Arch Madness 2003 – Creighton Coronation

(St. Louis, MO) – Has any Missouri Valley Conference program been as good as Creighton was in the early and mid 2000s? Having started broadcasting games in the Valley in 1998, I was stunned by the ability of the Bluejays to win regular season crowns and finish with Arch Madness titles virtually every year.

Dana Altman’s teams played pressure defense, shot for high percentages and never seemed to make a mistake. He was a master at recruiting to his system and training his players to execute his way.

Creighton was the reigning tournament champion entering the 2003 festivities. They had defeated Southern Illinois in 2002 and would face them again in 2003. This was Kyle Korver’s ‘last hurrah’ and it felt more like a coronation than a competition.

For the second year in a row, Bruce Weber’s Salukis had won the regular season title but still seemed to enter Arch Madness with a huge elephant in the room. “Could anyone defeat Creighton in St. Louis?”

Ironically the Bluejays had to eke out two, one-point games just to reach the final while SIU won both of their games by double digits.

Korver, would go on to a long and productive NBA career, was surrounded by a solid cast including the slashing Larry House, versatile Michael Lindeman, rugged Brody Deren and a slick ball-handler in Tyler McKinney.

The Salukis had slashers in Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston (both from the St. Louis area), a great outside shooter in Kent Williams and solid and physical post players in Jermaine Dearman and Rolan Roberts.

But the 2003 championship game belonged to Creighton. They shot over 50% from the field while holding the Dawgs to under 40%. They outrebounded SIU by nine and won the game going away. Korver was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding player and recorded a double-double in the final. House scored 20 points and was named to the all tournament team.

Broadcast partner Jeff Stirnaman and counted down the final seconds of the 80-56 victory on 1380 the Team.

 

It was the second straight win and fourth in five years for the Valley’s finest team. After missing in ’04, they would win again in ’05 and ’07. Creighton won six titles in nine years and whispers of it becoming the “Creighton Invitational” were growing louder.

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