NEW ORLEANS – Sometimes you don’t need pages upon pages of notes or a mountain of post-game statistics to help tell the story of a college basketball game.
Sometimes all it takes is a few heartfelt words from a heartbroken coach:
“We’re going to miss them.”
Creighton coach Dana Altman closed his final post-game press conference of the season with those words, paying tribute to his trio of star seniors who had just played their last game in Creighton uniforms, falling to Nevada 77-71 in overtime in a gut-wrenching opening round NCAA tournament game at the New Orleans Arena.
For as long as I’ve watched college basketball, I’ve had a soft spot for departing seniors. End-of-game television shots of sidelined seniors, heads in hands, eyes welling up with tears, have always made me ache along with the players. And now, more than ever, as a senior myself, I feel as if I can commiserate.
So, for all the interesting plotlines running though Creighton’s opening round NCAA tournament matchup with Nevada, the only one that I feel right reflecting on in this space is the story of the seniors.
As they have so many times before, the seniors kept the Jays afloat Friday, sometimes seemingly by sheer will alone: an impossible leaner in traffic by Nate Funk here. A hard-fought two points in the paint for Anthony Tolliver there. A determined drive to the hoop by Nick Porter. Heck, even seldom-used reserve Manny Gakou got in on the action, playing tough defense on Nevada big man Nick Fazekas in the low post.
Aside from the disappointing final outcome, Friday’s game served, in many ways, as a microcosm of the seniors’ careers as a whole.
Gakou’s time on the court Friday, much like his tenure as a Jay, was brief. The Parisian, who came to Creighton via junior college to play two seasons, made a play or two against that proved he’s still raw. But he performed admirably filling in for Tolliver, showing soft touch as he knocked down his only shot of the game and, more importantly, hounding the taller Fazekas into a handful of missed shots.
Porter, another transfer who played two seasons in a Jays uniform, frequently locked horns Friday with Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp in what turned out to be the most intriguing one-on-one matchup of the day: a battle of bulky slashers whose strength allowed them to play “bigger” than their listed height.
Against the 6-foot-5 Kemp and a handful of other, taller defenders, the 6-foot-3 Porter scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds, exhibiting the ability to, quite literally, overcome big obstacles – an ability that aided him throughout his Creighton career.
Sidelined with a knee injury for an entire season before he ever played a game, Porter came back from injury to garner Missouri Valley Conference newcomer of the year honors last season. Dogged by memories of a costly turnover in an unspectacular early exit from last year’s MVC tournament, Porter responded with 41 points and 24 rebounds in three games at this year’s Valley tournament, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team for his efforts.
Tolliver, in an apparent effort to wear down Fazekas on the defensive end, touched the ball on nearly every one of the Jays’ possessions in the early going. That Tolliver was a focal point for the offense seems appropriate given that he has been such a vocal leader for the team.
After two years in which his play was inconsistent at best, Tolliver broke through last year, providing the Jays a much needed low-post presence and serving as a voice for the squad.
The Missouri Valley Conference’s 2006 Most Improved Player is on pace to graduate in May with a degree in finance and a 3.5 GPA. After holding his own Friday against one of the top big men in the country in Fazekas, Tolliver should draw interest from professional teams somewhere. But if he finds that basketball isn’t his calling, last year’s NCAA Division I-AAA scholar athlete of the year should have plenty of other career options.
Last but certainly not least, Funk put on the sort of spectacular show that has seemingly become par for the course for him. An informal survey of Bourbon Street patrons Thursday night revealed the limited extent of most opposing fans’ knowledge of Creighton basketball: Nate Funk. They knew the name, and Friday they got to see the game. Funk was lights-out from inside the arc in the opening half, hitting five of six two-point field goal attempts and proving that being able to see the hoop while shooting is not a prerequisite for making the ball go into that hoop.
A silent assassin, Funk let his play do the talking, and it spoke volumes. Throughout his final three full seasons, during which he led the Jays in scoring three times, Funk was Creighton’s marquee player, and he was treated as such, always drawing the opponents’ toughest defender and enduring the opposing fans’ harshest abuse. But, as he did Friday, when he led the Jays with 23 points, Funk shrugged off such adversity, drawing his coach’s praise for his ability to do so.
“He’s been a big-time player for us,” Altman said. “He’s got a great work ethic, and he’ll play basketball for awhile here, hopefully here in the States.”
While it remains to be seen what stages the Nate Funk show will play on in the future, the show will go on for Creighton basketball.
The Jays return two starters and will add a promising bunch of newcomers, including two of the top 150 high school players in the nation and a kid with a name – Korver – that should ring a bell with a few people around these parts. Barring major disaster or a ban on beer sales at Qwest Center Omaha, the Jays will continue to draw fans in droves to their sparkling NBA-caliber arena and continue to make Creighton basketball the best show in town.
But despite all that, I still can't completely shake the disappointment of knowing that one of the best senior classes to come through Creighton will never don CU blue again.
We’re going to miss them, indeed.
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