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Talk hoops all year long in Luke Winn's blog, a journal of commentary, news and reader-driven discussions about the college game.
10/06/2006 03:35:00 AM

Blog Q&A With ... Creighton's Nate Funk

Funk
Nate Funk returns from a shoulder injury for a fifth season at Creighton.
AP
As part of the blog's ongoing series of offseason Q&As, I spoke with Creighton shooting guard Nate Funk this week by phone from Omaha, Neb. Funk, who received a medical redshirt last season due to a shoulder injury (and averaged 17.0 points in limited action), has returned for a fifth year to lead the Bluejays. They'll enter 2006-07 as the favorite in a loaded Missouri Valley Conference.

Luke Winn: At this time last year, you were entering what you thought was your final season at Creighton -- before the injury, and the surgery, and the redshirt. Back then, where did you expect to be in October 2006?

Nate Funk: First of all, I didn’t expect to be sitting in an apartment in Omaha, waiting to play another season. I was going to see how I played, and if I had the season I wanted to, and if the team was successful enough, I hoped I'd have a good chance to play pro basketball somewhere, wherever was the highest level that I could play it.

LW: And that infamous shoulder? How is it feeling now?

NF: The rehab has been over for a while. It's just to a point where I have to keep it strong so that it won't happen again. I was cleared to do everything 100 percent back in July. I've had a couple of months to get the rust off and get back into playing shape. It feels 110 percent right now.

LW: I heard you spent part of your summer working out with [the Sixers'] Kyle Korver in Philadelphia. What was that like?

NF: Well, Kyle and I, we go back to my freshman year, which was his senior year at Creighton. He was my roommate on the road, so that's how I got to know him pretty well. We stayed in touch ever since he left. He's always asked me to come out [to Philly] and this was the first year that I could. It was more just to go and hang out, and see his place, rather than work out. But we still worked out every day while I was there.

LW: And what were your impressions of the NBA lifestyle?

NF: From what I saw, the people in Philly love him. We would go places and he'd get confronted by fans; he says they're great supporters, and I could see that while we were out.

LW: Better groupies in Philly than in Omaha?

NF: Well, from what I understand, the fans there are a little bit more intense. They're really intense. But no comment on the girls.

LW: You get tagged with the "Next Korver" label from time to time. Is that something you like?

NF: I don't, because we have dissimilar games. He came to Creighton as a straight shooter and then he had to develop his game from there, because initially that's all they said he could do. He was 6-7 and I'm 6-3, so it's hard to compare us. I can understand the label though -- people around here do it because we're both Iowa guys and both have moppy hair, but on the floor it doesn't work.

LW: Did you request to be paired up with him on the road in your rookie year?

NF: I don't think either of us requested it. The coaches wanted Kyle to take me under his wing a little bit, because I was the only freshman that was traveling on the road and getting significant minutes. They felt Kyle could help me develop. It was nice that the coaches saw something in me back then, and hoped that I'd be where Kyle was his senior year. I'm not sure what exactly the coaches saw, because I was having doubts about whether I could even play at this level.

LW: Really? How long did it take you to get over those doubts?

NF: It took a while. For a stretch of my freshman year I was playing well, but the last game of that season [a 79-73 loss to Central Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament] was my worst. I took that bad taste into the offseason, and over the next couple of years I started to feel a lot more confident playing on this level, and got my body ready, physically, to handle the style of play.

LW: Can you explain the phenomenon of Creighton basketball to the rest of the country? I'm not sure how many people are aware of the level of support you get, with fans packing a huge, nearly new arena for every regular season game.

NF: The people of Omaha are unbelievable fans, whether they're Nebraska fans or Creighton fans -- and some of those Nebraska football fans are Creighton basketball fans. They've been excellent to me ever since I got here ... and it feels like I've been here forever. It's really grown over the past four years; my freshman year, we played in the 10,000-seat Civic Center, and started to sell it out at the end of that season. Once we moved into the Qwest Center [in the winter of 2003], it jumped to even bigger crowds. Even though we haven't had a lot of success in the NCAAs lately, the guys the coaches have recruited brought in a winning attitude -- and the fans keep coming.

This year, they're expanding the Qwest Center to fit 17,000 people. There aren't a whole lot of teams in the country that get to play in front of 17,000 people, and it's going to create an even better home atmosphere for us.

LW: Was it tough for you, watching the Valley rise in stature nationally -- getting four teams into the NCAA tournament -- while you were injured, and your team was in the NIT?

NF: No, I was rooting for them. I was really going for Bradley, and Wichita State, and Southern [Illinois], and even George Mason, because they're teams like us, and we don't get a lot of publicity. Our downfall in the past is that we say we can compete [with the major-conference teams], but when we get to the NCAAs, most of us flop.

LW: Watching Mason, though -- a team you beat by 20 at their place last year -- go on to the Final Four had to be tough, right?

NF: A lot of people have said that, but I didn't think about it too much. Maybe we caught them on a bad night. They went on to play their best basketball at the end of the year, when it counted. If I were them, and I looked back on the season, I'm sure they remember their Final Four run a lot more than they remember losing to Creighton.

LW: It looks like you'll be going into this season as the favorite in the Valley -- a year when the expectations for mid-majors are higher than ever. What kind of expectations do you have for Creighton?

NF: Well, I kind of made a mistake going into last year. I made all these high expectations for my team and myself -- I was saying [in the press], 'We're shooting to make the Sweet 16,' and stuff like that -- and then I got hurt. I felt like I kind of bit the bullet a little bit. I told myself I wasn't going to do that this year, and keep that stuff inside the locker room. I just want us to be playing our best basketball in March.

LW: But behind closed doors, I assume you still have lofty goals, right?

NF: What's said in the locker room, is said in the locker room.

LW: The injury that's affecting your point guard, Josh Dotzler, could really affect the structure of the lineup. Are you ready to help out at point guard if necessary?

NF: Until we receive word that Josh isn't ready to go, he's still the point guard. If I have to step in, I'll do it. There's speculation he won't be ready [for the start of the season], and then the position will go to the best man for the job. I'm not sure if that would be my starting role; we've also got Isaac Miles, a freshman, and Nick Bahe, who transferred from Kansas and is finally getting to play. Everybody's excited that he's finally playing.

LW: Switching up a little bit ... since you've spent so much time in Omaha, have you gotten into the city's music scene? It's produced quite a few bands ... Bright Eyes, all those Conor Oberst side projects …

NF: My favorite band from here is 311. I've gone to a couple of their concerts when they've come home. I'm a rock fan, but I'll listen to rap every once in a while, just because that's what everybody listens to in the locker room, so I've gotta listen to a little bit --

LW: No funk, though.

NF: No, no James Brown. No funk.

LW: Had to ask, sorry. I assume you get sick of all the headlines that play off your last name. So here's the last question: Which is the worst, most played-out one?

NF: I've seen them all. People probably think they're creative when they come up with all that stuff, but it's like, "I saw that five years ago." The worst has to be "Funk Yeah" -- it's all right to use, but really, how creative is that?
posted by Luke Winn | View comments (9) |

9 Comments:

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Posted: 5:32 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Thank you for spending time to write such a nice story on Nate Funk- Bluejay fans across the nation are on the edge of their seat for the season to start and hopefully Nate and the Bluejays will have a memorable season.
Posted: 1:00 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
A great interview to showcase a role model for a college athlete. Funk is a humble leader with an incredible work ethic. What a great article to get Bluejay Fans across the country to get pumped up for another basketball season! Go Jays!
Posted: 11:51 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Great interview Luke, as a die-hard Creighton fan I have to say you really "get" Omaha and Creighton, thanks.
Posted: 9:52 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
great comment
Posted: 10:06 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Great interview and questions. Thanks for taking the time to spotlight Nate Funk and the Bluejays. I don't think people realize what a great program Altman has built in Omaha.
Posted: 5:44 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Good to see someone from Omaha is getting recognized from a major sports writer. Not a Bluejay fan myself (GO CUSE!!) but Altman certainly has built a great program here, and hopefully with players like Korver and Funk coming through here, it will open the eyes to other players around the country to consider making the trip to Omaha to play there collegiate basketball!
Posted: 4:05 PM   by Anonymous Bret
I'm so sick of hearing journalists like you say things like "Sampson chased Gordon" and "Sampson decided to pursue Gordon". There has been 2 or 3 articles now that Eric Gordon Sr said himself, "We were the ones that contacted IU and Sampson first". Why do you and people like you consistently leave that part out. Sampson did nothing wrong but accept the kids desire to check IU out. Sampson DID NOT pursue Gordon. THe Gordons pursued IU and Sampson and that is a fact given straight from the horses mouth (the gordons).
Posted: 1:37 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Luke. Nice work trying to give Nate Funk indie credibility. Too bad he didn't bite on the Bright Eyes question. But, really - do people honestly still like 311? Or was he just suggesting bands from Omaha are no good.
Posted: 4:14 PM   by Blogger Duncan Donutt
Luke,

One correction - Illinois freshman Brian Carlwell was ranked #37 by scout.com in the 2006 class, ahead of such talked about centers as Brian Zoubek (#38-Duke), Jason Bennett (#50-K-State), and Alex Stepheson (#55-UNC). Also, Carlwell's classmate Richard Semrau was top 50 the summer before his senior year, but dropped off after he was injured.

While Illini faithful are fretting over Gordon's jump to IU, they (and all the experts) should keep in mind that Weber's Final Four team of 2005 had only one regular who was a top 50 recruit (Dee Brown). It's a common misperception that the team was loaded, but the credit instead should go to Weber's coaching ability, which surprisingly gets pushed aside in times like these.

Just wanted to clear that up. Thanks for your excellent work.
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