OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – With three weeks left until their seasons begin, Creighton men’s and women’s basketball held their annual Media Day on Thursday.
Both teams enter the year with preseason AP Top 25 designations. Greg McDermott said his 15th-ranked Bluejays are going through the usual growing pains of fall camp.
“There are days in practice where I am extremely pleased and I can see the progress, and there’s days where I’m like ‘what team was that?’” he said. “That’s part of October. That’s part of what these exhibition games are for, is to give us a live test to see exactly where we’re at before we get into a very difficult non-conference schedule.
The Creighton men’s team will play No. 14 Purdue in a charity exhibition game on October 26 at CHI Health Center. They will also play a closed scrimmage against Iowa State.
The Bluejays are tasked with replacing nearly 50 percent of their minutes from last year’s Sweet 16 squad. Greg McDermott picked two transfer guards out of the portal as part of that reloading effort: Pop Isaacs from Texas Tech and Jamiya Neal from Arizona State.
“Pop has really embraced our system and our style, he’s finding where his shots are coming from. Jamiya’s athletic ability and activity on both ends of the floor is going to be really important to us. We’re counting on their experience. That’s why you bring those guys in.”
Creighton women’s basketball returns four of five starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament squad: Morgan Maly, Molly Mogensen, Lauren Jensen and Mallory Brake. Replacing the productivity of All-Big East First Team forward Emma Ronsiek is no small feat, but Jim Flanery plans to give fifth-year senior Jayme Horan a chance in the starting five.
“She’s been in the program, she knows how to play,” he said of Horan, who has played 102 games over four seasons in Omaha. “I think we could be a deeper team than we were last year. But if I had to say today, probably Jayme would be our fifth starter.”
The Bluejays women’s team plays Southwest Minnesota State in an exhibition on October 30.
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