After Pop Isaacs suffered an injury, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth became the focal points of Creighton’s offense in 2024-25. That two-man game propelled Greg McDermott’s Bluejays to the Big East championship game and an NCAA Tournament victory, but the longtime head coach must now prepare for life without his two veteran stars.
Kalkbrenner became the second player in conference history to win four Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards, joining Patrick Ewing. The 7-foot center’s rim protection provided Creighton with a tremendous defensive floor, while the 6-foot point guard handled nearly all of the team’s offensive creation and shot-making.
During his final collegiate season, Ashworth averaged 16.4 points and 6.8 assists while shooting nearly 40% from three. Rather than trying to replace him one-on-one, as McDermott did for Kalkbrenner with the addition of Iowa center Owen Freeman, Creighton is looking to a variety of players to fill the shooting void left by Ashworth’s graduation.
Greg McDermott lands Miami (FL) transfer Austin Swartz
Charlotte transfer Nik Graves is the best candidate to fill the Ashworth role in Creighton’s talented four-player transfer portal class. However, the 17.2 point-per-game scorer has shot just over 32% from three in back-to-back seasons and will not provide the spacing that McDermott needs for his offense to run smoothly.
For that, McDermott has brought in Josh Dix, Freeman’s Iowa teammate, and Miami transfer Austin Swartz, who committed on Sunday.
Dix was arguably the best shooter in the portal, averaging 42 percent from distance on nearly five attempts per game. He is a skilled movement shooter who can create his own shots off the dribble. With one season of eligibility remaining, he is Omaha’s short-term shooting solution, whereas Swartz has a longer developmental window to reach his full potential.
Swartz, a four-star recruit, faced a disastrous situation as a freshman at Miami last season. In December, Jim Larrañaga resigned as head coach of the Hurricanes, who finished 7-24 overall.
Still, Swartz, regarded as one of the most gifted shooters in the 2024 high school class, averaged 5.9 points per game and shot more than 30% from beyond the arc. That is impressive, given how bad things got in Coral Gables.
McDermott is still hoping to lead Creighton to the Final Four before handing over the program to his handpicked successor, Alan Huss. To do so, he will need more viable scoring options than he had last season. After losing Isaacs, Ashworth and Kalkbrenner took on more responsibility, and the way he is prioritizing shot-making in the portal this offseason suggests he is learned his lesson.