WBR’s Matt DeMarinis is filing detailed reports from Sokol Arena, the Championship Center, the Vinardi Center, the CenturyLink Center — anywhere Greg McDermott and Jim Flanery have their respective teams practicing.
After entertaining fans, friends, family, and recruits the weekend of Bluejay Madness, the Creighton men’s and women’s basketball teams got back to work in the solitude of their practice facilities. From the early moments of the practices to begin the week it was apparent that both coaching staffs were going to demand more from top to bottom on the roster during the week as they pushed their teams to get better. With the season closing in and playing time up for grabs at key positions the intensity reached another level for both teams throughout the week.
Creighton Women’s Basketball — Week of Oct. 20
Jim Flanery’s group got the week off to a good start on Monday morning at D.J. Sokol Arena. Another big focus was placed on ball screen defense, and the younger players looked like they were starting to pick things up in that area. Freshman Sydney Lamberty looked surer of where she was supposed to be on the floor in certain situations and even got into some passing lanes for some steals and breakaway baskets. She continued to bring what she always does in the scoring department, so it ended being one of her better practices of the year. Although maybe anytime you make it through a practice session as a freshman without getting yelled it is probably considered a successful day.
After Big East media day in New York where the women were picked fourth in the preseason poll and Marissa Janning was named the preseason player of the year in the conference, the team returned to the practice floor on Wednesday at the old gym. It wasn’t one of their sharper practices, especially after a strong start to the week. Poor communication on defense and missed layups were the main culprits, but inconsistency is to be expected when a large new group is being integrated. It was a better finish to the session after Coach Flanery implemented some trapping defenses and ran his team through some drills related to that towards the end.
Thursday’s session at the Championship Center was a strong day, particularly for Taylor Johnson, Alexis Akin-Otiko, and Kylie Brown. If Johnson has any say in the matter she may want Creighton’s home games moved to the Championship Center for the remainder of her career, because she continues to do some of her best work on those courts. Practicing for the third time in five days, she looked fresh and seemed to be moving without too much pain due to some of the athletic plays she made off the dribble. She scored well in a crowd during the session, even finishing through some layups after drawing fouls against some of Creighton’s bigger players.
Akin-Otiko and Brown looked good down low once again. Both made plays in loose ball situations and on the offensive glass to finish off possessions. Akin-Otiko has looked like the best post player on the team through the first few weeks. She has added that three-ball to her game and has looked in great shape.
Brown has looked like the most improved player on either the men or women’s team so far. At 6’3, she does things with the ball in her hands that the women’s team hasn’t had at that position in at least the last few years. The highlight of this ability was when she drove the ball across the baseline and drew a few defenders away from Sammy Jensen on the perimeter. It didn’t look like she had much of a lane to get Jensen the ball, but she made it happen with her athleticism and Sammy did her part by burying the three. Just another example of why the coaching staff has been pleased with Brown’s development in their brief time working with her.
Injury Report: Freshman point guard Jade Owens is still recovering from a bone bruise in her knee.
Creighton Men’s Basketball — Week of Oct. 20
The Bluejay men promised to be their most challenging week of the season as two-a-days got underway on Monday morning. The first drills centered on scoring quickly in transition with a three-on-zero drill with the goal of scoring 200 points in five minutes. They ended with 208 after a slow start, but things got going with a little encouragement from one of their senior leaders in point guard Austin Chatman, who returned to practice after taking care of a couple injuries prior to the season.
Over the two practices it ended up being a good shooting day for Toby Hegner and Avery Dingman. They didn’t make every shot, obviously, but when they missed it wasn’t by much. What was most encouraging to see during the day ended up being one of many impressive practices throughout the week for Leon Gilmore III. He crashed the glass and brought the energy that the coaching staff is looking for out of him. A standout possession was on the offensive end when he flew through the air to grab a ball off the iron, swung it back around, and ended up making the hustle play count by burying a three from the top of the key.
After Big East Media Days, Gilmore continued to play with great energy once the team resumed practice. He and fellow freshman Ronnie Harrell gave the Creighton zone defense nightmares with their ability to make athletic plays, Gilmore with his cutting and rebounding, and Harrell with his outside shooting. Another highlight of the day was the outside shooting of Isaiah Zierden and Toby Hegner. Both guys were hardly moving the nets when let it fly from deep.
On Friday, the Jays walked down the street to the CenturyLink Center to stretch their legs out on the home court to get ready for the worst kept secret in the history of secret scrimmages. During an extended rebounding game, Leon Gilmore again displayed the type of energy and athleticism that everyone from coaches to fans to his teammates were excited about when he committed to play for the Bluejays. Even winning a battle for a rebound over two of Creighton’s bigger and stronger players in Zach Hanson and Geoff Groselle.
Groselle had an impressive session when things hit the CLink courts. Geoff finds himself limited due to the pain in his feet, but was a full participation on the downtown arena court and made sure everyone in his group was on the same page, showing a leadership quality that most are looking for on a team that lost four senior starters. Along with the leadership he also consistently looked for his offense in the post as well on drives towards the basket after catching on the perimeter.
Injury Report: No serious injuries to report, but Cole Huff did miss the last two days of the week with an ailment (eye).