Tag: basketball

Creighton Basketball Class of 2025

On By @gtmoblueIn college basketball 365

Mac is reloading…again!

The hoops season has ended, but the hunt continues. Recruiting season is in full swing. The 2025 Transfer Portal opened a couple of weeks ago and the recruiting wars are underway in earnest.

Aleksa Dimitrijevic
Hudson Greer

New Recruits

Creighton has had one billet filled since November in Top 100 SF Hudson Greer, (247 Composite Rankings: #41/#10 SF). Greer is from Texas, but schooled at Monteverde Academy in Florida. He had over 24 major offers during his recruitment. The jays beat out Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, & Auburn, amongst others for his commitment.

Yesterday April 7, 2025 (NCAA Championship Day) they got the commitment of Serbian Ctr, Aleksa Dimitrijevic, an 18 y/o 7-footer. Dimitrijevic has played Serbia’s U18/U19 teams and briefly played pro in Europe. Virtually unknown outside of Europe, he visited 4 US universities; Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Jays. He is unranked by all the major recruiting services.

“I’m looking for a good connection with the coach. And, of course, we need to be on the same page,” Dimitrijević said. “The style of play is also important. I want to feel good so that I can play well.” Dimitrijević added: “All the schools I like don’t play the same style of play, but I can see myself in each system. I like how the guys play. I’m a five-man who can shoot threes, pick-and-pop. I can roll and defend the rim. I want to be myself wherever I go.”

Back in February, he told to 247Sports.

Transfers

Mac’s staff has been busy in the portal as well. Creighton has signed 3 Four-star transfers thus far this Spring.

Freeman
Graves
Dix

PF/C Owen Freeman, 6-10/Iowa, followed by PG Nik Graves, 6-4/UNCC, and SG Josh Dix, 6-6/Iowa. Both guards are seniors-to-be, while Freeman is an incoming junior. See Gocreighton.com for more info on each new player and on the returning squad. https://gocreighton.com/sports/mens-basketball/archives

This combined class fills all the perceived team needs following the 4-man graduating class and outgoing support player transfers. Two current and one former Bluejays followed now Head Coach Mike Miller to Murray State University ( Mason Miller, Fred King, and former Jay Ben Shtolzberg). Star guard Pop Isaac (to U of Houston), SG Sterling Knox (Indy CC), and Frosh SG Larry Johnson (McNeese St) have also entered the portal.

See the White & Blue Review for additional, individual bios on the new players. https://whiteandbluereview.com/category/mens-basketball/

13 Apr 2025: Breaking News! / Late Entry

Breaking News!

Well Done! Well deserved accolades…

Creighton’s record setting center, Ryan Kalkbrenner, the 1st Team All Big East and 4x Big East DPOY, is racking up postseason awards. Ryan has earned:

USBWA – 2nd Team All American

NABC – 2nd Team All American

AP – 3rd Team All American

Wooden Award All American

NABC – Defensive Player of the Year

Naismith Award – Defensive Player of the Year

Naismith/Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award, Best Center in the Country

The Florissant, Missouri native has been the rock/pillar of Creighton Basketball these past 5 years and is well deserving of all of these accolades, and more. Well deserved Big Ryan. Well done, Sir!

James Harvey A.K.A. gtmoBlue

*All images courtesy of Creighton Athletics_2025.

2025 Players Era Festival Expands!

On By @gtmoblueIn college basketball 365

The field expands to 18 teams.

The Players Era Festival is a week-long tournament in Las Vegas with NIL opportunities for players.

The Players Era Festival debuted in 2024 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and was a huge success! The tournament will feature a new format in 2025 with an expanded field. The structure will combine international style-group play with championship games.

The tournament website indicated it committed to providing $9 million in NIL to players in the 2024 tournament outside of competition. It stated that more than $50 million will be available in NIL in the next three years through activities that comply with NCAA rules.

Oregon beat Alabama to win the inaugural Players Era championship in November. The field also included Creighton, San Diego State, Houston, Rutgers and Notre Dame.

For the 2025 season, the festival has expanded to an 18-team field. Tennessee is the 18th team in 2025. The field so far consists of Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Iowa State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State, St. Joe’s, St. John’s, Syracuse and Texas A&M.

Players Era team.

Players Era was created by EverWonder Studio and Seth Berger. The first ever festival was hosted by partner MGM Resorts International at the iconic MGM Grand Garden Arena.

EverWonder is a new independent content studio led by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer Ian Orefice – the former President of TIME and TIME Studios – and backed by RedBird IMI and Jeff Zucker – the former President of NBCUniversal, CNN, and Turner Sports.

Seth Berger has been the CEO of four consumer businesses, including being the Founder and CEO of AND 1 Basketball.

MGM Resorts International is a global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife, and retail offerings.