By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
 
When the Creighton Bluejays tipped off their season with six straight victories, they looked every bit the team that was the preseason top pick in the BIG EAST. Six games, five lopsided wins, and it didn’t hurt that the final two games of that season-opening winning streak included victories over then-No. 21 Texas Tech and then-No. 9 Arkansas.
 
Something special was certainly brewing in Omaha.
 
But soon things went sideways for the high-flying Jays. The bad news was an almost month-long, six-game losing streak that not only evened their record at 6-6, but also saw Creighton slide all the way out of the Top 25.
 
The worse news, however, was the loss of 7-1, 255-pound Ryan Kalkbrenner to a non-COVID illness. It was a malady that forced the Biggest Bluejay of Them All to miss a trio of games - all losses to BYU and Arizona State as well as the Jays’ BIG EAST opener at Marquette.
 
So, 12 games into the season it was time for the Bluejays to hit the restart button and since Kalkbrenner’s return on Dec. 22, Creighton has looked a lot like, well, Creighton. The Bluejays are 5-2 since Kalkbrenner returned to the lineup, they are beginning to make a move up the BIG EAST standings and they are knocking on the door of a return to the Top 25.
 
It’s been quite the turnaround Kalkbrenner has spearheaded, despite the fact that he is still not one hundred percent.
 
“The sickness is all out of me so I just need to ramp up to game shape which I’m really, really close to,” Kalkbrenner said. “I think there’s just a little more to get there.”
 
For a gamer like Kalkbrenner, being forced to miss three games was unbearable. But, still, he was able to take a “glass half full” view of his time on the sidelines.
 
“You never want to sit out a game and when you sit out and you watch your team lose by just a few points, you’re like, ‘Man, I could have made a difference,’” Kalkbrenner said. “So that part was definitely frustrating. But the good part of that was that it gave (freshman) Fred (King), our backup five, a real good chance to develop and grow and that will really help us later on in the season. But it definitely was frustrating just sitting on the bench and it didn’t help that we were in a little bit of a slump. I just felt there was not much I could do. But we’ve worked through that now and it was a good learning experience.”
 
Since his return Kalkbrenner has scored in double figures in five of seven games, including a 21-point, seven-rebound effort in a victory over then-No. 19 Providence. But Kalkbrenner says this Creighton team is still not where they want to be.
 
“I think we’ve definitely put ourselves back on the right path but I think we still have a little bit to go to reach our full potential,” said Kalkbrenner, who is averaging 14.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. “We still haven’t played what we think is our best basketball even though it’s been getting better and better as the season has been going along. But I do think we have a little bit more to go.”
 
Perhaps no program in the country has played the kind of unforgiving schedule Creighton has endured this season. So far, the Bluejays have faced seven ranked teams and have a 3-4 record in those contests. More of those games are still to come as three BIG EAST opponents - Xavier, Marquette and Providence - are all in the AP Top 25.
 
So, was playing such a brutal schedule a plus for the Jays?
 
“One perspective is that since you’re playing really, really good teams it takes a little bit out of you,” Kalkbrenner said. “But as a competitor you always want to play really good teams. I like doing it. I think playing better teams sets you up better later in the season. We just have to make sure we take care of business. But I think all the guys on the team would say they liked it because we all love competing and playing good teams.”
 
The reigning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, as you might expect, leads the conference in blocked shots with 2.2 per game. But Kalkbrenner is also tops in another category - field goal percentage - where he shoots at a sizzling 72.9 percent clip. So which end of the floor does he enjoy doing the most damage?
 
“I like defense, that’s who I’ve always been,” he said. “I haven’t always been able to score the ball but I’ve always been a good defender. I pride myself on rim protection and blocking shots. I kind of got off to a slow start with that this year in part because I was a little sick and I sprained my ankle and whatnot. But I feel like it’s starting to pick back up and I’m finally getting back into the flow of things, But I would say defense is kind of where I hang my hat.”
 
So game on the line, you’d rather make the big block than the big bucket?
 
“Yeah, for sure,” Kalkbrenner said laughing.
 
So with six weeks remaining in the regular season and Kalkbrenner nearly back to full strength, are the Bluejays poised to make a run at the conference title?
 
“I think we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole to start the year but I really think we’re starting to find our stride and getting real, real close to our potential,” Kalkbrenner said. “This is where we find that part of us to reach our potential and start winning a bunch of games and I think we’ll be right in the mix for the BIG EAST title right to the end.”
 
But Kalkbrenner knows battling for a BIG EAST title is a formidable task, to say the least.
 
“The BIG EAST is always really good. You usually have four or five teams at the top who are going to be nationally ranked at some point and then there will be some teams like St. John’s who beat UConn and DePaul who beat Xavier,” Kalkbrenner said. “So you can never take a day off. On any given day any team in the conference can beat any other team so you can’t take any team lightly. You have to prepare for everyone with the same intensity as you would prepare for Villanova, UConn or Xavier. It’s just a really hard league to play in, but I like that part of it.”
 
And now after an eight-day break, the Bluejays return to work Wednesday night when they host St. John’s before another home contest against No.13 Xavier on Saturday. Two opportunities for Creighton to continue the turnaround of its season.
 
“We know about Xavier, how good they are and we know how good St. John’s can be on any given night,” Kalkbrenner said. “So from our point of view we just have to go in there and do what we do. Don’t take anyone lightly, go in there and play hard and go get us two wins this week.”