Thanksgiving Week 1991 brought for the Creighton Bluejays a road game at Iowa State. It was the first regular season game for new head coach Rick Johnson, who took over after Tony Barone left Omaha for College Station, Texas. And a day before Johnson’s Jays suffered a 92-75 loss, the first of what would become 59 in three seasons as CU’s head man, Creighton gained mention in Sports Illustrated.
The topic? Walk-ons in college basketball. The article of course mentioned Iowa State’s Jeff Hornacek, whom the writer dubbed the “patron saint of walk-ons”. And the scribe also caught up Creighton walk-ons past and present, Porter Moser and Denny Halligan.
I’ll spare you the details, which you can find here. But any of you who watched the Creighton teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s know what Moser and Halligan meant to the program: guys who loved the game, who hustled all the time, and who relished the opportunity to play D-I hoops at a school like Creighton.
Walk-ons become fan favorites. They hear the crowd chant their names chanted near the end of blowouts. And they help make their teammates better. What they don’t often get are scholarships and the playing time associated. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a place on the team.
WBR caught up with Creighton’s five non-scholarship players, guys who give as much effort as anyone else to make the program better.
Matthew Dorwart (6’8, 200-pound Redshirt Sophomore)
Matthew Dorwart is one of five walk-ons to the Creighton hoops program
Dorwart, a walk-on from Sydney, Nebraska, played in four games last season as a redshirt freshman. He didn’t score until Creighton’s last game in Omaha last season, against Fairfield in the CIT tournament, when he made a layup during the last minute of the game. A week before, against South Dakota, Dorwart logged first-half playing time. And this time last season, in an exhibition against Nebraska-Omaha, Dorwart scored 8 points (including two 3-pointers). He says shooting is one of his strengths.
“I would like to think that I’m a good shooter,” he told WBR. “I know that I can hit shots and my teammates believe in me, too. I would also say that I am a smart player; I usually don’t make that many mistakes.”
Dorwart graduated first in his class at Sydney High School. The guy’s Pre-Med and wants to be a doctor, so having smarts is a good thing. He made the Dean’s List last season. He works hard in the classroom and on the court, where he is just trying to help the team improve. “I just want to do whatever I can to help, whether that be going all out in practice or coming into a game for a couple minutes if needed,” he said.
In that SI article, Moser says he decided to walk on because he “didn’t want to be some 40-year-old on a bar stool saying, ‘Yeah, I could’ve played Division I ball.’ ” When asked why he decided to walk on, Dorwart said he didn’t really have a specific reason for doing it, but that he wanted to just give it a shot. And he’s glad he did.
“Creighton basketball is like its own fraternity. I have met a ton of great people and have made friends for life,” he said. “I’ve been able to travel to some great places and have fun experiences.”
Derek Sebastian (6’5, 200-pound Redshirt Sophomore)
Derek Sebastian came to Creighton from Colorado
Joining Dorwart for the past few seasons has been Sebastian, who saw action in three games as a redshirt freshman. He owns a lone point, thanks to a free throw against Arkansas-Little Rock. And he recorded one assist: on Dorwart’s only field goal of the season.
When asked to describe his game, Sebastian said he relies on his speed to pressure players on the defensive end of the court. “I play the 3 and the 4, so sometimes I guard the forwards and other times the wings. Regardless, my goal every possession is to stop my man and help my teammates.
“I am the type of player that does the things that others really aren’t the most enthusiastic to do; I’m a very physical player and I use that on defense especially,” Sebastian said.
Perhaps it is something in the water in Loveland, Colorado. That’s where Sebastian’s from, just as Creighton Hall of Famer Bob Harstad. No one is comparing the walk-on to one of Creighton’s greats, but by the sounds of things Sebastian puts in an effort day in and day out at practice that would make Harstad smile.
“I expect myself to bring my all to every practice, and hopefully I will get a chance at helping the team when game-time roles around,” Sebastian said. “I expect a lot from myself and always have, and no matter what happens this season I will bring 100% effort to every practice and do my part in betterment of the team as a whole.”
That’s easier said than done, though. “Being a walk-on has taken more hard work than anything I have done in my life, but it has been an extremely positive experience so far.”
Ross Ferrarini (6’3, 195-pound Redshirt Sophomore)
Ross Ferrarini is walking on for his third coach
Ferrarini has the rare distinction to have walked on at both D-I schools in Nebraska. He spent his first year of college redshirting for Doc Sadler and the Huskers. But citing Creighton being a better fit, he left Lincoln and made the trek to Omaha. He spent last season as a walk-on for Dana Altman, who is now gone. In effect, Ferrarini has walked on for three coaches.
“Being a walk-on is different everywhere, really,” Ferrarini told WBR. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have played for three different D-I coaches, and that have all varied differently. Luckily for me, all three coaches have treated walk-ons fairly.
“Under Coach Sadler, the walk-ons played offense for a majority of the time in practice, in order for the main guys to focus on the defensive principles. Under Coach Altman, the walk-on squad typically played a lot of defense in practice. Coach Mac keeps all the walk-ons engaged in every facet and aspect of practice.”
Ferrarini was an honorable mention All-State player at Westside High School in Omaha before heading to UNL. For fans who haven’t seen him play, Ferrarini said his main strength is his shot and his ability to shoot from outside. “I would also consider myself a smart basketball player who prides himself on the core fundamentals of the game.”
He knows there aren’t enough minutes to go around, but he’d love to play significant minutes for the Bluejays. “I’m confident in my ability as a basketball player, and I just have to be ready for any opportunity I could get throughout the year. I just want to try to improve every day and do what I can to help the squad succeed.”
Taylor Stormberg (6’0, 190-pound Redshirt Freshman)
Taylor Stormberg is used to winning while wearing the White and Blue
The last time Creighton fans saw Stormberg play in a game that mattered, he was leading the Creighton Prep Junior Jays to a Class A State Championship in March 2009. His teams went 88-10 while he was at Prep, and he capped his career by being named second team All-State.
Stormberg spent last season redshirting as a walk-on for Altman and the Bluejays. “I decided to walk on at Creighton because of the great opportunity to both play at the D-I level and to receive one of the best educations in the country,” Stormberg told WBR. “I knew my decision would always have to be balanced between basketball and school, so that is why I came here.”
He also came here to win and to play. “I expect our team to win. Last year, sitting on the bench, learning and growing as a player, it was hard to see us lose because of things we did not do well in practice. I want to win,” Stormberg said. “I also came in wanting to play, not be a practice player, but to be able to contribute and to help our team win games.”
To do that, Stormberg is going to continue being himself. “I would say that I am very controlling. I will provide leadership both on and off the court,” he said. As for his game, he’s been working on his ball-handling skills this offseason and trying to spread the court as a shooting threat. “I might not be the quickest guy on the floor, but I’m going to be solid on and off the ball.”
Kody Ingle (6’2, 215-pound Freshman)
Kody Ingle was a two-time All-State player in Iowa
Ingle is a two-time All-State player from Altoona, Iowa. He played his high school ball at Southeast Polk, where he became the school’s all-time scoring leader. He was set to walk-on at Iowa State before McDermott left Ames for Omaha. Ingle decided to come to Creighton, too.
“I decided to walk on at Creighton because I had a well developed relationship with Coach Mac; when made the move I knew it could be a great opportunity for me,” Ingle told WBR.
McDermott’s seen Ingle play for a while, both because he was bringing the scoring machine to Iowa State and because Ingle played AAU basketball with Greg’s son, Doug. The two of them teamed with CU teammate Will Artino in the Martin Brothers program.
“It has been fun starting college with those guys,” he said about his AAU teammates. “It helped a lot to know going into school that I already had good friendships with two teammates.”
Ingle and his fellow freshmen have been adjusting to the speed of the collegiate game the past few months. “I’m not the quickest or most athletic guy, but I try to make up for that by playing smart and using the knowledge I have about the game,” Ingle said when asked what his strengths are as a player. “I can score and I have a high basketball IQ.”
