Women’s Basketball
Jim Flanery’s squad got the opening day of practice underway first with an afternoon session at “The Ruth.” The first notable observation was the amount of healthy players they had on the court as opposed to a stationary bike after enduring an “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” type of season on the injury front a year ago.
The team’s collective mindset on the defensive side of the ball is the most significant point of emphasis. In 31 games last season, the Bluejays turned the ball over 443 times compared to just 317 by their opponents. That’s just over a four-possession difference, per game, in that category alone. With an athletic group of guards and some added length in the front court, Creighton is hoping to have more teeth defensively in 2019-20 — that was on display for one stretch of practice on Tuesday as there were eight deflections or steals over the course of a 15-minute, 5-on-5 session.
Notes:
- Former center Ali Greene was at practice on Tuesday. She’ll be working as a student manager for the first semester until she graduates in December. She started off the pre-practice team huddle as she always did during her playing career — with a joke. Her knee-slapper from day one: “Why did the banana go to the doctor? Because he wasn’t peeling well.”
- During a transition drill early on four bodies hit the floor to fight for a loose ball. Not normally something worth noting if it weren’t for the fact it started to become more a trend with this team than past groups Flanery has coached. There was one team workout during the fall where it happened on back-to-back possessions.
- Junior point guard Tatum Rembao and sophomore off guard Rachael Saunders each knocked down rhythm threes coming off flare screens. That’s the start of the answer to one big question this season: does Creighton have enough shooters? Outside of Jaylyn Agnew, who is sure to be the primary focus of opposing defenses for the first time in her career, and fellow senior Olivia Elger, the rest of Creighton’s roster is 35.8% from beyond the arc for their careers over a relatively small sample of 349 attempts among six players.
Men’s Basketball
Across the street at the Championship Center, Greg McDermott’s team got their season started about a half an hour after the women. This is the point in whatever part of the day you’re reading this where you throw your hand-held device or spit at your computer screen, because I don’t have much to report from this practice as a I arrived late.
Fortunately, the men practice four more times over the next five days so there will be plenty to report on by the end of the week. Here’s what you get for now…
Notes:
- Senior center Kelvin Jones and sophomore point guard Marcus Zegarowski were both full participants at practice, from individual drills to full contact in 5-on-5. Jones missed most of the summer with a thumb injury, and Zegarowski had been rehabbing a pair of offseason surgeries that limited what he could do on the court.
- The coaches didn’t put the guys through any of the rigorous dive-on-the-floor drills on day one, but that didn’t deter junior guard Mitch Ballock and sophomore forward Christian Bishop from setting the tone in that regard on their own. Both players were first to the floor on a separate occasions when a ball happened to squirt free.
- Closed scrimmages have been scheduled for both teams. Both the men and women will head out on the road on Saturday, October 26. McDermott’s team will play at Missouri this year with the Tigers set to return to Omaha for a closed scrimmage in the fall of 2020. Flanery’s team will, as usual, head to Iowa for what has become an annual private preseason tune-up for the Bluejays and Hawkeyes.