Welcome to The Holy Land of Hoops

Our final review goes to my own team....the Creighton Bluejays! Tough ending today but you know what? I and think I speak for most Jays fans in saying that despite the result today, we're at peace. The Jays got the Sweet 16 monkey off their backs and that's such an amazing feeling. Now let's review!

OUT
*Jacob Epperson
*Mitch Ballock (going pro)
*Damien Jefferson (going pro)
*Denzel Mahoney (going pro)
*Marcus Zegarowski (going pro)
*Christian Bishop (transferring to Texas)

RETURN
*Shereef Mitchell
*Antwann Jones
*Alex O'Connell
*Ryan Kalkbrenner

IN
*John Christofilis
*Mason Miller
*Ryan Nembhard
*Modestas Kancleris
*Rati Andronikashvili

My 0.02:
It was a season of ups and downs for the Jays but it seems like the ups won in the end as they were able to break down the door to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history (technically for the first time since 1974). CB13 and MZ should be back to guide the younger players and they got a decent recruiting class coming in. I think Nembhard will learn a lot from MZ. I don't want to give up on Jones, O'Connell or Kalkbrenner just yet. They have shown flashes of what they're capable of. They just need a little more seasoning and a good offseason. Martin Krampelj and Damien Jefferson have similar stories. At one time, it seemed like they were useless but then they would emerge into 2 fantastic players after good offseason and a little more learning while they're playing (or "seasoning"). Excited for next season already!

UPDATE: Welp, CB13 leaving was something I wasn't expecting. Now I'd be shocked if MZ stayed. If he indeed does leave, it'll be a very new team. It was gonna be a rebuilding year anyway, I guess. Nonetheless, I'm excited to see guys develop! I totally forgot about the two European players who are already on the roster but they both tore their ACLs before the season started. I could see a guy like Kancleris stepping up to replace CB. 6'9 195 Lithuanian. But I'm really excited about Rati. 6'4 185 guard from the Republic of Georgia. Highly recruited player.

I'd be surprised if Z comes back honestly, just a vibe. Kalkbrenner hit the freshman wall but he has a ton of potential. Hopefully he hits the weights over the summer. I expect a some transfers, probably Jones and others....with the new transfer rule, nothing would surprise me....

Jet915 wrote:I'd be surprised if Z comes back honestly, just a vibe. Kalkbrenner hit the freshman wall but he has a ton of potential. Hopefully he hits the weights over the summer. I expect a some transfers, probably Jones and others....with the new transfer rule, nothing would surprise me....

agree. Marcus is an old player and can make money at Europe, G league, and hopefully NBA. He really came in to his own the last 1/3 of the season when he was healthy. One of my all time favorites! Kalk will be great, but did hit the wall.

I seem to be in the minority of Bluejay fans, but I am hoping Jones stays. We will need his size, athleticism and maturity on the wing next year with Mahoney and Jefferson moving on. IMO, he has the athleticism and size to do what Jefferson did for us this year, if he can dial in and ratchet up his preparation - particularly defensively, IMO he could vie next year for most improved player. Unlike Mahoney, Jones doesn't need the ball in his hands on X number of possessions. If Mac and the coaches can get him dialed in this summer, I am looking for big things out of him. But, I fear the fact that he played 2 minutes and 3 minutes in the two NCAA games may mean coach already knows Jones has decided to move on (or coach has decided that). Hopefully instead coach has been preaching patience with him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It turned out to be a pretty good season. 1st SS since '74 and all.
Good job Jays...3 games in the Dance so picked up some credits, Nice.

However,...

It is unconscionable to me that we whiffed on the Big East RS Championship AND the BET Championship!
Opportunities such as those don't arrive annually (unless you live in Radnor Township) and to whiff on BOTH is unacceptable.
There is no trophy for a SS run, so history will show 000's for the 20-21 season.

ANY TEAM that gets a championship opportunity MUST take advantage of the opportunity as it is so fleeting...(congrats Hoyas!)
Jays and Mac must do better. Who knows when we may get another championship opportunity. Next season will probably have
some falloff as we will be a very young team.

Championships define programs... as do failing to capitalize on opportunities.

gtmoBlue wrote:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It turned out to be a pretty good season. 1st SS since '74 and all.
Good job Jays...3 games in the Dance so picked up some credits, Nice.

However,...

It is unconscionable to me that we whiffed on the Big East RS Championship AND the BET Championship!
Opportunities such as those don't arrive annually (unless you live in Radnor Township) and to whiff on BOTH is unacceptable.
There is no trophy for a SS run, so history will show 000's for the 20-21 season.

ANY TEAM that gets a championship opportunity MUST take advantage of the opportunity as it is so fleeting...(congrats Hoyas!)
Jays and Mac must do better. Who knows when we may get another championship opportunity. Next season will probably have
some falloff as we will be a very young team.

Championships define programs... as do failing to capitalize on opportunities.

Damn gtmo, in the past you've been Creighton's biggest optimist and I've been one of the bigger pessimists. Now it appears the tables have turned! You're not wrong, the Jays should've cashed in on those opportunities vs Nova and Georgetown but didn't. But I'd argue getting to the S16 outweighs losing both of the conference titles. That monkey had been on CU's back for DECADES! Take a deep breath and smell the roses! We already did win a Big East regular season title a year ago and the BET trophy will come eventually!

gtmoBlue wrote:ANY TEAM that gets a championship opportunity MUST take advantage of the opportunity as it is so fleeting.

Mathematically speaking, you do realize that only 1/2 of teams that play for a championship actually win right git?

2020 Big East Tournament MVP Jett Canfield announced on Twitter that he is entering the transfer portal. What a great kid. He earned a scholarship last year as a walk on, but has decided he wants to go to a school where he has more opportunity to play. Young man will graduate from Creighton in three years, and will now have three eligible years as a graduate transfer. Probably not many guys in the portal who can say that.

I acknowledged the Jays having had a great year. Yes the SS is a big deal for us, as we haven't made the 2nd weekend since Eddie Sutton's era on the Hilltop. Making the SS is a big deal, yes.

However, in spite of the fact that someone has to lose in conference championship games, I ALWAYS prefer it be the opposing teams. We played in 3 RS championships in 8 years.
1st season, 7th season, and 8th season. It took 6 years to return to the championship, then back-to-back years. Go figure. The point being it is not a given to return to/get to any championship
game and you must take advantage of the opportunity when presented. It may be another 6 years before we see another one? 3 RS championship games - 1 win. 3 BET championship games - ZERO wins.
NOBODY remembers who was 2nd...

Made the SS but we got 0 trophies for the case? Zero banners to hang, Championships Matter...a whole lot! gtmo

PS: I haven't lost my positivity and optimism...they are merely a bit more grounded in current realities.

gtmoBlue wrote:However, in spite of the fact that someone has to lose in conference championship games, I ALWAYS prefer it be the opposing teams.

gtmo is telling no lies here.

gtmoBlue wrote: Made the SS but we got 0 trophies for the case? Zero banners to hang

We may need some input here from, you know, someone that's had this experience previously but i think schools hang banners for SS appearances. Anyone from any other school in the conference wanna weigh in?

PS...after a long weekend of basketball, golf (we had a Korn Ferry tournament in Savannah this weekend), and the requisite consumption, i took a night off Monday. I awoke on Tuesday morning to an email from my liver that just said, "thanks."

Cheers!