Creighton beat Nebraska. Nebraska now 1-2. As we recall, NU thumped us in an exhibition game that was otherwise meaningless outside of the fact that it really helped our young guys grow. Did nothing for Nebraska as I expected, but did help us. I'm guessing we would beat Nebraska in a regular season game. Still, something to note. Creighton is not rebuilding. They are reloading for sure. Good team that recruited well.
Creighton has top transfer Ryan Hawkins from Northwest Missouri State at Forward. 4* highly touted recruit Ryan Nembhard at point guard. 4* highly regarded power forward Arthur Kaluma at PF. All 3 start for them. They also have 4* highly touted guard Trey Alexander as first player off the bench. They basically play all but 1 of their top 10 ranked recruiting class. Very similar to what CU did in their off season outside of our transfer re-transferring. 4 from that class of 5 + 1 transfer play significantly. Both teams are about the same experience wise so it will be pretty interesting if we meet.
CSU beat some team named Peru State which is an NAIA team by 20. This, after beating Arkansas Pine-Bluff by 20, whom Creighton also beat by 13 and Wyoming beat by 40. CSU does have the big victory over Oral Roberts, but I admit, I haven't a clue how good Oral Roberts is. Before their big run at the end of last season, they were a NET 160 having lost to every P6 team they played plus all the Dakotas. They then went on a sweet 16 tear by winning their conference tourney and those first 2 games of the NCAA tournament. They lost some dudes so they could be worse than the NET 160 team they were last year before the run.
Kenpom says:
CU - 43
CSU - 57
Creighton - 60
Southern Illinois - 135
Northeastern - 178
Duquesne - 189
Then again, it's early season rankings and it's biased. Still, not sure any team will be as battle tested as CU. Both CU's played Nebraska. MSU is probably better than every other team the others has played including Oral Roberts. New Mexico most certainly is as they have talent all over. We also have the least amount of depth of the 3 squads. CSU's squad is super deep. 14 scholarship players deep. Creighton can play 12. We can play 10. CSU can throw a plethora of guards at you and now has some size in the post. Roddy is the toughest match up of the tournament. Isaiah Stevens will be the best guard and their new guard Brandon Jacobs is one to look out for. Creighton's young freshman pup Ryan Nembhard is looking really strong at point guard. Will be fun to see he and KJ mix it up. Ryan Hawkins makes me wish we had Jeriah Horne back. By the way, Jeriah's Tulsa team beat Oregon State with Jeriah going 17 points and 10 rebounds on them.
Going to be a fun tournament. We will get either CSU or Creighton, but not both. We will play Southern Illinois and then the winner of Northeastern and Duquesne before getting to either CSU or CU-Creighton.
Creighton has top transfer Ryan Hawkins from Northwest Missouri State at Forward. 4* highly touted recruit Ryan Nembhard at point guard. 4* highly regarded power forward Arthur Kaluma at PF. All 3 start for them. They also have 4* highly touted guard Trey Alexander as first player off the bench. They basically play all but 1 of their top 10 ranked recruiting class. Very similar to what CU did in their off season outside of our transfer re-transferring. 4 from that class of 5 + 1 transfer play significantly. Both teams are about the same experience wise so it will be pretty interesting if we meet.
CSU beat some team named Peru State which is an NAIA team by 20. This, after beating Arkansas Pine-Bluff by 20, whom Creighton also beat by 13 and Wyoming beat by 40. CSU does have the big victory over Oral Roberts, but I admit, I haven't a clue how good Oral Roberts is. Before their big run at the end of last season, they were a NET 160 having lost to every P6 team they played plus all the Dakotas. They then went on a sweet 16 tear by winning their conference tourney and those first 2 games of the NCAA tournament. They lost some dudes so they could be worse than the NET 160 team they were last year before the run.
Kenpom says:
CU - 43
CSU - 57
Creighton - 60
Southern Illinois - 135
Northeastern - 178
Duquesne - 189
Then again, it's early season rankings and it's biased. Still, not sure any team will be as battle tested as CU. Both CU's played Nebraska. MSU is probably better than every other team the others has played including Oral Roberts. New Mexico most certainly is as they have talent all over. We also have the least amount of depth of the 3 squads. CSU's squad is super deep. 14 scholarship players deep. Creighton can play 12. We can play 10. CSU can throw a plethora of guards at you and now has some size in the post. Roddy is the toughest match up of the tournament. Isaiah Stevens will be the best guard and their new guard Brandon Jacobs is one to look out for. Creighton's young freshman pup Ryan Nembhard is looking really strong at point guard. Will be fun to see he and KJ mix it up. Ryan Hawkins makes me wish we had Jeriah Horne back. By the way, Jeriah's Tulsa team beat Oregon State with Jeriah going 17 points and 10 rebounds on them.
Going to be a fun tournament. We will get either CSU or Creighton, but not both. We will play Southern Illinois and then the winner of Northeastern and Duquesne before getting to either CSU or CU-Creighton.
