It's time to review Creighton
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:25 am
MAN......what a heartbreaking and agonizing way to end the season. Ugh!!!!
Still though, we can't lose perspective. An incredible run for these Jays. Made history in the process! Could they run it back?? Let's review!
OUT:
*Shereef Mitchell (portal to Ohio)
*Ryan Nembhard (portal to Gonzaga)
*Arthur Kaluma (Portal to Kansas State)
STAY:
*Frederick King
*Francisco Farabello
*Mason Miller
*Baylor Scheireman
*Ryan Kalkbrenner
*Trey Alexander
IN:
*Josiah Dotzler
*Sterling Knox
*Brock Vice
*Jasen Green (redshirt)
*Isaac Traudt (Transfer from Virginia)
*Steven Ashworth (Transfer from Utah State)
*Johnathan Lawson (Transfer from Memphis)
My 0.02:
Now let's be honest, the regular season was fairly disappointing. We were picked to win the Big East and finished in 3rd. First time Creighton has ever underachieved expectations since joining the league. After starting the year 6-0 they went on a 6 game skid. Yes, Kalk was either playing sick or completely out during that stretch but man that was awful. Thankfully, they didn't let that ruin their season and they even went on an 8 game win streak during league play and of course they went on a historic run in the NCAA Tournament, effectively forgiving the sins of the regular season. That's the beauty of March. Coach Mac deserves a lot of credit for this run and making it to 2 Sweet 16s and getting 6 total NCAA Tourney wins these past 3 years. No Creighton coach has ever done anything like that. Now, will this team have a new look next year?? Or will they run it back??
POST-DEADLINE UPDATE:
The Jays will return 3 of the 5 starters from last season. Nembhard surprisingly hit the portal and went to Gonzaga. BUT the Jays may have found an upgrade in Ashworth. The latter is definitely a better shooter. Was 1st-team All Mountain West at Utah State last season and led them to the NCAA Tournament but will need to prove himself in the Big East. Kaluma also entered the portal after withdrawing from the NBA Draft. He was never expected to come back. Good player but wasn't the best fit at CU. The Jays offense relies on ball movement and he was a ball stopper. He'll likely go somewhere where they run an iso-heavy offense. But Alexander, Scheireman and Kalkbrenner are all back and I'd say all 3 of those guys (Kalk especially) are serious candidates for Big East POY. Gonna be tough to beat Kolek since he won it last year and he's back at Marquette but it's not impossible! The question is who plays the 4?? Traudt or Miller? Traudt is very talented and was highly touted out of HS. However, he has yet to play any college basketball as he redshirted at Virginia last year. Miller was a serviceable player off the bench and hopefully he can make a big jump now that he has a full year in the system. Speaking of the bench, one big weakness of the Bluejays last year was just that--the bench. The gap between the starters and the bench players was extremely wide. But Miller showed flashes, so did King as well as Farabello. Bello is gonna be a key leader for this team in the coming year. They all now have a year in the system and hopefully can take their games to the next level. The Jays also added Lawson who was a bench player at Memphis. Another highly touted player out of HS. He'll likely also be a bench player at Creighton, backing up Alexander/Ashworth (whoever's playing the 2). My big question now is, what role does Green play after redshirting? Is he a backup 4? We'll see what happens
Preseason expectations were very high for Creighton last year. Expect them to be just as high or even higher in '23-24.
Still though, we can't lose perspective. An incredible run for these Jays. Made history in the process! Could they run it back?? Let's review!
OUT:
*Shereef Mitchell (portal to Ohio)
*Ryan Nembhard (portal to Gonzaga)
*Arthur Kaluma (Portal to Kansas State)
STAY:
*Frederick King
*Francisco Farabello
*Mason Miller
*Baylor Scheireman
*Ryan Kalkbrenner
*Trey Alexander
IN:
*Josiah Dotzler
*Sterling Knox
*Brock Vice
*Jasen Green (redshirt)
*Isaac Traudt (Transfer from Virginia)
*Steven Ashworth (Transfer from Utah State)
*Johnathan Lawson (Transfer from Memphis)
My 0.02:
Now let's be honest, the regular season was fairly disappointing. We were picked to win the Big East and finished in 3rd. First time Creighton has ever underachieved expectations since joining the league. After starting the year 6-0 they went on a 6 game skid. Yes, Kalk was either playing sick or completely out during that stretch but man that was awful. Thankfully, they didn't let that ruin their season and they even went on an 8 game win streak during league play and of course they went on a historic run in the NCAA Tournament, effectively forgiving the sins of the regular season. That's the beauty of March. Coach Mac deserves a lot of credit for this run and making it to 2 Sweet 16s and getting 6 total NCAA Tourney wins these past 3 years. No Creighton coach has ever done anything like that. Now, will this team have a new look next year?? Or will they run it back??
POST-DEADLINE UPDATE:
The Jays will return 3 of the 5 starters from last season. Nembhard surprisingly hit the portal and went to Gonzaga. BUT the Jays may have found an upgrade in Ashworth. The latter is definitely a better shooter. Was 1st-team All Mountain West at Utah State last season and led them to the NCAA Tournament but will need to prove himself in the Big East. Kaluma also entered the portal after withdrawing from the NBA Draft. He was never expected to come back. Good player but wasn't the best fit at CU. The Jays offense relies on ball movement and he was a ball stopper. He'll likely go somewhere where they run an iso-heavy offense. But Alexander, Scheireman and Kalkbrenner are all back and I'd say all 3 of those guys (Kalk especially) are serious candidates for Big East POY. Gonna be tough to beat Kolek since he won it last year and he's back at Marquette but it's not impossible! The question is who plays the 4?? Traudt or Miller? Traudt is very talented and was highly touted out of HS. However, he has yet to play any college basketball as he redshirted at Virginia last year. Miller was a serviceable player off the bench and hopefully he can make a big jump now that he has a full year in the system. Speaking of the bench, one big weakness of the Bluejays last year was just that--the bench. The gap between the starters and the bench players was extremely wide. But Miller showed flashes, so did King as well as Farabello. Bello is gonna be a key leader for this team in the coming year. They all now have a year in the system and hopefully can take their games to the next level. The Jays also added Lawson who was a bench player at Memphis. Another highly touted player out of HS. He'll likely also be a bench player at Creighton, backing up Alexander/Ashworth (whoever's playing the 2). My big question now is, what role does Green play after redshirting? Is he a backup 4? We'll see what happens
Preseason expectations were very high for Creighton last year. Expect them to be just as high or even higher in '23-24.