Zach Hanson(#40 / C / 6-9/ 250 lbs / Jr.)
A new season, a new look.
Coming off of a 2014-15 season he may want to forget, Zach Hanson enters his junior season with a new, almost unrecognizable look, one that hopefully will lead to a new sense of confidence. Gone are the clean-shaven face and closely-cropped hair; in is a mountain man look featuring shaggy locks and a fully-grown beard.
Hanson came into last season with high expectations, as most had him penciled in as Creighton’s center replacing the small ball barrage of 2013-14 when Ethan Wragge complemented Doug McDermott playing the “center” position. The start of the season did look promising with Hanson gathering five points and 7 rebounds in the season opener. Hanson was also a major factor in the 18 point comeback against Oklahoma, where he scored 9 points, including the go-ahead tip-in in the final minute of the win over the Sooners.
By the time the Nebraska game rolled around, Hanson was the starting center, and he played a season-high 25 minutes in that victory. He started the next five games, but uncertainty at the center position was one of the big early storylines of the season, underscored by the fact that despite starting, Will Artino and Geoffrey Groselle often saw more minutes. Groselle would eventually take over the starting position against Georgetown in January, and never look back.
Also in January, Hanson had a setback when he injured his shoulder that cost him three games. In the first four games back after returning from the injury, he averaged five points and three rebounds in 10 minutes a game, but when the calendar flipped to February, his production — and his playing time — dove off a cliff. Over the season’s final ten games, he played double-digit minutes just once (10 minutes against Villanova in Omaha), was held scoreless six times, failed to grab a single rebound five times, and attempted just 18 shots. It was a stretch that more or less coincided with Geoff Groselle’s emergence, and left Hanson struggling for playing time behind both Groselle and the senior Will Artino.
2015-16 is a clean slate, and Hanson has the opportunity to fly under the radar with the rest of the Bluejays this season, especially with the fans since they will likely focus on all the newcomers. He still has the size and ability to be an impact player down low, but as with last year, he will have a lot of competition for playing time; Artino is gone, but Groselle is back, freshman five-star recruit Justin Patton is waiting in the wings, and Toby Hegner has been playing some at the “center” position in fall practice to see if he’s capable of playing the same role at times that Wragge did at the position.
Zach is an untapped resource that could evolve as the season goes, and the hope is his play will reflect his new look — relaxed and rugged.
Check out a gallery of Zach Hanson photos here!
Creighton Career Stats (2013-15)
3.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 73-124, FG (.589)
Q&A With Zach Hanson
Q: What are you looking forward to for this season?
A: “I just think with us as a team and a program, we did a lot of work in the offseason and I think we are coming back really focused and determined to prove our worth and prove what we want to do this year.”
Q: What kind of transition is it for you as one of the veteran players on the team to have so many new guys and what is it like to work with all of them and adjust to all of that?
A: “It is just kind of crazy how fast time goes, but you just have to do what the other guys before you did. If you are a freshman or underclassman and need help or be picked up, I am taking that responsibility to help them out.”
Q: What kind of role do you expect to play this season?
A: “Me, personally, I just want to bring as much energy as I can. This year I am going to have a big emphasis of being one of the better rebounders. I want to offensive and defensive rebound at a high rate. Obviously, I would like to have some of the scoring load too. I’m excited for the year.”
Q: After playing in the Big East for two seasons, where do you like playing at the most?
A: “I would say the best places to play…I think Providence is a lot of fun, because of how hostile their crowd can be. The Garden of course. I would say the Wells-Fargo Arena at Villanova is pretty fun too.”
Q: In the preseason, it is always predicted how teams are going to do. Do you think where they predicted you guys so far, at the bottom of the league, is a fair assessment of where the team is at right now?
A: “I don’t know, you can’t take much stock in that. All they do is base it off of what you did before, and the guys we had on the team from the year before. We know how good we are, and that is all that matters. We are going to show everybody how good we are.”