The Creighton men’s basketball team is 3-0 after blowing out Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon. The Bluejays have a quick turnaround as they take on another Big South opponent, Longwood, to round out the home portion of the Las Vegas Invitational.
The Lancers, like the Blue Hose, are relatively new to Division I hoops. Establishing a program on the highest level of college basketball can’t be easy. They sometimes will do what they can to survive the non-conference season.
To help us get a little more familiar with Longwood, we talked to Parks Smith of LancersBlog. He gives us a great scouting report on the Lancers and what to expect on Tuesday night at the CenturyLink Center.
White & Blue Review: Can you give us a little background on Longwood and their plight as a Division I basketball team?
LancersBlog: As an ’08 graduate at Longwood, my freshman year at the school was our first year in a D1 schedule. We went 1-31 that year and our only win was against Howard University. Since then we’ve had our ups and downs but the biggest thing was getting into a conference. We’ve basically been a traveling band of nomads the last 9 years playing anyone we could in exchange for a paycheck. Ending your season in February playing other Division I Independents and non-D1 teams is a crappy way to end any season and that’s the way it has been for a long while. That all changes this year as we’ve joined the Big South Conference, which is a perfect fit for us in terms of geography and competition.
WBR: What kind of expectations are there for the Lancers this season? What kind of fan base does the team have?
LancersBlog: That’s a tough question. Many think our coach is on the hot seat, but it is our first year in the Big South which clearly has recruiting advantages among other things. Truthfully, I think the biggest expectation we have this year is to be competitive in the conference once January rolls around and win a game in the conference tournament. I think if we do that then you can chalk this year up as a win.
WBR: How did Longwood get involved in this Las Vegas Invitational event?
LancersBlog: Our coach has some kind of connection with the tournament organizers. This will be the fifth time we’ve played in one of the Vegas tournaments, I believe, and we also play in the Chicago Invitational quite a bit. The last time we played in this particular Vegas tournament was 2008 and we played at West Virginia and Kentucky and then played Southeast Missouri State and Delaware State in Vegas. We’re actually 4-2 all-time in Orleans Arena in Vegas. Obviously these arrangements are made pretty far in advance, as you can tell this year with two Big South teams being in the tournament.
WBR: Longwood has struggled to start the season. What has been the biggest thing keeping them from winning games?
LancersBlog: After going to our home opener on Thursday, I think this is the most talented team I’ve ever seen us have. Unfortunately, I don’t think that that will start to show up until January for this team. We start two freshmen and are supposed to start a sophomore JUCO transfer, Frank Holloway, but he has been out with a shoulder injury. This is also the deepest team I’ve seen with a solid nine-man rotation.
The reason for struggles thus far, I believe, is youth. It comes out especially with our point guard Nik Brown, who is very talented but still needs to learn how to operate at the D1 level. The future seems to be promising for the Lancers.
WBR: Which players from the Lancers do the Jays fans need to be aware of?
LancersBlog: Usually I’ll tell you about our premier scoring threat TT Carey, a transfer from LaSalle. TT scored more points in high school than anyone else not named Allen Iverson. But the surprise this season has been Swiss big man Michael Kessens, who has quickly earned the nickname the “Swiss Army Knife”. Kessens was a late signing to replace Anthony Banks who was supposed to play for Longwood but had issues transferring in. Apparently coach Gillian has found a diamond in the rough in Kessens, on Thursday’s home opener he had 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
WBR: With teams focusing on defending against Doug McDermott so far this season, what approach do you see Longwood taking?
LancersBlog: Our half-court defense has improved immensely this year, but there is still plenty of work to be done. Honestly is it even worth focusing in on McDermott? We may be better suited in letting him do his thing and focusing attention on some other Bluejays. It seems like Creighton has seven or eight guys that can score in double-figures any given night. Our best hope may be to try to control the tempo of the game. We like to run, but that can also backfire against you when playing a more talented team like Creighton.
WBR: What is your final prediction? What can Longwood do to try and upset the Bluejays?
LancersBlog: Besides praying? I honestly think our best chance may be if Creighton totally blows out Presbyterian and they have a bit of a letdown against Longwood. If Creighton plays the way they should then this should be a 95-65 type game. No matter the outcome, playing a school like this on the road will be a positive experience no matter what for our young team. Hopefully playing in Omaha will be another solid stepping stone as we head to Vegas and then get ready for Big South play.
