OMAHA, Neb. — Until three days ago, Jim Baron had a certain image of the Creighton basketball team, the same image many college basketball people have.

That is, that the Bluejays are a successful program from a traditionally strong conference, the Missouri Valley; that the team has one of the most highly respected and most successful coaches in the game in Dana Altman, who has averaged 20 wins a year in his 14 seasons at the school; that, under Altman, the Bluejays play a controlled, disciplined game.

As Baron has learned in the last 72 hours, not all the stereotypes are correct. That last part, about playing a controlled game, is a bit off.

“They’re very aggressive, very physical. They really like to press,” Baron said. “They shoot a lot of threes. They run an open offense with a lot of screens. They like to score.”

Baron, the URI coach, will get to see the Bluejays up close and personal tonight when Creighton and Rhode Island meet for the first time. They will clash in a first-round game in the MasterCard National Invitation Tournament at the Qwest Center at 10 p.m. The Bluejays (21-10, 10-8 in the Missouri Valley Conference) and Rams (21-11, 7-9 in the Atlantic 10) seem to have a lot in common. It should make for an entertaining matchup in a contest that will be televised on ESPNU.

Altman, for one, thinks so.

“They remind me of Bradley from our league,” Altman said. “They have a couple guys who can shoot. They’re a really good offensive team. … If you look at just the numbers we do have a lot of similarities.”

URI does not mind that Creighton is playing at a fast pace. The Rams like that, too. Both teams rely heavily on their perimeter game. One difference is that all the Rhody players will be in their first postseason game. Creighton has gone to a tournament 11 years in a row, seven times to the NCAA Tournament.

“This is the youngest team we’ve had in a long time,” Altman pointed out. “We have nine first-year players, two JUCOs, a transfer and six freshmen.”

Altman said he has adjusted as the season has gone along. One change has been defensively. When asked about his team’s press, he said it is not something the team uses a lot anymore. “He must had gotten some of our early films,” Altman said. “We’ve gone away from it. It just wasn’t as effective as we hoped it would be.”

Rhode Island’s ability to prepare for the contest is not exactly ideal. The Rams found out Sunday night, with everyone else, that they had been picked for the NIT. Baron and his staff were in the office until midnight that night gathering tapes and as much information about the Bluejays as they could.

The Rams practiced at home yesterday afternoon, then headed to the airport. The problem is that there are not a lot of options getting from Warwick to Omaha. There were no flights available yesterday to take care of the Rhody traveling party. So, the team was split into three different groups, on three different airlines, for the trip to Omaha. The hope was that everyone would be together by midnight Central time.

The game had to be played tonight because the NCAA Tournament will take over the Qwest Center for the rest of the weekend. Creighton is the host for first- and second-round games that will feature Kansas, Southern Cal and Wisconsin, among others.

“It is tough to turn everything around in 24 hours,” said coach Jim Baron. “But you know what? It’s a great opportunity. We’re happy to do it. We look forward to it.”

The Rams will not have enough time to over-prepare. But they have had enough time to learn the basics about the Bluejays, beginning with the fact that the Jesuit school is accustomed to success.

Creighton has averaged 20 wins in the 14 seasons Altman has been the coach. Altman regularly has been wooed by bigger programs. Last year, in fact, he agreed to take the job at Arkansas, but backedout a day later.

The Nebraska native has three seniors, including Dane Watts, a 6-foot-8 forward and the team’s leading rebounder, who will move into second place tonight on the school’s list for games played, with 129.

Watts is typical of the Bluejays in that while he is asked to lead the inside work, he also can shoot the 3-pointer. He has made 32. P’Allen Stinnett, a freshman guard, had 33, as he led the team in scoring at 12.4. Stinnett is a Las Vegas native who prepped last year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.

Booker Woodfox normally does not start, but he leads the team with 52 3-pointers. He had a stretch in which he scored in double figures coming off the bench in 13 straight games.

pkenyon@projo.com