2024-25 Season

[JaysLifer]

Almost 12 years in the Big East. They won the regular season once and never won the Big East Tournament.

And? You say this like we should be expecting the Jays to regularly win one of the toughest leagues in the country, while disregarding the consistent success Mac has delivered since CU joined the Big East.

There have been 10 tournaments since Creighton joined the conference. The Jays have played in the championship game of 4 of them. That's the second-most in that span (Villanova has appeared in 6). CU also has, by a healthy margin, the second-most league wins since joining the conference (again behind Villanova). The Jays have also met or exceeded preseason expectations in all but one year since joining the Big East, with the one exception being 2022-23, when they were picked to win it but finished 3rd (and then were an official's breath away from making the Final Four).

If they want to make something out of this season, they must win the BE tournament or at least make it to the elite eight.

I think those, or more, are always the goal of the team. But they're on track to have the most Big East wins in program history. After what this team looked like at Christmas as they were trying to figure out who they were without a key piece, I'd say that's a pretty remarkable accomplishment. I don't ever want to see the team lose or suffer an early exit, but I can't say that I'll hang my head if, by the luck of the draw, they don't reach the promised land of college basketball.

Try to find some perspective, sit back, and enjoy the last few weeks of a pretty fun ride.

[SeattleJay]

The next 2-3 years will be rebuilding years without Kalk, Ash, and other departures.

It is very hard to stay positive after a bad loss. With that said, let’s take a look back at 2023. We had just lost to X by a score of 82-60 in the BET. It sure felt like there was no hope and yet we went to the Elite Eight.

As to whether next year will be a rebuilding year, it’s way too early to think about that. First, let’s focus and savor the games we have remaining with the three starting seniors. Second, we lost two players off last year’s squad who are currently playing in the NBA. We have only occasionally had players go to the NBA and we lost two from last year’s squad. Yet, here we sit in second place despite losing one of our star transfer players early in the season. Finally, any discussion of next year is incomplete before going through the portal process. We have no idea what kind of talent will be available and who we will bring in.

Might we have a mediocre end to this year? While it certainly is possible, we play in a very tough league. Keep in mind that two years ago, the team that finished tied for fourth in the league won the national championship. Also, keep in mind that our coach is currently tied for SIXTH all time in Big East victories. With this in mind, there is a rational reason to be hopeful about this year and hopeful about the future.

[skinzfan23]

Thank you guys for your perspective. It always feels bad after a loss, but this team has been great, considering we lost one of our leading scorers early in the season. Yes, it would be nice to win every game, but we did beat St. Johns at home, UConn on the road and Marquette at home, which were all great wins. Need to take care of business this week, but considering what transpired early in conference play, I would say so far, this team has exceeded expectations.

[SeattleJay]

Thank you guys for your perspective. It always feels bad after a loss, but this team has been great, considering we lost one of our leading scorers early in the season. Yes, it would be nice to win every game, but we did beat St. Johns at home, UConn on the road and Marquette at home, which were all great wins. Need to take care of business this week, but considering what transpired early in conference play, I would say so far, this team has exceeded expectations.

+1

[WBR Tom]

15+ point losses in the final two weeks of the season is kind of a CU tradition lately, including one in each of the last five years. They've just been easily forgotten because of what came after.

Hopefully the same is true of Saturday's clunker.

2/25/2024: 16-point loss at St. John's
3/10/2023: 22-point blowout vs X in Big East Semis
2/26/2022: 21-point loss at Providence
3/13/2021: 25-point loss to G'town in Big East title game
3/1/2020: 20-point loss at St. John's
2/18/2018: 23-point loss at Butler
2/25/2017: 16-point loss at Villanova

[creightonotter]

15+ point losses in the final two weeks of the season is kind of a CU tradition lately, including one in each of the last five years. They've just been easily forgotten because of what came after.

Hopefully the same is true of Saturday's clunker.

2/25/2024: 16-point loss at St. John's
3/10/2023: 22-point blowout vs X in Big East Semis
2/26/2022: 21-point loss at Providence
3/13/2021: 25-point loss to G'town in Big East title game
3/1/2020: 20-point loss at St. John's
2/18/2018: 23-point loss at Butler
2/25/2017: 16-point loss at Villanova

This list is exactly why I didn't prioritize watching the game live Saturday. Sure, I had some kid activities that precluded me from tuning in, but I also kinda felt in my gut we were headed toward a game that would fit nicely (or, frustratingly?) into the list above...

[cujaysfan]

i suspected that we had a list like that - but there it is.

And we have definitely wrung our hands over it in the past. And sometimes it was warranted - and sometimes it wasn't.

the bigger question to me is WTF with these late season clunkers? Is there a reason for that? Sure - X is a good team - and a tough environment - and we were short a good bench player. but - this sorta ass whoopin?

SH had best be a bounce back performance.

[brianjay1317]

i suspected that we had a list like that - but there it is.

And we have definitely wrung our hands over it in the past. And sometimes it was warranted - and sometimes it wasn't.

the bigger question to me is WTF with these late season clunkers? Is there a reason for that? Sure - X is a good team - and a tough environment - and we were short a good bench player. but - this sorta ass whoopin?

SH had best be a bounce back performance.

seems like a lot of those teams had a lot of motivation or were desperate (providence played us to secure the big east, xu this year, sju last year, nova the year before were all playing for the postseason).

just seems like the regular season is a grind and it's hard to play at peak performance without some extra motivation this time of year.

i don't think much of it other than that's just the nature of college basketball. i am sure other fanbases have memories of losing to cu late in the season and being confused by it.

edit: i guess that doesn't explain the duds in the be tourney, but i would still chalk the up to college basketball being unpredictable. all the matters is that you get to the ncaa tourney and are locked in for that, imo.

[TrueBlueJay]

Think about the clunker UCONN had late last year against us….then went on and won the whole damn thing.

[Realhoops]

Saturday is such a massive game. The difference between the two seed and three seed this year is bigger than I can remember ever. The 2 seed will likely get Georgetown or DePaul on Thursday at BET. The 3 seed will likely get X or Nova. That’s a scary difference.