Creighton punched its ticket to the Big Dance by winning the Missouri Valley conference championship. The Bluejays will be making their 18th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Here are five things you probably didn’t know about Creighton:
1. Coach’s son Doug McDermott is one of the best players in the country. Doug, who is the son of head coach Greg McDermott, ranks second in the nation in scoring at 23.1 points per game. He’s also pulling down 7.5 rebounds per game and shoots 56 percent from the field. With good size (6-8) and a sweet shooting stroke, McDermott could end up as a first-team All-American for the second straight year.
2. Big man Gregory Echenique hasn’t been there forever. It only seems that way. Echenique, who rocks pink sneakers with the mistaken idea that they are “fresh,” averages 9.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for Creighton. Echenique is a three-year starter and played his first season at Rutgers, where he averaged 8.4 points per game.
3. The Jays are one of the most efficient offensive teams in the nation. Creighton averages 75.4 points per game, which ranks 24th in the nation. They also lead the country in field goal percentage (thanks in large part to McDermott), shooting .508 as a team.
4. They move the ball around. Despite having a prodigious scorer in McDermott (who is someone who they can run half-court sets around), Creighton averages 17.2 assists per game, which ranks fifth in the country. Point guard Grant Gibbs averages 6 dimes per game himself.
5. They’ll be in the Big East next year. Creighton is reportedly set to join Xavier, Butler, and the Catholic Seven in the new-look Big East next year. You should see the Bluejays at Madison Square Garden come conference tournament time in 2014.
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Kels Dayton is a freelance writer whose work has also appeared in SLAM Magazine. You can check out more of his work at RoundballDaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @RoundballDaily.