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Start with the bright side.

You will not find back-to-back college basketball games more exciting than Creighton's wins against Long Beach State and Evansville.

Two buzzer-beating heart-stoppers 72 hours apart in the same building? Are you kidding? It's a blessed year to be a Bluejay season-ticket holder.

But as the gleam wears off from those two thrillers — which unofficially locked up an NCAA tournament bid — a cold reality hits home: Creighton isn't beating anybody in March playing defense like this.

Forget Colt Ryan's theatrics. Four straight opponents have eclipsed 50 percent shooting from the field.

To put that in perspective, Kentucky hasn't allowed a single opponent all year to shoot 50 percent.

Creighton isn't Kentucky. But look deeper at the numbers.

Ken Pomeroy operates an advanced statistics website for college basketball. His rankings are popular enough that many college coaches use them to construct strategies. Selection committee members often consult them in building the NCAA tournament bracket.

Pomeroy's metrics include "adjusted defensive efficiency," which, in a nutshell, measures points per possession relative to the quality of the opponent.

Where does Creighton rank in adjusted defense? No. 192.

Since 2003, how many NCAA tournament teams have been 192nd or lower in adjusted defense? Only 39. About four per year.

How many of those 39 teams won an NCAA tournament game? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

In fact, no team ranked 192nd or lower defensively has received an at-large berth.

The NCAA teams that come from Creighton's defensive neighborhood are low-major champions that get tagged with No. 15 or 16 seeds. They usually get blown out by Kentucky, Kansas or Duke.

Creighton will not receive a 15 or 16 seed. If the season ended today, the Jays would land somewhere in the 7 to 10 range. But what will they do with it?

The Jays' brand of basketball is as pretty as anything in the country. They play with poise and personality. Their intelligence, unselfishness and offensive skill is straight out of an instructional video.

But at the other end of the court, Creighton keeps tripping over its Achilles' heel.

The good news: It's not the fault of effort.

That's also the bad news. Greg McDermott can't fix his defensive woes with a pep talk. He doesn't have the horses.

Name one player in the rotation you would consider a good individual defender by top-25 standards. Gregory Echenique? Maybe. Name one player strong enough and quick enough to match up against an elite perimeter scorer.

Colt Ryan is very good. But like Missouri State's Kyle Weems and Northwestern's Drew Crawford, he is not an All-American. And unless the opponent's last name is Durant or Bryant, Creighton should never give up 43 points to one player on its home court.

What McDermott desperately needs is an athletic wing who can defend. That player doesn't need to start over Jahenns Manigat or Josh Jones. But he needs to be in the rotation.

Hopefully, Nevin Johnson, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound redshirt, helps solve the problem in 2013. It's too late to fix this season.

"We've won 24 games with that group," McDermott said. "Of course, I'm worried about (defense). But I also like the fact that if we need to score, we can score. I guess if I've got to have it one way or the other, I'd rather have a team that when we need baskets, we can get a basket."

Most mid-major teams that make a splash in the NCAA tournament are strong defensively.

George Mason (2006) was 18th nationally, according to Pomeroy's rankings. Davidson ('08) was 31st. Butler ('10) was fifth. (One exception is Virginia Commonwealth last year, which finished 86th.)

Since '03, only 18 teams have won an NCAA tournament game with a defensive efficiency ranking outside the top 100. Remember, Creighton is 192nd.

The most optimistic statistical comparison is 2006 Gonzaga, which advanced to the Sweet 16. Adam Morrison's team led the nation in offensive efficiency, but was 178th in defense.

This year, Creighton's gap between offense (sixth nationally) and defense is even wider.

McDermott doesn't try to sell his team as the '89 Pistons. The Jays aren't perfect defensively, he said, but "it's who we are."

"You gotta stay confident in the guys. You gotta believe in them. The last thing you want is self-doubt to creep in. It's our job as a coaching staff to make them believe they're maybe a little bit better defenders than they really are."

The Jays have taken their fans on a four-month thrill ride, but — let's face it — this is not the year to expect a Final Four run. This isn't even the year to visit the Sweet 16. Creighton isn't good enough.

This March is about working out the NCAA tournament jitters. Building experience. Beginning to establish Creighton as a brand name on the national stage.

2013 and '14 are the years Creighton needs to break through.

Doug McDermott will be better. His supporting cast will be older. And, most important, the coach will have time to develop a defensive stopper or two.

Until then, Creighton may have to settle for beating Long Beach State and Evansville.

Contact the writer:

402-649-1461, dirk.chatelain@owh.com

twitter.com/dirkchatelain

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