NCAA Basketball: 25 biggest offseason winners heading into 2021-22 season

3. Creighton Bluejays

Speaking of coaching changes, it looked as if it was a foregone conclusion that Creighton was going to go through one this offseason. Head coach Greg McDermott, who has won at least 20 games in every year except one in 11 seasons, had an unfortunate locker room incident involving the word “plantation”, which caused him to get suspended for a short time.

There was a legit chance that he could’ve either resigned or been fired, even after making it to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1974. The entire starting lineup either went pro and transferred, while five-star commit TyTy Washington de-committed in favor of Kentucky.

But after apologizing and making amends, Coach McDermott and the Bluejays were able to move on and find historic success on the recruiting trail. Top-100 commits Ryan Nembhard and Mason Miller never wavered, while the team was able to add two more four-star pieces this offseason in Trey Alexander and Arthur Kaluma.

For those not familiar with recruiting rankings, these four players account for the four highest-ever commits for Creighton Basketball, as well as a top-5 overall ranking among all 2021 classes. The team also landed grad transfers KeyShawn Feazell and Ryan Hawkins for frontcourt depth.

Although the entire core is gone for the Bluejays, the best players to come out of high school are joining and if they all stick around, gives the program the highest ceiling ever when it comes to making noise in March. And more important than all of that, Coach McDermott has truly moved on and does not have to worry about negative recruiting regarding the comments.

He’s on his way to passing up Dana Altman as the best coach in program history and after this great offseason, gets even closer to that goal.