The college basketball offseason is the worst. Yes, some will say it is football offseason is worse, but at least with football you sort of already know who you are playing for the next several years. For basketball, it is a yearly challenge to figure out what may happen with the schedule from year to year. If you are like me, you scour the webs, message boards, and rumors to try and figure out who is playing who in the non-conference. If you have been to our Big East scheduling page, you know all about this.
Creighton released the 2019-20 men’s basketball non-conference schedule on Monday. Not a lot of surprises with the bigger name opponents already known. However, the scheduling is always scrutinized from top to bottom whether it is a good opponent to days of the week. Here’s the breakdown of the Jays non-conference schedule and what to expect this season at the CHI Health Center and on the road.
Nov. 5, Kennesaw State
First off, the basketball season starts a little earlier with games starting on the first Tuesday of November instead of the first Friday. Creighton usually matches up with a sure win to start the season, and the Owls are probably the best prey for the Bluejays. Kennesaw State was 6-26 last season. The Bluejays are 1-0 against the Owls all time with the only matchup happening during Greg McDermott’s first season with the Bluejays as part of an MTE with Iowa State for a 75-57 win. This one should be a good sampling of what you didn’t see in the exhibition game against McKendree on Nov. 1st. But hey, know we have earned a new friend on Twitter, KSUOwlHowl that loves the Owls and can’t wait for their opener.
Nov. 12 @ Michigan (Gavitt Games)
As much as we enjoy Quick Change during at least one halftime show a year, the quick change from Kennesaw State to Michigan will be the first stiff challenge for the Bluejays on the season. As a part of the 5th installment of the Gavitt games, Creighton goes on the road against the Wolverines.
Michigan went 30-7 last season and lost to eventual NCAA runner-up Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 and in the meantime, head coach John Beilein decided to retire (“retire” in the sense of college hoops and going to the NBA). Former Fab Five star, Juwan Howard, is back at his alma mater to coach the Wolverines. That may seem to level the playing field a bit as the Jays head on the road with a first year head coach, but former St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli is one if his assistants and the Bluejays and Hawks had some memorable matchups before. His experience will get Howard up to speed quickly. Michigan has a heck of a team too.
An interesting note–You might be surprised to know that Creighton was actually in consideration to play Ohio State again in this year’s Gavitt Games (on the road this time) before getting Michigan.
If the Bluejays get out of the Crisler Center with a win, that will be a great start heading into the next stretch of games.
Nov. 16, Louisiana Tech
Creighton returns home for a three game home stretch to really hone in on their team and the things they learned after playing at Michigan. La. Tech, out of Conference USA, went 20-13 last season and didn’t have a postseason appearance after getting knocked out by Old Dominion in the conference tournament.
This will be a tougher game than people may think with a lot of veterans on the team with 10 players juniors or seniors on the team. With it being the first regular season weekend game (Saturday) for the Bluejays, this could be a great crowd and game if everyone gets into it. If anyone walks into that game thinking it is going to be a cakewalk, they are likely wrong. Be ready to cheer that night.
Nov. 22, Cal Poly
Ok, so most years I’m pretty critical of the tournaments that the Bluejays take part in. With the landscape pretty much littered with so many different ones, it always amazes me what Creighton gets signed up to participate in. However starting this year and the next three years after this, the patience has paid off, and Jays fans will need to save up their money to go to the tourneys that everyone wants to be a part of. It all starts this season with the Las Vegas Invitational
That being said, the meat of the LV Invitational has historically been great. But as a part of that exempt tourney, there are two home games that are a part of that where you never know what to expect. Cal Poly is one of those that you thank them for participating and coming to Omaha.
Go back to the 1956-57 season for the only other time Creighton played the Mustangs for a 65-51 win. Performing slightly better than Kennesaw State with a 6-23 record last season, the 300+ team as a part of the Las Vegas Invite doesn’t sound so great. But, it is on a Friday night.
Nov. 24, North Florida
The other half of the home portion of the Las Vegas Invitational has North Florida coming to town. Cal Poly and UNF will swap opponents with the Ospreys playing in Iowa City a few nights before.
This will be a new opponent for the media guide as this will be the first meeting between the two schools. North Florida was 16-17 last season out of the Atlantic Sun conference. The Ospreys have only been in Division 1 since 2009 after jumping from NAIA. They even made their way into the NCAA tournament during the 2014-15 season winning the conference regular season and tournament title.
With it being on a Sunday, it could be an afternoon matinee or an evening game to kick off the week of Thanksgiving.
Nov. 28, vs. San Diego St. (Las Vegas Invitational)
When the schedule came out, there was a bit of a buzz kill. A few months ago, Jon Rothstein tweeted that the matchups for this would be Creighton vs. Iowa and Texas Tech vs. San Diego State. Whether the organizers didn’t like that he did that or something else happened to change up the matchups, it is hard to tell, but the tweet mysteriously disappeared since and anyone not paying attention was none the wiser.
Either way, you can’t really go wrong with the matchups in this 2-game tournament. Creighton had one of its most memorable games on the road in the last matchup with the Aztecs in 2011. The Bluejays came from 17 down in the first half to a dramatic win in the final minutes. The thing I remember from that game was that it was one of the first times Creighton had a viewing party at a movie theater (Aksarben Theater). Fellow WBR pal Tom Nemitz and I went. It was electric in the place watching the game on the now defunct The Mtn., the band belting out tunes during timeouts, and just a fun environment.
I think you can expect an electric matchup in this opening round. A 9:30 tip on FS1 will keep the locals up after a filling day of Thanksgiving.
Nov. 29, vs. Iowa or Texas Tech (Las Vegas Invitational)
I know a lot of Creighton fans were gearing up for the first round matchup with Iowa. If you remember, the last time Creighton played Iowa, it was the Bluejay Beatdown in Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Center to close out an MTE during the 2011-12 season. The Bluejays took advantage of the Hawkeyes overlooking the Jays and ran away with an 82-59 win. If the matchup happens in Vegas, it would be a lot better with the title on the line.
On the other side is last year’s NCAA Tournament Runner up Texas Tech. While by name and run from last year, this looks like it would be the preferred matchup. However, the Red Raiders has only 2 of 13 scholarship players returning from that team that played in the National Championship game. You might also like to know that Creighton is 2-1 all-time against Texas Tech. Unfortunately, you have to go back to the 70’s for the last time they played each other.
Dec. 3, Oral Roberts
Creighton returns home from Vegas to get comfortable again before they take on their in-state rival a few days later. One of the things I don’t quite understand with games like this–If you are going to play a team from the Summit League, why not just have the local Summit League team, Omaha, come over to play a game? That would be a game people would be more interested in. Plus you have the opportunity to completely call it “Rivalry Week” to claim the “only game in the state.”
Unfortunately, this becomes the “don’t lay an egg” game like the last time they were in the Las Vegas Invitational. After coming back home with the Las Vegas Invitational championship over Arizona State and Wisconsin in the 2012-13 season, the Jays were off in an 83-70 loss to Boise State. Hopefully this time it is just a warmup for Saturday.
Dec. 7, Nebraska
While the team down the road’s fans don’t always want to admit it, this date is circled by both fanbases for this yearly matchup. Last season was the first time in the last 8 tries that the Huskers knocked off the Bluejays. It was probably a perfect storm of events and was literally Nebraska’s Super Bowl last season. Eventually, we all know how Nebraska went into the tank after that, eventually firing Tim Miles.
With Nebraska needing to build the roster from the ground up with Fred Hoiberg now in the mix, this is the year Creighton can take back the state again. At least now there might be a little buzz for Creighton fans with this game that has fallen off in years past due to the ineptitude of Nebraska to make it a competition. It is time to take a little swagger back. It is only fair that Creighton fans fill up the CHI Health Center for a rowdy Saturday night game against the in-state rival.
Dec. 13, UTRGV
I mean seriously, who wants to write out University of Texas Rio Grande Valley? Well that is the only time I will in this sitting. UTRGV has been in the CIT the past two postseasons as it has transitioned quite a bit the past few years. UTRGV is a result of a merger between UT-Pan American and a couple other schools that is a part of the Universty of Texas school system.
The only other matchup against Texas Pan American was back in the 2014-15 season with a 75-60 win, a season I really want to forget.
Now there were also two games with a Rio Grande back in the 1953-54 season (where Creighton went 1-1), but not sure if it was the same school or not.
Dec. 17, Oklahoma (Big 12/Big East Challenge)
First some history–With Creighton’s transition to the Big East, this was the first big home-and-home series Creighton scored, mainly because it was now in the Big East. The previous two-game series started in the 2014-15 season. The best part was that Creighton started with the home game against the Sooners first.
That night was pretty electric to start. The Jays just came off Doug McDermott’s final season and first season in the Big East and there was a lot of momentum heading into the game after two easy wins to start the 2nd season in the Big East. Let’s just say the air was taken out of the then CenturyLink Center as the Bluejays were taken to task by the Sooners, down by 11 at halftime and then down by 18 early in the second half.
Amazingly, the Jays went on a 24-4 run to take the lead and it was a pretty exciting game. Creighton pulled out the win 65-63 over a ranked Oklahoma team thinking they had found themselves. The unranked Jays showed up in the polls a week later. That was the highlight of the season. Creighton went on to the worst season under Greg McDermott–14-19 regular season record, 4-14 Big East record, and missing the postseason.
The return game in 2015-16 season against the #3 team in the nation wasn’t so great and the Sooner returned the favor after losing in Omaha.
Fast forward to last season when another 2-game series was established. In that one, the Jays had one of their worst shooting games of the season from three (Mitch Ballock was 0-of-9) and while rallying back in that one to cut the lead, they just couldn’t get over the hump.
Now, this season, the matchup has defaulted as one of the games in the Big 12/ Big East Challenge that has been established for the next 4 seasons. The difference for this home game versus the one in 2014-15 is that this season, it is during the holiday break when Creighton students go home.
Note–this may be the first game that Denzel Mahoney plays in where he would be eligible. Creighton fans have been waiting over a year to see him in a Bluejay uniform. Due to a personal matter, Mahoney withdrew from school last semester. Although he is back for this school year, he still has to sit out a semester before eligible due to transfer rules.
Dec. 21, Arizona St.
If you were asked what non-conference team Creighton has played the most in the last 10 years, would you be surprised that it is Arizona State? Believe it.
- 2012-13 season in the Las Vegas Invitational
- 2013-14 season in the Wooden Legacy
- 2015-16 season at home as part of home-home series
- 2016-17 season at Arizona State
You can now add the next 2 years to the schedule including this season as the Jays close out the non-conference against Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils down in Tempe.
The last series had both teams winning on the road. At least for this one, hopefully it can happen again A win here could really have some good momentum heading into Big East Conference play.
The Verdict
Overall, the non-conference schedule for Creighton is solid. You have matchups with the Big 12 (possibly 2), Pac-12, and the Big 10 (possibly 3) that could be strong based on the past, along with a historically strong team in the Mountain West. Add in the variety of teams to surround these and it isn’t too bad.
The games on the weekend through most of November and December will be great and draw the best crowds, but one of the key home games (Oklahoma) is on a Tuesday during the holiday break. Not ideal for that situation, but you could get more walk-up traffic.
From a home game perspective, there are currently 18 home games (counting the exhibition) for fans. There is still a game that Creighton could schedule if they wanted to, but maybe there wasn’t an opponent that was available, the dates weren’t setting up right, or they are avoiding scheduling a non-D1 game (like what has happened the past couple of seasons). Really, if a D-1 game can’t be scheduled, then I agree to just skip it at this point.
Next season gets even more interesting as the Big East will go to a 20-game conference season and exempt tournaments will likely be changing. A year from now with a Big 12/ Big East challenge game, a return game against Arizona State, the annual game against Nebraska, a trip to the Bahamas in the stacked Battle 4 Atlantis, a potential H/H series to replace the expiring Oklahoma series, and a potential Gavitt Game with the Big 10, there won’t be much left to schedule for the 2020-21 season. Those final 3-4 games will be the standard buy games to fill those in.
It should be an exciting 2019-20 Creighton men’s basketball season. Now we wait for the times, tv, and conference schedule to come together and see what is next. That will likely be out in early September.