Basketball: Part of men's schedule proves disappointing

Disappointment with the home portion of Creighton's nonconference men's basketball schedule starts at the top.

“We're frustrated that we do not have a better home schedule for our fans,'' Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen said. “We'd like to provide two or three quality nonconference home games each season.

“Other than Nebraska, we've tried to have teams such as Xavier or Dayton or St. Joe's on our home schedule in recent seasons. We're at Dayton this year, and we're taking a year off with Xavier and St. Joe's. We're trying to get them back for the future, but we are disappointed that we don't have another quality game or two on this year's schedule.''

Creighton released its 2009-10 schedule Friday. It includes as many as 19 games against teams that participated in postseason play last season. But just one nonconference home opponent — Nebraska — is on that list at this point.

The Bluejays face the Huskers, who played in the 2009 National Invitation Tournament, on Sunday, Dec. 6. Creighton's other nonconference home games are Nov. 17 against Florida A&M (304th out of 343 in 2009 RPI), Nov. 22 against Arkansas-Little Rock (93rd), Dec. 16 against Savannah State (259th) and Dec. 22 against Houston Baptist (313th).

Creighton also will play a home game in the Feb. 20 BracketBuster series, which could be against a team that made postseason play in 2009.

The nonconference road portion of the schedule shapes up as challenging, with games at Dayton on Nov. 14, at George Mason on Dec. 12 and at New Mexico on Dec. 19. In addition, Creighton will play Michigan in Orlando, Fla., in its opening game of the Old Spice Classic on Nov. 26.

The Bluejays' other Old Spice games will be against either Xavier or Marquette on Nov. 27 and against either Alabama, Baylor, Florida State or Iona on Nov. 29.

Rasmussen dismissed the notion that the weaker nonconference home schedule was in part due to the challenges Creighton will face away from home.

“Who we play at home is apart from our road schedule,'' Rasmussen said. “We talked to a lot of people about playing here. We thought we had Georgetown at one time, but that fell through.

“One of the obligations and commitments we have is to bring some quality teams into Omaha on our nonconference schedule. We didn't get it done.''

Rasmussen said he will continue to talk with St. Joseph's and Xavier about future games. He said talks with Vanderbilt are progressing. The talks began when Commodores coach Kevin Stallings was in Omaha to watch his son play in the College World Series.

“I think you'll see Vandy on our schedule in the new few years,'' Rasmussen said.

Creighton also has talked with Iowa State about putting together an exempt tournament, possibly for the 2010-11 season.

Under the format discussed, Creighton and Iowa State would play at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines after each had played a pair of home games against other opponents.

“We don't have anything committed,'' Rasmussen said, “but we've had some positive discussions.''

Creighton will open the Missouri Valley portion of its schedule at home Dec. 29 against Northern Iowa, which figures to be the preseason favorite. The Panthers return all five starters from their 2009 NCAA tournament team.

Rasmussen said he hopes to learn later this month final dates for five league games. The Valley is waiting for national and regional television selections before releasing the exact date of Creighton's games against Missouri State (Jan. 23 or 24), at Bradley (Jan. 26 or 27), Indiana State (Feb. 9 or 10), at Northern Iowa (Feb. 16 or 17) or at Southern Illinois (Feb. 23 or 24).

“My opinion is that the league hasn't been as successful as it has been in the past and we haven't done as well in the NCAA tournament,'' Rasmussen said. “Whether that's accurate or not, I think we've dropped down the pecking order because of that.

“ESPN starts with the big boys with its scheduling and works its way down.”

Once national and regional television selections are set, Rasmussen said, Creighton will approach KMTV and NET about other possible TV games. He said he anticipates having a comparable number of games on television as Creighton has had in recent seasons.

Ÿ November: 4 Missouri Western (exhibition), 7:05 p.m.; 8 UNO (exhibition), 2:05 p.m.;

14 at Dayton, 12:05 p.m.; 17 Florida A&M, 7:05 p.m.; 22 Arkansas-Little Rock, 2:05 p.m.;

Nov. 26 vs. Michigan at Orlando, Fla. 11:05 a.m.; 27 vs. Marquette or Xavier at Orlando, Fla. 11:05 a.m. or 1:35 p.m.; 29 TBA at Orlando, Fla.

Ÿ December: 6 Nebraska, TBD; 12 at George Mason, 11:05 a.m.; 16 Savannah State, 7:05 p.m.; 19 at New Mexico, 8:05 p.m.; 22 Houston Baptist, 7:05 p.m.; 29 Northern Iowa, 7:05 p.m.

Ÿ January: 1 at Indiana State, TBD; 3 at Evansville, TBD; 6 Drake, 7:05 p.m.; 10 at Wichita State, TBD; 13 Southern Illinois 7:05 p.m.; 16 Wichita State 4:05 p.m.; 20 at Illinois State 7:05 p.m.; 23 or 24 Missouri State TBD; 26 or 27 at Bradley, 7:05 p.m.; 30 at Drake.

Ÿ February: 3 Evansville 7:05 p.m.; 6 at Missouri State 7:05 p.m.; 9 or 10 Indiana State TBD; 13 Illinois State TBD; 16 or 17 at Northern Iowa 7:05 p.m.; 20 BracketBuster game TBD; 23 or 24 at Southern Illinois TBD; 27 Bradley TBD.

Ÿ March 4 to 7: Missouri Valley tournament at St. Louis.

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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