Better Know a Team: Creighton

The Huss Bus and McD, together again.

McDermott hasn’t announced a retirement date yet, but Creighton has already brought in his successor. Creighton’s offense will be great once again, but can the defense be merely “good enough” without Ryan Kalkbrenner?

Last Year’s Record: 25-11 (15-5) NCAAT, 8 seed, lost in 2nd round

Preseason Metrics (last season final):
Torvik: 23 (31)
KenPom: 41 (35)
EvanMiya: 32 (30)

Coach: Greg McDermott, 16th season. The longest-tenured coach in the Big East by a country mile, and still the longest-tenured by 1 season even if you combine Ed Cooley’s PC and Georgetown tenures. It’s been a great run. Creighton has only missed the tournament 4 times in the 15 prior seasons–no one made it in 2020, but Creighton had one of its best teams, finishing 7th in the AP Poll, the highest ever position and highest ever finish for a Creighton team. McDermott also holds the 2nd highest AP Poll finish, 13th in 2023-24. McDermott also holds the top-6 all-time best KenPom finishes for Creighton, peaking at 11 in 2023-24. He was the first coach to make the Sweet 16 at Creighton since Eddie Sutton in 1973-74, when the Bluejays were still independent in hoops. He’s made 2 Sweet 16s, and an Elite 8, the best tournament finish in program history.

If this sounds like some type of requiem, that’s because in some ways it is. This off-season the Bluejays re-hired former player and assistant coach Alan Huss from High Point, where he spent two seasons as the head coach. Far from being a golden parachute, Huss returns to Creighton a conquering hero after taking High Point to a combined 56-15 record over 2 seasons, winning the Big South regular season championship both years, and winning the conference tournament last season. His first year they were the CBI runner-up to the Seattle Redhawks. How did Creighton convince Huss to leave all that behind? By publicly anointing him the head-coach-in-waiting, sparking instant speculation about how many years McDermott has left. There was no announcement that this was McDermott’s last season, so perhaps 2026-27 will be the end? We’ll have to wait and see.

For McD, it’s always been about the offense. In his tenure at Creighton his offense has finished an average of 33rd in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency. The defense tells a different story, finishing 67th on average in adjusted defensive efficiency, a number that drops to 87th when you remove the 5 years he had Ryan Kalkbrenner. Kudos to Stats by Will & Jim for sending me down this rabbit hole, when they pointed out that McDermott has had just 1 top-45 defense without Ryan Kalkbrenner, way back in 2005-06 at Northern Iowa. This is the main reason why I was very perplexed at CBS Sports’ “Coaches Confidential” poll, where Parrish and Norlander confidentially ask coaches their opinions on certain topics. This year, on the question of best Xs & Os coach, McDermott was in the top-3. Personally, his offensive scheme is without a doubt top-3, but I don’t think you can be a top-3 Xs & Os coach when you’re only good on one-side of the court. That’s not a knock on McDermott, whose record speaks for itself, just one man’s opinion of what it takes to be the best Xs & Os coach.

Another point on the defense, even with Kalkbrenner, the defense was at its best when Huss was on the sidelines. In Huss’ last 2 seasons in Omaha before returning the defense was 14th and 19th. Even with Kalkbrenner for 2 more seasons the defense fell to 24th and ultimately 44th last season. So perhaps Alan Huss brings defense back to Omaha.

Roster:

My dude just screams “I play for Creighton”

Starters
PG: Nik Graves (Sr.), 6’2” 190 lbs.
SG: Josh Dix (Sr.), 6’6” 205 lbs.
SF: Blake Harper (So.), 6’7” 220 lbs.
PF: Jackson McAndrew (So.), 6’10” 225 lbs.
C: Owen Freeman (Jr.), 6’10” 240 lbs.

Rotation Bench
PF Isaac Traudt (Jr.), 6’10” 235 lbs.
SG Austin Swartz (So.), 6’4” 205 lbs.
PG Ty Davis (So.), 6’4” 190 lbs.
G/F Fedor Zugic (Jr.), 6’6” 215 lbs.
SF Jasen Green (Jr.), 6’8” 235 lbs.

Bench Warmers
C Kerem Konan (So.), 6’9” 235 lbs.
PG Shane Thomas (R-So.), 6’3” 195 lbs.
PF Josh Townley-Thomas (R-Jr.), 6’10” 225 lbs.
PF Liam McChesney (Gr.), 6’10” 195 lbs.
F Hudson Greer (Fr.), 6’7” 215 lbs. (redshirting)
C Aleksa Dimitrijevic (Fr.), 7’0” 220 lbs. (redshirting)

Playing everywhere from Spokane to the Sin City.

Big Non-Conference Games:

11/11, 9pm ESPN @ Gonzaga

Player’s Era
11/24, 1pm truTV v. Baylor
11/25, 1pm truTV v. Iowa State
11/26 or 11/27, TBD v. TBD

12/7, 4pm FS1 @ Nebraska
12/13, 2pm Fox v, Kansas State

Replacing this guy’s defense is gonna be a problem…

What’s Old: 
Creighton lost a lot. In addition to leading scorer and 4-time Big East defensive player of the year Ryan Kalkbrenner, the Bluejays lost 2nd leading scorer and starting point guard Steven Ashworth, starting 2-guard and 3rd leading scorer Pop Isaacs (who only played 8 games before suffering a season-ending injury), and fourth leading scorer Jamiya Neal. Isaacs transferred out while Kalkbrenner, Ashworth and Neal all graduated.

Headlining the returners is forward Jackson McAndrew. As a freshman last year, McAndrew averaged 7.8 ppg and 4.4 rpg, shooting 35.4% from deep on 5.4 attempts per game. He’s a pure stretch 4 who does not score much inside, taking just 13.2% of his FGAs at the rim last season, while taking 80.2% of his shots from 3. He’s also solid defensively, with the size and length to stifle opposing forwards. Creighton was 6.8 pp100 better defensively when he was on the floor last season. This year he steps into a starting role, and with the increased workload, many have him pegged as a breakout star for the Bluejays this season. If he is to truly breakout I think he’ll need to get a little bit better around the rim on both ends, as a finisher, rebounder and shot blocker to fill the gap left by Kalkbrenner’s graduation.

Joining McAndrew as a front court returnee is Isaac Traudt. Traudt will be McAndrew’s primary back-up, but could see spot starts based on matchups or Owen Freeman injuries. Like McAndrew, Traudt can stretch the floor, and is allergic to going inside, shooting 38.4% from deep on 2.8 attempts per game last season, versus less than 1 shot from 2 per game. He also offers less rebounding ability and worse defense, with the Bluejays coming in almost 3 pp100 worse defensively with Traudt on the floor. McAndrew is clearly the better option, but most teams would love to have depth like this at the 4, especially when both players are 6’10”, which can create matchup problems in and of itself.

Ty Davis returns to once again fill the back-up PG role. Davis was limited last season backing up Steven Ashworth, who was the engine for Creighton. However, the per-40 numbers on Davis are decent, averaging 4.4 ap40. He’ll need to tighten up his defense, as he commits over 4 pfp40 and the Bluejays were 6.2 pp100 better defensively with Davis on the bench. Some of that is no doubt due to playing with back-ups predominantly, but even looking only at lineups where he was on the floor with Kalkbrenner, the Bluejays were 5.5 pp100 better defensively with him on the bench versus playing him alongside Kalkbrenner. He also didn’t hit a single 3 last season, I won’t hazard a guess as to whether that’s because he’s not a shooter, because I simply don’t know.

As is the fashion these days, Creighton has a Euro to call their own, returner Fedor Zugic. Eligibility problems plagued Zugic, and he wasn’t eligible until later in non-conference play last season. This seemed to limit his ability to find his role on last year’s roster. As it was, in 22 games, he played 11mpg, posting 4.5/1.6/0.8, shooting 40% from deep on nearly 2 attempts per game. Defensively, Zugic looked lost. He tended to foul a bit more than the rest of Creighton’s roster, as they were excellent at defending without fouling, ranking first in the country with just 11.1 personal fouls per game. The Bluejays were over 5 pp100 better defensively with Zugic on the bench. While the offensive potential is very much there, he’ll need to dramatically improve defensively if he is to carve out a bigger role this season.

Forward Jasen Green also returns this season in a back-up role. Green actually started 25 games last season for Creighton, averaging 20.3 mpg posting 4.9/3.2/1.0 on 55.7/26.7/65.9 shooting. With the addition of transfer Blake Harper, Green will be relegated to a back-up role, competing for minutes with Zugic, who is like to see his minutes at the 3 in 3-guard lineups as much as the 2 given the 4 guards ahead of him on the depth chart.

Reserve point guard Shane Thomas comes back to Omaha. Thomas played just 100 minutes last season. He’ll likely play about the same this year, mostly in mop-up duty. Joining Thomas on the end of the bench is returner Josh Townley-Thomas. JTT played just 17 minute a season ago in 10 games. I would expect something similar this season.

What’s New: 
Creighton put together the 12th ranked transfer class in the country per 247 sports. That class is headlined by a pair of Iowa transfers, refugees of the McCaffery era Josh Dix and Owen Freeman.

Dix is the guy you fully expect to find on a team like Iowa or Creighton: a white, midwestern, sniper of a guard. Dix enters the season a career 41.9% 3-point shooter on 2.7 attempts per game. Last year he upped his attempts to 4.8 per game without skipping a beat, still shooting 42.2% from deep. Dix is definitely more of the catch-and-shoot type, with 81.5% of his 3’s being assisted last season. If there’s an offensive knock on Dix its that he can be a bit mid-range happy, taking 22.8% of his shots in the mid-range (93rd percentile per CBB Analytics), but hits at just 43.2% (76th percentile). He only gets to the rim for 22.5% of his shots. And despite being a sniper, he only shot 43.4% of his shots from deep. McD and Huss will def want to work on that shot diet. A career 41.9% shooter needs to be taking more than 43.4% of his shots from deep. Defensively, Dix was an absolute liability last season, with his team being a full 10.1 pp100 possessions better defensively with Dix on the bench. Now, Iowa was hot-steaming ass defensively last season, ranking 167 in KenPom AdjDE. Dix (and Freeman) will also have to adjust to the pace of play. McDermott likes to keep things slow, ranking 192nd and 229th in AdjT the last 2 seasons per KenPom versus Iowa ranking 63-19-61 in Dix’s 3 seasons there.

Iowa to Omaha feels like a natural transition.

Freeman joins Creighton as a Junior, in Iowa last year he posted 16.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg and 1.8 bpg in 26.4 mpg. He shot 63.8/31.3/60. He’s filling the Kalkbrenner void at center, but the Bluejays are likely to play quite differently. He’s not quite the shooter Kalkbrenner is, and while he can provide some rim protection, few can do that as well as Kalkbrenner did. That said, Freeman is very good defensively and can defend in the drop coverage we saw Creighton deploy in the Kalkbrenner era. The Hawkeyes were 11.5 pp100 better defensively when Freeman was on the floor. Where there are similarities to Kalkbrenner is in the post game. Freeman is crafty and deceptively quick in the post, scoring with ease. Freeman may be injury prone, as he missed the last third of Iowa’s season with a finger injury and injured his knee over the summer, which required surgery and kept him from practicing until mid-September. He’ll need to stay healthy for this Creighton team to reach its potential.

Nik Graves might be the next most-important transfer, as he assumes the starting point guard responsibilities from Steven Ashworth. Graves joins after 3 years in Charlotte, which showed stead improvement. Last year he posted 17.5/4.3/2.7 on 41.7/32.8/77.3 shooting. Obviously that shooting number is leaves a bit to be desired, particularly considering he took 5.6 3papg. He needs to be better about his shot selection, more of a distributor, and more of a slasher to produce for Creighton. If he can open things up with his slashing, the drive and kick opportunities should be there for the real shots like Dix, Blake Harper, McAndrew and Traudt. Graves was not a good defender last year, with Charlotte faring 3.3 pp100 better defensively with him on the bench.

Sophomore Blake Harper also steps right into a starting role in Omaha after playing his freshman year for Howard. Harper was a star on the wing for Howard, posting 19.5 ppg to lead the MEAC, adding in 6.2 boards, 3.4 assists and 1 steal per game. Truly a do-it-all wing, he shot 40.4% from 3 on 3.1 attempts per game, but can also attack the rim and score in the mid-range. Like Dix, I think working on the shot diet here will be huge. This is another 40% 3-point shooter who only took 47.9% of his shots from deep. It’s also not like he was attacking the rim, getting just 31.1% of shots at the rim (53rd percentile). He needs to turn more of those mid-rangers into 3-point attempts. Harper definitely has the athleticism and size to be a strong perimeter defender, but it is not something he has shown yet. That said, Howard as only 1 pp100 better defensively when he was on the bench last season, and he was just a true freshman. 

Rounding out the impact newcomers is guard Austin Swartz. Swartz is a sophomore, transferring in from the U, where he played 18.6 mpg for a dismal Hurricanes squad, posting 5.9/1.0/0.9 on 37.7/30.4/87.5. Swartz has a lot of potential, he came to Miami as the 50th ranked prospect in the class of 2024 per the 247Sports Composite ranking, choosing Miami over UConn, IU, Georgia and Va. Tech. Creighton will look to be the beneficiaries of a sophomore jump from Swartz. If he can live up to his potential, he has huge potential this year as the 6th man, and a major role should he stay with the Bluejays for his junior year.

Huss brings with him forward Liam McChesney, who started his college career in 2019-20 as a redshirt for Utah State. He suffered a broken ankle in his 2nd season, playing just 3 games, and ultimately transferred to Illinois State, where he found more success, before transferring to High Point to play for Huss in spring 2023. He did not touch the floor for High Point in 2 seasons with Huss after a preseason physical revealed a heart valve defect that required open heart surgery. He spent the last 2 seasons battling all the way back on a tough road to recovery. The fact that he’s playing at all is an inspiration. Whether he can make an impact on-the-court remains to be seen, but I’m certain he’s making an impact on the culture and leadership off-the-court.

Finally, Creighton brings in 3 recruits, 2 of whom are poised to redshirt. Kerem Konan is a 6’9” center out of Turkey who will not be redshirting. However, his impact is likely to be minimal with Freeman ahead of him on the C depth chart, and both McAndrew and Traudt capable of playing minutes at the 5. Freshman Hudson Greer is a 6’7” forward out of Montverde Academy, ranked 47th in the class of 2025 per 247Sports Composite ranking. Aleksa Dimitrijevic is a 7’0” Serbian center who arrived on campus in August, and will be classified as a sophomore, with 3 years of eligibility following this redshirt season. Dimitrijevic played professionally Partizan in Serbia last season. 

The Optimist’s Take: Defense schmefense! Who needs defense?! We’re just gonna be super efficient offensively. Dictate the pace against faster teams, and get just enough defensively from Owen Freeman as our anchor to make life difficult for opposing offenses. We see a legitimate whitewash with Davis-Dix-Zugic-McAndrew-Freeman, and it actually works.

The Hater’s Take: Defense wins championships, and this roster’s lack of defense is truly stunning. It’s not a coincidence that McDermott’s 2 best teams at Creighton, 2023-24’s Sweet 16 squad and 2022-23’s Elite 8 squad both finished top-25 in AdjDE per KenPom (24 & 14 respectively). This year’s defense could wind up being the worst since very early in McDermott’s tenure. Will they be able to get enough offensively? Graves remains a chucker at a low percentage, while Harper and Dix remain hesitant to shoot from deep despite stellar shooting percentages, settling instead for suboptimal mid-range 2’s, limiting the potential of the potential.

Fan Pulse: Calm, cool, collected, just another routine year of making the NCAAT for McD and the Omaha Plantation.

Bottom Line: You’d be stupid to bet against Creighton making the NCAAT. In the 2019-20 season, the last pre-Kalkbrenner year, Creighton was 12th in NetRtg per KenPom, despite a defense that was 78th in AdjDE. They were projected by BracketMatrix to land a 2-seed before the season was canceled (although worth noting, imho, they were trailing in the Big East tournament to lowly Mike-Anderson-Era St. John’s at halftime when the world closed down). Early in his Creighton tenure he had teams ranked 124, 66, and 166 in AdjDE, that earned 3, 7 and 8 seeds, respectively. So if ever there was a team that can almost completely eschew defense and still succeed, it’s McD’s Creighton teams. But it also begs the question, what is success? Is it just making the tournament? Surely the expectations have been raised in Omaha by now. Is it winning the Big East? Finally getting a first Final Four? Are those things possible without a quality defense? Creighton has won just 1 Big East title, the 2019-20 regular season, so not their best defensive team, but they’ve never made a deep run without a top-defense anchored by Kalkbrenner. The Sweet 16 teams were 32nd and 24th in AdjDE and the Elite 8 team was 14th. In other words, I think the defensive issues truly limit Creighton’s ceiling. A tournament team once again? No doubt. But I think you’re looking at a 6-seed at best, and more likely an 8-10 seed.

Prediction: 20-11 (12-8), 3rd Place