With the departure of Martin Krampelj to the professional ranks, Creighton gets another frontcourt player who can play right away (Spomer / WBR)
While 23,500 people were down the street watching Michigan polish off Florida State in a College World Series winner’s bracket game Greg McDermott and is coaching staff were nailing down a commitment from Idaho State grad transfer Kelvin Jones.
At 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, Jones was one of the more sought after big man on the market, garnering interest from Virginia Tech, Oregon, Arkansas, Georgia, Washington State, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Boise State, and fellow Big East schools St. John’s and DePaul, according to a report by national college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman.
Jones averaged 9.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and shot 55.3% from the field in 29 games last season, including an 11-point performance on 5 of 7 shooting in a season-opening loss at third-ranked Gonzaga on November 6.
“Going into this last year I really wanted to go somewhere where winning was important,” Jones said. “Where there are a bunch of good guys who pick each other up and have the same goals on the whole. I needed to go somewhere where everybody wanted to win. They’ve done it before and they are a lot of signs that they can do that next year.
“Creighton had such a good year last year with a bunch of young guys. With the opening coming at my position where they needed some size it fit perfect for me to be able to go to work inside and have some shooters outside.”
With All-Big East big man Martin Krampelj keeping his name in the NBA Draft, an opportunity opened up for Jones to join a pair of sophomores in Jacob Epperson and Christian Bishop. Along with the potential to compete for playing time, a recruiting pitch from assistant coach Alan Huss pushed it over the top for the big man from Chihuahau, Mexico.
“Right from the beginning Coach Huss gave me a phone call — I’ve been on the phone with a lot of coaches for the past month or so, and I can tell you right off the bat that I have never been so excited after talking to coach and hearing his spiel about the campus and their situation,” Jones said. “Right from the get go I was excited to go check it out. That was just talking on the phone. Once we went to check it out it was a whole other deal seeing that place, getting to walk in and see what these guys get to help them get better. They have everything they need to get better — coaching, and the new strength coach that’s coming in this year is awesome.
“The thing that stood out to me the most was that they are definitely high character dudes. I went in there and I already felt as if I was part of the Bluejay family. Just from hanging out with the guys, everyone was so genuine, and Coach McDermott was great throughout this whole process. That’s what stood out to me.”
Jones took an official visit to Virginia Tech and planned to check out other schools after Creighton, but cancelled those arrangements after he left Omaha on Sunday. He will be eligible immediately and plans to joint the team for off-season workouts, which got underway last Tuesday, as soon as possible.
As far as how his playing experience fits Creighton’s style, Jones believes that while it has been a few years since he played in a fast-paced system his time at UTEP as a freshman, Odessa College as a sophomore, and Idaho State last season shows that he’s adaptable.
“I definitely pride myself on being coachable. If you look at my track record I’ve been at three different schools and it’s about to be four now. I feel like it’s something I used to do in high school, because we pressed the whole game and got up and down the floor. I had a lot of success there, so I’m kind of excited to get back to pushing it and playing at a fast pace because it’s tough to guard.”
It’s clear that Creighton was able to check most of the boxes for the well-traveled big man, but he made one thing clear above all others — next year is about winning.
“The thing I’m most excited about is getting to play in front of those fans and giving those guys everything we’ve got every single night,” Jones said. “I feel like if we go out there with that mentality and leave it all out on the court everything else will take care of itself.
“For my senior year I just wanted to go somewhere like Creighton where the fans are all about the team and all about winning. That’s all this final year is about.”