Creighton Basketball: 3 key storylines heading into 2020-21 season

2. Creighton Basketball’s New Recruits and X-Factors

Creighton has made some waves this off-season, but not much of that will impact the 2020-21 season. They landed Duke transfer Alex O’Connell and four-star guard Ryan Nembhard, but as of right now neither player can play next season.

Instead, we can look at the team’s most promising commit and some of their bench depth. We start with four start recruit and Georgia international Rati Andronikashvili. At 6’4, I’d expect Rati to be one of Creighton’s ball handlers and compete with Shereef Mitchell for the backup point guard role. However, the backcourt will be quite crowded next season.

However, even if Creighton plays small, they severely lack in frontcourt depth. Out of the Blue Jays top 11 scorers last season, the only ones above 6’7 was Christian Bishop, who still is only 6’7, and center Kelvin Jones who’s graduating.

One of the x-factors in the front court will be former top-100 recruit Jacob Epperson. The center sat out last season with a broken tibia, and could be a major difference maker if fully healthy.

The Bluejays also added three-star forward Modestas Kancleris from Lithuania. At 6’8, the second best recruit from Lithuania, according to 247Sports, will get an opportunity for playing time

And lastly, we look to freshman forward Nic Zeil. Zeil only played 46 minutes last season with eight points and nine rebounds total, but he could earn some playing time as Kancleris is unproven and Epperson’s injury is still looming.

I predict Epperson and Bishop to be the two forwards with Creighton trying a lot of small ball lineups and Bishop as the center. However, Epperson, Kancleris, Zeil and Rati should all be players  in the rotation next year.

Next, we look to see if Marcus Zegarowski can make the jump into stardom next year?