Creighton vs. URI - First Round Preview: Can the Rams Upset the Bluejays?
Straight off, I need to point out one of the reasons why URI is a popular upset pick in their first-round matchup against Creighton. Creighton's star point guard, Maurice Watson, tore his ACL and his 2016-2017 season is over. Sound familiar at all? Much like the 2015-2016 Rhode Island Rams, the Creighton Bluejays have been in shambles since their star suffered the gruesome injury. There is no coincidence that Creighton went 7-8 in their 15 games that followed Watson's ACL tear.
This is the game where I expect Christion Thompson to make a return. Even without Maurice Watson, the Boston University transfer, Creighton possesses a wide range of talented guards. Kansas State transfer and first team all-Big East player, Marcus Foster, can be a handful for oppositions. In addition, they have a solid sophomore guard in Khyri Thomas, who was born in Omaha, Nebraska, where the school resides. Thomas can draw comparisons to Jared Terrell because of his proficiency in shooting three-pointers and his 51 steals that lead to his "Big East Defensive Player of the Year" award. Creighton also brings the "Big East Freshman of the Year" to the table, redshirt freshman and potential NBA lottery pick, Justin Patton. Furthermore, Patton made it on to the all-Big East second team. The player that URI head coach, Dan Hurley has spoken about the most is Justin Patton. He described the freakish athlete as a player with a lot of raw skill and compared him to DeAndre Jordan because of all the lobs that get thrown to him.
The most intriguing inner working of this game is the fact that assistant Creighton coach, Preston Murphy, was an assistant coach at URI. In fact, Dan Hurley credits Murphy with contributing to the rebuild of the current URI basketball program. The former URI guard was part of the team's 1998 elite run that included eliminating a Paul Pierce-led Kansas team in the Sweet 16, before falling to Stanford in the Elite 8, 79-77. While Murphy spent four years working as an assistant coach in Kingston, RI, his last season with the team was in the 2012-2013 season, when URI went 14-18 overall and 5-11 in conference. Therefore, the only players he talked to that are on the current Rams squad are E.C. Matthews and Hassan Martin, both of which were freshmen. While that has the potential to help the Bluejays, this URI basketball team is now completely a different monster. Matthews and Martin, also known as "Mario and Luigi", have had improve their games immensely, as basketball players. Beyond Murphy's two former acquaintances, he has no inside information on the other eight rotation players that URI will utilize. Even if Preston Murphy tells Creighton about the trends and strategical habits of URI, it is one thing to know what you are up against and a completely different thing to try to stop it. Right now, the University of Rhode Island look unstoppable and they just ran through the Atlantic 10, with minimal resistance. I am sure all Rhody fans appreciate the four seasons that Mr. Murphy spent on the coaching staff and his time as a player but make no bones about it, there is no friendship come Friday afternoon at 4:30 once the basketball is jumped.
At 25-9 overall (10-8 in the Big East), the Bluejays may be taken a bit too lightly, given their current team structure. With that said, this is the team that I was going to pick against in March Madness bracketology, which I take very seriously. Regardless of their seed and random opponent, I saw no foreseeable way that I would pick Creighton in their first-round matchup. The bottom line is that this #6 seed, Creighton, strikes absolutely zero fear in my heart as a fan of the Rhode Island Rams.
Anyone who wants Creighton to win in this Friday contest needs to remember that this is the same team that lost in front of their home crowd to Marquette and Providence. Keep in mind, Marquette and Providence are #10 and #11 seeds in the NCAA tournament, respectively. If Rhode Island fans need that as more reassurance that the Rams will prevail, well there you go.
Does anyone want to guess why in the Selection Sunday spectating by the URI basketball team, Jared Terrell kept screaming, "Murph don't want that! Murph don't want that!" before Creighton's opponent was revealed? Right alongside of him, Nicola Akele started screaming, "They don't want that!" animalistically, when Rhode Island appeared on the slot right below Creighton. I have never seen Akele show so much emotion in his time as a Rhody Ram but I certainly do not blame him for doing so. The Rhode Island Rams pulled the exact matchup that they would want in an ideal world. Make no mistake, Coach Hurley was cheering the first-round matchup on because he will go up against his good friend and former co-worker, Preston Murphy. Additionally, current assistant coach, Antonio Reynolds-Dean seemed happy to be facing his former URI teammate and create March magic of a totally different magnitude. With that said, some of the Rams players that are familiar with Murphy or Creighton's current situation, know exactly why they were so happy to draw the Bluejays for the first round. Creighton is the wounded prey and Rhode Island is the hunter. I smell blood in the water already.
The only two times I have watched the Creighton Bluejays, coached by Greg McDermott, play in tournament games of a significant magnitude, these were the end results:
Creighton does have the track record of a winning team in big games. URI will catch the Bluejays off guard on Friday. It's a long ride back to Omaha, Nebraska and the Bluejays' 20th trip to the NCAA tournament will not last past Friday.
