#8 Creighton (21-11, 10-8, 3rd BE), #9 K-State, Fri, 5:50

[BlueJayVisitor]

Yeah, I was wondering why ESPN had him listed as a 6'0" Foward. If he's 6'10" then we'll focus double-teams on him and put Khyri on Brown.

[tmcats]

wade's the tallest k-state starter. so, you should be able to size him up at tipoff as he jumps center.

mawien looks to be an inch shorter.

what's creighton's best fan forum?

[BlueJayVisitor]

Best Forum to talk Jays is Bluejay Underground.

http://www.bluejayunderground.com

It's part of a solid fan site, White and Blue Review

http://www.whiteandbluereview.com

[section12]

Wow. According to the posts on that bluejay site we shouldn't even bother to show up.
So if our inside guys score 50 how many points does the rest of the team need to score?

[learnin]

It's beyond me how any fan base can rave on about how confident they are that their team is going to come out on top. I would be nervous if we were playing Dry Gulch let alone a team that finished 4th in the Big XII.

[ksustars754]

Pretty good discussion here and I understand it was a mistake but I lol'd at Thomas guarding Wade. Deano would have 50. That's essentially saying we should put Mawein on Foster and see what happens.

[KITNooga]

Pretty good discussion here and I understand it was a mistake but I lol'd at Thomas guarding Wade. Deano would have 50. That's essentially saying we should put Mawein on Foster and see what happens.

I th ink the thing you all are missing is that we just finished 4th in the big XII playing with a team of '6 and unders'

[BlueJayVisitor]

Pretty good discussion here and I understand it was a mistake but I lol'd at Thomas guarding Wade. Deano would have 50. That's essentially saying we should put Mawein on Foster and see what happens.

I th ink the thing you all are missing is that we just finished 4th in the big XII playing with a team of '6 and unders'

Yeeeeeah, lol I blame ESPN's faulty measurables.

[tmcats]

i read their k-state thread. tried to register but couldn't make that happen. but anyway, i think it shows as much k-state ignorance there as i have about the b'jays. that's one of dynamics that makes the dance so much fun - being partnered with someone you have no clue about except the color of their laundry.

obviously, creighton is a good team out of the very tough catholic league. mcdermott is a solid coach. and they have some guys, as hugs would put it. the foster storyline makes it more interesting nationally. thus, we have cbs's lead team calling the tbs game, raft and 'welcome, my friends,' in primetime no less.

[AJcat7755]

It's beyond me how any fan base can rave on about how confident they are that their team is going to come out on top. I would be nervous if we were playing Dry Gulch let alone a team that finished 4th in the Big XII.

I'm not sure how any fanbase can be that confident about winning when they:
1. Play down to opponents (see DePaul)
2. Outside of the 1 Nova game, haven't beaten any other tournament teams in 13 games
3. Have nagging injuries with their best big
4. Lack of depth in the front court and has problems rebounding
5. Plays smaller against a team that has a 1st Team Big 12 Forward and the recent surge of Mak getting Big 12 Tournament Team
6. Playing a team that finished 4th in the #1 RPI conference
7. Can't hold leads. Playing a team that hasn't given up this year and has come back several times when down.
8. School that doesn't have a ton of history to be confident about (hasn't been to the S16 since 1974)
9. Generally doesn't seem to have a lot of knowledge on K-State if they don't know much about Dean Wade or that Barry Brown is a very good defender against a top scoring guard.

I'm not saying K-State is a runaway in this either. K-State has flaws on its own.
1. Not best at guarding the 3, which could be an issue if Creighton is on fire
2. Lack of front court depth against Big 12 teams, but in this matchup, it actually favors K-State
3. Lack of rebounding, again, in this case, K-State is favored against a smaller lineup
4. Recent injuries to Dean and Barry. Barry was just a swollen eye, so that should be good. Dean injury concerns me a bit more
5. Hasn't been great at shooting the 3 recently with Stokes and X struggling.
6. Beats teams they should, and loses to teams better. Although this is closer to a 50/50 matchup so that doesn't necessarily apply.

My questions on this game:
Foster has some extra motivation for this game. Can Barry Brown slow him down? Or will there be too much "want" that it backfires for Foster?
Can K-State's other guards stop Thomas or Ballock and Creighton's other good guards?
Can K-State guard well against the 3 and limit open looks to a hot shooting team?
Will the game be played at Creighton's pace or K-State's?
Can Creighton defend in the front court against Dean and Mak?
Can K-State take advantage of the size for rebounds on misses?