Last week, WBR asked our readers to vote on their favorite players and moments from the 2010s, which may or may not be wrapping up this week depending on which side of that debate you’re on. Scientifically, it’s not over until December 31, 2020. In popular culture where decades tend to be divided up into neat categories like the 80s, 90s, 00s, etc — 1990 might scientifically be part of the 1981-90 decade, but it’s not part of the Eighties — the decade wraps up tomorrow.
Regardless, the 2010s had mostly ups for the Bluejays, and Creighton basketball’s all-decade team — as decided by you, the readers of WBR — competed with everyone.
Point Guard
Mo Watson got the lions’ share of the votes for point guard, garnering just under 65% of the vote. That goes to show how brilliant he was in the short time he was in uniform — he played in just 54 games as a Bluejay before his career ended prematurely when he tore his ACL, but he left an indelible mark. Watson scored 737 points as a Jay (13.6 per game), with 391 assists (7.2). And his senior year was shaping up to be one of the finest in program history — at the time of his injury, he was leading the nation in both assists (162) and assists per game (8.5), he was shooting over 50% from the field (97-of-191 overall) and nearly as good from three (15-for-32, 47%). And of course, the Jays were ranked eighth in the country with a 17-1 record the morning of his injury, on a trajectory towards uncharted territory in March.
The teams that Antoine Young and Austin Chatman piloted had more success, even as their individual numbers were lower than Watson, with both winning conference titles (in the MVC) and games in the NCAA Tournament. And by the time Marcus Zegarowski’s career wraps up, he’ll have surpassed Mo statistically — and hopefully guided the Jays to that uncharted territory in March that Watson seemed destined to do. I suspect if this poll is taken in two years, it might have a different outcome. But today, at the close of this decade, the pick for Point Guard of the Decade is Maurice Watson.
I voted with the majority here, and picked Watson.
Shooting Guard
Marcus Foster won this one with 86% of the votes, and understandably so. He is the only Bluejay in history named First Team All-Big East more than once. He ranks 21st in Creighton history with 1,292 career points despite playing only 68 games at CU — only Wally Anderzunas (1,267 in 73 games) and Bob Gibson (1,272 in 63 games) scored as many points in as few games as Foster. And he hit more clutch shots than any Bluejay in the decade not named Doug McDermott. Against Xavier at MSG in the Big East Tourney. A buzzer-beater at DePaul. A final-minute dagger against Nebraska. Foster did it all, sometimes erratically, often electrically, always excitingly.
The other three players in the poll logged the most time at the SG spot in the decade, and of them Ty-Shon Alexander and the Canadian Red Bull, Jahenns Manigat, took most of the rest of the vote.
Alexander is 13 games into his third season and is already just 69 points shy of joining the 1,000 point club; he’s increased his production across the board, with better overall, three-point and free-throw shooting percentages, more rebounds (4.0 per game a year ago to 6.3 so far this year), and more points. And with another season and a half left to play, who knows how his career ends up?
Manigat was a three-year captain who ended his career ranked third all-time in CU history with 206 made three-pointers. He started his final 121 games in a Bluejay uniform and was the perfect complimentary piece on a roster stocked with talent — playing alongside Doug McDermott, Ethan Wragge, Grant Gibbs and Austin Chatman, he could handle the basketball, shoot the three, drive inside to create space or to create his own shot, and defend the opponent’s best guard. He’s an underrated member of those teams.
But Foster got my vote, much like he did from most of our readers.
Small Forward
At small forward, we have our first surprise — not so much that Khyri Thomas was the pick, but that he was chosen so overwhelmingly. I’d have figured on larger percentages for Grant Gibbs and Mitch Ballock.
Thomas was a two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year, and was second team All-Big East his junior season. Known for his ridiculous on-ball defense that led WBR’s Matt DeMarinis to coin the term #Khyrifense, he held 10 opponent’s leading scorers to single digit scoring his junior year and single-handedly altered opposing coaches’ gameplans through his stifling defense. And once his offense caught up, he became one of the all-time Bluejay greats. His junior season, he scored in double figures in each of the team’s last 15 games, and made 50% or more of his shots in 13 of them. By season’s end, he was 30th in Creighton history in scoring with 1,140 points.
Gibbs played three seasons with the Jays, earning a sixth year from the NCAA after transferring from Gonzaga. A sneakily good shooter, Gibbs was asked to — and obliged — do the dirty work on teams full of star power. He created offense for his teammates, and finished his career fourth in school history with 498 assists. He was a pest defensively, deceptively quick with top-notch instincts that led to steals. And he had a knack for knowing which buttons to push to get under an opponent’s skin — and seemed to relish baiting opposing players into technical fouls when they finally had enough of his button-pushing.
Much like Alexander above, Ballock’s story is still being written, and much like Alexander he’s poised to join CU’s 1,000 point club at some point this season. A deadly marksman from long range, Ballock is a 40% career shooter from three-point range who has raised his game so far as a junior — he’s 37-of-82 so far this year (45.1%).
I actually went with Gibbs here, though I went back and forth more than any other position. Those tremendous teams from 2011 to 2014 simply wouldn’t have been the same with Double G For Three, and so as much as I loved watching Thomas bully opposing ballhandlers, I voted for Gibbs.
Power Forward
The only surprise here is that Doug McDermott didn’t get 100% of the vote. Someone out there picked Ethan Wragge or Cole Huff instead. Outstanding players, both — stories of The Lumberjack’s #WraggeBombs will live on forever and only grow more legendary as time passes, and Huff’s unparalleled throwback midrange game was beautiful — but these have to be votes cast by the sorts of folks with baseball Hall of Fame ballots who refuse to let anyone get in on the first ballot, or to receive a unanimous selection.
It’s Dougie McBuckets in this category, always and forever.
Center
Center was the closest vote, and also the position that received the most overall votes. Justin Patton was the winner, with Gregory Echenique close behind.
Patton played just 35 games in a Bluejay uniform — one season — yet scored 453 points, grabbed 218 rebounds and had 50 blocks. He was the Big East Freshman of the Year, a second-team All-Big East pick, and finished second in the country in shooting percentage (67%), breaking the Big East’s all-time record in the process. The high-flying seven-footer had 72 dunks, 32 of them on lobs, and remains the only seven-footer in CU history to make a three-pointer. Stylistically, he was unlike any big man on the Hilltop since Benoit Benjamin, which believe it or not is a compliment.
Echenique played two-and-a-half seasons, by contrast, after transferring from Rutgers. The 6’9″, 260-pound Echenique was the first (and only) player in CU history to be named to the Missouri Valley’s All-Defensive team three times, led the league in blocks twice, and with 62 blocks as a senior recorded the most by any Bluejay since 1990.
Echenique got my vote, mostly because he accomplished more as a Bluejay (some of it by virtue of being here longer, to be fair) but partially because he’s my wife’s all-time favorite Bluejay and I’m not as stupid as I appear.
Favorite Moment
Of the four options presented under “Favorite Moment”, unsurprisingly the avalanche of threes at Villanova in 2014 won the day — and combined with Doug McDermott’s 3000th point, those two had over 80% of the votes.
We’ve compiled our favorites — 25 moments, to be exact — from the 2010s and put them chronologically into a highlight reel. From Antoine Young sinking Long Beach State in a BracketBuster showdown, to Doug McDermott’s heroics, to Wragge Bombs at Villanova and Marcus Foster lighting up MSG, to dozens of moments in between, it’s all here.