21st Century: Basketball’s Best of the Best

Top 25 since 2000!

Your Creighton Bluejays are holding form. The Jays included in the new CBS compilation of the top 25 Div 1 teams since the turn of the century (2000). Kyle Boone’s Sep 10, 2025 compilation is hard to argue with.


Creighton – at #25, is 1 of 3 Big East teams to make the cut, joining #3 Connecticut & #8 Villanova on this list. Well done Big East! Well done Huskies, Wildcats, and Bluejays!

In such compilations folks talk of overall records, NCAA championships, NCAA runs, conference reg. season & tourney championships, and consistency (Body of Work).

Body of Work: Those who know me, know that in my humble opinion, BoW is the Top Metric to determine a program’s value, its’ excellence, and the prime measure in determining a program’s standing amongst/relative to its’ peers. Body of Work, again imho, was the dominating metric which gained Creighton access into the ‘Big Leagues’, aka, the Big East Conference, over stiff competition of similarly stationed mid-majors back in 2013. Creighton has chronically been in, at, or near the Top 50 basketball programs for decades, regardless of organization(s) doing the compilations. The Jays are a testament to great coaches, consistent and forward thinking AD’s, and program support and funding from its’ Administrations. Kudos Creighton University – Well Done!

Now, #25 is good. As I am apt to say – championships matter! The Jays could have easily overtaken the likes of Illinois, VCU, SDSU, OSU, Purdue, & UCLA, to break into the Top 20 of this list. By winning 2 or 3 BET Finals (0-5) and/or a 2nd Big East RS title, Creighton would have vaulted past these teams. However, it is what it is. Making such a list is a pronouncement to the nation that Creighton is clearly established as one of the nation’s top teams – cementing one of the early goals upon making the jump to the Big East.

Nice list CBS.

Boone however, goes on and here’s where things get tricky. Today, 11 Sep 2025, he then projects ahead for the next 25 years! That’s assuming that we will still have an NCAA, P4+ conferences, and an NCAA tourney. This forward-looking prognostication is dripping with both P4 and recency bias! It looks more akin to a recent ‘Selection Sunday’ list than a holistic take on projecting the next quarter century, lol. However, it’s his opinion. I would give the BE at least 1 more team ( and eventually add the 3 ACC teams into the expanded Big East- within the next 3-5 years.) on this projection. Creighton is just beginning to stretch its’ NIL and program continuity legs. I’ll put my dinar on such persistent continuity, on a proud basketball tradition, on a continuing rich program heritage and legacy!

  • He blatantly projects
  • B1G – 9 teams
  • SEC – 5 teams
  • B12 – 5 teams (BYU)
  • ACC – 3 teams
  • BE – 1 team (UConn)
  • Gonzaga / Memphis

All-in-all CBS and kyle Boone put forth a nice exercise here. Kudos to CBS.

James Harvey, a.k.a. @gtmoBlue

Whoa! Late Edition-Breaking News!

Center Aleksa Dimitrijevic on Campus!!

Jays add a Late Addition to team- 20 y/o Turkish Ctr Kerem Konan.

Your Creighton Bluejays just added some insurance to the questionable depth/lack of depth in the pivot today. Two excellent european players for the pivot. Both have been cleared by the NCAA.

1. Serbian Frosh Ctr Aleksa Dimitrijevic has arrived on campus in Omaha, as of August 15th . Fresh off the FIBA U19 competition in Europe. Highly regarded, talented, & skilled, Aleksa is deemed an able replacement for the departed Ryan Kalkbrenner.

https://twitter.com/ADimitrijevic27/status/1956190659506851972

https://twitter.com/ADimitrijevic27/status/1956879891669877066

2. August 17th (today) – The Jays sign a 20 y/o Turkish center with plenty of experience. Kerem Konan has been a consistent feature on Turkish National Teams since 2021 (U18, U19, U20).

https://gocreighton.com/news/2025/8/17/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-signs-kerem-konan

There had been some uncertainty as to whether or not Serbian Center Aleksa Dimitrijevic would be cleared by the NCAA. It is too late for portal acquisitions. Thus, the Jays went back to the EU, shopping for additional talent. The additions of both Aleksa and Kerem, add highly talented & experienced depth to the center position, a troubling concern after the departures of both Ryan Kalkbrenner and backup Fred King. The Jays had earlier signed U of Iowa transfer center Owen Freeman, who is recovering from surgery. Freeman should be cleared in October, but now will not be rushed into action.

Coach Huss had been reportedly back in Europe, beating the bushes for talent. His excursion has paid off handsomely with the Konan commitment.

James Harvey, A.K.A @gtmoBlue