Creighton’s Hopes Rest On More Than Just All-American Doug McDermott

Midnight Madness is over, and with it went the smoke machines, dunk contests and laser shows that kick off the season. College basketball begins now, and while the excitement still remains it’s time to peel the hype back and see who the nation’s best truly are. That’s why Dime has you covered with individual previews of the nation’s top 15 teams and a few others just outside, all over the course of the next few weeks. Today, Creighton.

When you’re an outsider to the Midwest, the first thing you notice is how far the horizon reaches. That kind of 180-degree, IMAX-perspective flatness isn’t something you see when you’re surrounded by mountains or the coast. That kind of vista isn’t unusual for someone like Greg McDermott, Creighton’s head coach — that his team’s potential is as vast as the view he looks at every day is, however. In the last decade non-BCS conference teams have an established track record of closing the gap between the Big Six and everyone else. St. Joseph’s, BYU and San Diego State made it regular for mid-majors to serve notice all season, instead of just in March, too. This Bluejays team has the chance to join that group because they are so deep, returning four starters, with a player in Doug McDermott whose All-American votes this preseason were second only to Indiana’s Cody Zeller.

ATHLETICISM
New Bluejays point guard Austin Chatman may be new to leading the team full-time, but he may be the team’s best athlete as a fast, end-to-end player who can also jump over 7-footers. He’s got a reported vertical of 36.5 inches, the best on the team. The rest of the starters are fine if unspectacularly athletic, though Nevin Johnson is an athletic 6-5 reserve guard and reports from Omaha have said reserve center Will Artino can pass like a guard in a 6-11 frame.
Grade: B

FUNDAMENTALS
Doug McDermott is on every player-of-the-year list in the preseason and his pure shooting stroke (60 percent from the field last season, nearly 49 percent from the arc) is unparalleled in the nation. He’s not as big as many expect him to be, but at 6-7 he plays a wider range of positions not because he plays in the Missouri Valley but because of his fundamentals. On offense he can be a ball-handling point forward or the spot-up shooter who stretches the defense. When he came out of Ames High School with Harrison Barnes, he was barely getting looks from Division I schools — his dad, Greg, who was then Iowa State’s coach but is now Creighton’s, somewhat famously didn’t believe he could play in the Big 12 then. Like a lifelong guard who sprouts to new heights late, McDermott can play point through power forward if needed because of his late spurt in adding weight and height.
Grade: A

CHEMISTRY
Millions of Americans buy gimmick products to try to find the kind of core strength the Bluejays have. It’s the envy of every coach. Of last year’s top 10 players by minutes played nine return this season, meaning four starters pick up right where they left off. The loss of point guard Antoine Young is mitigated to a degree because Grant Gibbs, a senior 6-5 guard who transferred from Gonzaga, led the Missouri Valley in assists last season from the two spot and had the 27th-best assist-to-turnover ratio (2.41) in the nation. Gibbs will be helped by Jahenns Manigat, who drilled 49 percent of his triples in league play, and a senior guard who can help in Josh Jones.
Grade: A+

X-FACTOR
Chatman is a sophomore who has the unenviable task of filling the role Young held for three seasons: starting point guard. It isn’t without some experience, however, after he played in all 35 games last season and averaged 11.8 minutes per game on a good Bluejays roster. That’s difficult for a freshman, but this job is even harder considering he’s one of the only new pieces to the starting five. Last year he shot in the high-30s for three-point and shooting percentages and it’s understandable that without a regular rhythm, his shooting would suffer. Those numbers have to go up, however, because even surrounded by players the Missouri Valley fears, Chatman has to make coaches pull back double-teams and traps on account of respect for his shooting.

BOTTOM LINE
Greg McDermott has talked repeatedly that among the team’s concerns this year is rebounding. It’s a concern for any team, of course, but McDermott’s shouldn’t be at the top of his list: Last year’s team was 27th-best in the nation in rebounding margin, and with only one main contributor lost from last year’s team this should continue to be a strength. They were, however, 222nd in field-goal percentage defense — hardly the kind of metric that matches up with the Bluejays’ No. 15 ranking in the AP poll this preseason. It would stand to reason that defense will break make or break this team. The good news is every contributor is very comfortable with the system and has 270-pound, 6-9 Gregory Echenique — the conference’s returning defensive player of the year and best shot blocker — anchoring the middle again.

Bottom line, the Sweet 16 is the goal for this team and it would be a disappointment in Omaha if they didn’t make it. What makes this year unlike any other there is the horizon-stretching potential of the Bluejays isn’t some best-case scenario dream held by the Omaha faithful alone. The talent and continuity the Bluejays boast has the nation’s eye.

What do you think?

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