Bluenotes

2019-20 Schedule shaping up to be a monster.

Creighton has received preseason rankings in several of the major media outlets. For this article, the USAtoday poll is featured. Jays are 21st in the USAtoday Poll. With today’s news that the Jays will once again be taking part in the Gavit Games for 2019, the OOC schedule is shaping up.

Jon Rothstein‏Verified account @JonRothstein 2 hours ago

Sources: Matchups for the 2019 Gavitt Games are set.

Villanova at Ohio State, Michigan State at Seton Hall, Creighton at Michigan, Purdue at Marquette, Providence at Northwestern, Penn State at Georgetown, Minnesota at Butler, DePaul at Iowa

Creighton is still in the mix for a game in the 6th annual Veteran’s Classic in Annapolis, MD.

Here’s what we have so far for the 2019-20 campaign:

Date	Opponent	Time	TV/Notes/Preseason ranking
2019-20
Nov. 11th	Veterans Classic, Apls, MD vs. Auburn or UVA	TBD	USAtoday Aub 24th, UVA 4th/CBS
	Gavitt Games vs. B1G (Yr 5 of 8, Game 5) @ Michigan	TBD	USAtoday 3rd/BTN/FS1
	LV Invitational Home Game	TBD	FS1/FS2/FSN
	LV Invitational Home Game	TBD	FS1/FS2/FSN
Nov. 28th	Las Vegas Invitational vs. Iowa	Source	USAtoday 16th/FS1
Nov. 29th	Las Vegas Invitational vs. Texas Tech or San Diego State	University Release	USAtoday TT 22nd/FS1
Dec.	Nebraska	TBD	FS1
Dec.	Big East/Big 12 Challenge* Oklahoma	TBD	FS1
Dec. 21st	@ Arizona State	Source	TBD

That’s up to 4 ranked opponents on the non-conference slate. Strong OOC indeed. Three neutral court and 1 true road game. With CU’s habit of strong early starts, this schedule offers opportunities for an early season rise in the rankings, increasing viewership and respect for the team, and permanently ingraining the brand into poll voters heads.

The Oklahoma game was a previously scheduled return game of a H&H, now part of the inaugural BE/B12 Challenge. I will update as more dates are established for this slate.

Jays in the Mix

billy32

The media couldn’t wait to put out their next season predictions. Some even posted the day of the NCAA Championship game. Poor Virginia hadn’t yet cut down the nets. Oh well, such is life.

I took a look at these polls and found that our Creighton Bluejays are represented in approximately half of the ones I found. Jays are listed in the major polls except Sporting News. Here’s the list.

NBC 19^th

USA Today 21^st

Stadium 22^nd

CBS 23rd

ESPN 24^th

SI 27^th

TheAthletic 38th (late entry)

Jays not ranked by Fox, Sporting News, 247, Yahoo, Busting Brackets, and SB Nation.

Creighton’s rankings are based predominantly on their returning all five starters and retaining a strong supporting cast. Average of rankings: 23^rd (22.8). The Athletic (Seth Davis) only has Nova in his top 25. He also rated the Jays 4th in their BE Power Rankings, behind Nova, Seton Hall, and Xavier.

Team_2018-19

The Jays recruiting class consists of transfer guard/sf Denzel Mahoney (who sat out last season) and guards Shereef Mitchell and Jalen Windham. SF Antwann Jones will sit out this season.