By Joel Welser

Creighton is just one of 16 teams to win at least 20 games a year for the past six seasons. The Bluejays have also gone to seven consecutive postseasons. There is no reason to believe that either of those two streaks will end this year. They may not be the favorites going into the season, but that has never stopped them before from having a very successful year. Last year they bowed out to Nebraska in the first round of the NIT. Creighton had beaten the Cornhuskers their last five meetings, including a victory earlier in the season.

Who’s Out: Starters Brody Deren and Mike Grimes are gone. The frontcourt duo combined for over 20 points per game and were the top two in rebounding. The frontcourt loses even more depth with roleplayers Joe Dabbert and Michael Lindeman. They each played in all 29 games and averaged 7.4 and 5.9 points, respectively.

Who’s In: It is no surprise that the big guys were on the mind of head coach Dana Altman when he hit the recruiting trail. Junior college transfer Dennis Howard should compete for a starting job. Center Steve Smith and forward Dane Watts will add some much needed depth to the frontcourt. Nick Porter, the only guard of the class, had stops in Southern Utah and Compton Community College before landing in Omaha. The 6-3 combo guard can create opportunities for his teammates and shoot the ball if he needs to.

Who to Watch: It isn’t just Nate Funk’s name that makes him memorable. The kid can play. He started to show promise towards the end of his freshman season and hasn’t looked back. As a sophomore last year, he stepped it up and proved that he can be a big time scorer. He led the squad with 11.1 points per game. Even though he plays the two guard, Funk managed to average an impressive 2.7 assists per contest. Funk is a consistent scorer who can be counted on to put up solid numbers day in and day out.

Projected Conference Rank: Northern Iowa and Wichita State made some late season runs last year and hope to continue that success. The battles in the MVC will be tough as always, but this is where Creighton has thrived in the past. Anything less then a 3rd place finish in the conference would be disappointing.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NIT