Creighton Basketball

Creighton basketball player Maurice Watson Jr. turned himself into police Sunday afternoon on charges of first-degree sexual assault, per Kevin Cole and Nancy Gaarder of the Omaha World-Herald.

Cole and Gaarder noted the arrest warrant for Watson was issued Thursday, and he turned himself in about an hour after "police issued a statement voicing concern about Watson's whereabouts and the fact that he'd not yet materialized."

Adam Krueger of CBS Omaha, Nebraska, shared Watson's mugshot:

Mugshot of suspended #Creighton guard Maurice Watson, Jr. who turned himself in a couple hours ago to Omaha Police pic.twitter.com/iD80Bxv5qc

— Adam Krueger (@AdamKruegerTV) February 26, 2017

According to Cole and Gaarder, Watson will make his initial court appearance Monday after spending Sunday in county jail.

Watson's attorneys denied the allegations and were also frustrated with the police statement on Sunday questioning his whereabouts.

"He was never dodging the police," attorney Mallory Hughes said, per Cole and Gaarder.

The attorneys said Watson found out about the arrest Thursday night through the media when he was in his hometown of Philadelphia rehabbing from a season-ending torn ACL. The attorneys said he and his family started driving 1,200 miles back to Omaha on Friday and were slowed by a snowstorm, explaining why he wasn't able to turn himself in until Sunday.

Cole and Gaarder cited the police report and wrote a fellow Creighton student said Watson had nonconsensual sexual intercourse with her on Feb. 4.

Omaha, Neb. — Marcus Foster is cut now and more confident in himself.

That's what stands out as I sit across from him at a table in Creighton's practice facility.

Three years ago, we sat down for a similar interview at Kansas State's practice facility.

Only, the subject then was how an unranked guy out of a small Texas town had become one of the best freshmen basketball players in America.

"I was driven so hard," Foster says of his freshman year. "I remember I didn't think I'd be able to play at that level, so I worked so hard and I ended up being very good."

This time around, I'm in Omaha to find out what went wrong at Kansas State and how Foster returned to relevancy.

"I had to get back to the gym and just loving the game of basketball," Foster says.

The thing Foster seems to love more than anything else about this game is getting buckets. Later in the day, he stands on the right wing at CenturyLink Center and drains threes in a shooting contest against Creighton reserve forward Toby Hegner.

After every make, Foster declares to Hegner: "This is a shooter's game!"

The shooter is back—Creighton's leading scorer at 18.6 points per game—and in a few weeks he'll be getting buckets again in the NCAA tournament.

The route just happened to take a detour.

---

To understand what went wrong, it's important to begin with how Marcus Foster arrived.

Foster showed up at Kansas State motivated by fear and recruiting rankings.

He had scored 2,388 points at Hirschi High School in Wichita Falls, Texas, averaging 27.1 points per game as a senior, but he was not ranked on any of the Top 100 lists.

His absence bothered him and created some self-doubt.

Two weeks before the start of his freshman season, while riding back to his dorm with Shane Southwell, a senior for K-State that year, Foster told his teammate that he expected to play 10-12 minutes per game and average around six points.

Southwell looked at him funny.

"Bro, you've got an opportunity to at least average—at the lowest—13 or 14 points," Southwell told the freshman.

K-State's upperclassmen had been impressed by his skill and embraced him because of his work ethic.

Foster was regularly at the gym in the middle of the night working on his game.

"He had a chip on his shoulder to prove to people that he belonged," former K-State assistant Alvin Brooks III says. "I think it was also maybe scared of not playing. Him being nervous of not being able to play made him work extra hard to prove that he could play at the highest level."

Foster was an instant success. He led the Wildcats in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game, and twice was named the USBWA Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week. He was the only freshman that season to win the award twice in a class that included Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid and Julius Randle.

During his freshman campaign, he told me: "You have to let this humble you. You can't get overexcited about it, let it go to your head."

But after the season, Foster could not help it.

"I really just started feeling myself after that summer," he says. "I got invited to the Nike point guard camp, the LeBron camp. A lot of scouts and agents wanted to talk to me and my family.

"I just really wasn't even worried about the season. I thought I'd already made it when really I had a lot more work to put in. I just needed to stay hungry and humble, and I wasn't. And that's when it all started to go wrong."

It was apparent during his sophomore season that he was not the same guy. He'd battled weight issues in high school—part of the reason he wasn't ranked—and those returned.

K-State's coaches no longer heard from managers that Foster was spending endless hours in the gym.

K-State, which started the season receiving votes in the Top 25 and was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12, went 7-6 in the nonconference. The coaching staff was meeting with Foster about once every other week trying to get through to him, even suspending him for a three-game stretch, but nothing seemed to work.

"I think about it all the time how selfish I was only thinking about myself," Foster says. "We actually had a pretty good team that could have been top three in the Big 12, but my selfish mentality just kind of rubbed off on the whole team. That's where it kind of went wrong. We all started separating and formed cliques on the team."

K-State finished eighth in the Big 12 and then lost its opening-round game of the Big 12 tournament to ninth-place TCU. Foster went scoreless in 19 minutes.

Two weeks later, he was dismissed.

---

Before Foster put on some weight going into the April evaluation period of his junior season in high school, he'd had interest from a long list of high-major programs. After the weight gain, only three of those schools stayed loyal: K-State, Marquette and Creighton.

When Foster got the boot from K-State, Creighton coach Greg McDermott was there again.

Foster said he knew that's where he wanted to end up before he even went on his visit, but McDermott wanted to make sure he was worthy of a second chance. He had seen Foster at the LeBron James Skills Academy the summer before and realized he'd allowed success to change him.

"I remember calling [assistant] Coach [Steve] Lutz and saying, 'I'm worried about Marcus. He thinks that he's arrived,'" McDermott says. "The way he was carrying himself, it wasn't the same guy I knew in high school. There was a coolness about him that wasn't there, and it looked like he'd lost his hunger to improve."

McDermott called Weber to get the full story when Foster was released, but it was a conversation with Foster's mother that convinced him to take a chance.

"I want my son back," she told McDermott. "Can you help him?"

"So then it was like, I liked this kid in high school. I wanted to meet with him to see if he was willing to change," McDermott says. "It certainly helped that his family was on board with the plan we had in place for him."

Foster got right during his redshirt season, finding the work ethic that had brought him success as a freshman and shedding pounds in the process. When he arrived at Creighton, he had 12 percent body fat; it has been between 7 and 8 percent this season.

That was a necessity to fit in McDermott's uptempo system and allow Foster to fit the role the coach envisioned.

At Kansas State, Foster did a lot of his work in the mid-range, especially his sophomore season when he lost his burst. This season, Foster is getting to the bucket more than he ever has.

	% of shots at basket	Points per possession
Freshman (2013-14)	25.6	1.023
Sophomore (2014-15)	16.6	1.098
Junior (2016-17)	28.2	1.393

"This is the best Marcus Foster I've ever been," Foster says.

Foster's shooting numbers, on the surface, are not ideal. He's made only 33.9 percent of his threes. But a deeper dive into those numbers reveals he's elite as a spot-up shooter and his numbers have suffered since the injury to Maurice Watson, who tore his ACL on Jan. 16 at Xavier and has since been suspended from the program and charged with first-degree sexual assault, per the Omaha World-Herald.

Foster was making 35.3 of his threes before Watson's injury and is shooting 30.4 percent from deep since.

"Obviously some of the shots within our offense are different now than they were with Maurice," McDermott says. "There was a period of adjustment, not just for Marcus, but for everybody on our team. I think he's done a good job as of late of figuring out where those opportunities are coming from."

It would appear so.

Foster broke out last Sunday with a career-high 35 points against Georgetown. He also had five assists and has taken on more of a facilitator role with Watson out. He's had three or more assists in six of nine games without Watson; before the injury, he reached that mark (and never surpassed it) only three times. 

The numbers say that Foster is back and an even better version than his freshman self, but the ultimate test might be how he handles his junior year success this offseason. There's never been a subject of a story that surprised me more than Foster, who truly came off as humble as a freshman, but outside influences obviously changed him. 

No one knows for certain that he'll come back for his senior season just as motivated and in shape, but it sounds as if he now has the perspective he once lacked.

For one, he holds no animosity toward K-State.

"I have so much love for Coach Weber and all his staff, because they gave me a chance when no one else would," Foster said. "They invested a lot of time and effort into me, so I don't have any grudges. Everything that happened had to happen, and I learned from it."

Foster also realizes that, at some point, outside influences cannot be all that drives you.

"When you get older, you have to find more ways to be motivated," he says. "My freshman year I wanted to prove to everybody that I was good and people should not have overlooked me. Now it's different. I've already been on the scene. People are going to talk about me because of what I did. It's not all about proving people wrong, but also finding ways to get myself going."

That has been easy at Creighton.

Weeks after his sophomore season at K-State ended and he contemplated what was next—a transfer or turning pro—Foster remembers watching an NCAA tournament game decided by a buzzer-beater.

"I want to be a part of that," Foster told himself.

In a few weeks, he'll get his chance and it will be an important step in this rehabilitation story.

As we finish our interview, I tell Foster, "Glad to see you back on track."

"Thank you," Foster says. "It's good to be back."

C.J. Moore covers college basketball and football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @CJMooreBR.

Creighton guard Maurice Watson Jr. is facing an arrest warrant charging him for first-degree sexual assault, per the Omaha World-Herald.

Ross Jernstrom of NBC-WOWT 6 confirmed the report.

The alleged incident took place on Feb. 4, with a 19-year-old woman saying Watson raped her in a bathroom, per Jon Nyatawa of the Omaha World-Herald.

Before news broke of the allegation, the team announced Watson had been suspended due to misconduct. According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, the player is completely barred from the team and is unable to participate in senior day activities.

Watson's season had already ended in January due to a torn ACL, although the senior remained with the team on the sidelines and in the locker room.

Before his injury, Watson had been one of the top point guards in college basketball. His 8.5 assists per game would lead the country if he had enough games to qualify.

Creighton holds a record of 22-6, including 9-6 in the Big East.

The No. 22 Creighton Bluejays and No. 16 Butler Bulldogs are both looking up at the Villanova Wildcats in the Big East standings, but Creighton took a significant step toward emerging as the primary challenger Tuesday. 

The Bluejays went into Hinkle Fieldhouse and beat Butler, 76-67. Creighton moved to 20-3 overall and 7-3 in the conference, while the Bulldogs fell to 18-5 overall and 7-4 in the Big East. The visitors earned the win even though they played without Maurice Watson Jr., who is out for the season with a torn ACL.

Creighton turned to the long ball without Watson and drilled 13 of its 21 shots (61.9 percent) from deep. Justin Patton, Marcus Foster and Khyri Thomas each scored 15 points, and the Bluejays shot 55.6 percent from the field as a team.

They also locked down Butler on the defensive side and held the home team to 40.9 percent shooting from the field and 25.9 percent shooting from deep while forcing 13 turnovers. Kamar Baldwin led the Bulldogs with 14 points, and Kelan Martin chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH6hgafTcX8

The Bulldogs enjoyed a 35-27 advantage on the boards, but that was far from enough to make up for the shooting disparity.

Neither team established momentum in the early going as they traded baskets, but it was clear the long ball would be an important factor. Butler took a 15-13 lead into the first half's under-12-minute timeout, and 12 of the first 24 combined field-goal attempts were from three-point range.

Butler extended its advantage to 24-17 with an Andrew Chrabascz jumper, but Isaiah Zierden answered with a three to keep the Bluejays close. Jon Nyatawa of the Omaha World-Herald pointed out Creighton was fortunate to be down just four at that point:

Feels like CU just dodged its first bullet there. Missed 4 straight shots (mostly 1-on-1 stuff). Butler's lead didn't grow tho. Then Z's 3

— Jon Nyatawa (@JonNyatawa) February 1, 2017

The Bluejays took full advantage of that fortune and capped a 12-0 run with a Thomas three to take a 29-24 lead, as the team shared:

KHYRI FOR THREE! #GoJays #LetItFly #TakeFlight #BIGEASThoops pic.twitter.com/9yQzrroXqr

— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) February 1, 2017

The Bulldogs battled back and took a 33-32 lead after Nate Fowler's three, but Creighton closed the half on a 5-0 run highlighted by another long ball from Thomas. The Bluejays hit eight of their 12 threes in the first half to build the 37-33 advantage.

David Woods of the Indianapolis Star said, "Looks like Butler doing a better job of 'building a wall' on defense. But Bluejays good enough to shoot over it. Great offensive team." 

Butler opened the second half with a 5-0 run, but its lead didn't last long. Creighton responded with a 9-0 spurt in less than two minutes of game action and held a 46-38 advantage after Foster's three. The Bluejays defense was setting the tone with Butler shooting 25.9 percent from the field.

Creighton continued to roll and extended its advantage to double digits with a Patton jumper and Davion Mintz three.

However, the Bulldogs didn't back down and answered with a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to 54-49, as Butler passed along:

Here's a look at that Butler run... pic.twitter.com/CYHlHqyj00

— Butler Basketball (@ButlerMBB) February 1, 2017

Creighton then turned to Patton, and he answered by scoring six straight points to push the lead to double digits again. Butler climbed within seven from there, but threes from Foster and Thomas made it 68-57 as the Bluejays continued to answer any slight Butler momentum.

The Bulldogs never truly challenged from there, but they did pull within single digits with just more than a minute remaining after a Henry Baddley dunk. Martin made it a seven-point game with a layup, but the Bluejays iced the win on the free-throw line.

                    

Postgame Reaction

Creighton Basketball shared the postgame comments from Patton and head coach Greg McDermott:

Postgame Interview: Justin Patton & Greg McDermott with @FS1's Bill Raftery #GoJays #TakeFlight #BIGEASThoops pic.twitter.com/EErRoWMzu8

— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) February 1, 2017

Bulldogs head coach Chris Holtmann discussed the loss, per John Dedman of Butler's official website: "Give Creighton credit; they were clearly the better team tonight. We obviously did not play well and we have some work to do. Right now, we aren't good enough to play without grit and purpose defensively."

Holtmann also called Butler's defense "atrocious," per Woods.

                              

What's Next?

Next up for Butler is a two-game road trip with contests against Marquette on Feb. 7 and Providence on Feb. 11. Both opponents are in the middle of the Big East standings, which means the Bulldogs have an opportunity to create some separation in the race for conference tournament seeds.

Creighton returns home to face Xavier on Saturday. The Musketeers are 5-3 in the Big East and fighting for similar position as the Bluejays, so the head-to-head showdown will likely play a large role in the standings come March.

OMAHA, Neb. — Justin Patton used to walk through Creighton's locker room during his redshirt freshman season and make pretend phone calls to NBA scouts and representatives at Nike negotiating his shoe contract.

Patton looked the part of a future lottery pick—a mobile 7-footer with a 7'3" wingspan and a feathery touch—but to think he'd get there soon belonged in the land of make-believe. Lottery picks do not redshirt as freshmen. Nor are their identities unknown to most scouts.

When Patton verbally committed to his hometown college team the summer before his senior year of high school, the locals were stumped. On a Creighton message board thread at the Bluejay Underground discussing his commitment, the second response is from a fan posing the question, "Walk-on?"

"People think I'm lying when I say that I had never heard of him, and I live in Omaha," said Nick Bahe, a former Creighton player who now does color commentary for Fox Sports 1 and has a radio show in town. "The high school is 20 minutes away from my house, and I had never heard of him. I had to call the Creighton staff and ask, 'Who is this guy?'"

Everyone in town knows Patton now. His ascension in the first two-plus months of the season—13.7 points per game on 71.8 percent shooting, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game—has him rocketing up draft boards and is a big reason why No. 16 Creighton was ranked higher last week (seventh) than at any other time in school history.

Patton hit the same kind of genetic lottery that turned Anthony Davis into the ideal modern big man. Like Davis, Patton was a late bloomer. He was just 6'2" as a high school freshman and had spent most of his playing time at guard as a youth.

That's why he's comfortable out on the perimeter but can also score in the post, finish alley-oops above the rim, pass, dribble, block shots and defend a guard in a switch.

"He is everything except the brand name," an NBA scout told Bleacher Report. "If you went off only this year, you would have to argue he's the best big-man prospect in the draft."

Three years ago, that didn't seem possible. Patton wasn't a phenom waiting to be discovered; he wasn't even that good.

---

Jared Andersen, the newly named head coach at Omaha North High School, spied his big man in the stands at a pro-am game in Omaha. Justin Patton was nowhere to be found on any recruiting websites, but his growing frame promised an athleticism Andersen would need.

"Let's see if you can go dunk that," Andersen told Patton, who was about to begin his junior year.

The problem was that Patton was wearing flip-flops.

"He couldn't do it," Andersen said. "He's in flip-flops and he's cold, but he's 6'6". You'd still think he'd be able to do that as a 16-year-old."

Patton was so awkward growing into his body—from 6'2" to 6'10" in the span of three years—that one day during passing period he gashed his forehead open walking through a door. He would fall so much during games that his mom would tell him "try to stay off the floor this game."

"People kept telling me to hold your own," Patton says. "Even the coaches would tell me, 'Justin, quit being soft.' I can't help it. I'm literally like a stick. If you push me over, I'm going to move because I'm not big."

	MPG	FG%	PPG	RPG	BPG	Team record
2012-13	19.6	.500	6.6	5.1	1.0	13-10
2013-14	27.1	.448	11.7	7.9	2.5	8-15
2014-15	24.8	.524	14.1	9.9	3.6	23-4

Patton struggled to keep the weight he did gain because he was constantly sick. "My doctors were telling me it happens with the growth and your body just has to catch up," he said. "I would not eat because I didn't feel good, so then I would lose weight."

His first few games under Andersen were no more inspiring. Reporter Jacob Padilla said the first time he saw Patton during his junior year, he air-balled three of his first four shots.

"He finished with two points against a team with a 6'3" center," said Padilla, who covers Omaha high school basketball for Nebraska HS Hoops. 

But in the spring of his junior year, Patton finally started getting used to his body. He was the same height and weight for more than a month, and he was dominating for the first time in his life at his high school's open gyms.

Former Nebraska-Omaha assistant coach Randall Herbst, who witnessed one of these open-gym sessions, told Andersen, "Coach, this is going to get crazy with him, because 6'9" guys aren't supposed to be able to have footwork like that and show those skills."

In early June 2014, Andersen took his team to the Creighton team camp.

"He was averaging, like, 25 points, 18 rebounds, five blocks, running the floor, dunking everything," Andersen said. "He put that show on for six games. It was every game. The first couple games it was maybe a couple Creighton coaches watching. By that last game, every single Creighton coach was watching. And he was doing it again and again."

Creighton head coach Greg McDermott wasted no time. He invited Patton, his AAU coach Bob Franzese and Andersen in for a meeting before the camp ended.

McDermott showed Patton a highlight video—the package, Andersen remembers, was mostly Doug McDermott from his 2013-14 National Player of the Year campaign—and offered Patton a scholarship.

"For Justin, who was a versatile big guy, he saw it and he liked it," Andersen said. "But it wouldn't have mattered. He was ready to go regardless. They could have showed him anything. They could have showed him a cartoon."

Patton committed on the spot:

https://twitter.com/BobFranzese/status/479004336605782017

Over the next few months, he broke out on the AAU circuit. Scout.com recruiting analyst Evan Daniels rated him a 5-star prospect after watching only two games in Las Vegas.

"Had he gone out on the circuit in July and did what he ended up doing, we would have fought everybody in the country for him," McDermott said.

---

It wasn't always so easy for Patton to impress.

Despite his developing physical gifts, Patton tested Andersen's patience in their first season together at Omaha North. Frustrated that he could not find a way to get his big man to realize the level of intensity he needed to maintain, Andersen finally put a chair in the corner of the court during a practice his junior year.

Essentially, Patton was given a timeout.

"You've got your 6'10" best player, who's [acting like he's] 12 or 13," Andersen said.

Patton was not a bad kid, but there was an innocence about him that made it difficult for him to see the path he needed to be on. Take AAU basketball, for instance. The first time his AAU team traveled by air to Las Vegas for a tournament, Patton and his coaches almost missed the flight because they couldn't get Patton out of the car. "He'd never flown before and been away from his mom and his brother," Franzese said.

At the Orleans Hotel in Vegas that week, Patton had an ice cream cone in the lounge area. Franzese asked him where he got it. "The servant gave it to me," Patton told him.

"The servant?" Franzese questioned. "The servant? What in the hell are you talking about?"

Patton pointed to a waitress.

Part of Creighton's plan was to allow him to take a step back and see the big picture. So instead of playing limited minutes off the bench as a freshman, McDermott and his staff opted to redshirt Patton his first year at school, which was an unusual decision considering where he ranked as a recruit.

	Stars	Rank
Scout	5	24
Rivals	4	45
ESPN	4	Unranked
247Sports	4	87

In the Scout.com database, which dates back to 2002, Patton is one of only two 5-stars to redshirt as a freshman for reasons other than academics or injury—former Wisconsin center Brian Butch, class of 2003, was the other.

"If we were going to get him to where we thought we could, he needed to make a lot of changes in his life," McDermott said.

For one, he ate like, well, a kid. Patton's diet had been big on french fries and fried foods. (Patton's eating habits were so poor that his AAU program has since mandated what their players eat between games.) 

McDermott took Patton to Spaghetti Works in downtown Omaha before the 2015-16 season, "just so I could get him a good pasta meal and start to send the message early," he said. He laid out a nutrition and workout plan for Patton, who weighed 205 pounds at that time. (He's now 233 pounds.)

Then came work on his game. During skill work early last season, assistant coach Darian DeVries set up a camera on Patton so he could show him that his effort was not good enough. Patton would tell DeVries he was going hard, then DeVries would show him the tape.

Once Patton figured out how to work, the growth was rapid.

"He's unreal," DeVries said. "When we do skill workouts and we throw something at him—you've mastered this; now let's try this—he's like a sponge. He takes it, absorbs it and then he can go do it. That'd be a fun quality to have as a player."

Last summer Patton lived in the gym. Literally. He spent most nights sleeping at the Creighton practice facility along with fellow Omaha native and teammate Khyri Thomas.

"We'd wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and go hoop," Patton says.

Taking into account his rise from redshirt season to potential lottery pick, an argument could be made that Patton is the most improved player in the country.

"He had flashes last year but not anything to this level of consistency," McDermott said. "You could see signs of it. But in terms of his skill level and what he's doing now, it's all come together in a hurry."

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXtfM-pTmvE

When senior point guard Maurice Watson Jr. fed the ball to Patton at practice earlier this month, he shouted "lottery pick" before each delivery. 

Watson gave him the nickname shortly after they returned from winning the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Patton missed just five shots in three games with plenty of scouts in attendance.

"Sometimes you have to speak it into existence," Watson said. "The more he hears it, the more he's going to go that way. … He's got the personality and the imagination for it."

Patton admits that at first he was in denial when people started floating the idea he was a future NBA player. And the type of player he's become is not what he ever envisioned.

Even last fall when Creighton's coaches were asking him to get physical during a low-post drill, Patton questioned McDermott.

"I told him I've never played that position before," Patton said. "What have you got me doing?"

McDermott told him to trust him, pointing out every decision he had made thus far—from signing him to redshirting his freshman year—had paid off.

Indeed, the improvement has been steady this season, highlighted by an early-January signature performance at St. John's (25 points, nine rebounds and four assists). Patton even scored two baskets that night on post-ups. McDermott reminded Patton afterward of his hesitancy to embrace becoming a true 5-man. "That looked pretty good tonight," he told the freshman.

Patton is putting together combinations in the post that look as if he's spent years mastering them. On one sequence against St. John's, he faked middle over his right shoulder off the catch, then started to spin toward his left shoulder, went back to the right shoulder, pump-faked and then scored with a lefty jump hook.

Adding to the difficulty of defending a true 7-footer with footwork and touch is that he prefers defenses try to take away his strong hand.

Patton broke his left hand during his freshman year of high school, and when it healed, he made the decision to start doing daily tasks, such as eating, with his left hand along with spending a lot of time in the gym trying to get the feel back. He ended up developing a softer touch with his left than his right. 

"I make jokes. This is my dunking hand," Patton said, pointing to his right hand. "You can tell the calluses are all bigger on this hand."

Patton is arguably the best lob catcher and finisher in the country, providing the Creighton guards the luxury of knowing they can deliver it to Patton at any trajectory and he'll catch it.

"His hands and the quickness of his release are some of the attributes that Doug had around the rim," McDermott said, referring to his son, who was a three-time All-American. "You wondered how he always got it off and it was always soft. Justin gets it off quick. He catches everything. He's an extremely talented young man."

Patton has also developed into a capable passer, able to deliver everything from lobs for alley-oops to crosscourt skip passes to three-point shooters to pinpoint bounce passes to cutters for layups.

McDermott said his offense is evolving every game as Patton takes off, expanding into different areas where he can get him the ball and exploit defenses.

Patton's confidence is growing, too, especially in his jumper. He changed his shot right before the season when assistant Jeff Vanderloo pointed out it was flat. Patton moved his release to the right to help him create more arc. Through 20 games, Patton is within range of the NCAA single-season shooting record (74.6 percent) set by Oregon State's Steve Johnson in 1981.

The final touch to make Patton a two-way monster is getting him to dominate the defensive end. Patton has the length and athleticism to be one of the nation's top shot-blockers, but he averages only 1.6 blocks per game.

"He can be an elite defender, and he's shown signs of that but just hasn't been consistent," McDermott said. "And part of it is we want him to run the floor every time. We ask him to do a lot, and you only have so much energy. And he's young and he's not used to that."

The daily growth in Patton's game makes the Bluejays a legitimate threat to go on a deep run in the NCAA tournament, even with the recent loss of Watson to a torn ACL. The rapid improvement also has scouts scratching off any questions they may have had about Patton, especially since Big East play started. In conference games, he's averaging 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

"You're looking for him to fill out," an Eastern Conference NBA scout said. "Continue to hone his jump shot. Improve his body and gain strength. Hold his ground and battle against NBA size. That's really it."

Some scouts also wonder how Patton will handle the coming attention. With typical lottery picks, they've been under the microscope for years with scouts evaluating them at camps and all-star events. They've believed for years that they were pros.

When Patton first saw his name on anything NBA draft-related, he offered a warning:

https://twitter.com/JustinPatton17/status/644553863173804032

There are those in Patton's circle who believe he should be willing to consider another year.

"He's fortunate to have Coach McDermott, who has had a young man go through that process," Franzese said. "It's fun to talk about, but it can't happen until the time is right, and those guys will know."

So maybe the timing is uncertain. But it's not often a big man comes along with Patton's combination of size, skill and mobility. 

"You're not kidding, man," another Eastern Conference scout said. 

It appears Patton may be signing that sneaker deal sooner than anyone thought.

                  

C.J. Moore covers college basketball and football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @CJMooreBR.

Creighton's basketball team has gotten a big boost for the 2017 recruiting class, as Ty-Shon Alexander has given the Bluejays his commitment. 

ESPN's Jeff Goodman reported Alexander's surprise commitment on Saturday.

According to 247Sports, Alexander is a 4-star prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit in the state of North Carolina. He's a shooting guard listed at 6'4" and 190 pounds. The site's crystal ball projections had Virginia Tech the overwhelming favorite to land his services after taking an unofficial visit to the school in June. 

However, in an interview with Bluejay Banter, Alexander found that Creighton was the place for him:

"I loved the environment at Creighton, it felt like home. I like the style of play, the team plays together." Jays commit Ty-Shon Alexander.

— Bluejay Banter (@bluejaybanter) October 31, 2015

Based on scouting reports, it's not hard to see how Alexander fits into Creighton's system under head coach Greg McDermott. Evan Daniels of Scout.com called the North Carolina native "a gifted scorer" after he went off for 20 points in the Under Armour Invitational Championship in May. 

The Bluejays typically play an uptempo style that, at its best, allows them to score at will. There was a three-season period from 2011-14 in which they averaged at least 74.4 points per game and reached the NCAA tournament during those years.

As Creighton continues to get acclimated into the Big East, landing a high-profile recruit like Alexander is going to help the program become a go-to destination for players who aren't the cream of the crop but want to have the opportunity to play in a fun system and reach the NCAA tournament. 

Doug McDermott has enjoyed one of the greatest individual careers of any college player in the last quarter-century. Unfortunately for his Creighton team, the top Bluejay managed to end his final season by laying an egg in the NCAA tournament.

McDermott looked utterly lost against Baylor’s shifting zone defense, finishing with 15 points and zero three-pointers as the Bears won an 85-55 blowout. The Division I scoring champ, who’d averaged 26.9 points per game, hadn’t been held below 20 since Jan. 25.

The nightmarish finish isn’t the first rough ending to a season for the smooth-shooting forward, either. He closes his four-year career having never played in a Sweet 16 after losing to Duke and North Carolina in his previous two Round of 32 appearances.

McDermott's father Greg, the Bluejays head coach, did his best to look on the bright side for his son, saying in a postgame press conference (via Creighton sports information director Rob Anderson), "This [loss] can't be what our seniors remember because they've had incredible careers." In Doug's case, "incredible" is an understatement after one of the most decorated four-year spans in the history of any mid-major program.

Still, Sunday's defeat costs McDermott what might’ve been a great chance to set himself apart from many of the other great pure scorers of college hoops lore. At 3,150 points, he finishes in fifth place all-time, but like overall leader Pete Maravich or Bradley legend Hersey Hawkins (in eighth place), he had very little team success to show for his brilliance.

In the regular season, McDermott’s Bluejays were routinely outstanding, winning the Missouri Valley in 2012-13 (and its tournament in both 2011-12 and 2012-13) before finishing a strong second in their Big East debut. However, the same reliance on their coach’s son that served them so well in those games became their undoing in the postseason.

For all the discussion of Creighton’s lack of defense, it’s the offense that kept McDermott out of the Sweet 16. A Bluejays team that routinely averaged 80 points a night scored 73, 50 and 55 in being eliminated from three straight NCAA tournaments.

As great as McDermott is, he has to shoulder most of the blame there. When his own offensive firepower wasn’t helping create openings for his teammates, Creighton just wasn’t much of a team, and high-level opponents took advantage.

That’s not to say that he doesn’t belong in the pantheon of the most devastating offensive weapons in history. Indeed, it makes him right at home there. From Maravich (who never even played in a Big Dance) to Hawkins (one tourney win in four seasons) to Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison (with his oft-replayed tearful exit from March Madness as a senior), the nation’s elite individual scorers have almost never played for postseason winners.

In that context, McDermott will be judged purely by his numbers. In terms of both point production and his amazing shooting accuracy, he can put up his one-man-show credentials against anyone since Lionel Simmons graduated from La Salle in 1990.

One CBS Sports analyst sums up what many college-hoops observers are thinking after this game:

It’s just a pity McDermott was never able to evolve into the kind of player who could bring a few more wins to the other four guys in Creighton uniforms before the curtain came down on his highlight-filled career.

Creighton super-scorer Doug McDermott sent his third-seeded Bluejays to the round of 32 on Friday, pouring in his usual 30 points to beat Louisiana-Lafayette. The 76-66 win sets up a date with sixth-seeded Baylor, a prospect that can only have the All-America senior licking his chops.

The Bears’ greatest strength—especially in Friday’s romp past Nebraska—is a smothering 2-3 zone that features tremendous length inside and good quickness outside. There isn’t a player in the country who can wreck a zone as well as McDermott can.

Indeed, McDermott’s newest record (per ESPN Stats and Info) might be about to fall in Sunday's game:

A classic solution to a zone is to shoot the other team out of it, lobbing three-pointers over the top while the big men watch from the paint. McDermott, with his .454 shooting percentage from beyond the arc, will get every opportunity to demonstrate that principle against Baylor.

Another of the traditional weaknesses of a 2-3 zone in particular is a hole at the free-throw line, where a power forward can slip behind the guards and bring the center away from the rim. From there, he can shoot the jumper if left open or pass for an easy layup. The Bluejays star, a skilled-if-little-used passer, will dissect Isaiah Austin and the Bears back line given any room from that spot on the floor.

In addition, McDermott the scorer transitions smoothly to being McDermott the rebounder, as he showed with 12 boards (three offensive) against the Ragin’ Cajuns. Stopping his first shots will be tough enough for Baylor, but if he piles up second- and third-chance points, the game will get out of hand quickly.

The last team to hold Division I’s leading scorer under 20 points was Georgetown, a defense with similar length but very different strategic options compared to Baylor. The Hoyas could chase McDermott with a variety of mobile forwards his own size. While the Bears have the personnel for a similar approach, it would require discarding the defensive mindset that’s served the team well for 36 games.

On top of all that, even if Baylor does go box-and-one or some other man-to-man look to slow McDermott, finding an optimal matchup won’t be trivial. Cory Jefferson has the athleticism but not the perimeter savvy, while Austin (for all his 7’1” length) is vulnerable to being outmuscled by the experienced Bluejay.

This situation is where Baylor's lack of an elite small forward (such as defensive ace Winston Shepard of San Diego State) becomes a real concern. Shepard had the combination of length and athleticism to make McDermott scramble all day in a Wooden Legacy win over Creighton, but Baylor doesn't have any one player who can fill that role.

Though McDermott did score 30 points against San Diego State, he had just four points in the last 7:41 of the game. Shepard's defense wore him down. 

As Providence proved a week ago, shutting down McDermott isn't a prerequisite for upsetting Creighton. That’s the best hope for Baylor to grasp at right now, because the Bears’ chances of shutting down the Bluejays superstar are looking just short of nonexistent.

The Creighton Bluejays are almost two-touchdown favorites over the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns in their No. 3 vs. No. 14 matchup in the West Region on Friday.

But that shouldn't discourage potential Bluejays backers, as Creighton is 10-4 against the spread as a double-digit favorite this season.

Spread and total points scored betting line

The Bluejays opened as 13.5-point favorites; the total was 157. (Compare lines and consensus on the Odds Shark matchup report.)

Odds Shark computer pick

81.4-76.0 Bluejays

Why pick Louisiana-Lafayette to cover the spread

The Cajuns returned all five starters this season from a team that went 13-20 last year. Louisiana finished third in the Sun Belt at 11-7 and then upset the top two seeds to win the conference tournament, earning its first invitation to the Big Dance since 2005.

The 14th-seeded Cajuns were only 12-9 heading into February but won 11 of their last 13 games. And the two losses in that span came by a total of six points. Louisiana-Lafayette is averaging 81 points per game this season and shooting 47 percent from the floor as a team.

Why pick Creighton to cover the spread

With four starters back from a team that won 28 games last year, the Bluejays started 10-2 this year with wins over St. Joseph's, Tulsa, Arizona State and Nebraska and losses to San Diego State and George Washington.

The Jays then went 14-4 to finish second in the new Big East and made it to the conference tournament championship game. So Creighton is in the NCAA tournament for the third straight season—this time, with a No. 3 seed.

The Jays start four seniors, led by coach's kid Doug McDermott, who's averaging 26 PPG on 53 percent shooting this season.

Smart betting pick

As a team, Creighton ranks fourth in the country in shooting at 50 percent and first from three-point range at 42 percent. Meanwhile, defense isn't exactly Louisiana's strong point, as the team has allowed 75 PPG this year.

The Bluejays battled through a pretty good schedule this year, going 9-5 against teams that made the tournament. And while 14 points might seem like a lot, the Cajuns are only 1-3 ATS as double-digit dogs this season. Give the points and go with Creighton to extend the Cajuns’ tournament winless skid to four games.

Power rankings

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns: No. 23

Creighton Bluejays: No. 70 (per Odds Shark power ranks)

March Madness betting trends

• Creighton 3-9 SU in the tournament since 1999
• Creighton 10-3 ATS as double-digit chalk since December
• Ragin Cajuns 0-3 SU in tournament games since 1995, all UNDERs
• Ragin Cajuns ended year on 11-2 SU run

Note: All spread and betting line data powered by Odds Shark. Download the free Lines and Bet Tracker app in the Apple Store and on Google Play.

TV Schedule

Big East Tournament TV Schedule (ET)

Wednesday, March 12
7 p.m. No. 8 Seton Hall, No. 9 Butler, Fox Sports 1
9:30 p.m. No. 7 Georgetown, No. 10 DePaul, Fox Sports 1

Thursday, March 13
Noon, No. 1 Villanova, Game 1 Winner, Fox Sports 1
2:30 p.m. No. 4 Providence, No. 5 St. John's, Fox Sports 1
7 p.m. No. 2 Creighton, Game 2 Winner, Fox Sports 1
9:30 p.m. No. 3 Xavier, No. 6 Marquette, Fox Sports 1

Friday, March 14
7 p.m. Game 3 Winner, Game 4 Winner, Fox Sports 1
9:30 p.m. Game 5 Winner, Game 6 Winner, Fox Sports 1

Saturday, March 15
8:30 p.m. Game 7 Winner, Game 8 Winner, Fox Sports 1

The Favorite

Creighton

Villanova won the Big East Conference this year, but in two head-to-head meetings with Creighton, the Wildcats lost by a combined 49 points. Creighton has proved that it can beat any team in this conference, especially Villanova. With Doug McDermott leading the way with over 3,000 career points, the Blue Jays have to be considered the favorite, even over regular-season champion Villanova.

The Dark Horse

Georgetown

The Hoyas come into the tournament as the No. 7 seed out of a 10-team league, but with a tough schedule all season, Georgetown has been incredibly battle-tested. A strong weekend will result in an NCAA tournament berth, but it will be a tough fight to get there. If anyone in this conference can make a run out of the first round though, Georgetown is the team to look for.

The Bubble

Xavier

Xavier is practically playing in a tournament play-in game on Thursday for its quarterfinal showdown against Marquette. If the Musketeers win, they are pretty much in. If they lose, then they really do not deserve a spot in the field.

Providence and St. John's

Possibly the most interesting game of this tournament could be the showdown between Providence and St. John's on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals. The winner is probably dancing, the loser is definitely out of the tournament picture. Regardless of who wins though, a win in the semifinals would make their tournament spot a little more certain.

Georgetown

The Hoyas need to make a run. If they win their opening-round game, they will get a chance for a huge resume builder against Creighton in the quarterfinals. They will need to win at least that game, and maybe even one more, to get a spot in the tournament.

The Champion

Creighton

Creighton has not been the class of the conference all year, but Doug McDermott is on fire right now and is ready to take this team to a Big East title. The Blue Jays have proved that in big games this season they bring their best game, and the tournament this weekend should be no different.