One Word.  Embarrassing.

Not because we lost. I knew Creighton would have a solid game plan, and I knew that they would fight, kick, scratch, claw, and do whatever it took to win.  Embarrassing, because we played like wimps. Letting Jeffrey Day and Dane Watts dunk on us, letting Porter get all the way to the basket. I could fill this page with examples of how we didn’t fight to win.

Blame the coach, blame whoever you want.  Personally, I blame the players.  They have to go look in the mirror. Jason Dourisseau came to Nebraska instead of Creighton because he thought he was going to a better opportunity.  Now he’ll go home to Omaha having never beaten Creighton in the regular season for his entire career.

Dana Altman clearly challenged his big men. Having been told all week how much bigger and more athletic we were, their frontline players decided to see if our big fellas had any heart. Answer?  NO. When we’d shoot the ball and get bumped, we’d look at the official as Creighton was going the other way. Or we’d gently finesse a nifty little left handed reverse lay up in traffic, even though we were four or five inches taller than the player guarding us.

Embarrassing because of the way we let a simple little three-quarters court press (which was designed to shorten the game and nothing more) cause us to turn the ball over 31 times. I’m sure most of us that played for Coach Nee would remember this rule, but it came crashing down on me yesterday while witnessing this massacre. If we played against a team that pressed, and you threw the ball backwards against the press, you were out of the game. Period. Name one time where we advanced the ball up the sideline or into the middle so we could get numbers and attack the basket. None. Instead we gently massaged the ball back and forth, turning it over every other time by jumping to pass or telegraphing it without a ball fake.

Embarrassing, because our best player spent the entire afternoon 30 feet away from the basket.

Embarrassing, because our big people post up like they are scared to bump into someone. There’s a reason we can’t throw the ball inside, because our big men can’t get post position long enough for us to throw it in.  Or if we try they are so off balance and weak, the defender comes right through them to get a hand on the entry pass.  Instead, we stand straight up and put an arm out to keep the defender from bumping into our fragile bodies.

Embarrassing because we didn’t set a screen all afternoon. Not against that bogus press, not against that little match up flat iron zone they threw at us, not even when we tried.  Just too scared of that physical contact I guess. It’s really not that hard to guard the perimeter when you don’t have to worry about anyone cutting to the ball side or the backside, or anyone screening you. Yep, just pass it around the perimeter until you turn it over, or force a dribble drive into the teeth of the defense and beg for a call when you kick it away, or jack an off balanced three pointer with a defender in your face and every other defender in position to box out.

At about the 13 minute mark of the second half, we finally applied some pressure to Creighton, with a trapping 2-3 zone.  Creighton responded by turning it over three times and giving up a 9-0 run for us to cut the lead to 14 at the 10:30 mark. Altman calls a timeout, and we never got closer.

Embarrassing because we got dunked on four or five times, and gave up another 4 or 5 layups. If you take those 9 or 10 field goals away, Creighton shoots about 10% from the field.  When you play on the road, in front of 16,000, you CAN NOT let someone have a breakaway dunk on you.  You CAN NOT give up layups to a team shooting poorly from the field.  Did we get any layups? Anyone? Bueller?  NO! Heck, we didn’t even get close enough to the rim to be fouled.  I wanted to see our big people foul the Porter kid and send his 3 for 13 to the line. Oh by the way, his 3 made field goal attempts? All layups. Mr. Maric?  Mr. BJ Walker? Anyone care to challenge those, or at least send a poor shooter to the foul line to earn those 2 points? At least Wes was contesting shots. Wes battled.

Breakaway dunks by Jeffrey Day? He would have been picking himself out of the basket stand. Sorry, Jeffrey, no free ones. Good luck on those two free throws. Dane Watts dunks on us and then stares at us? Flat on his back is where he would have found himself. Good luck on those two free throws Dane. You will never.  I repeat NEVER, dunk on us. Period.  But do we play with that kind of spirit?  That kind of pride? That kind of tenacity?  NO.  Creighton’s kids sure did though. They just smacked us in the mouth, and are laughing about it today.

Could you see Bruce Chubick allowing any of that to go on? NO. Derrick Chandler? NO.  Kimani Ffriend? NO. Break away layups on the road against Keith Moody or Clifford Scales? No. Jamar Johnson? No.  Tyron Lue? No.

There isn’t one player on Creighton’s team (that played anyway) that I would trade any of our players for. Yet they shot less than 30% and won by 26.  We let some Mickey Mouse press and a gimmicky match-up zone take us out of our game. And instead of fighting and making it a war, we played nicey-nice and got our butts kicked in front of 16,000 people. 16,000 people who sat in stunned disbelieve.  16,000 people who laughed all through the bathroom line saying things like, “Oh my, if they can’t beat us without 3 starters, they won’t ever beat us.”  Saying things like, “I can’t believe how soft their kids are. I thought their big people would dominate us. They play with no fire. No intensity.” 16,000 people, who now have no respect for our program, our coaches or our players. 16,000 people in this state that will now have total indifference, even if we do improve from this and make a nice run.

Seven years in a row fellas. SEVEN! That’s home, that’s away. That’s ridiculous.

Now, your true fans will hang in with you. Nebraska fans are NOT fair-weather fans. We were 10-18 my junior year and we still averaged 10,000 fans a game. And those loyal fans were rewarded with a great season the next year. This season is still young.  There is much history to be written. I still see glimmers of hope.  I like the improved athleticism, the improved depth.

BUT, if you don’t start playing with a chip on your shoulders….if you don’t start punishing people that try to make it all the way to the basket…if you don’t start going straight through people’s faces and trying to dunk the ball from in close…if you don’t start posting up like men and DEMANDING the ball when you have a 6’8” guy on you…if you don’t start running your offense from the inside out, then you will lose a lot of games this year, and people will start letting you know about it. Because Creighton is a good team, and this is meant as no disrespect towards them, but they aren’t Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, or Texas.

Someone on that team needs to step up and set the tone, physically.

Maybe a visit to the Wizard of Oz is in order, because right now, we have a team that has no heart.