As first reported by Tom Shatel in this morning’s Omaha World-Herald, Creighton and Oklahoma have signed a contract for a home-and-home series beginning this fall in Omaha. It’s the rare scheduling rumor that actually turns out to be true — there had been rumblings for months that Creighton AD Bruce Rasmussen was close to securing a series with another school whose AD also serves on the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee. Speculation ran wild on the Underground about who that school might be, with posters looking over the list of current committee members for clues.
How many times over the years have we been taunted with the knowledge that Creighton had been tantalizingly close to a home-and-home series with an unnamed top-tier opponent, only to have it fall through the cracks at the last minute? Too many to count. This time, it came to fruition, and whether it’s the Big East, Fox Sports 1, Rasmussen’s committee work, or some combination of the three that made it possible, make no mistake — this is an awesome scheduling get on several fronts.
Lon Kruger’s Sooners went 23-10 this past season, finishing second in the Big 12 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament, where they were a #5 seed before bowing out to North Dakota State in their first game. The Sooners were #21 in the final AP poll this season and are expected to return 73% of their scoring next season, 75% of their rebounding and 88% of their assists. Cameron Clark (15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds) is the only key player graduating, as four of their five starters return, including their top scorer, Buddy Heild, and their top rebounder, Ryan Spangler.
Clark will be replaced by Top 100 recruit Dante Buford and four-star center Khadeem Lattin, adding size and athleticism to what was already a top-20 team in adjusted offensive efficiency. They’ll be predicted by a lot of people to be a Top 15 team in the preseason (Joe Lunardi has them as a #3 seed in his super-early, just-for-fun mock bracket for next year’s tourney, for example).
Fox Sports 1 has to love the addition of another marquee game to their early-season television schedule, as a Creighton-Oklahoma tilt will likely be a centerpiece of their November-December coverage. They join Saint Mary’s and Central Arkansas as home games already on the schedule, meaning a slew of bottom-tier D1 schools will likely fill out the rest of the non-conference slate.
As always, you can keep up with Creighton’s future schedules on our Library page which is expertly curated by WBR’s Patrick Marshall.