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

Experience

Mitch Ballock is a fun story. A Kansas native who chose Creighton over KU would do so because he felt Creighton was “a better fit” for him. Boy, was he right. Ballock has eclipsed 1000 points in his Creighton career, 700 of which have come from behind the three-point arc. The sharpshooter has also impressed as a distributor with a career assist-to-turnover ratio above 3:1.

Ballock has unlimited range, with some of his threes coming from spots on the court that are truly ridiculous. 5th Factor charted 18 Creighton games last season, in which Ballock shot 45% from shots 26+ feet away from the hoop. You have to have a hand in his face four feet past the three-point line or he will sink it.

Having someone that shoots the ball with his volume at his clip (40% career 3P%) cannot be understated. In his senior season, Ballock seems clandestine to have success in the tournament. He has been the steady hand that has helped transition the Jays through the last four years.

It’s quite rare that the two primary weapons are both upperclassmen in college basketball nowadays. Ballock’s senior leadership to go along with junior Zegarowski means that is exactly what this Creighton team is made of, experience.

The starting lineup for the Jays is made up of all seniors and juniors. For a power-6 conference team, that is ever-so-rare. Even their bench has quite a bit of experience between Antwann Jones, Epperson, and Shereef Mitchell.

Experience is my favorite word in college basketball. It draws all sorts of opinions on its importance and otherwise, but one statement is true. Teams with experience tend to do better in the NCAA tournament than teams that lack it. Even with all-star future NBA guard Marcus Zegarowski, it’s senior guard Mitch Ballock who I want taking the last shot if I’m Greg McDermott.