Men’s & women’s workouts are underway. The men prepare for their initial practices beginning 8 July. NCAA allows 10 practices in conjunction with summer trips.
Australia: The Jays begin preparing for their trip to Australia. Dates: 1-13 August 2019. Whiteandbluereview has daily practice reports.
LE: All East Coast Tour: Start off in Melbourne, then fly up to Cairns in the north, finally back to the middle to Brisbane.
A bit odd…like going from Miami to Boston to Virginia Beach? A whole lotta flying for the fellas.
August 5 6 p.m. Melbourne area…
(3 a.m. CST) [b]B’Ball Australia Centre of Excellence Shore School Live stats likely.
No video.[/b]
August 8 8:30 p.m. Cairns area…
(5:30 a.m. CST) Cairns Taipans Cairns Convention Centre Live stats likely.
No video.
August 12 7 p.m. Brisbane area…
Brisbane Bullets Invitational team up against the Creighton Bluejays (NCAA Division 1)
About this Event
It’s the Bluejays against the Bullets at Auchenflower Stadium, with the visitors from Creighton University to take on a Brisbane Bullets Invitational side.The Invitational team will be coached by CJ Bruton and feature players from the Bullets NBL roster and development squad, plus invited players including the best from the QBL and South East Queensland’s most promising up and coming talent.
The Omaha based university is on an Australian tour and will be keen to show off their talents against their Australian opponents. Secure your seat fast, as there won’t be tickets sold on the door (online sales only)!
Team USA: As stated previously, graduate Geoff Grosselle and Ty-Shon Alexander will represent the USA, Big East, and Creighton in the 2019 Panam Games, in Lima, Peru, from July 26 to August 11, 2019. Ty-Shon will catch up with the team in Australia afterwards. The Panam team scrimmaged yesterday (Wednesday). Won big, 102-64. See @Bigeast and Gocreighton.com Scrimmage was streamed on twitter. https://gocreighton.com/news/2019/7/24/mens-basketball-big-east-usa-team-defeats-east-coast-basketball-102-64.aspx
USA Basketball
Our latest commit, 7 footer Kelvin Jones (grad transfer) is on campus. Practicing. Needs conditioning work, but servicable.
LE: Denzel’s Back! Reports are he’s on campus, but will have to sit out 1st semester. Probably see him on the court by the Arizona St. Game.
There is an old, but ongoing discussion on Creighton boards as to the efficacy and wisdom of aiming high in recruiting. Some say “shoot for the stars” (including yours truly) and many say “be realistic and shoot for the ones we can get”. Amongst the star shooters are those who submit that since we are in a major conference, targeting top 50 recruits is part of the territory and within our range. The realistic camp says don’t waste time or resources on kids in the top 50 (we can’t realistically get) and concentrate on the 50-150 range of recruits, where we have had some successes. Creighton is notable for early identification and evaluation of talent. As such the Jays often get in early on prospects before they “blow up” into national recruits. Getting in early does not often result in getting commitments, but it does get the brand noticed on a national level. It should be noted that Alexander was a top 50 recruit when we signed him and Patton became a top 50 guy after we signed him . I submit that top 50 recruits are not out of reach for the Jays.
The current 2020 recruiting list from Creighton Rivals has 23 targets on it. The White and Blue Review list has 46 targets, of which 27 are major recruits. 14 of the Rivals list are in the Rivals Top 150, although several WBR notables are not included on the Rivals list.
Creighton 2020 Offer List (from Creighton Rivals Com)
Notable WBR targets not on the above list include: 16- Jalen Suggs, 19- Walker Kessler, 22- Cameron Thomas, 37- Cam’ron Fletcher, 60- Jayden Stone, and 85- Darius Maddox.
The argument goes that CU should focus its’ efforts on attainable talent (50-150+), to hone in on the Jayden Stones (60), Kalkbrenners (68), Carlsons (83), Richmonds (107), Springs (134), Berrys (141), Powells (149), and NR’s like Nicholson. “Get the guys we can get”. The realists see efforts to snag top 50 recruits as wasted resources and time.
The aim high group and I submit that it takes no more time or effort to recruit top 50 kids as it does the 50-150 group. The fact that CU successfully evaluates and id’s kids early also means that we are “in on” some of these elite kids from the very beginning.
Exp: Creighton offered current #20, Rivals 5-star Isaiah Jackson back in November 17, 2017…Well before he began to “blow up” into the star he is today. As such, Creighton is still in play with Jackson as he begins to narrow his list of schools. We saw yesterday that CU is amongst 6 schools with his interest. He has yet to take any visits and that will tell the tale as to who he is serious about.
Again, I submit that top 50 recruits are not out of reach for the Jays. Although rare to date for a Creighton to snag top 50 kids, it is bound to happen as CU is excellent in identifying talent, currently has several key open billets for top talent, plays in a major conference, and style-of-play is excellent for prepping guys for the pro game. Creighton has successfully put 5 guys in the current NBA, 2-3 more in the NBA’s summer league, and up to 10 players to overseas pro teams. Talent looking to play immediately and make a difference have taken notice and could well decide to give the Jays a try.
It came as a surprise to some Jays fans that Jackson expressed interest in CU. Elite talent and so-called O&D’s (Isaiah Jackson, Zaire Williams) will give the Jays consideration given the criteria in the paragraph above. But it should not come as a surprise given the elite level of evaluation given recruits by the Jays coaching staff. Elite talent could do much worse, sitting behind 1 to 2 layers of players ahead of them at so-called elite teams. It’s just a matter of time before Creighton begins to reel in some of the annual cream of the crop recruits. It’s just a matter of time before CU becomes another new destination university like Auburn, LSU, W. Kentucky, and Tx. Tech…just a matter of a little time.
