Creighton Basketball: Projecting the starting lineup

SG: Marcus Foster, Senior and SF: Khyri Thomas, Junior

The starting wing positions for Creighton are clear-cut since Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas are two of the best players in the Big East. Foster is known for his scoring prowess and is my pick to lead the Big East in scoring. He averaged 18.2ppg and knocked down 72 three-pointers last season.

Thomas is one of the most underrated players in the country and combines double-figure scoring with lockdown perimeter defense. He filled the box score with 12.3ppg, 5.8rpg, 3.3apg, 1.5spg, and 46 made threes at a 39% clip.

Creighton will go as far as these stars take them.

However, there will be an interesting battle for minutes between a trio of quality reserves. Foster and Thomas will both play more than 30 minutes per game so there aren’t too many minutes to claim, but it will be important to get these young reserves the minutes they need to develop into future starters.

Mitch Ballock is a 6’5’’ freshman who could earn minutes due to his knock-down shooting ability. He will compete with fellow freshman Ty-Shon Alexander, a 6’4’’ athletic combo guard. Both players were highly recruited and are key pieces for Creighton’s future, but will likely be relegated to 8-10 minutes a game barring any injuries from Thomas or Foster.

Backup PG Davion Mintz could also see time at the off-guard position. Mintz has good size at 6’3’’, but is not a great three-point shooter, as he only made nine threes last season. Playing a non-shooter (Mintz) with another non-shooter (Joseph) would bog down Creighton’s offense. This means Mintz will play mostly as a PG which leaves Ballock and Alexander to battle it out for the scarce wing minutes.