A Review of Creighton

[OmahaGuy]

OUT:
*Kaleb Joseph
*Connor Cashaw

MAYBE:
*Martin Krampelj

BACK:
*Davion Mintz
*TyShon Alexander
*Mitch Ballock
*Damien Jefferson
*Jacob Epperson (Injury)
*Sam Froling
*Christian Bishop
*Marcus Zegarowski

IN:
*Denzel Mahoney (SEMO transfer)
*Shereef Mitchell

Ok, you might be looking at Creighton and thinking "Wow! A lot of guys returning next season from a young but talented team that was just a few feet away from the dance! They'll be a force next year", right?

Don't think that. Don't forget, Creighton has arguably the worst coach in the conference. He's fooled Creighton fans multiple times before and I certainly won't be fooled again. Maybe they'll be slightly better next year but I can already see it coming. We'll get blown out in the first round of the dance like usual because this guy is so incompetent and can only win NCAA tourney games if he has a player that's special (and even with Doug he couldn't make the sweet 16 3 straight times). That's a major problem. Heck, this program in general is incapable of winning tourney games unless there's a special player on the team. Before Doug, last time Jays won a game in the dance was in 2002 when Korver was on the team. This coach and this program just always save their worst for last. It's infuriating.

Don't ever be optimistic about Creighton next season (or maybe even ever again). We could literally have Martin back and I still won't be that excited. We could literally change coaches and no matter who's in charge, we won't accomplish our ultimate goals (win a Big East title, make dance, and get to sweet 16). It'll take an absolute miracle for them to be a really good team next season but I definitely won't be holding my breath. I won't get fooled again.

Anyways, apologies for the pessimism but I seriously just can't help myself.

[OmahaGuy]

Oh and I haven't even mentioned the FBI scandals that further embarrass the program. Who knows what'll come out of that?!

[cu blujs]

Back away from the ledge. We will see if Mac can replace Murphy (I am assuming he is gone) with someone who can identify and recruit some 6'6" to 6'8" rebounders and finishers around the rim. Unfortunately, I think the end of the year run winning 7 or 9 will cause Mac to double down on his 4 guards under 6'4" and a 6'9" forward at center as the way to win. But, maybe he will recognize how badly our undersized lineup was exposed by TCU. Ain't going to happen next year unless some grad transfer falls in our lap. Our only signee is another 6'1" guard. If Epperson can get healthy, you'd think we could play him at 5 and move Martin K to the 4. Problem is, that means one of Mitch B, TyShon or Davion accepting a much lesser role. But, Mac has shown time and time again that he is loyal to a fault to "his" guys. In other words, he isn't sitting Mitch, TyShon or Davion. With Zegarowski at PG, that leaves no room to play Martin and Epperson on the floor together regularly. I'm afraid we are at least two years from having any hope of bringing in some athletic size. Mac's signees next fall are going to be telling on where this program goes the next 5 years (if he is here that long). Sign a couple more 6'3"-6'5" guards, and we are stuck where we are for the foreseeable future.

And to top it off, with Miles being fired 60 miles down the road and all signs pointing to Fred Hoiberg being the next guy at UNL, competition for talented guys in this neck of the woods just got a whole lot more difficult.

[jaybydna]

Holy Crap you guys sounds like Nebraska fans.

[chicagojayfan]

Year in review from my perspective...

Young teams do young team things.

- when I did the math, Creighton had the most minutes of any BE team from Freshman and Sophomores and including Martin the most returning minutes for next year
- the team lost a ton of close games in sometimes horrific fashion, blowing late leads with boneheaded plays and suffering through 2 Four-game losing streaks

Injuries. With the lack of experience on the roster, injuries didn't help:

- Martin wasn't really back (from his 3rd ACL) until a good part of the season was already in the books
- Maybe the most talented big on the roster, Epperson, ended up missing the season. He is a shot blocker and a guy with skills to also play outside. If we wanted to play 2 bigs, we likely needed him to play this year.
- PG. Mintz played well this year as an off guard, but I'm convinced he's not a PG. Team was MUCH better with Zegarowski at PG, but he broke his hand and missed a few games as well
- Alexander missed time as well during one of the losing streaks

What went right:

- Team started the year with their usual D (which is to say, very poor defensive play), but over time it got a lot better... in fact, by the last part of the season it was very good. Last 9 games every team except 2 were held to 70 pts or less. PPP (I didn't do the math, though) looked to be much improved over the early part of the season as well. In the offseason, McDermott hired Paul Lusk (former Purdue assistant) and he helped engineer a defensive team that actually played more solid D to go with the offensive style

- Young kids stepped up. After the second 4 game skid, the team was 13-13 and looked to be falling off the radar. Instead of folding, they played smarter, harder and better to go 7-2 to end the season, including a 5 game winning streak to end the BE schedule.

Additions:

- Denzel Mahoney - 6=5 transfer who had a final list of Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Creighton. wing/guard type who maybe has more ability to create his own shot than some on the roster, will be a JR
- Shereef Mitchell - 6-0 PG who can create and who is a high level perimeter defender. Freshman
- Team has 2 scholarships available so a transfer could be a likely to fill a hole
- will likely be a new coach on the staff due to Preston's scandal. Mac has shown he always wants a recruiting Ace on the staff, so I expect he'll look for someone who can fill that role well.

What is back for next year:

- Pretty much everything. If Martin comes back, this team will have a very solid core. As others have pointed out, it would be nice to be able to play a guy who fits the size of most 4's to help on the boards. I suspect we'll see a lot more sets with 2 bigs (mostly a combo of Epperson/Martin K/Bishop), but that we'll also continue to go small with Ballock playing the 4 like he did a lot this year.

Will be a lot of minutes up for grabs assuming everyone's back and healthy. Could almost show 2 depth charts showing a bigger lineup and smaller lineup. For all the complaining about the size of the roster, Mac has shown a willingness to play 2 bigs, provided one of them can shoot from the outside. Epperson and now Martin K have shown they can stretch the floor sufficiently, IMO and can play alongside Bishop.. (also some hope Bishop's offensive skills will develop to match his athleticism)

PG: Zagerowski, Mintz/Mitchell (Freshman)
SG: Alexander, Mintz/
SF: Ballock, Mahoney/Jefferson
PF: Mahoney, Martin K/Ballock / Bishop
Center: Martin K / Epperson / Bishop, Froling (RS?)

Overall:

I expected a 500 or bit better team due to all of the youngsters (I expected better than the 9th place finish that was predicted). It didn't always look like I expected, but I thought this was a solid rebuilding year for the roster. I like the skill players, but they need to develop toughness to close out games and figure out how to find other ways to win games when the shots aren't falling like they want. Next 2 years can be very good years for this team if people develop and stay healthy

[gtmoBlue]

Thank you ChicagoJay for a reasoned analysis.

As for Omahaguy & cu blujs your stuff is downright negativism- you blew past pessimism in sentence 3.
Don't back away from the ledge, Just go ahead and jump damnit! Save us the effort of rebuttals. Jump!

[BEhomer]

at the start of the season I had visions of Epperson playing pick n roll outside and Frolling providing some back to the basket scoring options inside. neither really happened but if they come back healthy and strong next year, that can only help what is already a very good backcourt.

reason for optimism is also because they have Zegarowski who exceeded all freshman expectations. besides Mo Watson, I don't remember Creighton having anyone better at pg since joining BE.

[jfan]

I'm not quite on the ledge, but I can see it from my house. I don't think we can continue to play 4 guards (3 of the guards are fairly small for the BE) and expect to win big time games consistently. Even if Martin leaves, we still have enough talent to win 23-25 games next year, but I don't expect a deep run! The BE will be much better and I hope we can keep up. We need to develop a go to style that works when the threes don't fall. We shoot too many threes. We shot 21 in the second half last night and made 4. That's just silly! I don't share OmahaGuy's disdain for Mac, but I'm moving in that direction! I think our program should be better.

[cu blujs]

Thank you ChicagoJay for a reasoned analysis.

As for Omahaguy & cu blujs your stuff is downright negativism- you blew past pessimism in sentence 3.
Don't back away from the ledge, Just go ahead and jump damnit! Save us the effort of rebuttals. Jump!

You serious Gtmo? Your recent comments on bluejayunderground and even on here are way more negative/pessimistic than what I wrote. Either someone hijacked your account or you have mastered the art of talking out of both sides of your mouth in a big way. what gives?

[gtmoBlue]

It must be the rumors that Mac is thinking of bailing on the program. Some of my lost optimism is returning just thinking about a new coach!