It’s almost time to dance. Creighton has landed in Steel City with nothing except 40-minute windows left in their season from here on out. Before the 3-seed Bluejays go head-to-head against the No. 14 seed Akron Zips, players and coaches from both teams met with local and national media at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday, then went through an open practice to get a feel for the sights and sounds of the stage they’ll share on Thursday afternoon. Here are some of their thoughts on the storylines that will be under the spotlight this week in Pittsburgh.
The Akron Unicorn
As far as individual stories go, Akron might have the best one in Enrique Freeman. The native son of Cleveland, Ohio made the Zips roster as a walk-on tryout in 2019 and has gone from playing 13 total minutes over seven games in 2019-20 to winning MAC Defensive Player of the Year two years ago and MAC Tournament MVP each of the last years. Seven days ago, he won his first MAC Player of the Year award and yesterday the Associated Press named him an Honorable Mention All-American. Suffice to say, after traveling a unique path to college hoops stardom, Freeman’s fifth season at Akron has been better than ever. His per game averages of 18.6 points and 12.9 rebounds are career-bests, as are his free throw percentage of 72.8% and his 37.0% shooting from 3-point range. He also leads all of college basketball — regardless of gender or level — with 30 double-doubles in 34 games this season.
Despite being listed at just 6-foot-7, 206 pounds, Freeman has been an elite post-up option for Akron’s offense. According to Synergy, his 277 post-up possessions rank as the third-most in the country behind only 7-foot-4, 300-pound Zach Edey of Purdue and NC State’s 6-foot-9, 275-pound point center DJ Burns, Jr.
“My teammates do a good job feeding me the ball,” Freeman said. “We have great post actions for cutting and everything. So as much as I can post and score with my quickness, it’s my teammates who put me in a good position to score when they cut, 45 cut, and all this other stuff. It’s truly hard work and just playing to what I’m used to.”
Along with his ability to affect the game offensively, defensively, and on the glass, Freeman’s ability to draw fouls is also elite. He has drawn a shooting foul on 21.7% of his post-ups this season. Among the 55 Division 1 players with at least 150 possessions, the shooting foul rate ranks third behind only Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II and Austin Peay’s Sai Witt. That part of his game not only allows Akron to put points on the board with the clock stopped, but it enhances their ability to disrupt game flow and dictate tempo, a game within the game that Creighton has to figure out a way to counter on Thursday.
“He’s elite at creating angles,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “He does so much work before the pass is made that his job is easy once he catches the basketball. That’s going to be a challenge for our defense to make sure we somehow stay between him and the basket, because if he gets you on an angle, it’s over. And he’s got an incredible second jump, so he gets back to the rim the second time very quickly, which obviously makes him a very effective offensive rebounder. But he’s really, really talented, and he’s shifty enough that he’s got a way of really drawing fouls. I don’t know who leads the country in free throw attempts, but he’s got to be in the Top 10. He shoots a lot of them. He’s very complete with his game. He scores over both shoulders and shoots it well enough from three that you have to respect that. Just a terrific player.”
The Lesson Learned in New York City
Once the regular season ends, the elephant in every practice facility and film room across the country is the opportunity to learn and grow from losses that is afforded to teams during season is replaced with the reality that the next loss could be permanent. Most teams that lose in the conference tournament don’t get another chance to lace up their sneakers and play another game together. Creighton isn’t in that boat. They’re in Pittsburgh, they earned a favorable seed and the chance to wear white jerseys in the NCAA Tournament. But the loss to Providence in the quarterfinals in the Big East Tournament last week that spoiled their goal of cutting down nets at Madison Square Garden for the first time in program history served as a grim reminder that there may only be 40 minutes between a game starting and a season — or in some cases, a career — coming to a close.
“Obviously we had our sights set higher for the Big East Tournament,” Creighton senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner said. “When you have a shock like that, it reenforces that any game could be your last if you’re not careful. We got an older group, one that understands the stakes at this time of year. We’re really locked in, and we know what we gotta do to play a long time like we want to do at this [time of year].”
Creighton’s Past and Present Collide
Creighton’s men’s basketball program will take center stage in Pittsburgh in more way than one this week. The present iteration has matched its highest seed in program history, the second time under Greg McDermott that the Jays have earned a No. 3 seed on Selection Sunday. They certainly aren’t satisfied with that accomplishment on its own, but it is a noteworthy mile marker at the same time. Especially with McDermott’s predecessor, Dana Altman, bringing Oregon to Steel City for a 6/11 matchup against South Carolina that could see produce a second-round showdown between the Jays and Ducks.
Altman is Creighton’s all-time winningest coach. He won 327 games on the sidelines in Omaha and took the Jays to seven NCAA Tournaments from 1994 to 2010. During his 16-year tenure, Creighton went from averaging 4,800 fans at the Civic Auditorium to drawing just shy of 14,500 per game at CHI Health Center Omaha.
“Dana is still beloved in Omaha, and he always will be,” McDermott said. “He really did the heavy lifting with this program in the 16 years he was there — taking over a program that had 1,500 people coming to the games and then moving into an arena with 17,000 people and figuring out a way to get people there to watch you. It was Dana’s work and the way he grew the program in the Missouri Valley Conference that allowed us to kind of take that torch and run with it.
“I was at Northern Iowa when he was at Creighton, so we competed against each other. I didn’t beat him very much during that time … but since I’ve moved to Omaha, I’ve gotten to know Dana’s family. His family besides being Oregon fans are huge Creighton fans. His dad (Lyle) and his brother (Dirk) would come to all of our lunches. I just have tremendous respect for Dana and the job that he’s done. It’s really rare in this day and age of what have you done for me lately to have two head coaches at a university in 30 years’ time, him being there 16 years and me 14. But I think it also speaks to the people of Omaha and the people of Creighton that it’s a place you really don’t want to leave because there was a lot of special folks there. I know Oregon is going to have a sea of blue cheering for them on Thursday afternoon because of the way Dana is respected in our community.”
Mac’s being generously modest, of course, because that’s how he is. It’s true that Creighton’s program was sitting atop a solid foundation when McDermott left Iowa State to take the job in 2010, but developing a 3-time, First Team All-American and eventual National Player of the Year winner in his son Doug, moving to the Big East, winning a conference title, going to the Sweet 16 in 2021 and the Elite Eight in 2023 are all program “firsts” that happened well after Altman moved on to Eugene. Achievements that even the most diehard supporter of the Bluejays could only dream would someday become a reality. It’s become the new standard. Now after 14 years, McDermott sits just four wins behind Altman’s career mark at CU. He has a chance to tie him if he manages to check off another first with a trip to the Final Four in Phoenix in a couple weeks. That’s something that even from afar is still a source of immense pride for Altman.
“This is probably my ego, but I take great pride in it,” Altman said. “I spent 16 years there. Loved working at Creighton, love Omaha. I’m from Nebraska. And Greg’s done a great job. Unbelievable. Moving to the Big East — it is fun watching them be successful. I about threw my glass through the TV last year when they called that foul [against San Diego State]. I wanted them to go to the Final Four so bad. You don’t spend 16 years at a place and just because I left doesn’t mean I don’t love it. I’m really happy for them. Bruce Rasmussen, who I worked with there for 16 years, and Greg, those guys have done a great job. I hope we play them because that means we both won.”
Carrying the Big East Flag
Selection Sunday was a bittersweet for a very proud Big East. Reigning national champion UConn earned the No. 1 overall seed. Marquette got a No. 2 seed in the South Region. Creighton matched its highest seed in program history with a 3 in the Midwest Region. But there was another side to that coin in that there were the only three teams to earn invitations to the Big Dance. Nothing for Providence, nothing for Seton Hall, nothing for St. John’s.
The Big East hasn’t been a 3-bid league since 1993. That stings, and it didn’t help any of those teams when they watched an ACC at-large team in Virginia get clowned six ways from Sunday in their First Four game against Colorado State on Tuesday night in Dayton. But you can’t un-bake a cake. Three teams are in the NCAA Tournament and those three teams now have an opportunity to send a more biting message than any administrator can cook up: win.
“I think we always want to represent the Big East as well as we possibly can,” McDermott said. “I think you heard all three of our comments after the Selection Show about how disappointed we were, while understanding the selection committee has a very difficult job.
“But we think the Big East is really, really good, and deserved to have more teams in the tournament. We [Big East coaches] have gone back and forth on some group chats about that. But I know those other teams are supporting us, and I know that I’m pretty sure that Dan and Shaka are in the same boat as I am — we’re just worried about the next game and trying to advance in the tournament and show people just how good the Big East is.”