Home of the Jays and Creighton Hoops: Questions and Answers Edition

Q&A with a Creighton basketball specialist ahead of tonight’s Sweet-16 match

First, a somewhat brief but ultimately significant public service announcement for Vol supporters:

Creighton’s full team name is the Creighton Bluejays — not the Blue-Jays, or the Blue Jays or the BlueJays — and several local and national media outlets have gotten the capitalization or spelling wrong on multiple occasions. Just don’t be that person. Now, the “Jays,” is an acceptable abbreviation so definitely run with that if you’d prefer. And to clarify, as somebody who is wrong often on a great many things and corrected by readers of this site all the time on incorrect facts or typos or whatever, I don’t mean to be anybody’s English teacher, and a nun won’t come and rap your knuckles with a ruler for infractions. Names are just important, and I try to do what I can to inform people on correct spellings or pronunciations in that regard.

To place it in a well-known and comparable context, think of how people pronounce “Vols” as “Voles.”

Simply said, “Vols” stands for Volunteers and should be pronounced as such. We are not little rodents that consume your small plants and root systems by burrowing into your mulch. It’s not a huge concern overall, but I know that whenever I hear someone who doesn’t regularly watch the show or who speaks with a very noticeable accent refer to the team as “Voles,” I wince.

To start with, there has only been a single basketball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Creighton Bluejays, which UT won 34-28 in 1937.

Since there isn’t any current, shareable game data available for us to use to preview tonight’s Sweet 16 game, I turned to Colin Belmont, the only owner and operator of Home of the Jays, a tiny but rapidly expanding Twitter account dedicated to Creighton basketball. Furthermore, I didn’t choose Colin’s account at random. After considering a few choices, I decided on Home of the Jays since Colin handles everything himself without the support or advantages of a major website, and it provides insightful and varied coverage.

Normally, SB Nation would prefer that we do this with other SB sites, but a few years ago, they closed the only site that covered Creighton. So I went with Colin instead. For tonight’s live-game tweets, follow him on Twitter; they’re far superior than mine.

1.) The Bluejays have six players who average double-digit minutes and one more guy who averages just fewer than 10 minutes. I know the Vols struggle when their post players rack up early fouls. But Creighton leads the nation with just 11.4 fouls committed per-game, while Tennessee is 220th in the NCAA with its 17.4 average. So perhaps it’s not exactly a 1:1 comparison.

(For some troubling context if you’re a Vol fan, Creighton hasn’t played a single game with more than 16 personal fouls)

But Creighton lost nine games this season, and in seven of those losses, the Bluejays ended up with at least 10 fouls called against it. Is there a contingency plan in place for foul-trouble issues with such a small regular rotation of players?

“You’ve already noted the most important thing here, which is that Creighton simply does not commit fouls. I hope Vol fans understand that before complaining about the inevitable foul count disparity… it’s not just you, it happens to everyone!

The reality is we really can’t have any of our starters get into foul trouble, with most of our production coming from that group. We’ve been getting some great minutes from Francisco Farabello and Jasen Green – I’d expect both to have a role on Friday – but it’s a pretty short bench beyond that. That’s why it’s key for Creighton to play disciplined defense, and why they’ve been so good at it all season. Even in losses where the foul count was a bit higher, I wouldn’t attribute that to why we lost. If anything, it’s because we were committing late fouls just to get our opponents into the bonus.

With all that said, the most important guy on the floor for Creighton is Ryan Kalkbrenner. Everything we do defensively is the result of his presence in the paint. His ability to contest and alter shots without committing fouls is unlike anything I’ve ever seen from a 7-footer. He’s a 3-time Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East, and when he’s locked in there aren’t many better than him on that end of the floor. Creighton is an entirely different team when he’s on the bench.

Greg McDermott may try to steal some rest for Kalk by plugging in Isaac Traudt or Fredrick King, but I wouldn’t expect either to see extended minutes unless we’re forced to use them.”

2.) Creighton just beat Oregon and former Bluejays’ coach Dana Altman 86-73 in the-round-of-32 game that went into double overtime. The double-digit score differential belies how close the game was — what led to it being a tie game through 45 minutes but ending with 13-point Creighton win?

“I said it while I was watching live and I’ll say it again here – that was one of the most frustrating Creighton games I’ve ever watched. We showed up with the right offensive game plan and were getting essentially any shot we wanted… we just weren’t cashing in. And on the defensive side, we didn’t have an answer for Jermaine Cousinard and N’Faly Dante. You have to credit Oregon, they were playing on tired legs and just would not let us grind them down. When our shots started falling, their 2-man game stepped up to respond. They just wouldn’t go away, and before we knew it we were looking at a 4-point deficit with 30 seconds to play in regulation.

We were fortunate we had the chance to force overtime (shoutout Baylor Scheierman), but once we did I had a feeling we’d pull it out. This team’s superpower is having a core group of guys who were 1 point away from a Final Four last season. When you get that close and know how it feels to fall short, you understand what it takes to win in this tournament. The second overtime tipped off and we just took over. Our playmakers made plays, McDermott adjusted the defense to blitz their high ball screen, Kalkbrenner drilled a 3. Then Jasen Green shattered the spirit of the entire city of Eugene with a put-back dunk that put an end to things. The name of the game is survive and advance, that’s what Creighton did.”

3.) Speaking of Altman: his tenure with Creighton, 15 seasons from 1995-2010, looks like it was a critical period for the Bluejays’ program. He took over a team that went 7-22 the year before and replaced a coach who left with a 24-59 record in three seasons.

How much credit does Altman get for his time with the team? Considering he went from 7-19 in his first season, improved the team’s record for the next three years, won at least 20 games 11-straight times and reached the NCAA Tournament by his fifth season and went back to the Big Dance in six of the next eight years (from 1998/1999-2006/2007).

“Dana Altman is one of the most important figures in Creighton basketball history, and that was evident in the outpouring of love and respect the fan base showed him before AND after the game last week. But you can’t credit Dana without first mentioning Bruce Rasmussen. Ras was Creighton’s Athletic Director from 1994 – 2021 and is responsible for hiring both Dana Altman and Greg McDermott. He had a vision for what Creighton Basketball could become, and it’s all come true over the last 30 years. Just had to call that out.

But back to Dana – he took over at Creighton with the tall task of rebuilding a mid-major program in Omaha, Nebraska. With his infectious mannerisms and sayings, players almost immediately bought in on everything he was selling. And with the help of guys like Rodney Buford, Ryan Sears and Kyle Korver, Creighton was quickly back on the basketball map. We were always a contender in the Missouri Valley, and fought our way into a number of NCAA Tournaments. We’re also responsible for upsetting Florida back in 2002, so you’re welcome for that! Dana laid the foundation for what Creighton is now, full stop. We’re beyond fortunate that Greg (and Doug) McDermott immediately came in to take us from Valley contender to Big East contender.”

4.) Two-parter here for you:

A. There’s data out there for folks to compare on his or her own, and I’ll post the two team’s KenPom scouting reports on Twitter prior to the game. Still — give us an idea of the Bluejays’ offensive identity, with a caveat that “raining in triples like Steph Curry’s shootarounds,” is off the table.

“We approach every game with the “Let It Fly” mentality. There isn’t a spot on the floor that’s off limits for our shooters to pull up from, which is why Ryan Kalkbrenner shot one from deep in a 74-71 situation against Oregon last week. But what makes this team different from past Creighton teams is our ability to find other ways to score when the 3 ball isn’t falling.

Trey Alexander has developed a sweet mid-range game. He has an ability to get within 15 feet, absorb some contact and create shots for himself. Scheierman has found a ton of success driving the ball to the basket, or pulling a little fall-away jumper out of his bag. And we’re at our very best when we’re able to get Kalkbrenner touches down low – when that element is working for us it opens up even more for our shooters.

Creighton wants to play fast, wants to beat you in transition, and will never pass up an open 3-point shot. If Friday’s game is in the 70s+, that fares well for the Jays.”

B. Matt Seese, another writer we have at Rocky Top Talk, mentioned two player matchups he wanted your input on as soon as I mentioned this piece to him — Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner vs. Tennessee center Jonas Aidoo, and Baylor Scheierman vs. Dalton Knecht. Take this one in any direction you want.

“Scheierman vs. Knecht is the matchup of the night. I’m expecting offensive fireworks from both players, but I’m more interested to see how those two will impact the game outside of their scoring. Dalton will likely get his 20 points, I won’t be shocked to see it. But Baylor is a better distributor and a MUCH better rebounder, I think he’ll fill the stat sheet in both categories. And if Dalton gets going, everyone knows Baylor is the type of player who will want to respond on the other end. It could be a lot of fun watching those two go back and forth all night.

One thing to watch here: Baylor had the task of chasing Devin Carter a few weeks ago in the Big East Tournament. He played fine defense, don’t get me wrong, but his effort on the defensive end made things a bit harder for him on offense. He shot 4-16 from the field that night (still posting a double double), and the Jays lost 78-73. I’m not saying it’ll happen that way on Friday, and I’ll always bet on Baylor Scheierman… just something to watch.

I’m excited to watch Kalkbrenner and Aidoo battle down low. Aidoo is a big physical player, and I’m sure he’ll try to bully Kalkbrenner around early. But Kalk has been playing against dudes like this all year in the Big East, it won’t be anything new. If Kalk can stay out of foul trouble and hold Aidoo to around his season average of 12ppg, that’s a win for us. Kalk has a bit of a height advantage too, so I’m sure he’ll try to steal some easy buckets around the rim.

To me, Zakai Zeigler is the one we need to watch. We know Knecht will get his, and we know Aidoo will be involved too. If Zeigler also finds a way to get hot, that’ll cause some trouble.

But Tennessee will have its hands full all night with Creighton’s balanced scoring attack. Scheierman, Alexander and Kalkbrenner all average more than 17 per game, and Ashworth has the ability to turn in a 20 point night as well. If the Jays get any help from Mason Miller, Francisco Farabello or Jasen Green… it might be tough for the Vols to keep up.”

5.) Creighton averages 80.6 points per-game (23rd in the country) but came up short in six of its total nine losses when it scored in the 60s. But per KenPom, the Bluejays’ adjusted tempo ranks 227th in the country.

Obviously there are other factors that go into how quickly a team plays and how many points it scores — like having the country’s 11th-most efficient offense — but does Creighton want to play slow and rely on its half-court offense and ability to hit 3-pointers? The Bluejays failed to hit 10 or more 3s 13 times this season, and lost seven of those games. What’s the end game here for the Vols defensively? How would you tell an opposing team to defend Creighton?

“I can tell you one thing for certain, Creighton does not want to play slow. The Jays are comfortable in their half court sets, and Greg McDermott is a wizard with the white board, but we’ll definitely look to control an up-tempo pace. As I mentioned earlier, we’ll take as many 3s as the Vols will give us, shooters will have the green light all night.

Creighton has struggled a bit with pressure from time to time this season, and I know that’s the way Tennessee likes to defend. I’m expecting Rick Barnes to amp up the pressure right out of the gate, which could quickly make us uncomfortable and lead to some careless turnovers. If we aren’t able to find our rhythm offensively, that’s when things can snowball out of control.

With a week to prepare, I think Mac will have our guys ready. And Barnes will too. It’s gonna be battle between two really good teams for 40 minutes, with hopefully no more overtime. Not sure my heart can take it.”

“FINAL THOUGHTS: Winning in this tournament is hard, making it into the second weekend is even harder. The fact that both our programs have done it in back-to-back years is pretty special. It’s gonna be a great game and I’ll be a nervous wreck until it’s over. Creighton wins a tight one 77-72.”

Thanks again to Colin for his help with this piece. It sounds like Tennessee is going to need another defensive performance like it had against Texas, especially given that the Jays have been a difficult out in March for the last five-or-so years. And now that we’re away from those awful rims in Charlotte, let’s see if the squad has what it takes to do what it has the potential to do — hit some shots, survive and advance… to the Elight Eight, and beyond.