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How to Watch, Stream, Listen, Follow
Game Time: 11:00am CT
Location: Capital One Arena, Washington D.C
TV: Fox Sports Networks (Nebraska & Omaha - FS Midwest / D.C & East Coast MASN2)
Stream: *None
*previous edition mentioned FSGO as an option - it is not
Radio: 1620AM the Zone in Omaha / 106.7FM in D.C
Other Blogs: White & Blue Review - Creighton / Casual Hoya - Georgetown
Tweeters:
Creighton - Rob Anderson / Creighton MBB / Tom Nemitz / “Patrick Marshall” / Matt DeMarinis / Corey Lathrop / Jon Nyatawa / Fake Blue Crew
Georgetown - Casual Hoya
Odds & Ends
Creighton opened with a 4 point edge, yet the line has moved to -2 for the Jays according to Oddshark.
Over/Under set at 156.
If you have a problem gambling on college sports you should call your grandmother and let her know of your sins. Perhaps shedding light on your shame with her will sway your nefarious ways.
Series History
Creighton and Georgetown have met just eight times in their history, with the Hoyas leading 5-3 in the series.
The first meeting between these two private universities occurred on December 30th, 1970 in West Palm Beach, Florida with the Bluejays winning 80-79. The very next day, on New Years Eve, Paul McCartney filed a lawsuit to dissolve the Beatles, effectively acting as the first blow to the inevitable break-up.
Was the Georgetown-Creighton game the reason? I attempted to phone John Lennon to ask this pressing question, but was unable to reach him for further comment.
Verba de Ludis
Creighton is probably going to start Isaiah Zierden at point guard. Coach Greg McDermott was asked if freshman point guard Davion Mintz’s performance against Marquette warranted a start and he sort of shuffled and noted that he’d go with a steady hand.
Regardless, the Jays will likely employ the same sub-technique as-seen-against-Marquette where Zierden, if the offense lags, will be pulled early and without remorse.
Other than that what you’ll want to watch for is the return of senior center Zach Hanson. At first glance it seemed that Hanson would be back in late February, then his return got bumped to early February due to a speedy recovery, and now he’s likely to see a lean number of minutes against the Hoyas.
This comes at a time when he’s needed most, as Toby Hegner has been battling glass ankles and Martin Krampelj hasn’t been able to take control of the post. Hegner is a game-time decision, but was in a walking boot at practice on Monday, so with his availability up in the air the addition of Hanson is a godsend.
Another gigantic impact Hanson’s return has on the Jays is a quality back-up for Justin Patton, who has been battling foul trouble lately. Marquette’s Luke Fischer noted after their win over the Jays that utilizing pump-fakes to get him off his feet was an important note in their scouting report, and if John Thompson III still has a brain in his head, he’ll tell his players to wield this deficiency in Patton’s game.
Other than all of this, Creighton is currently searching for a vocal leader to properly motivate the team when the chips are down. Maurice Watson Jr. will be chillin’ on the bench, probably yelling stuff, but he won’t be on the court to directly yell at his teammates. Here are my top five candidates to fill Watson’s vocal leadership role:
- Justin Patton
- Zach Hanson
- Marcus Foster
- Khyri Thomas
- drunk guy in the crowd
After letting Marquette shoot 98.5% from the field on Saturday, the Jays turned up the defensive play on the practice court to ‘11,’ which probably means they’ll shoot 48% from the field while allowing just 30%.
Of all the shitty narratives that go into these affairs, the fact that this is a must-win for Creighton is probably the shittiest. In just their second whole-game without Watson, the Jays will be searching for a way to buck all the wise guy national writers who wrote them off. They can do this by doing to Georgetown what Providence did to Georgetown. If Creighton can make a resounding enough statement to shake all the bad press then the folks in Omaha will be a lot less stressed on twitter.com.
I don’t follow Georgetown religiously but I saw them beat Oregon and was pretty god damn stoked that they pulled off that momentous win. It made the conference look really good, plus it appeared that the Hoyas finally figured out that they have, arguably, the most athletic and talent-laden team in the conference.
I don’t know what they’ve done since then. I’m assuming they’re in the top 5 of the conference and are vying for 5 or 6 seed in the tournament, right?
I’m totally kidding, I’ve followed the Hoyas all year, from their peak against Syracuse to their low point getting decimated by Providence. They don’t really have a point guard, rely on teams getting goofed up defending their incessant back door cuts, and lean heavily on LJ Peak and Rodney Pryor playing their best basketball.
They play a lot of teams close and can run with anyone due to their athleticism. Their defense has its holes and can be exploited with excellent guard play, but for the most part they can’t offer too much on that end other than slowing down the pace towards their inevitable demise.
This team could beat Creighton as they search for their new identity. They’ve never lost to the Bluejays at the Verizon Center, so at least they’ve got that rolling for them.
I don’t know, this season seems like a train wreck for the vaunted Hoya program. There’s been so much talk of sending JT3 packing that it seems like an inevitable conclusion barring some sort of miracle run to end the season and sneak into the NCAA Tournament - even then, I’d think they have to get to a Sweet 16 for JT3 to hop off the hot seat.
I don’t like to post a score prediction for games because I’m usually wrong and my fragile ego just can’t take that blow, so instead I’m going to leave you with this prediction:
Both teams will score at least 50 points.