We are profiling each member of the 2012-13 Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball team. Check in weekdays leading up to Creighton’s regular season opener against North Texas (November 9) for an introduction to this season’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
Geoffrey Groselle (#23 / C / 7-0 / 250 lbs. / RFr.)
Check out our photo gallery of Geoffrey Groselle (courtesy Adam Streur and Mike Spomer for WBR)
Creighton’s Geoffrey Groselle spent last season redshirting. He likely learned more about the speed and pace of the college game. He probably put on more muscle thanks to training sessions with Dan Bailey and his staff. But you can’t teach height, and Groselle has plenty to spare.
Gregory Echenique manned the frontcourt and Will Artino, Ethan Wragge, and even Doug McDermott spelled the big man when foul trouble or fatigue became a factor. But sitting in a sweatsuit on the bench was Groselle, the program’s first 7-footer since “The Miami Slice” Bill O’Dowd suited up for CU in the early 90s. The redshirt freshman from Plano, Texas, led Creighton in blocked shots last summer when the team went to the Bahamas for a series of exhibition games. He also averaged 7.5 rebounds per game during that trip.
But the big man agreed to take a season to adjust to the game, and now Creighton’s future frontcourt will benefit from some spacing of eligibility. Echenique’s a senior, Wragge’s a redshirt junior, McDermott’s a true junior, and Artino is a redshirt sophomore. Groselle will fight them all for playing time. But his presence gives Greg McDermott and the CU coaching staff the ability to not try and force Wragge and Doug McDermott out of their natural positions at power forward.
We caught up with Groselle at Creighton’s Media Day: