Creighton Basketball is looking to get back to the Big Dance after missing out last season. Is a dynamic backcourt enough to do the trick? Here’s a look at the 2019-20 Bluejays.
For just the fourth time in head coach Greg McDermott’s eight-year tenure, Creighton Basketball failed to make the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19. Creighton finished in a four-way tie for third in the Big East with a 9-9 conference record and an overall mark of 20-15 but made the NIT Quarterfinals where they lost to TCU.
The Big East may be more wide open than it has been in recent seasons, Villanova is still the likely favorite, but the competition to the Wildcats will be a lot stiffer, and the list of contenders includes the Bluejays. This summer McDermott was able to take his team on a trip to Australia for a three-game exhibition slate.
When most teams take these international trips, the competition on the floor is often not up to the level most college teams are used to. For Creighton that wasn’t the case, as they certainly got tested down under, losing their first game and then having a comeback win in their second game, a game they trailed by as many as 29 points. But, wins and losses aren’t as important on these trips as seeing how guys play and how they play together.
Two players that had a positive trip were junior guard Mitch Ballock and sophomore forward Christian Bishop who averaged 18.3 points and 15.7 points respectively in the three games. Freshman guard Shareef Mitchell was also very good on the trip, proving to be a very disruptive force on the defensive end. Creighton has the talent to compete for a Big East title in 2019-20, but they are not a team without question marks.