Creighton Preview, 2025-26

Greg McDermott passed Dana Altman as the winningest coach in Creighton history last year. Creighton's fifth straight NCAA Tournament bid matched a program best originally set from 1999-2003. In his 15 seasons, McDermott has as many Sweet 16 and Elite 8 appearances as Creighton did in its entire history before he arrived. It's safe to say the state of Creighton's program has never been stronger, even in a bit of a rebuilding year. The question is if that will sustain beyond McDermott's tenure, as he brought in former Creighton assistant and High Point head coach Alan Huss to be the coach in waiting. But how Creighton fares in the post-McDermott world is a question for another day.

Rotation

Style of Play

McDermott runs an offense where players are in constant motion, working for an open shooting look. They spread teams out, creating space with shooters and running off constant screens to create open shots and rim running cuts. When they drive or post up, it's usually the off-ball players you should watch because the ball-handler is likely looking to spray it out to the perimeter for an open three. While there's typically a lead ball handler, Creighton tends to have 2-3 players capable of creating shots for others and will usually have four or five legit three point threats surrounding (or including) a big man. McDermott's bigs usually develop into long-range threats (if at lower frequency) so don't be surprised to see Freeman step out as well. When he does, it will likely be off a pick-and-pop, though the bigs are equally effective rolling to the rim off a pick. And while they don't create offense through turnovers, they do love to run in transition. Creighton will attack off makes or defensive rebounds if the opportunity presents itself.

Creighton killed teams inside and should be better from three

Shot chart from CBBAnalytics.com | Range Percentages from Hoop-explorer.com

Creighton has played a lot of drop coverage in recent years. This was because Ryan Kalkbrenner excelled in this, using his length to be a disruptive mismatch on the perimeter then fading back to the rim to block shots and protect the paint. While Kalkbrenner developed into a respectable rebounder, Creighton rebounds as a team and mitigates the risks of drop with collective effort. The Jays are well schooled to defend without fouling (top-4 nationally in free throw rate each of the past four years) and chase teams off the three point line. However, that was all with four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year Kalkbrenner as the defensive backbone. The five best defensive ranks for Creighton under Greg McDermott all came with Kalkbrenner. His average defensive rating before that was 98.2. The four transfers projected to play on this team all come from teams that were sub-160 defenses last year. As good as Creighton will be on offense, there's a good chance they are just as bad on defense.

2025-26 Outlook 

The Jays will be a tale of two ends of the court. Offensively, they will be lethal. Defensively, they will likely be a sieve. Creighton will try to turn every game into a shooting contest, and while they'd likely beat most teams in an empty gym, they will struggle with teams that can chase them off the three-point line and have the physicality and quickness to disrupt their offensive flow. I don't really see them stopping much of anyone. As far as who they brought in, defense is a massive problem. Graves was a mediocre defender in the American. Harper was a bad defender in the MEAC. At Iowa, three of (notoriously poor defensive coach) Fran McCaffrey's worse five defenses were the past three years, which coincide with three years of Josh Dix and two of Owen Freeman. These teams remind me a lot of Creighton's teams when they first entered the Big East. Elite shooting, but unable to stop anyone. That should be good enough for a top-half league finish and at-large bid, but they don't look complete enough for a deep run in March.

One Man's Opinion

Creighton checks in at #3 in the Big East. This team should have a top-20 offense, but in his 14 pre-Kalkbrenner high-major seasons, McDermott's average kenpom defense ranked 89.4 with zero top-45 finishes and four sub-120 finishes. This roster certainly doesn't look like it will be at the high end of those averages. Creighton can get hot enough to beat anyone on a given night, but they don't have the defense to stop anyone that can slow their attack enough to keep up on the scoreboard. Ultimately, their placement here comes down to trust. I trust their offense more than I trust St. John's on either end of the court. But in a league where Creighton's offense and Marquette's defense should both be high level, I trust Marquette more on the offensive end thanks to Nevada Smith's system than I do Creighton on the defensive end thanks to McDermott's history without Kalkbrenner. Expect them to be wearing home whites in the first round of the NCAA Tournament but lacking the two-way quality to challenge for a Big East title or deep tourney run.