As of Jan. 23, men’s basketball is 11-8, fourth in the Big East and haven’t been ranked since early Dec. when the Jays were in the midst of a brutal six game losing streak.
As the team has returned to being fully healthy and shooting splits are improving, the looming question is whether coach Greg McDermott’s Bluejays can revive their preseason expectations of being a Final Four bound, top-10 team in the nation.
The good thing is that things are starting to look up for the Jays. The squad has won their last two games, including a home affair over No. 19 Providence, their first win in six games against a ranked opponent since a Nov. 22 win in Maui over now unranked Arkansas. The Jays received votes in this week’s AP Poll for the third consecutive week, and experts are slowly starting to re-project them in the March Madness field of 68.
The list of reasons why they can turn things around and not only make the tournament as an at-large, but can even win a Big East championship this season, is that now is the perfect time to get hot. The bottom line, however, is beating the weaker teams in the conference.
The Jays also play the majority of their remaining tough games at home, including against current No. 13 Xavier, No. 16 Marquette and No. 19 UConn. This is crucial as the Jays are 8-1 at the CHI Health Center, shooting 51% from the field compared to a mere 43.4% away from home.
Those shooting splits may not look great, but that’s not to say the Jays aren’t taking good shots. In fact, Creighton ranked eighth in Shot Quality, a system that assesses shot outcomes based on an evaluation of the quality of the shot. Similarly, the Jays are No. 13 in KenPom, No. 20 in NCAA’s NET and a top-10 Strength-of-Schedule rating.
In short, if the Jays keep doing what they have been since the six game skid in December’s month from hell, they should be poised to make a big run in March.
One thing that could still be improved upon is the team’s ability to finish close games, including the effectiveness of plays McDermott draws up out of timeouts. Additionally, the Jays could benefit from ceding more playing time to promising freshmen Mason Miller (11-24 from three) and Ben Shtolzberg.
After having played St. John’s at home on dollar beer night Wednesday, Creighton will host Big East-leading No. 13 Xavier for a pink-out Saturday at 11:15 a.m. in a critical revenge matchup.