Creighton Basketball 2025-2026

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 10:42 am

Moving forward to the upcoming 25-26 season.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 11:14 am

Can't wait to see what this season will hold. I especially can't wait to see how Mac coaches Dix and Freeman from Iowa. I have said for a long time that Fran and his staff were terrible and I strongly believe that Mac and Co can get a lot more out of them.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 1:00 pm

The Jays are already getting quite a bit of praise from several way too early top 25 lists, including # 16 from on3 and #21 from USA today:

21. Creighton (25-11)
Filling the big shoes of Ryan Kalkbrenner, a mainstay in the middle over several productive seasons at Creighton, will not be easy. But Greg McDermott will have a couple of options in the post, including incoming Serbian 7-footer Aleksa Dimitrijevic and Iowa transfer Owen Freeman. The Bluejays will add another former Hawkeye, winger Josh Dix, as well as Charlotte transfer Nik Graves to the lineup that should again be productive.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:54 pm

Pop Isaacs transferred to Houston. Still can’t believe he got good money to only play 8 games for the Jays.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 1:39 pm

I don’t have a subscription, but apparently Creighton is ranked #32 (of 361) in the Wall Street Journal's list of most valuable men's hoops programs that was published today.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/n ... e-98c44e14

Post by **Brad** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 2:10 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Wed Apr 09, 2025 1:39 pm I don’t have a subscription, but apparently Creighton is ranked #32 (of 361) in the Wall Street Journal's list of most valuable men's hoops programs that was published today.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/n ... e-98c44e14

One of the White and Blue Review guys tweeted that the other day. 31 was Florida and 33 was Tennessee, so Creighton was in good company.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:23 pm

Yes, that is impressive, who would have thought 20 years ago that Creighton would be that high on the list.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Apr 10, 2025 10:16 am

Baylor got his first NBA career start last night for the Celts.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Thu Apr 10, 2025 10:24 am

I didn't see that; awesome milestone for him!!

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Apr 10, 2025 11:37 am

Alan Huss is coming back to CU. Going to be coach in waiting, basically Mac's successor. I think at one time that would have been Darian Devries, but Huss has proven to be a great asst and head coach. He won nearly 79% of his games. I think one of the things that he is great at is recruiting, so that should help as well.

Doesn't hurt that he played for CU too.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Thu Apr 10, 2025 12:12 pm

Hate to see the end of the Coach Mac era in such plain sight, but all good things...

Good plan, especially for recruiting, to have this transition period. I believe this is Servais' last year for CU Baseball where they've implemented the same "coach in waiting" plan.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Apr 10, 2025 12:20 pm

And they did the same thing for volleyball. Good to have a plan in place. Also probably a lot cheaper than getting a basketball coach on the market in this day and age.

Huss helped to develop Martin Krampelj, Kalkbrenner and also recruit the highest Creighton class ever with Nembhard, Kaluma, and Trey Alexander.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Apr 10, 2025 2:35 pm

Wow, interesting. Good to see Huss coming back.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Fri Apr 11, 2025 12:07 pm

Love that Huss is back..Definitely appears to be the next Jays HC once Mac decides to hang ‘em up..

I’d say Mac sticks for 2 more seasons before retiring. It wouldn’t surprise me if he did after this upcoming year..but if I’m reading tea leaves correctly, Huss is the new Creighton HC for the 2027-2028 basketball season…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri Apr 11, 2025 12:23 pm

Yes, sounds like 1-2 years at most. Sad to see Mac go, but glad for the direction of the program.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Fri Apr 11, 2025 2:17 pm

Shame to see him go, but he did a great job following Altman’s success and will surely go down as the program’s best coach so far.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sat Apr 12, 2025 9:59 pm

Rumor that Austin Swartz who was a 4 star recruit in high school is possibly transferring to Creighton. He played one season at Miami and averaged about 6 pts. He didn’t get a ton of min but is a 6’4” guard.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun Apr 13, 2025 3:21 pm

Swartz has committed to the Jays. Another big pickup and he has 3 years of eligibility left. His size at guard would be great to have after having Ashworth and Nembhard, both listed at 6’ but prob about 5’10” on a good day.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Sun Apr 13, 2025 4:51 pm

Swartz is another nice pickup for the Jays..

The team is reloading nicely…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun Apr 13, 2025 10:50 pm

They have done really well in the portal. Even before Swartz, they have the #5 transfer ranking according to 247.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu Apr 17, 2025 8:11 am

Creighton had a visit yesterday from 6’8” guard Blake Harper from Howard University. He was conference player of the year. He averaged 19.5 pts, 6.2 rebs and 3.4 assts per game. He also shot over 40% from 3 and had a triple double.

Heard the visit went well, maybe there will be some news today hopefully.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun Apr 27, 2025 1:21 am

Blake Harper is announcing tomorrow at 5pm. Think it will be for the Jays!

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Sun Apr 27, 2025 8:55 pm

The Jays landing Blake Harper easily places them in the preseason top 10 going into this season IMO..

They are not only very talented with their projected starting 5, but very deep as well. This is the most talented Bluejay team yet..Their most talented since their 2020 team and 2022 Elite 8 team for certain…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sun Apr 27, 2025 9:52 pm

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Apr 28, 2025 9:50 am

Jays are tied for 6th best transfer portal team ranking according to on3.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Mon Apr 28, 2025 5:55 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Mon Apr 28, 2025 9:50 am Jays are tied for 6th best transfer portal team ranking according to on3.

They have been very aggressive and lucky this offseason. Certainly bodes well for a team losing a couple stalwarts.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon Apr 28, 2025 8:55 pm

Yeah, I don’t know how much they’re paying all the players but I’m sure that is a factor. I think they have a pretty good NIL program. Not to mention my favorite thing, playing in front of 17,000 fans every night, in a growing and vibrant city.

skip · Post by **skip** » Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:49 am

Top 10 preseason ranking for sure

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 29, 2025 8:38 am

skip wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:49 am Top 10 preseason ranking for sure

I would think top 15 for sure. The only downside, is outside of Dix and Freeman, the other guys have played at the higher major level. Either way, I think there is going to be a lot of competition for playing time, which is a good thing. They say this every year, but I think this is possibly the deepest team CU has ever had.

OmahaRedWing · Post by **OmahaRedWing** » Tue Apr 29, 2025 10:47 am

skinzfan23 wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 8:38 am
skip wrote: Tue Apr 29, 2025 7:49 am Top 10 preseason ranking for sure
I would think top 15 for sure. The only downside, is outside of Dix and Freeman, the other guys have played at the higher major level. Either way, I think there is going to be a lot of competition for playing time, which is a good thing. They say this every year, but I think this is possibly the deepest team CU has ever had.

I really hope this is the case this year. As you said they say this every year, then we roll into the season and it seems like McDermott runs a very short rotation with players like Kalkbrenner (it helps that he was so good at playing D without picking up fouls), Ashworth and other starters playing a ton of minutes. I checked some early season box scores from last year when they played teams like Nebraska and aTm and it's crazy how many of the starters were playing 35 minutes plus. It's so much more than the opponents.

I think that heavy reliance on playing the starters leads to more wins, but also leads to some rough stretches with tired legs late in the season but especially comes to bite CU in the tournament.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 29, 2025 12:04 pm

Looking at Mac's history, he likes to play players that he "trusts" which is why the rotation has been shortened so much. You can't argue with it looking at his winning % but I do think it takes a toll on the players and also makes it difficult in the event that you do need the bench players to produce (foul trouble, injury) because they aren't as prepared. I think a good example of that recently would be Fred King. He is a good player but a little raw, but in the limited time he got, he just couldn't keep from fouling, almost instantly. Would have been good to get him some min and confidence early in the season instead of giving Kalk 30-35 min against teams like kansas city.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri May 02, 2025 9:57 pm

McDermott mentioned yesterday that there is the possibility of Fedor Zugic being ineligible for the upcoming season again. The ncaa is so ridiculous, they just pick and choose what they want to enforce. Don’t understand how a player could get cleared to play and now might not be able to the following season.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon May 05, 2025 2:39 pm

Don't necessarily like the sound of this from this morning's press conference:

"It's an ongoing thing, and now it's kind of between Fedor and his family and their representation and the NCAA. We're kind of out of it at this point in time. But he’s still fighting, and we're still supporting that fight.”

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Mon May 05, 2025 3:58 pm

I really don't understand what the NCAA is objecting to. Is there some sort of ELI5 on his situation?

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Mon May 05, 2025 4:33 pm

No idea either. Doesn't make sense. I especially don't understand since he was eligible last year.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu May 15, 2025 10:08 pm

Jays with another big pickup, this time for class of 2026:
Jaidyn Coon
Coon — 6-foot-6, 180 pounds — averaged 23.9 points, on 55% shooting, and 9.3 rebounds this past season for Storm Lake, which finished 22-2 after a run to the state quarterfinals.

Chose Creighton over Iowa, Nebraska, Iowa st, drake, Illinois

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Sat May 17, 2025 8:58 am

Found this cool:

Both Tyshon Alexander and Marcus Zegarowski are graduating from Creighton this weekend. That is a testament to the univ and these young men for not giving up and finishing their degrees even while playing professional ball.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Sun May 18, 2025 1:49 pm

Agreed..

Congratulations to Tyson and Marcus! White and Blue forever

…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue May 20, 2025 2:50 pm

Jays just announced they are playing their exh game vs Iowa St.

That is the 2nd year in a row against a great team (this past year it was Purdue)

The crazy thing is, the game is Oct 17th, has to be the earliest Creighton has ever played.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Thu May 22, 2025 4:06 pm

Apparently Creighton and Gonzaga have announced a home and home series beginning Nov 11th in Spokane and then 26/27 season in Omaha.