Notes:
- Freshman guard Jalen Windham showed a bit of a transformation with his body language. His willingness to talk through mistakes acknowledge advice was noticeable on Sunday morning after going through the typical newcomer “head-spinning” moments during the first handful of practices.
- Marcus Zegarowski went through full-speed ball handling and ball screen drills prior to the team’s 9:30 workout. He also did the quick-burst defensive slides that have become part of the team’s new warm up routine. Afterwards he said this is the best he has felt in the last 2-3 years.
- The “hustle play of the day” from 5-on-5 went to the gray team. It started when Shereef Mitchell jumped a passing lane to deflect the ball away. He chased it down at mid-court and saved it to Jordan Scurry with a no-look flip behind his back. Scurry drove down and missed a contested layup at the rim. Nic Zeil’s put-back rattled out as well, but Memphis transfer Antwann Jones was right behind his teammates to make sure the third time was the charm. A true freshman, two walk-ons, and a sit-out transfer all made the extra effort.
- Mitch Ballock made several more impressive plays off the dribble again on Sunday (check out today’s Q&A to see why this may be a development worth monitoring). There were two that stood out in particular. The first was a pass to a cutting Davion Mintz for an easy layup after baiting an interior defender out of position. The second was a textbook “Nova jump-stop” — two feet in the paint, pass fake, pass fake, shot.
Q&A with a Bluejay: Junior guard Mitch Ballock
Q: What are the expectations for what the third-year version of you should look like as both a player and a teammate?
A: As a player I need to be more of a play-maker. In the past, the scouting report on me has been to just run me off the 3-point line, so at the end of the day I need to be able to get in the paint and make plays. When I was a freshman and a sophomore I would get jump stop in the paint and then not know what to do.
Now I’m working on getting in there and finishing around the rim so I can make plays for myself or draw a defender and make plays that will open up drop-offs or kick-outs for threes for my teammates. If I add that it will be big time.
Q: How do you find that balance between being a sharpshooter and a play-maker?
A: If I have rhythm shots I’m always going to take them. If they break my rhythm I can get more crafty off the bounce and either make plays for teammates or finish around the rim. That will just open up everything else and make me better than I was my first two years when I was limited.
Q: What have you noticed so far about the leadership structure of the team given how long most of you have been together?
A: We listen to each other. There is nobody out there that just brushes off anything we say. I will listen to Christian, Christian will listen to me, and in bringing along the [newcomers] we all think we have something of worth to say to them and to teach them to help them along the way, because we were put in that same situation two or three years ago. We know what it’s like to be them and how discouraged you can get — you can lose your confidence quickly.
When I was a young buck, Marcus and [Khyri] would instill that confidence in me. So as I get older I look at those younger guys and try to do the same things and say the same things that those two said to me just to keep my courage and keep playing. That’s a big thing with the young guys. On the other side, with the guys who have been together, if we are tight-knit and we all listen to each other that shows the young guys that we lead by example … everybody brings something different to the table, and when you put that together, take it in and listen to it, you can take that next step as a team. I think we have guys that will do that and sacrifice that to get to the next level.
Q: You mentioned late in the season last year that you came to Creighton to go to the NCAA Tournament all four years. How do you look at last season given that the end result obviously made that goal unattainable?
A: There was a lot we can take away from last year. Even in the postseason we were young. We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores that played good minutes, and I think playing in a postseason was huge for us just because we got an extra three or four weeks, we got an extra month to fine tune things and get to play with each other more. Even with [Coach] Lusk and our defense — we had a bad game against TCU, but those first couple games we were rolling and playing together. [Christian] came along — without those games he wouldn’t have the confidence that he has going into this year. That’s huge for us.
Even me — I started putting the ball on the ground, getting to the rim and scoring around the basket, and everybody came together and showed glimpses of what we could be all year next year instead of just in those last two months. It was too little too late last year at the end of the day, but we felt that feeling and it sucks. When you are sitting in that locker room, especially after an NIT loss, it sucks, so at the end of the day you feel that and you don’t want to feel it again. That makes you come back in the summer and in the fall, and put in that work so you don’t find yourself in that situation again. Experience-wise we are ready to go. We return a lot of minutes from last season, and we can incorporate some new guys to polish up the team and go from there.
Q: How do you deal with the pressure that comes from that, both externally and internally with a group that feels it has more potential?
A: I honestly don’t think about the outside pressure. Pressure is what you put on yourself. People can say this and that, but at the end of the day it’s us 14 and the coaches going to work. All that external stuff doesn’t matter. Internally you just have to take care of what you do every day and you live with the results, honestly. There is a plan for everybody and there is a plan for us. We can reach that level, and when we do I think it will be special. I don’t think there is really any pressure on us, to be honest. If you approach it with the attitude that you are going to get in and get your work done to get better on a daily basis I think you will start to see results and the game will start to become easier for you.
Q: I know it’s still a relatively small sample size, but from a strength and conditioning standpoint how do you feel about the things you’ve been implementing in that area this offseason?
A: It’s a whole lot different than what we were doing before. I think it’s just more geared towards our individual needs. Everybody’s bodies are different. We’ve had injuries in the past and recovering from those injuries requires certain exercises and certain lifts to both rehab and prevent it from getting worse. For me, with the injury I had it’s just about strengthening all of the areas around it, getting your body loose with movement [training]. It just feels better when you get out on the court and it feels better just in every day life. It’s huge for us.
The discipline that is put on it and the pace we go with, [Jeremy] just sets the tone. There is no messing around — you get in, you get your work done and you get out, and you have fun in the process doing that. I think our bodies will hold up a little longer … in the month that we’ve been working I definitely feel a difference — I feel looser, I feel better, I can go longer, I can jump higher, I’m getting my athleticism back. I don’t hurt when I’m playing. I feel loose and I’m just playing free. There is just more emphasis on the whole thing. I’m eating better, I’m prioritizing what I’m eating and how I’m recovering and taking care of my body … I feel a whole lot better.
Q: What are you looking forward to about this trip to Australia? I know you went to Israel this summer, but this is another place in another part of the world that basketball gets to take you.
A: That little orange thing will take you around. Jett and I were just talking about how the Great Barrier Reef used to be the one of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” I was looking at a bunch of different sites and some had it as one of them and some didn’t, so I don’t know. Regardless, we are going there, and we were talking about the family aspect of it. We get to go to Australia with our friends, like one big friend group heading down there for 10 days. Of course we’re going there to play basketball, but on the other end of that we have some new guys going and we’ll get closer. We’ll do things that we will literally remember for the rest of our lives and we’ll get to see some pretty cool stuff.
To experience an opportunity like this with our brothers that will be big time. We’re close as it is, but when you put that together we are doing cool stuff with cool people and it’s just a good time. How many people get to say they went on a trip to Australia to hoop? This is what we work for and it’s big time, and we all get to experience it together. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We’re going to take it in together and the hoops is like a bonus.