Creighton in NCAA comfort zone for fourth straight year

OMAHA, Neb. -- Selection Sunday won't hold quite as much suspense for Creighton's basketball team this year.

The Bluejays are waiting only to find out who and where they will play in the NCAA tournament.

They already know they will be invited.

"It feels nice. We can sit back, relax and have fun with it," said Kyle Korver, who had 18 points and nine rebounds Monday night when Creighton beat Southern Illinois 84-76 in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game.

With the win, the Bluejays (22-8) guaranteed themselves a fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance and the 13th trip in school history.

The Bluejays earned automatic NCAA bids by winning three of the last four MVC tournaments. Last year, they won the conference's regular season title, but lost to Indiana State in the tournament finals and had to wait until selection day to receive an at-large bid.

The Creighton team returned home Tuesday to a small reception at Omaha's Eppley Airfield. Players walked through a corridor of blue and white balloons as they were cheered on by 30 fans.

One fan held a sign that said "Bring on Duke." That might be a little ambitious, considering Creighton has lost in the first round of the last two NCAA tournaments, but nobody seemed to care.

"I don't care who we play. I'm just excited to be there," said Korver, a junior. "We're going to go out there and we're going to have fun. I don't know who we're going to play but they'd better watch out because this team's playing pretty good right now."

Creighton wasn't expected to get this far. The team has no seniors and lost four-year starters Ben Walker and Ryan Sears, who were seniors last year.

The Salukis and Bluejays tied for the regular season title, but SIU was the top seed in the tournament after sweeping the Bluejays.

"It makes it a lot more sweeter knowing everybody doubted us earlier in the year," said Terrell Taylor, who led Creighton with 20 points in Monday night's win. "I think it was just a bigger sense of urgency, knowing that we needed it to get to the NCAA tournament."

Creighton coach Dana Altman said he was proud of how his team played in the tournament, winning three games in three days.

"The guys got it straightened out and really prepared themselves well for each game. I thought they went out with a purpose each night," he said. "They made great improvement during the year. They worked awfully hard I really feel good for them."

Altman said he would give his team a couple of days off to recover. Korver has a bad foot that needs to heal before the tournament.

"We'll just wait and see what comes down the pipe on Sunday and try to get ready from there," Altman said.