NCAA Tournament 2023: Ranking the surprise Elite 8 teams left in the field

5. 6 Creighton

The Bluejays are the Elite Eight team with the most losses, but a handful of those came early in the season when star center Ryan Kalkbrenner missed time. Creighton has been one of the best teams in a very strong Big East this season, but their presence in the Elite Eight isn’t the biggest surprise. Putting together one of the nation’s best starting lineups, the Bluejays had preseason expectations that were sky high and they are living up to that.

Despite not winning the Big East regular season or tournament titles, you can argue that nobody’s starting five is as talented as Creighton’s. It’s not just Kalkbrenner down low, they will wear you out with Baylor Scheierman, a great rebounder who can hit outside shots. Arthur Kaluma is a very talented sophomore wing while the backcourt of Trey Alexander and Ryan Nembhard is the gift that keeps giving.

The Bluejays have looked better than solid in their wins over NC State, Baylor, and Princeton. You can argue that they haven’t had the most challenging route to get here, but that offense has been deadly and they absolutely upset 3-seed Baylor in the second round, getting a masterful 30-point effort from Nembhard in that win. No team in this field can compare to this starting five, though the weakness and lack of depth on the bench might get Creighton into trouble in these later rounds.