NCAA Basketball: Wisconsin, Duke, Creighton rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
15. Creighton (16-5)
The Bluejays have boasted talent in recent years and have proven to be one of the Big East’s best programs. We’re talking about last year’s run to the Elite Eight, but also about what this year’s team is capable of doing. Some questionable losses came earlier in the year, but you can argue that Creighton is establishing themselves as one of the teams to beat in this deep and talented conference.
The week started well on Tuesday, as the Bluejays got an 85-78 win over Xavier. They fought back from a small halftime deficit, getting 27 points and 9 rebounds from Trey Alexander and 20 points from Baylor Scheierman. A good week at home concluded on Saturday night with an 85-62 victory against DePaul. Alexander led the charge with 23 points while Ryan Kalkbrenner (22 points, 10 rebounds) and Steven Ashworth (17 points) chipped in as well.
Winners of seven of their last eight, Creighton is starting to play smarter basketball against their conference rivals. They’ve won a few games away from home and made the plays necessary to keep this streak afloat. The Bluejays have a very talented starting five; we’ve mentioned most of them, and hope to keep riding that talent to another deep run in March. For now, the focus turns to Butler this upcoming Friday for a rare third straight conference home game.