Big East Basketball: 3 biggest winners and losers of 2023 offseason
By John Makuch
2. Creighton Blue Jays
While it is tough to call a team that has a top-25 transfer class a loser of the offseason, their departures may just outweigh who they were able to acquire.
In terms of the NBA Draft, the Blue Jays could be losing Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Trey Alexander, and have most likely lost Arthur Kaluma to the transfer portal if he commits elsewhere.
What could be the biggest loss was losing point guard Ryan Nembhard to Gonzaga, as they then had to replace most of the lineup that got them to the elite eight.
This team does still have Baylor Scheierman and picked up another shooter in Utah State transfer Steven Ashworth.
They also picked up Memphis transfer Jonathan Lawson who comes in at 6’6 and could help replace Kaluma and Alexander.
Creighton was also able to snag Issac Traudt from Virginia who is 6’10 and can replace the height that the loss of Kalkbrenner factors in.
Their recruiting class also appears weaker in terms of the other teams in the Big East conference, but coach Dough McDermott should still have this team ready for next season.
The Blue Jays will look much more different than last year, but time will tell if they do what they usually do, and just figure it out no matter the circumstance.