Here is an article I wrote about the summer league that the Jays are playing in this year. It's kinda long, but there's some interesting stuff in there...I think.
The “off-season” has become a bit more competitive for the Creighton Bluejays of the Missouri Valley Conference in the past two years. Instead of getting their on-court fix in unorganized pick-up games around the city, they now have a place to play a more demanding brand of basketball. The Council Bluffs Summer Draft League features the best talent around the area, and even includes professionals like former Creighton standout and current Philadelphia 76’er Kyle Korver.The league was created by Jason Isaacson, a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Isaacson played college ball at Briar Cliff University for a brief stint and then transferred to Dana College where he was an NAIA All-American and the second leading scorer in the nation with 25.2 points per game. During his time in college, he noticed a lot of college players in the area were not getting to play in summer leagues due to NCAA rules.
“I wanted to provide college players with a chance to improve themselves and compete in the off-season,” Isaacson says. “I knew a ton of players in the area who were not getting to play in summer leagues due to NCAA rules.”
Players are added to the league by invite only and must have college basketball experience. Once all of the players have been invited, they are broken up into teams.
“A player must have college experience and now that the league has grown a player must have some success at his level of basketball to get invited or accepted,” Isaacson says. “I do get tons of calls about players, and if they have credibility I will take them in for a summer to see how they do.
“I take players individually and then after I have all my players, I rank them at each position and hold a draft to divide teams equally.”
Incoming, current and past players with ties to the area make up the 16-team field. This includes, but is not limited to, teams such as Creighton, Nebraska , Bellevue and Kearney. However, the league does have to dance around a few NCAA stipulations to avoid any violations.
No team in the summer league can consist of more than two returning players that started on the same college club. Senior Bluejay forward Dane Watts and junior Bluejay guard Josh Dotzler are both returning players who started for Creighton at some point in the previous season. They can play with incoming and former Creighton players, but cannot have any more starters from last season on their summer league team’s roster.
Another team consists of mostly incoming recruits for the Bluejays. There is no limit on how many play on a team because they were not starters on an NCAA team the prior season.
The heated CU - NU rivalry
One of the main attractions of the Council Bluffs league is when the rival Huskers play against a squad of Bluejays.
The Josh Dotzler/Dane Watts team also consisted of exciting new recruits Booker Woodfox, and P’Allen Stinnet. In their matchup in early July against one of the Nebraska teams, the Creighton team defeated the Huskers as it prepared them for the yearly rivalry that takes place each year during the season. In a grueling victory, Booker Woodfox, a junior college transfer, scored 32 points to lead his squad past the Nebraska team. He had heard about the rivalry between these two schools, but didn’t expect it to be this passionate.
“I didn’t know it was going to be this big of a deal,” Woodfox recalls in a July article on Omaha.com. “Everyone showed up; I liked it”
It’s a good thing that the newest member of the Bluejay basketball teams are being initiated into this level of play as soon as possible with the losses Creighton is facing. Creighton’s top two players, Anthony Tolliver and Nate Funk finished their senior campaigns in the 2006-2007 taking away their two top scorers. Nate Funk ended his tenure as one of the top Creighton scorers of all time, ranking at number six.
Creighton lost another starter after the season ended. Isaac Miles transferred to Murray State after some speculation that he wanted to play for the Missouri Tigers. It is unclear why Miles left the team and Coach Dana Altman has not divulged any reasons to the public.
With all of these losses, Creighton needs to fill some spots quickly. Many of these spots will be taken by first-year players who haven’t played on the Division 1 plateau.
Few doubt that this high level of competition in the Council Bluffs summer league helps improve the players’ skills over the summer and gets new recruits used to the level of competition they will face in the winter.
T.J. Flannigan is a former Bellevue (Nebraska) Bruin who now plays professional basketball overseas. Last year, during the inaugural season of the Council Bluffs league, Flannigan was listed on the all-tournament team.
Flannigan says that this league is different than other summer leagues he has played in because “there is a higher level of competition between the players.”
“The teams out there want to win instead of trying to score a lot of points or make some kind of flashy highlight,” Flannigan adds.
Passion for the game and the community
“I am a basketball junkie myself and I love watching and playing the game and following the players in our area,” Isaacson says. “I wanted to get the best players in the area and have them compete against each other so that it would be on a higher level than pickup games and give players a chance to improve their skills in the summer.”
This summer, South High School in Omaha hosts the event, unlike last year when the competition was located just across the Nebraska border in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Scheduling conflicts prevented Isaacson from holding the league there this time, but he’d rather it be in his hometown.
“I love Omaha in that the location is better and more popular and known,” Isaacson says. “However, I have a fantastic group of sponsors in Council Bluffs and they have been great in supporting the league, so I plan on keeping it in Council Bluffs…that is assuming gyms are available next summer.”
The league does make some money from sponsors and the sale of items such as programs and food during the games. Isaacson uses this money, along with other donations to support local youth programs.
“This summer we are trying to purchase one outdoor adjustable basketball hoop for an elementary in need and we are also trying to purchase an adjustable indoor hoop for a local youth program,” Isaacson says. “So far the freewill donation has not reached the goal, but thank you to those who do help and I am doing a tournament to help raise the rest of it.”
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