The Creighton men’s basketball team is a No. 6 seed for the NCAA Tournament, facing No. 11 seed North Carolina State in Friday’s first round in Denver.
The 21-11 Bluejays, in the South Region, are in a pod opposite No. 3 seed Baylor, which will play 14th-seeded UC Santa Barbara. Alabama, the No. 1 overall seed, is the top team in the region, which will play Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in Louisville, Ky.
It’s Creighton’s 24th trip to the NCAA Tournament and the eighth under coach Greg McDermott, who led the Bluejays to the Sweet Sixteen in 2021. Last season, CU won a first round game over San Diego State, then put a good scare into eventual national champion Kansas.
That result — and a large number of returning players for this season — led poll voters to tab CU as a preseason Top 10 team and a trendy pick for the Final Four. After a strong start to the season — including Maui Invitational wins over Texas Tech and Arkansas — the Bluejays struggled through a six-game losing streak, in part because Ryan Kalkbrenner battled an undisclosed illness.
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When Kalkbrenner returned, CU rebounded, winning a series of games in January and February over teams like Connecticut, Xavier and Providence. Creighton finished third in the Big East regular season race and advanced to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.
