Here - Creighton University Bluejays

to top Indiana State, 61-60.
Creighton entered the MVC Tournament
as the second seed, five games ahead of a
five-team logjam of teams that finished 9-9
and tied for third place.
Creighton’s first game at Arch Madness
came against third-place, but seventhseeded
Drake. The Jays fell behind 12-2
early before rallying for a 68-61 win. One
day later, the Jays walloped third-seeded
Evansville, 99-71, to reach the finals for the
seventh time in 14 years.
The Jays won their Valley-record 11th
MVC Tournament crown a day later with an
83-79 overtime win over Illinois State. The
victory secured CU’s first NCAA Tournament
bid since 2007, and capped a big weekend
that saw Echenique named MVC Defensive
Player of the Year, and McDermott sweep
Valley Player of the Year and Valley
Tournament Most Outstanding Player accolades.
Creighton was awarded a No. 8 seed in the
Midwest Region for the NCAA Tournament,
where it was paired against No. 9 Alabama.
For the sixth time in 2011-12, the Bluejays
overcame a double-digit deficit to win, as
Creighton topped the Crimson Tide, 58-57.
Once again, the victory required a defensive
stand in the closing seconds, as the Jays
claimed their first NCAA Tournament win
since 2002.
CU’s third-round match-up came against
the heavily-favored No. 1 seed, North
2011-12 Recap
Carolina. Making the challenge even more
daunting was that the game took place in
the heart of ACC territory in the Tar Heels’
backyard of Greensboro, N.C.
Creighton played valiantly, but in the
end UNC’s collection of lottery picks was
too much, as the Tar Heels advanced to the
Sweet 16 with an 87-73 win.
Creighton’s 29 wins tied a school-record,
first set by the 2002-03 team. Its 10 true
road wins tied a school-record, while the 15
wins away from home (10 road, 5 neutral)
were a record. CU’s 2,772 points were a
record for one season as well.
Individually, McDermott capped what
many consider to be the top individual
season in school history. He set a schoolrecord
with 801 points, and his 307 field
goals were also a record that led the nation
in 2011-12. He tied the CU mark for threepoint
percentage in a season (48.6 percent),
and his 22.9 points per game ranked third
nationally and were the best by a Bluejay
since 1969.
McDermott was named the Lute Olson
National Player of the Year by CollegeInsider.
com, and also picked up First Team All-
America honors by the USBWA, NABC and
Associated Press. He was one of 10 men
named to the John R. Wooden All-America
Team, and a finalist for the Wooden and
Naismith Awards.
The team’s only scholarship senior, Young
earned Second-Team All-Valley plaudits for
a second straight campaign. He was second
on the team with 12.1 points and 4.5 assists
per game, and finished his career as CU’s
first player to score at least 1,325 points and
dish 500 or more assists.
Echenique paced the MVC in blocked
shots for a second straight campaign with
57 swats, and also added 9.7 points and 7.3
rebounds per game.
Rounding out the starting five were
Jahenns Manigat and Grant Gibbs.
Manigat led the MVC in league games with
49.2 percent marksmanship from threepoint
range. Gibbs handed out a leaguehigh
176 assists on the season and paced
CU with 37 steals to earn a place on the
MVC’s All-Newcomer squad.
Creighton would wind up as one of five
teams nationally to use the same starting
five in every game this season, and did not
have a single student-athlete miss a game
due to injury/sickness/suspension all year
long.
The Bluejays ranked sixth nationally by
averaging 16,665 fans per home game,
and also ranked in the top-10 in field goal
percentage (2nd), assists per game (2nd),
three-point percentage (3rd), winning percentage
(7th) and wins (10th).
Creighton will bring back four starters
and 10 lettermen in 2012-13. In addition
to Young’s graduation, the Jays also lose
Derek Sebastian, Matthew Dorwart and
Ross Ferrarini to graduation.
Doug McDermott (left) and Grant Gibbs meet with the national media after Creighton’s NCAA Tournament win over Alabama on March 16, 2012.
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