Former Cal guard Ricky Kreklow has opted to transfer to Creighton, according to a report from ESPN.com. Kreklow is on track to graduate from Cal this spring, so he is expected to be immediately eligible this fall for the Bluejays as a fifth-year senior with one year of eligibility. Because Creighton has no open scholarships for 2014-15, he’ll pay his own way and walk on. There’s a lot of surprising things about Kreklow opting to play his final year in Omaha, but that’s perhaps the most surprising — he turned down scholarship offers from at least three schools to pay his own way here. Among the schools he spurned were fellow Big East member Butler, Missouri (both of which he visited), and Nebraska.
It’s a testament to keeping the door open when a recruit picks another school. The 6’6″ guard from Columbia, Missouri was heavily recruited by Greg McDermott during his first summer at Creighton, but Kreklow opted to play for his hometown Missouri Tigers instead. After one season, coach Mike Anderson left for Arkansas, and Kreklow decided to leave as well. Once again Creighton was interested in having him play for the Bluejays. Ultimately, he chose to play for Mike Montgomery at California. He missed 35 games in two seasons in Berkeley, losing 24 games to a broken foot during his sophomore year and 11 more due to a broken hand last year, and was relegated to being a sort of defensive specialist off the bench.
It’s also a testament to what Greg McDermott has built at Creighton. In an interview with the World-Herald, Kreklow cited CU’s immense fan support, style of play, top-notch facilities and on-court success as reasons for choosing to pay his own way rather than accept a scholarship elsewhere.
“The support — 18,000 fans a game — is huge, and just to have a chance to be a part of that new practice facility was too much to pass up. There are a lot of unique things about the university, and this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up, whether there was a scholarship available or not.”
A three-star recruit out of high school, Kreklow’s litany of injuries have prevented him from becoming the sort of impact player most figured he’d be. He averaged 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists off the bench for Cal last year, shooting 41% from inside the arc (14-34) and 33% from long range (27-81). In playing 23 minutes a game, his role for the Golden Bears was as more of a defensive pest than an offensive force — as he showed in a win over Arkansas where he scored 17 points and got to the line 10 times, he’s capable when the opportunity arises. And during a high-school career where he was twice an all-state player, he was a terrific shooter, so if he can stay healthy the ability to be a good scorer is there.
His value to Creighton is that he’s an experienced wing who is immediately eligible to step in and play a role in 2014. He’s a solid, tenacious defender with long arms, and has good passing instincts — he had a nearly 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in both seasons he played at Cal, and led the Bears in steals and deflections per minute played — so even if his offensive contributions are marginal, he’ll play a key role on the team. And if he regains his shooting stroke, he could do more than just play a key role. He could be the type of veteran X-Factor that turns what was expected to be a rebuilding year into an NCAA-Bubble-type year.