Big East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

4. Creighton Bluejays

Projected Starters:

Guards – Marcus Zegarowski- JR, Mitch Ballock-SR and Damien Jefferson-SR

Forwards – Christian Bishop-JR and Ryan Kalkbrenner-FR

Bench – Rati AndronikashvilIi-FR, Denxel Mahoney-SR, Shereef Mitchell-SO, Antwaan Jones-SO, Jacob Epperson-JR, Modesta Kancelris-FR, Alex O’Connell-JR*

Creighton has been on the brink of national prominence for quite some time now. Despite 231 wins in 10 seasons with the Blue Jays, Greg McDermott has never been passed the 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament and that has squashed a lot of the hype that Creighton basketball deserves.

To add insult to injury, the COVID19 shortened 2019-20 basketball season was probably the best for the Blue Jays to make a run at a Final Four in McDermott’s tenure. They finished a program-best 7th in the final AP poll and were zeroing in on a top-two seed on Selection Sunday when the postseason was scheduled this past March.

Fast forward to now and it appears the national pundits are starting to not only acknowledge the success of Creighton Basketball but place high expectations on them as well. Early rankings have projected them anywhere between 4th and 15th in the country as they return most of the key pieces from a season ago and many are predicting starting guard Marcus Zegarowski (16.1 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 5.0 Ast) to be a front runner for Big East Player of the Year.

What’s not being discussed so much is the loss of Ty-Shon Alexander and his 17 points and 5 boards per game. Alexander was not only Creighton’s leading scorer but also was an elite Big East defender. Creighton was a below-average defense in the conference last season, giving up 71 points a night, 4th most points relinquished per game of any team. That’s an area that they will surely take a step back in 2020-21 with the loss of Alexander.

Moving onto the positive where Creighton looks like it can be a legitimate threat to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in McDermott’s time as the head coach.

Yes, Zegarowski will be a first-team all-conference player, but he is joined in the backcourt by three excellent seniors, starting with 44% 3- point sniper Mitch Ballock (11.9 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 3.1 Ast). He finished second in the Big East in 3-point makes and percentage in 19-20. Between Ballocjk and Zegarwoski’s 42% shooting stroke from outside, Creighton has the best backcourt duo from behind the arc in the league.

Damien Jefferson (9.4 Pts, 5.5 Reb, 1.4 Ast) and Denzel Mahoney (12.0 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 0.7 Ast) are back to support Zegarwoski and Ballock and both are capable of big nights on the offensive end. Jefferson’s shooting is a bit of a concern as he shoots 22% from the perimeter and only 64% from the foul line and could be the one thing that keeps him out of the starting lineup in 2020-21.

If it’s not him, it’s Mahoney at the small forward position as he shoots it a 36% and 84% respectively. Both guys are a big drop off from what Alexander brought to the table on both ends of the floor at this position.

McDermott did some special things on the recruiting trail in the offseason and maybe the most intriguing is the commitment of Rati Andronikashvili. The 6’4 point guard is considered one of the top Euro prospects in the 2020 class and has spent significant time playing point guard for the Georgia National team. He should be ready to contribute immediately as he can be inserted at any of the three-guard positions because of his size.

The frontcourt is an interesting discussion in Omaha. A preseason injury to 6’11 center Jacob Epperson resulting in a redshirt forced Creighton to play with a small ball approach in 2019-20. It worked pretty well as the Blue Jay offensive rating was 14th in the nation and their defensive rating improved by about 20 spots from 2018-19 when they started a traditional big man in Martin Krampelj.

McDermott will have to decide whether he wants to stick with a four-guard approach or not and it will be a tough decision.  Epperson, who averaged six points a game as a freshman and five a game as a sophomore, is back and McDermott landed one of the country’s premier true centers in the 2020 class in Ryan Kalkenbrenner (ranked No. 124 by 247).

One thing for sure is that Christian Bishop (8.6 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 1.3 Ast) is back as a starter, and he took a huge step in his sophomore season increasing his points by five, rebounds by three, and assists by one per game. If he’s the only big man starter in the frontcourt as he was last year, Creighton will be fine as he is also an elite defender, finishing 5th in the Big East in blocks percentage in 2019-20.

Creighton is going to again be as dangerous as it gets on the offensive end. If Duke transfer and 3-point assassin Alex O’Connell were to get a waiver it might push Creighton into the top three in the Big East, but that’s unlikely.

This is a top 25 team. Top 10 caliber? I am not so sure, but the excitement is definitely palpable in Omaha. Despite the promise, McDermott’s lack of success in March or April is still the narrative and in order for him to shed that, there will be significant contributions asked of a lot of guys to replace the things Ty-Shon Alexander did for this team.

If guys like Mahoney, Jefferson, and Bishop are up for the challenge this is not only a Big East contender, but they might finally have a March run in-store.