2015-16 Preview #1: Creighton

[Jet915]

Johnson means Hanson I'm assuming......

[cu blujs]

Johnson means Hanson I'm assuming......

yes, Hanson.

Second, how can you follow up "Outside of Chatman, we lose little from the departing seniors." with "Ricky Kreklow probably single-handedly kept it from being one of the worst won-less records ever at CU." That is one of the most extreme examples of contradicting one's self in message board history.

Ok, try to follow along. I said " Ricky Kreklow probably single-handedly kept it from being one of the worst won-loss records ever at CU. But, I think we will put a couple of new players on the floor this year in that spot who will be every bit as good. " Thus, we lose little there. Just because he saved our ass in several games doesn't mean his moving on is a great loss to the program when you are going to be as good or upgrade overall at that spot. You see, when you read something, you don't take parts of the document out of context but read the entire passage to determine the writer's point. Guessing maybe reading comprehension part of ACT/SAT didn't go so well for you?

So, perhaps you can enlighten us as to where in our line-up you don't expect an upgrade in talent, size and athleticism (other than maybe at the PG)?

[theNEWbigeast]

We lose little from the departing seniors.
Kreklow single-handedly kept it from being one of the worst seasons ever.

That's how you sequenced your thoughts. Even if you replace Kreklow's roster spot with a fantastic player, you're still losing (in your words) the most valuable player on last season's team, that was (in your words) a few possessions away from being 12-6 in one of the best conferences in college basketball. Most would agree the Jays will not be 12-6 this season even with the across-the-board upgrade in talent. So you're saying the most important player (your words) from last season's near 12-6 team isn't a loss? Really? At the very least, that's incredibly disrespectful to Mr. Kreklow. At the very most, you have a not-yet diagnosed brain disorder which prevents you from effectively communicating. If I scored poorly on ACT reading comprehension, you wiped your ass with the essay portion and turned it in. Not good.

Putting that aside, I wonder if "Johnson" will break McBucket's scoring record?

Come on, chief. Just say you worded it extremely poorly and move along.

[chicagojayfan]

Unless the new guys play great, seems like Creighton will be near the bottom again. They are losing their 2 best players imo (Artino and Chatman) from a team that was already in last place. They lost a lot of close games but I think that they simply willed those games to be close to in the first place.

Prediction:
Anywhere from 8-10th (DePaul, Creighton, Seton Hall)

best players last year were hard to pick out. Pre-Season it was Chatman and Zierden (who was hurt for the BE schedule and out for most of it). BE season it was probably Milliken and Kreklow, but Kreklow's impact is overstated, IMO.

I think Artino was a useful player and was often very underrated by Creighton fans, but nobody would have thought he was one of the two best players on the team.

One of the rules of baseball analytics is that you compare a player to the average replacement player, not to the idea that nobody would be there. Kreklow was extremely valuable because the team had nobody who would take contested shots and without Zierden during the BE schedule we had nobody to stretch the floor. That is a product of having a team of guys who were role players for McDermott and Wragge for most of their careers alongside a few younger kids. I mean, I LOVE what Kreklow brought to the team, but in the end, during conference play he put up 13.6 points/40 played and 5.1 rebounds/40.

Down the stretch for the last 10 games, the best players were Chatman, Milliken, Kreklow and Groselle, with Groselle maybe being the best of that bunch. For example, he put up 15 and 7 against Xavier in the win against them with 6/7 from the field and the line. Over the stretch he averaged close to 10 a game and around 67% from the floor. His struggle has been injuries and even during that stretch often couldn't play much in the second half due to his legs tightening up and was limited to 18 a game when we wanted to play him a lot more.

But the who was last year's best player is largely meaningless as anyone who was at practice last year said that Watson and Huff were the best two players on the team, and they will be playing this year after two highly successful D1 years at other schools prior to their transfer. They aren't incoming Frosh who have to make big adjustments and they will immediately upgrade the talent on the floor. In addition, they fit the style of play Creighton wants to play, they aren't a square peg in a round hole in terms of scheme.

[chicagojayfan]

Questions:
What will become of Justin Patton? Will he play or redshirt?
How will Mo Watson Jr. do in replacing Austin Chatman?
What will Cole Huff provide?
Will James Milliken keep his head on straight and improve his game?
Will Geoff Groselle be able to stay healthy?
Can Isaiah Zierden come back from a second major knee injury?
Will Martin Krampelj be the surprise of the Big East in 2015-16?

- Patton plays, but only around 10 a game this year. He's in mid development growth spurt, but is very, VERY long and defensively will be an asset off the bench while he can run enough to play O in spurts
- Watson will be just fine. Similar players, but Watson is more physical in the paint and finished better. IMO also a more creative distributor with east coast toughness that we've needed
- Huff gives us a quality, versatile scorer who can make space for everyone. He's a deep shooting 3 pt threat, can post at 6-8 and can drive to the basket. There's a reason Michigan wanted him so much.
- Milliken seems to be on the straight and narrow. I'd like to see him improve his handle on drives as that would add another dimension to his game offensively.
- Groselle staying healthy is a huge key. Offensively, he's one of the best post scorers in the BE when he's on the floor and playing. He certainly looked pretty healthy in the last 10 games of last year and his performance reflected that.
- Zierden - I say yes. with the type of injury he had, it is the typical fix to try rehab the first time and then go to surgery if it recurs (at about a 50% rate). Doctors said the extraneous damage was limited and the surgery has had good results with other players/athletes. He's a shooter we desperately needed last year
- I doubt he's the "surprise of the BE", but I think he plays and plays well. He's a good athlete with length (6-11 wingspan) and legitimte 3 pt shooting range. He needs to bulk up more to play a ton of minutes in the BE. I think eventually he develops more as a 3, but his skills are more 4 for now. His playing time is probably dependent on where Huff and Hegner spend their time and on whether or not Thomas gets playing time at the 3 for his defensive capabilities.

Good analysis overall. We will be young, but overall we will be longer, more athletic and also more skilled and explosive offensively. This is a team that functions based on the ability to make shots and spread the floor and with Zierden out we struggled to get space anywhere. Even with him during the OOC we were continually on the edge. In the end, I think the key factor is that there isn't a position on the floor that won't be stronger this year and there are about 3 times as many shooters the coach can put on the floor. Only exception might be PG where we will be at least a push, IMO.

PG: Chatman was a very good facilitator, but was never a scorer and really struggled when asked to do more of that. Watson will at least be a push and I think he brings additional toughness and swagger to the team -- something we desperately needed in the backcourt last year and at the end of games.
SG: Milliken came into his own and is back next year, Zierden should return giving us depth. Add in Thomas an athletic guard with a 6-10 wingspan and our 2's look a lot different than they did during the conference season last year.
SF: Huff, Harrell, Thomas. Huff is discussed above and is a veteran scorer. Harrell is yet another 3 PT shooter with length. Thomas can play defense against any wings pretty much.
PF: Hegner, Huff, Krampelj - all 3 of these guys can shoot around 40% from 3 to stretch the floor in our offense and have the height to play the position in the post.
C: Groselle, Hegner, Hanson, Patton - a lot of options here. I think we play Groselle as much as we can up to around 20 minutes a game, and then fill in after that. I really think we see Hegner playing the stretch 5 this year. He's 6-10 and is working to bulk up for the season. Hanson needed to recuperate as he played with an injury a good part of the BE season, and Patton we've discussed a lot already, but he should contribute off the bench to start.

[OmahaGuy]

Good analysis by RJay. I firmly believe that next season the team should be MUCH improved. Am I expecting an NCAA Tourney? No. Realistically, I'd say this team is NIT at best. I expect Watson and Huff to start and be good players. Hopefully, Groselle and J-Milli can build upon where they left off last year as they really came on towards the end. Would love to see Harrell contribute regularly as well. Coach Mac does an excellent job with developing red shirts so that makes me hopeful. I'm sure the team and the coaches learned a lot from last seasons dismal year and it made them very hungry to prove that last season was a blip. What really made me happy was that despite all of the BS that happened last season, the positive, team-first culture was maintained as those really get tested in a difficult year. Also, as gut wrenching and heartbreaking as it is, I'd much rather have a team lose a bunch of close games than get ran by double digits night in-night out especially, if that team is lacking talent. In Coach Mac, we trust.

[FlyJays]

Unless the new guys play great, seems like Creighton will be near the bottom again. They are losing their 2 best players imo (Artino and Chatman) from a team that was already in last place.

I'm not sure there is a Creighton fan anywhere who felt those two were our best players last season, especially with regard to Artino. IMO, our biggest loss from last season is Kreklow. But the talent upgrade from last year to this year is going to be large. This is about as close as you can come to a complete roster overhaul in one season. With that said, nobody can expect that many new players to immediately gel, and there will be bumps in the road. I expect a 6-7th place league finish for the Jays, with 2016-17 marking a return to the NCAAs.

[Letsgonova]

I'll just point out that there has never, in the history of the NCAA, been an incoming transfer player who wasn't "the best player on the team in practice".

There is actually a reason for this - they aren't playing games and are therefore always 100% at practice, unlike the game players who get worn down over the course of the season.

[TBC Alum]

FWIW, I believe that the 6th place BE team will be in the last 4 in/ first 4 out discussion every year.

[stever20]

FWIW, I believe that the 6th place BE team will be in the last 4 in/ first 4 out discussion every year.

well 1st 2 years- the 6th place BE team hasn't been really close to the last 4 in/first 4 out discussion. Marquette 2 years ago, Xavier last year.

With the round robin, it really depends on the year and how much parity the conference has. And also hinges a lot on how good the OOC schedule for the 6th place team is, because they are going to have 9-10 conference losses almost certainly.