NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Marquette rise in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
15. Creighton (5-1)
The last few seasons have been pretty dreamy in Creighton, with the Bluejays painfully close to the Final Four this past season. Getting both Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman back for another season was a major offseason victory for Creighton and an offense that looks as lethal as any in the nation. This team is a bit different than last year’s team and that’s very apparent after this past week’s results.
The Bluejays took the short journey to Kansas City as part of the Hall of Fame Classic, beginning with a 88-65 win over Loyola Chicago back on Wednesday. Those two stud returners were the culprits, with Kalkbrenner putting up 29 points and Scheierman adding 24 points and 12 rebounds in the victory. In comparison, Thursday’s nightmare was a total nightmare, with the offense playing abhorrent ball in a 69-48 loss against Colorado State.
That performance against the Rams looks on paper like a real head-scratcher, but Colorado State just had their number on Thanksgiving. It’s important for Creighton to put aside this underwhelming performance, much like they did last year with their dreadful December when Kalkbrenner was injured. This program still has the tools to cause major damage in the Big East and will keep being tested in nonconference, with road games at Oklahoma State and Nebraska in the days ahead.