Creighton Basketball: 5 reasons why Bluejays are 2020-21 title contenders

Frontcourt Struggles No Longer

The Bluejays of years past were simply too reliant on the three-pointer. Yes, making a lot of threes is a good way to win a lot of regular-season games. But, having to stay hot for seven straight games in the tournament when a team is exclusively reliant on three-pointers simply hasn’t worked all that well. Yet, Creighton may have finally found the balance needed to wreak some havoc in the postseason.

They have what Creighton hasn’t had in excess since Greg Echenique was manning the middle quite a few years ago. They have a couple of true centers. Coach Greg McDermott has raved about the improvements Christian Bishop has made this offseason.

At 6’9, Bishop was one of only two options to play the 5 last season, which is tough when playing against star big men day-in and day-out in the Big East. But Bishop became a fan favorite as he out-hustled just about everyone on the court.

Now, he has some more help. With the return of Jacob Epperson from a number of injuries in the past three years, as well as the addition of true back-to-the-basket freshman Ryan Kalkbrenner the Jays have more options.

Kalkbrenner has played quite well for the Jays to open the year, a welcomed sight for Greg McDermott. Playing more inside-out ball while Kalkbrenner is on the floor has opened up a lot of shots and has made the job a little easier on the distributors, including Zegarowski.

Creighton has always had good guard play. Zegarowski is just the next in a long lineage of success in that role. Austin Chatman, Khyri Thomas, Maurice Watson, Marcus Foster, and Ty-Shon Alexander all have graduated or gone to the NBA in the past few years after playing as a guard at Creighton.

All five of those guys were terrific college basketball players, but few of them had the luxury of steady play down low. If the three-headed combination of Bishop, Epperson, and Kalkbrenner can impact the game on both ends of the court, watch out.