CU fan here, I come in peace

202jay · Post by **202jay** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:51 pm

I thought you guys might want to know a little bit about Creighton from a fan's perspective. First off we have a wonderful message board if you'd like to stop by: http://www.thebluejaycafe.com/BB/viewforum.php?f=2

We are extremely disappointed not to make the NCAA tourney for obvious reasons and that has been dominating discussion. But I am excited for an opportunity at an NIT title and am really looking forward to the game tomorrow. Any Falcon fans making the trip to Omaha?

The team: We are one of the most inconsistent teams out there but we have gone on two seperate win streaks of 9+ this season. We are extremely deep and are relatively young with mostly sophomores and juniors. Booker Woodfox is arguably our best player, as he won the MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year Award. He was the nation's leading 3 pt shooter and can be lights out from anywhere else on the floor. Our big men have improved of late, but we don't really have a true forward on our team, so we play with 4 guards and a center essentially. P'Allen Stinnett is a high-energetic guard that can be extremely hot from the field, or extremely cold and look invisible out there. Our senior point guard Josh Dotzler is a fan favorite and does all the little things as well as being our best defender. He doesn't score much, but he's top 10 in steals and assists/turnover ratio still I believe.

We averaged just over 16,000 fans per game this season, which is top 10 nationally. We got 17,950 for one game earlier this season as well. We aren't expecting that big of a crowd for tomorrow, rather something around 9,000 - 10,000. Our place is criticized for being quiet, and it can be, but it can also be extremely loud down the stretch (when the corporate seats want to cheer).

I understand that you guys have a pretty big dude in Otis Polk and a bulky team overall. We have massive trouble rebounding and playing defense at times. We are an excellent 3 point shooting team that is usually real good from the free-throw line. We have a couple of slashers that can drive the lane real well in the likes of Antoine Young and Stinnett.

Really looking forward to the game, I think it'll be tough. Best of luck next season.

Post by **ZiggyZoomba** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:55 pm

I've got a good friend in Omaha. She'll be at the game wearing an orange ay-ziggy-zoomba.com t-shirt. If you happen to see her, don't give her too much grief.

Thanks for stopping by!

jacojdm · Post by **jacojdm** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:24 pm

ZiggyZoomba wrote:.... wearing an orange ay-ziggy-zoomba.com t-shirt.

I don't mean to threadjack, but my two year old niece saw me wearing my t shirt a couple of weeks ago and said, "Uncle John, why's that birdie driving a tractor?"

Post by **ZiggyZoomba** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:54 pm

jacojdm wrote:
ZiggyZoomba wrote:.... wearing an orange ay-ziggy-zoomba.com t-shirt.
I don't mean to threadjack, but my two year old niece saw me wearing my t shirt a couple of weeks ago and said, "Uncle John, why's that birdie driving a tractor?"

Don't let the hockey forum read this thread....

jg4242 · Post by **jg4242** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:46 pm

BGSU will have a band at the game, but it will not be a band of BGSU students. The director of bands at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is Dr. Jim Saker. Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and offered to help us out. UNO has reactivated their hockey band, and we sent them 30 t-shirts and the school songs. The UNO band will be the de facto Bowling Green band for the game vs. Creighton! How cool is that?

murphdogg · Post by **murphdogg** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:50 pm

Kudos to the Jays for recruiting a guy named P'Allen. Probably the sweetest name of all time

FMBfan07 · Post by **FMBfan07** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:54 pm

jg4242 wrote:BGSU will have a band at the game, but it will not be a band of BGSU students. The director of bands at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is Dr. Jim Saker. Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and offered to help us out. UNO has reactivated their hockey band, and we sent them 30 t-shirts and the school songs. The UNO band will be the de facto Bowling Green band for the game vs. Creighton! How cool is that?

that is cool, would love to hear them play the fight song

202jay · Post by **202jay** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:53 am

jg4242 wrote:BGSU will have a band at the game, but it will not be a band of BGSU students. The director of bands at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is Dr. Jim Saker. Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and offered to help us out. UNO has reactivated their hockey band, and we sent them 30 t-shirts and the school songs. The UNO band will be the de facto Bowling Green band for the game vs. Creighton! How cool is that?

Can you confirm this? I am a fourth year student at UNO and I can't imagine them doing that.

jg4242 · Post by **jg4242** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:05 am

Yes, I can. That is according to an e-mail we received yesterday from our band director, as we are unable to send one of our bands for budgetary reasons. We are also hosting a second-round WNIT game here that we will be playing for.

Strouse · Post by **Strouse** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:31 am

202jay wrote:
jg4242 wrote:BGSU will have a band at the game, but it will not be a band of BGSU students. The director of bands at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is Dr. Jim Saker. Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and offered to help us out. UNO has reactivated their hockey band, and we sent them 30 t-shirts and the school songs. The UNO band will be the de facto Bowling Green band for the game vs. Creighton! How cool is that?
Can you confirm this? I am a fourth year student at UNO and I can't imagine them doing that.

This is confirmed as jg said. As jg said, Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and he offered to do it, we didn't ask him. If he didn't offer, we wouldn't have a band. It won't sound the same as us but it'll be close

202jay · Post by **202jay** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:38 pm

Strouse wrote:
202jay wrote:
jg4242 wrote:BGSU will have a band at the game, but it will not be a band of BGSU students. The director of bands at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is Dr. Jim Saker. Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and offered to help us out. UNO has reactivated their hockey band, and we sent them 30 t-shirts and the school songs. The UNO band will be the de facto Bowling Green band for the game vs. Creighton! How cool is that?
Can you confirm this? I am a fourth year student at UNO and I can't imagine them doing that.
This is confirmed as jg said. As jg said, Dr. Saker is a BGSU alum and he offered to do it, we didn't ask him. If he didn't offer, we wouldn't have a band. It won't sound the same as us but it'll be close

Thanks for the confirmation. I am still in shock over this. Being a UNO student really creates some major conflicting problems for me here. Oh well.

Post by **ZiggyZoomba** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:01 pm

Here's the official release that came out over the lunch hour:

Falcons To Have Flavor Of Home In Omaha

Omaha, Neb. – When the Bowling Green men’s basketball team takes the floor Wednesday night against Creighton for the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament, the team will be comforted by the sound of Ay Ziggy Zoomba and other songs that are routinely played in Anderson Arena. Yet the Bowling Green pep band won’t be in attendance.

Instead, the University of Nebraska Omaha will be providing the tunes that will help the Falcons get their 20th win in one of the most hostile environments in college basketball. Dr. James Saker, a 1970’s Bowling Green graduate, is the director of bands at Nebraska Omaha and still follows the Falcon athletic teams. He has put together a 30-member pep band that will wear Bowling Green orange and proudly play for the visitors.

When it was announced Sunday night that Bowling Green would play in the NIT at Creighton, administrators quickly began to make plans to send the regular BGSU band and cheerleaders. But when the total cost of the trip came out in excess of $25,000, other plans needed to be made.

Carol Hayward, BGSU’s assistant professor of music education and director of bands, contacted Saker and asked if he might be interested in helping. Saker was thrilled and quickly went to work to put together the band despite the fact that UNO is on spring break. Hayward faxed over copies of the fight song, Ay Ziggy Zoomba, and anything else that is regularly played so that the “BG Pep Band West” could learn the music. The University Bookstore quickly worked to fill a last minute order of 30 t-shirts for the pep band to wear and the office of the Vice President of Student Affairs paid for the apparel.

Creighton has the 10th highest average home attendance in the nation this year, averaging over 16,000 per game. While the Bowling Green men’s basketball team will have its work cut out for it, at least the Falcons will be able to lean on some familiar sounds in the midst of its first postseason contest in seven years.

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:08 pm

Mixed reaction over at Mavpuck...

http://www.mavpuck.com/mpboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6253

I think this is pretty cool, and I will be curious to hear how it turns out tonight. But man does Mavpuck make our hockey forum look erudite! I thought about posting a word of thanks over there, but I don't think that would end very well with that lot.

202jay · Post by **202jay** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:37 pm

Bleeding Orange wrote:Mixed reaction over at Mavpuck...

http://www.mavpuck.com/mpboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6253

I think this is pretty cool, and I will be curious to hear how it turns out tonight. But man does Mavpuck make our hockey forum look erudite! I thought about posting a word of thanks over there, but I don't think that would end very well with that lot.

Apparently they got wind of the thread I started over on our Bluejay Cafe. With so many people being apart of UNO and at the same time being a fan of CU, like myself, I think this will be a fun night.

murphdogg · Post by **murphdogg** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:02 pm

I wonder if UNO's band has a crazy, dancing bass player too...