Last year, the Creighton men’s basketball team set a school record for win with 29, won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis and advanced the third round of the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Jays are looking to do even more.

Four starters and nine rotation players return from a squad that was one of the best offensive teams in the country last year.

Leading the way is All-American junior forward Doug McDermott, the nation’s third-leading scorer at 22.9 points per game. McDermott also led the Jays in rebounding with 8.2 per game and shot an incredible 60.1 percent from the field and 48.6 from 3-point range. He can put the ball in the hole from anywhere on the court, as he is equally adept at shooting from deep and scoring in the post. McDermott was voted MVC Player of the Year as a sophomore a year ago and is the only returning First Team All-American in the country. McDermott received plenty of preseason recognition after his terrific sophomore season as he was picked to repeat as MVC Player of the Year and was named to the preseason All-MVC First Team for the second straight season. He also got national attention as he was named the first preseason AP All-American in MVC history and is one of the favorites to take home National Player of the Year honors. If McDermott can continue to improve and build off of his sophomore season, the sky is the limit, both for him and this team.

Starting alongside McDermott on the front line is senior center Gregory Echenique, the reigning MVC Defensive Player of the Year. Echenique averaged 9.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and led the conference in total blocked shots last year. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound big man is an intimidating force in the paint and is nearly impossible to back down in the post. Echenique is also looking to be more of a factor on the offensive end in his senior season.

“He’s in better shape, I think his hands, his footwork are better, he’s shooting the ball better, but I think he’s kind of got more of a sense of urgency,” senior guard Grant Gibbs said about Echenique’s improvement. “He’s more focused and he’s trying to dominate every possession rather than kind of floating in and out of the game when he doesn’t get touches.”

Echenique was one of four All-MVC honorable mentions, and the duo of him and McDermott gives Creighton one of the most formidable frontcourts not only in the Valley, but in the country.

Gibbs returns on the wing and gives the Jays on of the best passers in the conference, as he finished second in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio last year. Gibbs is the glue guy for this team, the one willing to do all the little things needed to win. He can feed the ball to McDermott and Echenique in the post and can distribute it to the shooters on the perimeter, he can crash the boards and he can step up defensively when called upon. Gibbs said that there may be more opportunities for him to score as well this year without Young, but he’s not going to force anything and will just let the game come to him.

“I’m a pass-first guard, but I think there will be more opportunities maybe for me to shoot. That’s one of those kinds of things that works itself out.”

Gibbs put up a very well-rounded stat-line last year of 7.0 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, and the same all-around game should be expected of him again this year.

Sophomore point guard Austin Chatman will step into the starting line-up this year, replacing Antoine Young. He has some big shoes to fill, as Young was a three-year starter and 1,000-point scorer, but he got some valuable experience as Young’s back-up last year. Chatman struggled some with fouls and turnovers as a freshman, but that is typical for young players making the transition.

“A lot of that was experience and seeing things and the game really has slowed down for me so that’s helped a lot,” Chatman said.

Chatman is lightning quick with great court vision whose ability to drive and kick should fit in well with a roster full of shooters.

Sophomore shooting guard Jahenns Manigat rounds out the starting five. He is a deadly long-range shooter who connected on 46.8 percent of his attempts from 3-point range last year. Manigat said he put in a lot of work on his ball-handling over the summer and is ready to step up and play a bigger role.

“I think my ball-handling, definitely, is something I really wanted to focus on with Antoine being gone [this] year. He took a lot of pressure off of us with the way he was able to handle the ball and put guys in the right spots,” Manigat said. “Austin’s probably going to come in as a starter for the first time in his career, so it’s up to me, it’s up to Grant Gibbs to help him out and put guys in the right spots as well so I wanted to really work on my ball-handling in order to do that.”

Senior guard Josh Jones and junior forward Ethan Wragge lead the charge off the bench. Jones gives the team another shooter off the bench, as well as someone who can create his own shot off the dribble.

“I’m a natural scorer,” Jones said. “If the team calls for me to do that I’m going to step up.”

At 6-foot-7, Wragge can defend both power forwards and centers on one end and is one of the best outside shooters in the conference on the other.

Sophomore center Will Artino and guard Avery Dingman stepped in as back-ups last year as freshmen, and return with a year of experience under their belt. The 6-foot-11 Artino is a solid rebounder and showed off his dunking ability by winning this year’s dunk contest at Bluejay Madness. Dingman is yet another shooter, and head coach Greg McDermott said Dingman is looking like the team’s best perimeter defender.

Two or three new players will be joining the lineup in addition to the returners. Freshmen guard Nevin Johnson and center Geoff Groselle redshirted last year and will be fighting to crack the rotation this year. Johnson provides athleticism while Groselle is a true 7-footer.

Two freshman guards, Andre Yates and Isaiah Zierden, are competing to play right away at the back-up point guard spot. Yates is more of a true point guard and is an athletic scorer, while Zierden is a deadly 3-point shooter.

“Andre Yates is a great guard, he’s going to be a great player in the Valley once his time is here and Isaiah can handle the ball just as well as anybody as well as adds that extra dimension as a point guard to be able to shoot it,” Manigat said.

Last season, the Jays spent most of the season ranked in the top 25 before finishing at No. 19 in the AP poll. They played well during the nonconference schedule, with their only loss coming at St. Joseph’s University Hawks. In the postseason, they were named a No. 8 seed and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament by knocking off the University of Alabama before falling to the No. 1 seed University of North Carolina.

This year, expectations are higher than ever and the Jays are looking to go even farther. Creighton was ranked No. 16 the preseason AP Poll, the highest the Jays have ever been ranked at the beginning of the year. They were also ranked No. 15 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll. The Jays have received plenty of national attention over the offseason and are universally considered one of the best mid-major teams in the country. They are not letting the attention get to their heads, however.

“I think it’s hard to just completely ignore it but for the most part, just focusing on our group and having a tight-knit circle and just keeping that mentality of next practice, next possession, next game, not looking forward and focusing on getting better every day.”

The Jays begin their march back to the tournament with a solid nonconference schedule featuring several tough tests. The Jays open the season at home on Nov. 9 against the University of North Texas, a talented team featuring one of the best players in the country in power forward Tony Mitchell Jr. Creighton heads west later in November to participate in the Las Vegas Classic. Their opening game in the classic on Nov. 23 is against the No. 23 University of Wisconsin, a Big Ten team who likes to slow the game down and play lockdown defense.

“I think [the non-conference schedule] really will [test us],” Doug McDermott said. “That Vegas tournament is going to be good for us and also playing North Texas, who is one of the top mid-majors and has a really good player and a good friend of mine, Tony Mitchell, so that will be a good battle.”

Creighton hosts St. Joe’s on Dec. 1 and are looking to avenge last year’s loss to the Hawks. The Bluejays close out the road portion of the non-conference schedule in Berkeley against the University of California. The Golden Bears made the NCAA Tournament a year ago and return leading scorer guard Allen Crabbe.

But the non-conference schedule is only the beginning. The Jays have big goals this year and have their sights set on a deep run in March. Head coach Greg McDermott specifically mentioned a Sweet 16 appearance as something the team is attempting to accomplish.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting that out there,” McDermott said. “I think our team’s expectations are probably very similar to that. We’re certainly not going to hide from it, but at the same time we understand there’s a target on our back. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then if we expect to have an opportunity to have that happen.”

Gibbs doesn’t entirely agree with his coach, however.

“It’s a great goal obviously,” Gibbs said. “I would disagree with him a little, and I know it sounds lofty, but everybody’s goal should be to compete for a national championship. I understand for us that’s different… but if you’re not shooting for that, then what are you playing for? We get to the Sweet 16, and then what are we going to do? Obviously, building on last year, that’s a great goal to have. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get back to the tournament, but that’s a great goal to say.”

Creighton is the highest-ranked mid-major team in this year’s preseason polls, but in order to be considered on the same level as programs like Gonzaga University and Butler University, McDermott says they still need to show consistent success, particularly in the tournament.

“I also think one thing that we don’t have that all those schools have is they’ve had an appearance in the Sweet 16 or beyond,” McDermott said. “When you get to that second weekend in the NCAA Tournament, things change … We’ve fallen short of that on several opportunities, and I hope sooner or later we’ll kick that door down.”

Doug McDermott said he thinks this could be the year they kick that door down.

“I think the sky’s the limit,” Doug McDermott said. “We’ve got a lot of expectations for ourselves. We know we can go far … We have the pieces returning and we’ve got some really good coaching as well. I think it could be a really good year.

Creighton received 38 of 40 first place votes in this year’s MVC preseason poll and are the clear favorites to win the Valley. Although the Jays didn’t win the regular season title last year, they did capture the tournament crown in St. Louis by knocking off the Illinois State University Redbirds in the championship game. This year, the Jays are looking to defend their title and know that the other teams are going to be gunning for them.

“I’d say everybody [is our biggest competition] because we’re going to get everybody’s best shot this year in conference,” Chatman said.

Greg McDermott mentioned some of the teams that will likely be Creighton’s top competition for the Valley crown.

“I think some teams return a significant portion of their roster,” McDermott said. “Certainly Northern Iowa and Illinois State are very talented, Wichita State, even though they’ve lost quite a bit, had a great recruiting class and had some guys sitting out that I think can have an impact right away.”

Illinois State was picked to finish second in the Valley, and was the only team other than Creigthon to receive first place votes. The Redbirds lost head coach Tim Jankovich and starting point guard Nic Moore to Southern Methodist University over the summer, but still return plenty of talent lead by All-MVC First Team selection forward Jackie Carmicheal.

The University of Northern Iowa Panthers were picked to finish third and return four starters including seniors point guard Anthony James and forward Jake Koch, as well as last year’s MVC Freshman of the Year Seth Tuttle.

Wichita State University, who was picked to finish fourth, lost its top four players to graduation, but returns senior forward Carl Hall and brings in a talented group of newcomers including University of Oregon transfer guard Malcolm Armstead and top 100 recruit freshman guard Fred VanVleet.

McDermott said he expects the bottom half of the conference to be improved as well.

“I think some of the teams at the bottom are going to be better,” McDermott said. “I think Bradley will be improved, I think Evansville will be good again, I think Drake with Seth VanDeest coming back will be a better basketball team than they were a year ago.”

Evansville was picked to finish fifth, right behind the Shockers, and they boast one of the best players in the conference in preseason All-MVC First Team guard Colt Ryan, who averaged over 20 points per game last season.

Drake features another All-MVC First Teamer in forward Ben Simons, and also get 6-foot-11 center Seth VanDeest back after the big man sat out all of last year with an injury.

“Once again, I expect it to be a dog fight and hopefully we’re on of the teams in that fight,” McDermott said about the overall competition in the Valley.

However, there should be no let-down as the Jays are determined to do what they failed to do last year: finish atop the regular season standings.

“We kind of let [the regular season title] slip away from us last year in the month of February and we’re kind of eager to get back at it,” Manigat said. “And then obviously, to get back up there to 29 wins, it’s going to be hard to break that with all the teams gunning at us and understanding how good we can be but we feel like collectively we have not only the confidence but the ability to do that as well.”