The Creighton men’s basketball team closes the book on practices for Australia. Here is what happened on the final day of practice before they fly out.
Mitch Ballock has been diversifying his game. (Spomer / WBR)
Notes:
- The last day before the team hops on a plane (or several) went off without a hitch. Some review of zone offense concepts, some closeouts drills and ball screen defense, and about a half an hour of full-court, 5-on-5 reps.
- Sophomore point guard Marcus Zegarowski went through a game-speed, non-contact workout for the first time since surgery. His morning consisted of catch-and-shoot threes and mid-range jumpers, driving and finishing at the basket, closeouts and defensive slides.
- Redshirt freshman Jett Canfield and true freshman Shereef Mitchell were tone-setters during the scrimmage portion of practice. The two point guards pushed the pace in transition and created some havoc defensively in the back court.
- Junior wing Mitch Ballock hasn’t jacked up as many threes as you might expect from someone that prolific from long range, but he was again fairly consistent with not only his decision-making in setting guys up for easy scoring opportunities, but also his budding ability to finish in a variety of ways at the rim off the bounce.
Q&A with a Bluejay: Head coach Greg McDermott
Coach Greg McDermott is excited for the Bluejays trip to Australia (Spomer / WBR)
Q: How productive have the point guard reps been for Shereef Mitchell with Marcus Zegarowski shut down this summer?
A: He’s done a terrific job. Obviously defensively he’s got some elite instincts. He’s one of the guys that doesn’t get tired and keeps coming at you, and as you can see his body has developed in a short period of time. He’s got a chance to be a really good player for us.
Q: How much of what he’s done this summer can carry over to when you guys really get rolling here in two months?
A: I think these practices help, especially with our transition offense from a point guard perspective; understanding the pace that we have to play with, what you’re looking for, when to pull the reigns back a little bit and understand when there is nothing there. And then the defensive parts of it. Obviously he is great on the basketball, but he’s learning how to play off the ball and has made really good strides during the course of our 10 practices.
Q: Mitch Ballock mentioned that an emphasis for him this summer has been adding some playmaking off the bounce — in your film reviews and what you’ve seen in real time on the floor, how has he progressed in that area?
A: He’s made good strides. That was really an emphasis in the spring with some of our finishing around the basket. We want to be more creative with some floaters and scoring off the wrong foot. He’s done a really good job in that regard. I think Ty-Shon has made strides, and Davion has gotten better at that as well. It was my expectation that it was going to get better because we committed a lot of time to it in the spring.
Mitch has been trying some things in these 10 practices that he wasn’t doing before … he’s got to have ways to score off the dribble to go with the fact that he shoots it so well. His leadership has been incredible, and I think the strides that he’s made have been really positive.
Q: It’s probably an easy narrative to latch onto that a postseason run and extra practices can be a springboard for a player who maybe didn’t have as much playing time during the season, but what have you seen out of Christian Bishop that you feel is a ripple effect from his performance in the NIT last spring?
A: It’s very similar to Khyri (Thomas) at the same age. Khyri played more as a freshman than Christian did, but at the end he was struggling and the NIT kind of gave him a huge confidence boost. You see the way Christian carries himself and the way he’s able to battle through adversity is much improved compared to how it was in January or February. I think a lot of that has to do with some of the success he had in the NIT.
Marcus Zegarowski has had a presence at practice (Spomer / WBR)
Q: Marcus hasn’t been able to do much this summer, but has he had a presence in these practices that you’ve noticed despite being sidelined?
A: I think he understands the importance of leadership even more than he did a year ago. You see him pulling the young guys aside and talking to them … while he hasn’t done a lot on the floor in practice, he has done a lot on the floor training with Jeremy. I think his body feels as good as it has felt in a long time. We’ve been preaching patience with him; he hasn’t always agreed with that, but I think he’s in as good a spot as he’s been in since he first got here.
Q: When you added Jeremy Anderson, what was the goal that you had in mind?
A: I think it’s a combination of things. I think it’s injury prevention. I think it’s body assessment, and understanding everyone’s body, how they are different, and how the training has to be different based on your injury history. Jeremy, being a former player himself who has had to endure a lot of injuries in college, understands that as well as anybody I’ve ever been around. And to go with that he’s got energy and a youthful enthusiasm that I think our guys have really enjoyed.
Q: Other than the basketball side of things, what are you looking forward to about this trip as it pertains to the opportunity it provides as a bonding experience for the guys?
A: That’s the most important thing. You get to take your team to a different country, and experience a different culture; things that are a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and they get to do it together. The value in that from a team-building standpoint is immeasurable. While the basketball is going to be important over there, it’s secondary to the rest of the itinerary, and the things that they are going to get to experience and do together. That’s what the focus of it is. We want to have fun and get to know each other better. You’re developing trust among teammates and a cohesion that will hopefully carry over once we start practice in September.
Q: Have you been able to notice a difference in those areas during seasons where you’ve taken these trips?
A: I think you always do. It’s interesting, I had lunch with Jahenns (Manigat) yesterday and he was talking about the trip to the Bahamas that we took eight years ago, and how much fun it was, and the different stories from that trip. Nevin Johnson thought “all-inclusive” meant that he could get a massage, so when he got the bill he put it under Jahenns’ name since that was his roommate. That was a story that I had forgotten, but it’s amazing what these guys remember from these trips because they are opportunities that don’t come around very often.
The Bluejays will be in Australia from August 1-13, with games on August 5th, 8th, and 12th in the early morning hours back in the United States. All games will likely have live stats, but only the game on the 12th is expected to have any live video.