.

At one point the Mavs were literally not moving, just four dudes standing around (while one picked up his dribble) like they were in a Jurassic Park film trying to not be seen by the T-Rex. You could see Patterson yell at them after that. I am not sure if he was scolding them for not moving, but they started moving around more and more after that. I have seen him yell at players before for making poor choices, and they typically listen and respond, or end up on the bench for not listening to what he had to say. He had this just ridiculous array of moves for the Mavs first basket last night, most NBA players would not have been able to defend it. My wife who was frustrated by the first few minutes of the game, instantly put down her drink and clapped for him with respect. Post game, she said “I can completely see what you mean by saying he is the most important player on the team.” When things got bad, he made things happen for the team last night.

So after last night’s performance, even though it did not end up as a win, I hope that Carter and Rostampour can feel confident about Patterson, White, Tyus, and the rest of the crew to carry on what they worked hard to help build as a positive future for the Mavericks basketball team.

Don’t forget though, they still have three games left. One game is even on ESPN3

Hey, are you going to UNO Mavericks senior night?

February 18, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball CJ Carter, Mike Rostampour, UNO Mavericks

So Thursday against Oral Roberts is Senior Night for CJ Carter and Mike Rostampour…it’s also CJ Carter’s birthday. So I am just going to suggest that the student section bring confetti and toss it up in the air after Carter’s first field goal.

Remember that time I bragged about my wife being a division one athlete? Okay, I will do it again. My wife is and was a tough competitor, one who never played with a smile on her face and never let her opponent see any fear. She claims to have never cried over anything, except for her senior day. It was a culmination of a career that she never expected to have and that never prepared her for the emotions of her senior day. My wife was recruited by bigger schools for softball, but academics were more important her than going to a bigger conference school as she wanted to be a college professor after her college playing days were over, not a professional softball player. As a softball player though, she dreamed and hoped of going to a program not known for excellence and helping turn them into a dominant team, but the dream never materialized for a various number of factors.

If both of you that read this are curious, my wife had a scholarship offer to play softball at Creighton but turned it down. It was partly because Omaha was too cold for her (even though she would end up here 5 years later), and because they did not have a good enough of an academic program for her. Yes Creighton homers, someone said that about your educational program.

Perhaps I see a similar thing with Carter and Rostampour. Both players knew there was not a shot of upsetting anyone in the conference tournament, or the NCAA tournament, but they knew they were going to help build a program. Both are here to help set traditions for a program that has no Division 1 tradition as it is still just a baby in terms of being division one. Their careers became examples of how to play on the court for future Mavericks and that college athletics is actually more about getting an education than winning conference tournaments.

They certainly do have a good cop-bad cop routine going. CJ Carter always has a smile on his face through the good times and bad times. His smile reminds you of all the blackjack dealers at Indian casinos that smile, dance, and celebrate every time they screw you over with a 21 to your 20. I will beat you one day WinnaVegas! I was not sure if Rostampour had the proper muscles in his face to pull of a smile until I saw the team’s photo on their website. He constantly has a facial expression like he is auditioning for a part in the next Batman movie as the dead faced Mr. Freeze. You would take him as Mr. Freeze over Arnold any day.

Seriously, look at Rostampour's smile. I am uncomfortable. — Seriously, look at Rostampour’s smile. I am uncomfortable.

CJ Carter was here for four years, the program’s first 4 year starter. Much of the Omaha community that measures a college basketball program’s success with attendance ratings and corporate sponsor ships has not given much respect to the non-hockey sports at UNO. Seriously, I talk to some people that still are not aware that they moved to division one. So with that, no one has played or will play more “meaningless” minutes than CJ Carter, or scored more disrespected points, dished out more assists to field goals that went unnoticed, snatched more steals that went to possessions that led to fast breaks that people automatically discredit around here. He’s also hit a lot of threes, but I ran out of ways to say things.

Mike Rostampour added a much needed toughness to a UNO front court that lacked size, rebounding, and heart at times. I mean no disrespect to John Karhoff, Matt Hagerbaumer, or Alex Welhouse, they played with everything that they could, but they were in several mismatches as the team was transitioning in the beginning. Rostampour added toughness to that group, another body to box out, and as a big time rebounder he was the missing piece in the front court. Even though he has an unsmiley face, no one during the transition played with as much emotion and intensity during the run, for the UNO Mavericks or for the Summit League. Rostampour has really set a high bar for performance at UNO. Before Rostampour, UNO players had the body language of guys that expected loss, Rostampour changed the atmosphere to a group of guys that expected success. He knew that UNO had no chance for a post season when he got here, he could have state at St. Cloud State, but he came anyway, and it appears that he has embraced every moment of it.

Something that really surprised me about Rostampour, okay a lot of things have surprised me about Rostampour, but recently in an Omaha World Herald article, it was mentioned that he did not like the junior college that he played for because it was a basketball prison. They cared very little for academics and just wanted the team to play basketball. I did not except that from Rostampour. As a fan, I do not follow him around from class to class and take notice of the hard work that he puts into that aspect of his life. As a fan, I just see the love that he puts into the game and notice the hard work that he puts into the sport. It was refreshing to take notice of an athlete that can appreciate the sport and the classroom. I have met several athletes that thought class was just a pain or an inconvenience.

So senior day. My wife cried because it was the end, the end of an era of her life that she could never relive. She worked hard to help build that team for four year and it never materialized, it did not entirely work out the way she wanted. Her Belmont team was not able to make the conference tournament. She and her team did not have much support in the beginning, many players did not give a damn in the beginning, and her junior and senior years she finally had a competent coach but would never get to be on a team that the coach could have as a final product. If you are curious that is coach Amy Tudor, who left Belmont for Summit League IPFW and left IPFW to go to her home of Western Kentucky. Belmont and IPFW are currently poor at softball, Western Kentucky is doing quite well (they beat Nebraska this last weekend).

So I ask this, my wife did not have the exact same experience at Belmont that Carter and Rostampour have had in Omaha, but there are some similarities. Will we see tears from CJ Carter, who gave everything he could to UNO, his hometown, the same place that did not fully recognize his efforts for all four years? Will we see tears from the fearless Mike Rostampour, who knew what he was getting himself into, that had a goal of toughening up this Maverick team? It is not that I like seeing guys in their early 20s brought to tears, but as a fans, I think it shows us that we did our part to let them know that we cared about them as much as they cared about us. It shows us that they do not want to leave Mavnation and that this was all worth it. As fans our tears could not be enough to repay them for their efforts, sad to see them go, we repay them by showing up to every game in the future that we can to support the team and the program that they helped grow. We do what we can to get this team to where guys like Carter and Rostampour envisioned it to be. Let’s not have the program turn into a Nicolas Cage film.

The growing (and crazy) student section, that is a great start.

Okay, so who are the Mavs playing on Thursday?

References from Space Jam to Bill Brasky can only mean one thing, South Dakota is coming to town

February 12, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball Bill Brasky, Brandon Bos, Casey Kasperbauer, CJ Carter, Craig Smith, Dejon Davis, Devin Patterson, Duol Mayot, Marcus Tyus, Mike Rostampour, Omaha, South Dakota Coyotes, Summit league, The Big Lebowski, Tim Miles, Tre'Shawn Thurman, Tyler Hagedorn, Tyler Larson, UNO Mavericks

Okay, you’re Lebowski, I’m a Lebowski, you’re along I-29, I’m along I-29, you used to be D-2, I used to be D-2, you’ve lost four of your last five, I’ve lost four of my last five, now get on with it.

Ever since joining the Summit League, I have always thought that the UNO Mavericks were on an even plain as the South Dakota Coyotes. They are both former NCC members, both schools seem to be going after some of the same recruits, they are in the shadow of South Dakota State, and the Mavs kind of are too. Since joining division one, UNO has gone 3-3 against the Coyotes, they split games in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, and UNO was able to pick up a come from behind win in Vermillion earlier this season.

Fact, Vermillion is a dumb name for a town.

The Coyotes field a squad that is mostly juniors and seniors on their roster, they have 9 freaking juniors on the roster. There is not much height to the team, but they do have 6’10” James Hunter who transferred from Pac-12 powerhouse Washington State. If you have an allegiance to the pacific northwest, you would know that was sarcasm. With little height on the team, there is not much of a post game for the Coyotes. UNO posts Mike Rostampour, Tre’Shawn Thurman, and Jake White were able to combine for 29 points, 26 rebounds, and shoot a combined 9-18 from the field in the first meeting between the two teams. That is not to say that the Coyotes are a terrible rebounding team. They matched UNO’s 38 rebounds in their game earlier this season, and 6’3″ Tyler Larson averages just under 8 rebounds a game.

Fact, South Dakota fans are weird.

I say these programs have similarities, but their fans confuse me. I attended last year’s game in Omaha between the two teams. A decent number of South Dakota fans showed up, which makes sense as they are the closest Summit League school to Omaha, and every fan was the same. They looked as if they took a break from fixing their tractors, like they came down to Omaha and hit up an Applebee’s before the game, drank too much beer in Ralston Arena, and acted as if the Coyotes were the representing the Tune Land Tune Squad. Have you ever seen those sketches from Saturday Night Live with Alec Baldwin and John Goodman drinking too much and shouting ridiculous stuff about a magical man named Bill Brasky? Put South Dakota Coyote shirts on those two characters, and that’s what I saw in these people. Always talking as if the Caps Lock button is stuck, or like they cannot take the Caps Lock off because there is a drink in that hand.

BRANDON BOS ONCE HIT A THREE POINTER WITH HIS HANDS TIED BEHIND HIS BACK AND HAD TO SHOOT THE BALL WITH HIS NOSE LIKE HE WAS AIR BUD. TO BRANDON BOS!!!

TYLER LARSON ONCE DUNKED THE BALL SO HARD THAT HE PULLED OFF THE RIM AND HE FLEW OFF THE RIM INTO SUPER MARIO WORLD. TO TYLER LARSON!!!

CASEY KASPERBAUER CAN HIT A THREE POINTER FROM SO FAR AWAY HE FLEW TO SUPER MARIO WORLD TO SAVE TYLER LARSON AND THEN SHOT A THREE FROM BOWSER’S CASTLE TO VERMILLION TO WIN A GAME OVER SOUTH DAKOTA STATE. TO CASEY KASPERBAUER!!!

Watch out for characters like this when South Dakota comes to Omaha.

South Dakota takes a lot of threes, and they hit a lot of threes. Overall they are 4th in the Summit in 3 point field goal percentage, but the numbers have dipped a bit recently and overall they have the 2nd worst field goal percentage in the league. The game in Vermillion was the first game of the year in which UNO’s opponent hit more 3s than Omaha and Omaha still won the game. So the post play for UNO is important here, as South Dakota has very little of it.

Much about the threes is the same for Omaha. The Mavs have shooters, but they have not really put up a lot in a game in the last 5 games. What do you define as “a lot of threes”? I would probably say seven. Seven sounds good. Seven minute abs. Seven little dwarfs. Seven miles an hour. Seven Costanza. The Mavs have not hit more than 6 threes since January 14th and 18th. They also have given up a lot of threes recently, as the perimeter defense seems to be facing a new challenge game after game. The Mavs have given up 6 or more threes in each of the last 5 games, in fact there has only been one game this season in which the Mavs have given up less than 5 threes. Yeah, take that Nevada.

These last 6 games for UNO are important. You do not want to see the Mavs get any worse as they are trying to grow as a program, but with their current record they cannot finish above .500. If they go 3-3 in their last 6 games they will match their 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 win totals of 11, which 2011-2012 is kind of skewed because the schedule was a mix of D-1, D-2, NAIA, and whatever else is out there. They only had one win that year against a D-1 opponent, take that Northern Illinois. Three wins is doable against South Dakota, Oral Roberts, Western Illinois, North Dakota, IUPUI, and IPFW.

These last three home games are the last home games we will see of seniors CJ Carter and Mike Rostampour. Would you expect them to not go out with a bang? They both bring it every single game, with the last three home games on the horizon, I cannot imagine them just taking a backseat, like, hey, let the guys that are going to be here next year get some time. No, no, no, no.

In six career games against South Dakota, CJ Carter has only not made double figures once. His sophomore season, the Mavs lost 95-72, and Carter only had 4 points. Overall, in the 6 career games he has averaged 16 points per game and shot 43% from the field.

In three career games against South Dakota, Mike Rostampour has not scored less than 10. He has averaged 12.6 points per game, 8.7 rebounds, shot 48% from the field, and shot 83% from the line. Safe to say South Dakota’s front line is no match for Mike Rostampour?

How about Marcus Tyus? In 5 career games he has shot 55% from the field and scored 11.2 points per game against South Dakota. Tyus has turned into the most consistent scorer for the Mavs this season.

But does anyone else feel like we are due for a big time performance from Devin Patterson? I would place a bet on that, but not like Krusty the Klown betting against the Harlem Globetrotters because he thought the Generals were due.

At one time, I thought that Patterson was the best pure point guard in the Summit League. I still think that, but ever since his ankle injury he has not been the same. The quickness is not there like it was earlier in the season. I was told prior to the beginning of the year that he broke his toe and is letting it heal on its own, which may or may not be the best course of action. Patterson’s game against Marquette of 26 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 11-12 free throws may be the best performance by a Mav ever considering the stage. Patterson really is the biggest x-factor for this team. He and Rostampour added toughness to this squad when they entered the starting lineup in 2013-2014, he may not be the scorer that Carter or Tyus are, but when Patterson runs the offense, and when he does well, the team does well. I want my Patterson back. It is just a lot of ground to make up when you take the best point guard in the league, give him an ankle injury, and slow him down given how important he is to the Mavericks.

There are some Omaha ties to this South Dakota team. I do not have this 100% verified but I am pretty sure Casey Kasperbauer’s brother played at Nebraska and currently lives and works in Omaha, even went to graduate school at UNO. Kasperbauer is from Carroll, Iowa, which has produced some decent basketball talent in past. Junior Duol Mayot is a Omaha south grad, he was a great rebounder at the JuCo level, but he really has not gotten a bunch of playing time at South Dakota yet. There was apparently some interest in Mayot to come to UNO, but I do not think that a scholarship was ever offered. Freshman Dejon Davis is from Minnesota, an area that UNO likes to recruit out of, and he also had some interest from UNO, but I am also not sure if a scholarship was ever offered by the UNO staff.

Head coach Craig Smith is a former assistant of Nebraska’s Tim Miles, like Tim Miles he is known for improving teams. He did it at the NAIA level, he was the national NAIA Coach of the Year in 2007, and he also helped Tim Miles improve North Dakota State, Colorado State, and Nebraska. He gets to Nebraska and recruits, I am not sure how much of an influence he had on it, but at Colorado State they had 4 native Nebraskans on the team when they reached the NCAA tournament. Along with Mayot, he has Logan Power from Lincoln as a walk on, and he also picked up a commitment from Norfolk’s Tyler Hagedorn, who also held an offer from UNO. Smith has already led his squad into Omaha once already and almost came up with a win at Creighton, which makes Mav fans happy and mad at the same time.

Given the circumstances this kind of seems like a must win game for the Mavs.

By the way, am I the only one that wants South Dakota-UNO to be a big time rivalry?

All I want for my birthday is for the Mavs to end this losing streak

January 20, 2015 acroth86 College Basketball Alex Phillips, Brett Olson, Caleb Steffensmeier, Cam Griffin, CJ Carter, Denver Pioneers, Devin Patterson, Jake White, Marcus Byrd, Marcus Tyus, Matt Hagerbaumer, Mike Rostampour, omavs, Randy Reed, Rylan Murry, Tim Smallwood, Tre'Shawn Thurman, UNO Mavericks, Weezer

Thursday morning I will leave for a wedding in Mexico, the wedding happens to be on my birthday, so it will probably be the coolest place that I have ever spent my birthday. I am a big sports fan, but I am also not such a crazed sports fan to where I will have my phone out the entire time checking college basketball scores. Mostly because of signal on my cell, but also out of respect for the people getting married… I just hope to come back to find out that the UNO Mavericks have picked up a win. I am sure the room I am in will have wireless and I can check the score there, but who knows.

I do not ever want to be negative with any of this, but it is hard to find many positives for a team that is on a five game losing streak and just lost to the preseason last place team with UNO having a historic scoring performance from their senior captain. So here are some positives…

Denver is also struggling. A team picked second in the preseason rankings (see how preseason rankings are worthless) finds themselves at 6th in the conference at 2-3 with losses to South Dakota State, also IUPUI, and they are responsible for IPFW’s only win. IPFW was the voted as the preseason champion.

Another positive, CJ Carter and Marcus Tyus are playing awesome right now. CJ Carter scored 45 points on only 25 field goal attempts in his last game. How many NBA players have you seen that needed to take 39 shots in order to get to 45? Tyus, also went 7 of 10 in the Mavs last game. He is also rebounding and passing the ball better this season, he really has become a more consistent player this season. UNO did shoot 50% plus in their two losses, so naturally you want to blame defense, rebounding, turnovers, all the good stuff. Before Oral Roberts and IUPUI, UNO was 6-0 when shooting above 44% and 0-9 when shooting under 44%, not counting Iowa Wesleyan. #themoreuno

UNO has no games this work week. Denver plays Oral Roberts on Wednesday night, so UNO has more time to prepare for this game. That can not be a negative. Okay, now I do not know where to go from here.

If you were listening to the broadcast on the radio, Gary Sharp mentioned that teams are playing the Mavs to get better, it seems like some players are having out of body experiences and shooting much better against Omaha. Ouch, considering Denver already shoots 49% on the year as a team and leads the Summit, so are you telling me they are going to be better than that?

Denver runs a Princeton offense, similar to Air Force, ehhhh, and is led by their two senior wings Brett Olson (shoots 51%) and Cam Griffin (shoots 54%). Let me throw something at you. Brett Olson stands at 6’5″ and Cam Griffin is 6’3″. Denver is not really that big of a team, they do not have a talented big guy like Air Force did with Marek Olesinksi. Marcus Byrd is probably their most talented guy that is 6’7″ or taller who averages 9 and 4 and shoots 52% from the field and 49% on threes. So three of their top players shoot higher than 50%, well this already sounds fun.

Why mention this? The perimeter defense that I have spoken of as being a big issue for UNO. In 2012-2013, I thought the Mavs biggest weakness was in the post, and then it got better in 2013-2014 with the addition to Mike Rostampour to the lineup, but now it is a strength of the team with Jake White and Tre’Shawn Thurman also in the post. Now the Mavs are having trouble guarding wing players. Opposing teams’ starters that are 6’7″ or taller are shooting 46% from the field against the Mavs, guards that are 6’2″ or shorter are also shooting 46% from the field against the Mavs, and players that are 6’3″ to 6’6″ (and I will throw in Nebraska’s Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields into this category, just because) are shooting 50% from the field.

Maybe that does not sound like a significant thing, but when you are in a league filled with 6’3″ to 6’6″ wing players that can shoot the ball, it is a problem. There are not a lot of great talented big guys in the league. Hell, UNO is in last place and after IPFW’s Steve Forbes and South Dakota State’s Cody Larson, UNO probably has the next best 3 big men in the league of Mike Rostampour, Jake White, and Tre’Shawn Thurman. Korey Billbury and Obi Emegano combined for 20-32 from the field against the Mavs, and statistically they are not quite as good as shooters as Cam Griffin and Brett Olson. I do not even want to get into IUPUI.

I am pretty interested to see what Mike Rostampour will do in this game against Denver. In no way do I think 5 rebounds in two games is okay with Mike Rostampour. The last time he only had 3 rebounds in one game, he came back the next game with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Marquette. The only time he had less rebounds over a two game stretch, he had 4 combined rebounds in 2 games against South Carolina State and Drake last season, he came back with a performance of 19 points, 9 rebounds, on 7-11 shooting with 2 threes at South Carolina State. I would be incredibly surprised if Rostampour has three bad rebounding games in a row.

I love Carter and Tyus, but at 6’1″, I wish one of them could play the point guard position for the stretches of the game that Devin Patterson is on the bench. You are never quite sure what is going to happen when the Mavs go to the bench. It is like you are putting in a new Weezer CD, you know there will be part of a song that is pretty good, but the rest of the CD, you are not entirely sure what you are getting yourself into. I thought of this, I used to be a big Weezer fan, but I have not given that band one dollar since that Maladroit album.

When Matt Hagerbaumer, Alex Phillips, and Caleb Steffensmeier came off the bench last season, you knew exactly what you were getting. Defense and rebounding from Hagerbaumer, and some sweet dunks when he got the opportunity. Defense and shooting from Alex Phillips, maybe one poor decision from time to time, but nothing too extreme. Defense, ball control, and if you needed a comeback or a dagger three from Steffensmeier, he would give it to you. All three of those guys would get you high percentage shots.

We know we are going to get a boat load of offensive rebounds from Jake White, but offensively he has been hard to figure out so far. You are not really sure what you are going to get out of the bench on a consistent basis from anyone else on the bench. He is only shooting 37% from the field, but that is with some nagging injuries. Maybe Randy Reed can get us 10 and 7 this game, but then 2 and 1 the other game. Tim Smallwood and Rylan Murry can get us a couple threes this game, but then both seem to be too shy from deep the next game. This is why I wish Carter or Tyus could play the point, I think they are both capable of it, it just does not seem to happen often. With one of them at the point, the Mavs could have 3 starters on the court with 2 bench players at any given time as opposed to 1 starter with 4 bench players, which seems to be leading to problems lately.

A general perception that I have right now is that the team loses a lot of defensive intensity when Mike Rostampour is on the bench. Which it would probably be impossible to have the intensity go up with him on the bench, but it is quite noticeable how much the team is affected when Rostampour is on the bench resting or is in foul trouble. Might I recommend a little more Daniel Meyer when Rostampour is in foul trouble? Tre’Shawn Thurman is awesome, but he is not the definition down low banger like Rostampour, Jake White is also not exactly in that category either, but Meyer is really the only player that would fall into that category after Rostampour. I do not see what is wrong with a Meyer-White-Thurman front court for a small stretch. Maybe it is not the ideal lineup against Denver, but against a slightly bigger South Dakota State or IPFW, it seems pretty reasonable.

I do think we need to stop looking at this season as We Beat Marquette and we need to start look at it as We Lost to Seattle, UMKC, Chicago State, and IUPUI.

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Omaha Mavericks Blog

I did not have anyone to talk Omaha Mav sports with, so I decided to talk to the internet.

Mike Rostampour

2015-2016 Opponent Preview, Game 1: UC Santa Barbara

Toughness: From Rostampour to Thurman

A look back at the players The Summit League has lost from 2014-2015

Meet future Mav Zach Pirog

How to schedule the Mavericks and the Bluejays: PART II

A little recap of the bumps and bruises along the way in the last year of transition

While a great game, senior night did not end the way we wanted, and Devin Patterson is the boss

Hey, are you going to UNO Mavericks senior night?

References from Space Jam to Bill Brasky can only mean one thing, South Dakota is coming to town

All I want for my birthday is for the Mavs to end this losing streak