As the time of “super seniors” in college basketball nears its end, Creighton men’s basketball will benefit from extra eligibility one more time in a big way.
Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth both opting to return to Creighton for a fifth season of college basketball has the Jays poised for another tournament run as they head into the 2024-25 season ranked 12th in KenPom, 14th in the Coaches Poll and 15th in the AP Poll.
Kalkbrenner, the three-time reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year, will enter his final season as the preseason Big East Player of the Year, while former Utah State Aggie Ashworth heads into year two as a Bluejay as a third-team All-Big East selection for the team picked to finish second by the league’s coaches.
“It’s huge,” sophomore Isaac Traudt said of the seniors’ return. “Those two guys are really special. Kalk’s made a lot of progress with his body too. He looks really good; that’s probably the best he’s ever looked to me, at least. Steven, his life changed significantly having a kid and stuff, but he’s been amazing still, and it’s really impressive how he’s able to handle that and then still be elite on the court.”
Both men experienced significant life changes away from the court during the offseason. As Traudt said, Ashworth and his wife Peyton welcomed a son named Tommy Jay to their family. Ashworth’s first offseason as a Bluejay involved plenty of adjustment on the court, but this year has provided a different kind of challenge.
“Some sleepless nights, but at the same time, a lot of adjustment off the court,” Ashworth said. “It’s been great. It’s been a journey with Peyton that I wouldn’t change for the world. And so it’s been a fun offseason, eventful off the court, but on the court, it’s been pretty steady, which has been good.”
Ryan Kalkbrenner and his now-wife Rachael participate in Creighton’s 2024 senior day ceremony after the team’s win over Marquette. Photo by Eric Francis
Kalkbrenner also expanded his family, marrying former Creighton women’s hooper Rachael Saunders in late August.
“I don’t know that the married life has changed me a ton,” Kalkbrenner said. “I had to learn a lot in the boyfriend and fiancé stage, but we’re still working on it. I’m still getting better, still learning how to be a husband, but it’s awesome. It’s been amazing.”
Before the wedding, however, Kalkbrenner took advantage of his early NBA Draft withdrawal to put in work on the court and in the weight room. He said he didn’t change much about his offseason workout plan, but getting a full three months rather than the month and a half he’s gotten previously made a significant difference.
“Summer was amazing,” Kalkbrenner said. “Obviously, one of the big reasons I came back was to have a full summer and really work on getting my body right and working on a few things. I think it went great. I think I got stronger, I think I got in better shape, I got better on the court, so I’m really happy with how summer went.”
Kalkbrenner already shouldered a heavy load last season, playing nearly 35 minutes per game — the most of any player in the country taller than 6-foot-8 (Kalkbrenner is listed at 7-foot-1 and 270 pounds). However, he said his goal this offseason was to get in even better shape so that he can maintain his high level of play for every second he’s on the court.
Neither Kalkbrenner nor Coach Greg McDermott anticipated when he committed to Creighton out Trinity High School in St. Louis that Kalkbrenner would grow into a player who will one day see his jersey hoisted into the rafters at CHI Health Center Omaha. In fact, after his freshman year, Kalkbrenner began looking into summer internships to prepare himself for life after college basketball. Three Defensive Player of the Year awards later, his thinking has changed.
“He was so skinny and gangly and clumsy, but he always had a knack defensively for changing the game with his ability to block shots and change shots.,” McDermott said. “He’s continued to grow and build into that role, and obviously, he’s added a lot of dimensions to his game offensively. What he’s done with his body and his conditioning in the offseason, I think, is really going to propel him for a great year.”
Kalkbrenner averaged a career-high 17.3 points while shooting nearly 65% from the field in 2023-24. With Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander — and their combined 36.1 points per game — gone, Kalkbrenner knows the team will need him to be more assertive this season. He said gaining confidence and staying out of his own head has been the key to the leap he’s made over the last couple of years.
“That was a big roadblock for me early on in my career, just if I made a bad play, I’d take myself out of the game for the next five, six, 10 plays, because I was so worried about the time I messed up,” Kalkbrenner said. “And obviously, when you’re doing that, you’re going to mess up more. So I think getting over that and just saying, ‘OK, I’m good enough to be here; if I mess up, so what? Onto the next play, I’m going to make a great play next play.’ So I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve done to really get better.”
For Ashworth, improvement has come with knowledge and comfort. Jumping from the Mountain West to the Big East required a significant adjustment period, but the more he played the more he learned about what he needed to do for Creighton to be successful. He averaged 11.1 points and 4.2 assists and shot 34.9% from 3 overall, and he also went from someone McDermott subbed out on defense in crunch time to a player who made a significant impact on the defensive end in big games down the stretch. Over the summer, he dedicated himself to further honing the skills that he saw translate in his first season at Creighton.
Steven Ashworth shoots the ball against Seton Hall. Photo by Eric Francis.
“Just focusing on the things that I know that I’m best at,” Ashworth said. “I think that my endurance and speed and shooting ability are kind of my superpowers on the court, and so this offseason, really focusing on just honing those in and making sure that they’re at the peak performance that I that I can know I can be.”
McDermott said he just wants to see Ashworth pick up where he left off.
“He was playing great at the end of the year, playing with confidence,” McDermott said. “He was aggressive on both ends of the floor, which we’re going to need him to do. And then he’s going to need to lead a little bit more than last year. Last season he had Trey and Baylor and Kalk and Bello who had been around, and now he’s one of those guys that guys are going to be looking to in tough situations to help them get out of it. I think he’s reached the level in our program with an understanding of what we’re doing. I think he’s poised for a great season.”
Ashworth didn’t have a problem speaking up when he felt it was necessary last season, but he said he’s seen — or, rather, heard — a conscientious effort from Kalkbrenner to be more vocal in practice this offseason, something McDermott has noticed as well.
“He and Steven have been terrific, really from the jump,” McDermott said. “The consistency of their voice in practice and the positive approach that they have with their teammates as they’re kind of growing through some mistakes and learning our system and the nuances of how we do things here, they’ve been instrumental in that regard. Kalk, it’s been awesome to have another opportunity to coach him. I’m really blessed to have five years with him. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime player for a coach that has that skill set that allows us to do, defensively, what we do because of his approach on a daily basis.”
As McDermott said at Big East Media Days, Kalkbrenner and Ashworth returning gives Creighton a chance to continue competing at the highest level, which played a big part in the way Creighton’s nonconference schedule came together. Creighton will test itself against preseason No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Alabama and others before diving into Big East play, where the two-time reigning champion and preseason No. 3 UConn Huskies await.
With the two seniors leading the way, this year’s team has big goals once again.
“Honestly, we come to Creighton to win championships, and that’s the goal,” Ashworth said. “I’ll mark my individual success really on the team success this year. That’s why I came back is because I wanted to be a part of a winning team.”
