Bluejays are dancing

As the weekend came to a close teams from mid major conferences began to punch their tickets into the NCAA tournament. On Sunday Creighton defeated Illinois State for the Missouri Valley Championship. A game that many believed would be between Wichita State and Creighton still gave fans exactly what they wanted to see; a close and exciting game. Creighton won in overtime to give them an automatic bid into the big dance, now the question is how far can these Bluejays go? Currently many analysts have them as a 6 or 7 seed but that could still change before the week ends.
Despite their seed Creighton remains one of the top mid major teams in the nation along with Wichita State and Saint Mary's and if they play their basketball they could potentially make some noise in the tourney.
The last few weeks have proven a lot about this team. For starters they have shown they can win close games down the stretch. With the consistency of Doug McDermott and the leadership of Antoine Young the team answered all the critics after a 3 game skid. The Missouri Valley was a very under rated conference this season, especially with College basketball having a down year. So don't expect Creighton to just be a “one and done” team when the tourney starts.
Many teams haven't faced and don't understand how to handle the combo of McDermott and Gregory Echenique. People are going to prepare for McDermott but he will still get his production, the trouble is if you focus too much on him, Echenique has the size and potential to hurt a lot of teams down low. The one thing that they will have to step up is shooting from the perimeter. Yes they remain a top team as far as shooting percentage goes but the team’s shooting production has gone down since January. In the MVC tournament they shot well and hopefully that carries over to the dance.
Three players are going to have play well in order for the Bluejays to have success. Like I said earlier, McDermott will get his points and rebounds. 1. Grant Gibbs, the glue to this team. Gibbs played spectacular in the MVC championship and I expect him to continue. His knowledge and leadership will always be there but if he knocks down the open shot when given to him he adds another scoring threat. 2. Josh Jones, the spark off of the bench. Jones can be a lock down defender and has the capability to shoot the three, not to mention if he gets out on the break he is a great finisher. His production is key going forward. 3. Echenique: standing at 6"9" and 270lbs can be a dominating force on the offensive end but more importantly on the defensive side of the ball. With his size he can alter shots and dominate the boards.

From the beginning of the season, this has been a team that believes they can play with the best of them, and I believe they are correct. Creighton is going dancing for the first time in five seasons and look for them to keep their foot on the gas pedal.