We continue our brief profiles of each member of the 2010-11 Creighton men’s basketball team. Join us each weekday from now until the men’s exhibition game against Northern State for an introduction to this year’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
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Antoine Young can dunk. If there was any question, then you got your answer during the first ever Creighton Madness event a couple of weeks ago, at the dunk contest. The battle against Wayne Runnels ended in a supposed tie, but I think we know who walked away the winner in this one.
But Dana Altman didn’t bring Young into the Creighton program to win dunk contests. Rather, the former CU head coach signed Young to be the next in a line of great point guards at the Hilltop. But following in the steps of history is always hard to do.
Last season, Young was asked to take over the point guard position, focal point of the Creighton offense during Altman’s years. That position was built on consistent players like Ryan Sears, Tyler McKinney, and Josh Dotzler. But Young’s game is slightly different than those individuals, someone whose game out of high school was predicated on driving to the basket with blazing speed and finishing at the rim.
During Young’s freshman year, he was able to be the change of pace player backing up Dotzler. He averaged just more than 14 minutes per game. But over the final 19 games of the season, Young found his role as that spark off the bench and posted some of his best games down the stretch of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule.
Last season was a little different. Instead of being the spark off the bench, Young grabbed the reins as the starting point guard and thus had to grow into being the on-court leader. His playing time doubled. But as talented of a player as he is, it took Young some time to adjust to his new role. At times, it seemed he had to hold back a bit of his natural ability and what made him that unique player during his freshman season.
Early last season, figuring out that role and what was expected of him took him out of other parts of his game. He struggled with his free throw shooting, which ultimately kept him from driving to the basket. He suffered a stretch where he was 6-20 from the free throw line. But as the season wore on, Young took over some games, improved his free throw shooting (including 24-28 over the final seven games), scored in double-figures in five of his final eight games of the season, and led the Valley in assist-to-turnover ratio while dishing out almost five assists per game over the final nine games of the season.
Young spent the summer trying to build on his positive end to the 2009-2010 season. “I spent a lot of time shooting, handling the ball, and just working on confidence,” he told WBR. With a year of full-time point guard duties under his belt, Young realizes he needs to get out of the gate early to lead the Bluejays compared to the previous two seasons. “I was really playing some good basketball at the end and I kind of want to get that going earlier in the season,” he said. “That includes understanding my role, understanding the leadership, running the team, and being more aggressive early.”
Young committed to Creighton when he was a freshman in high school, so he was around Altman’s program for several years. With Greg McDermott now taking over as head coach, there are some different offensive philosophies, some that could open up Young’s game a little more. Add in the combination of Kenny Lawson and Gregory Echenique down low, and getting the ball into them will be a key component to offensive success. “It will loosen things up, and actually be easier. Greg, you are not going to be able to miss that too much. Kenny is getting better at just going and getting the ball, so I’m very comfortable getting it down there to them.”
The key to Creighton’s success this season rests on the shoulders of #30. McDermott will lean on his point guard to implement the new offensive sets. Young played 28 minutes or more in 13 games last season. Five of those games came in the final six games of the season where he had some of his best games. He will be expected to play a lot of minutes, especially since there is limited experience backing him up. Jahenns Manigat and maybe even Taylor Stormberg will give Young a breather here and there, but this is his offense to run and his time to be that next storied point guard for the Bluejays.