Big East Basketball: Is UConn, Creighton, or Marquette the best in the league?
By Drew Reid
Creighton Blue jays
After a heart-breaking loss in the Elite Eight to the San Diego Aztecs, the Creighton Blue Jays are looking to run things back after Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Baylor Sheierman decided to skip the NBA draft and finish what they started. The Blue Jays did lose Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga) and Arthur Kaluma (Kansas State) to the transfer portal but in return, the Blue Jays received point guard Steven Ashworth (Utah State) and forward Isaac Traudt (Virginia), in the transfer portal.
Arthur Kaluma was very athletic; however, he was not fit for the Blue Jays scheme so transferring was the best decision for both. Ryan Nembhard on the other hand was a tough loss, BUT Steven Ashworth is a solid replacement at the point guard position. One thing that Ryan Nembhard lacked was his shooting ability with a career 3-point percentage at 32.6%. Steven Ashworth on the other hand has a career 3-point percentage of 41.3% which helps the Blue Jays identity of being a 3-point shooting team. The Blue Jays are now in the top 5 in three pointers made this season. The team ran through Ryan Kalkbrenner last season and while he is still his dominant self, he has been able to rest a bit more with the rest of the team contributing to scoring.
The Blue Jays have been killing teams but the main concern for them right now is their strength of schedule. They have not played anyone ranked and as of now although rankings can change, the only ranked teams they will play are in the Big East.