#9 Creighton will face a stiff test in the six weeks before Big East play begins. KenPom #21 Texas Tech, #2 Texas, #44 BYU and #75 Arizona State await; possible opponents in Maui include #10 Arizona, #14 Arkansas, #18 San Diego State, #32 Ohio State, #51 Cincinnati and #91 Louisville. Before that gauntlet, the Jays play four games in 10 days against teams they’ll be heavily favored to beat — KenPom gives them 99% odds of victory in each of the first three, and 96% odds of victory in the fourth.
The next 10 days, then, will be about themselves. Working Baylor Scheierman into the lineup. Figuring out rotations. Getting a ton of film on the freshmen and newcomers to help in their development.
After they blew out DII Drury 109-57 in their lone exhibition game, Creighton opens the regular season against a school who was DIII up until a year ago. St. Thomas won national titles at that level in 2011 and 2016, and became the first school to ever transition directly from DIII to D1 without a stop-over in DII first when they did so in 2020. Then they played their first year in D1 with basically the same roster of players they’d recruited to play in DIII — and because DIII rules prohibit offseason practices, they did so with less preparation time than anyone they competed against.
That roster was almost completely devoid of size — their tallest rotational player stood just 6’7” and only five teams had a shorter average height. So rather than stubbornly stick to what had worked in DIII they pivoted to what would allow them to compete in D1.
They knew they couldn’t get to the rim reliably or score in the paint, so they (mostly) stopped doing it. Only four teams took more three-pointers (49.9% of their total shot attempts were from behind the arc; the national average was 37.7% a year ago). They made a respectable 34.4% of them, which meant 42% of their total points came via the three — only five teams in D1 got more points off the triple.
They knew their defense was not going to be competitive in D1, so they played at a slow tempo, limited the number of possessions in a game, and turned it over less than anyone else. No one in D1 turned it over less than the Tommies a year ago — just 12.6% of their possessions ended in a turnover. That allowed them to maximize the impact of their three-point shooting and minimize their defensive problems by almost completely eliminating the transition game from opponent’s gameplans.
How bad was that defense? Their adjusted defensive efficiency was 119.1, dead last in the country, and nearly 20 points worse than average; their opponent’s effective field goal percentage was 58.9%, also dead last in the country and nine percentage points higher than the average team. They allowed opponents to make 58.0% of their two-point shots, dead last in the country, and 40.1% of their three-pointers which was second-worst. They only blocked 3.2% of opponents shots, which was second worst, and only forced a turnover on 16.1% of opponent’s possessions.
That they managed to win any games at all, much less seven games against D1 opponents, tells you a lot about how well-coached they are and the problems their roster presented to opponents.
All five starters shot at least 33.3% from three-point range a year ago, and three were north of 40%. 6’3” guard Riley Miller attempted 251 three-pointers a year ago and made 41.0% of them, becoming one of the elite shooters in D1 hoops in the process. He was one of just four D1 shooters to make 100 or more threes while shooting 40 percent or better. Miller also made 90.8% of his free throws (79 of 87) to rank in the top 12 in D1, a big reason why he led the team in scoring.
6’6” Parker Bjorklund was their only consistent post player a year ago; he led them in rebounding at 6.3 boards per game and shot 54.6% from the floor, primarily on short jumpers or shots at the rim. 6’7” sixth-man Brooks Allen didn’t have huge overall numbers (7.4 points, 4.7 rebounds per game) but averaged 10 points and five boards over his last 13 games. To say it came out of nowhere is an understatement: Allen recorded just nine points in nine varsity games across his first two seasons while competing in Division III.
Actually, that’s true of Bjorklund, too. He wasn’t even on the team his first two years at St. Thomas; he was a business major and running a successful social media company he’d started in eighth grade. He’d been recruited to play for the team out of high school but he was burned out on hoops, and focused on a business that managed accounts with three million followers.
Then when he was stuck at home during COVID, he picked up a basketball again and realized he’d missed it. He called their head coach, Johnny Tauer — the same one who’d recruited him originally — and asked if he could try out. After five minutes of him dunking and cutting past their roster of players, the staff realized he was the most athletic player in the gym and offered him a spot on the team. Bjorklund was their third-leading scorer a year ago and returned this year as a grad student for one more year, because why not? After all, he’s a junior in eligibility and a grad student in school. It’s a helluva story. It might be the coolest basketball story you hear all year.
Bjorklund and Allen have some help in the paint this year, as the 2022-23 Tommies have added Courtney Brown, a 6’7” transfer from UW-Milwaukee to the mix. Brown is precisely the type of player they lacked — he gives them size, athleticism and length with the versatility to guard bigger players straight-up, which means less double-teams.
Their 2022-23 recruiting class ranks 52nd in D1 showing an influx of talent that should make them competitive soon. Heralded freshmen Kendall Blue and Andrew Rohde both stand 6’6” and are poised for big roles. Blue was a three-or-four star recruit depending on which service you look at, and reportedly had offers from Marquette and George Washington, among others, while Rohde was the runner-up Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin.
A pair of 6’9” freshmen, Ahjany Lee and Carter Bjerke, are more raw and probably less likely to make an immediate impact but will provide depth in the frontcourt that they didn’t have a year ago. And in the backcourt, they’ve added Drake Dobbs, a local Minnesota kid who transferred from Liberty. He’s expected to take the starting point guard spot.
- Tip: 7:30pm
- Venue: CHI Health Center Omaha
- TV: FS1
- Announcers: Matt Schumacher, Nick Bahe
- In Omaha: Cox channel 78 (SD), 1078 (HD); CenturyLink Prism channel 620 (SD), 1620 (HD)
- Outside Omaha: FS1 Channel Finder
- Satellite: DirecTV channel 219, Dish Network channel 150
- Cable Cutters: Available on all major streaming platforms
- Streaming on the Fox Sports app and website
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The only way to watch the entire Creighton game is through the FOX Sports app on smartphones and devices, and on the web at http://gocreighton.com/MBB-UST-CU. FS1 will feature “Big East Opening Night Tip-Off”, an NFL RedZone-style telecast with whip-around coverage of all eight games, and occasional split-screen action to show multiple games at once.
Butler vs New Orleans and Villanova vs La Salle begin the event at 5:30pm Omaha time, and the six other games have staggered tip times staggered so that FS1 has constant hoops all night.
- Radio: 1620AM, 101.9FM
- Announcers: John Bishop and Taylor Stormberg
- Streaming on 1620TheZone.com and the 1620 The Zone mobile app
- Despite losing six games by seven points or less, the Toms posted a 10-20 record with a starting cast entirely of players who began their careers in the MIAC in NCAA Division III.
- St. Thomas will face programs from across eight conferences outside of the Summit League: Big East (Creighton), Big Sky (Montana, Montana State), Horizon (Milwaukee, Green Bay), NEC (St. Francis Brooklyn, Merrimack), Pac 12 (Utah), Sun Belt (Troy), UMAC (Crown, North Central), WAC (Chicago State).
- Former Creighton assistant coach Mike Maker returns to CHI Health Center Omaha on Monday as the associate head coach of St. Thomas. Maker served as a Bluejay assistant under Dana Altman during the 2007-08 campaign. That squad finished 22-11 and reached the Second Round of the NIT.
- This is the third-earliest start date for a season-opener in Creighton basketball history. The only earlier starts in program history were in 2019-20 (Nov. 5) and 2018-19 (Nov. 6). By comparison, 30 years ago, Creighton’s season-opener in 1992-93 didn’t take place until Dec. 3rd.
- Creighton owns a sparkling 89-15 record (.856) on opening day, including 12 straight wins and victories in 24 of its last 25 lid-lifters after last year’s 90-77 win vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Creighton has won 13 of its last 22 season-openers by 20 or more points.
- Prior to Greg McDermott’s 2010 arrival, Creighton had spent one week ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll in program history (10th on Jan. 20, 2003, when Dana Altman’s team led by Kyle Korver lost at Steve Merfeld’s Evansville team). Under McDermott, Creighton has spent 18 weeks in the top 10, including at least one week in five different seasons (1 week in 2012-13; 8 weeks in 2016-17, 3 weeks in 2019-20, 5 weeks in 2020-21 and 1 week so far this year).
In a series that dates to 1953, Creighton owns an 8-1 all-time record against St. Thomas. The teams have not met since a 79-39 Bluejay victory in 1976. The home team has won all nine meetings in the series; the lone Tommie win came in the first meeting, 73-72 in St. Paul.
Creighton opened both its 1970-71 and 1976-77 seasons with victories over the Tommies.
Monday will mark the first time that Creighton has ever played a game that counted on November 7th. With this game, there’s now only one other day on the calendar between November 5th and March 25th that CU hasn’t played on: Christmas Eve.
They have played an exhibition on November 7, though — a 91-72 win over Sioux Falls in 2014 that marked the unofficial beginning of the post-Doug McDermott Era. The starting guards in that game, Devin Brooks and Austin Chatman, scored 18 points a piece, had four assists a piece, and combined for just two turnovers while playing 28 and 30 minutes, respectively. Brooks added eight rebounds, including two offensive boards, and Chatman had five.
The Bottom Line:
A year ago, Creighton began their season by digging a 15-point hole against UAPB, and needed a furious second-half rally to escape with the win. Given St. Thomas’ style of play, don’t be surprised if the Tommies hang around longer than expected. But anything less than a 20-point win would be a disappointment for the ninth-ranked team in the country.
KenPom has the Jays winning by 23. Vegas favors the Jays by 25. I think they cover.
#Creighton 90, St. Thomas 64
