Creighton’s trip to the NCAA Tournament last season was a great journey. Unfortunately, their trip came to a screeching halt against North Carolina in the round of 32. The third round game against the Tar Heels proved, however, that they can play with anyone. It was sad to see the season end, but Creighton fans were able to help celebrate a return to the national scene behind Doug McDermott and his All-American season as well as an NCAA Tournament win. With most of the team returning this fall and the addition of a couple of redshirt players and new freshmen, there is no doubt that the expectations will be even higher heading into the 2012-13 season.
Ethan Wragge shoots over Anthony Tolliver in a summer league game last year. (Photo by Patrick Marshall/WBR)
Though the regular season is still almost five months away, basketball junkies are looking to feed the need to see players develop their game during the offseason. Fortunately for those here in the Omaha Metro, there is Summer League basketball again on the schedule.
The Omaha Metro Basketball League will be back in full swing this summer with games starting on June 21st. Current and incoming players for Creighton, UNO, Bellevue, Midland and other local colleges will take part as well as recent graduates and professionals to make up the teams in the league. Due to the new NCAA rule that allows coaches to work with players for eight hours a week for up to eight weeks during the summer, the summer league will be compressed into a short six weeks from June 21st through July 26th. Because of this change, the league will play up to two nights per week — on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Omaha Sports Academy just off of 120th & Maple Street.
All of the current and incoming Creighton basketball players will be part of the league this summer except for Gregory Echenique, who will be in Venezuela trying to help his National Team qualify for the Olympics. Current players from UNO, incoming Nebraska recruits such as Deverell Biggs, and other local players on the rosters. As in previous years, due to NCAA D-1 rules only two current players from one school can play on the same team, but they can be surrounded by unlimited newcomers and graduates. Here’s how the Creighton roster breaks down with the teams in summer league (grads and legends in parenthesis).
- Ethan Wragge and Nevin Johnson (with Matt Dorwart)
- Geoffrey Grosselle, Avery Dingman, Andre Yates and Isaiah Zierden (with Livan Pyfrom)
- Grant Gibbs and Jahenns Manigat
- Josh Jones and Will Artino (with Rodney Buford)
- Doug McDermott, Austin Chatman (with Nick Bahe, Nate Funk, Anthony Tolliver and Antoine Young)
- Taylor Stormberg and Alex Olsen
Those teams will provide some very interesting combinations for fans to watch. Pairing Andre Yates with Isaiah Zierden will provide one-stop shopping (or watching, as it were) for fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the two Bluejay newcomers. They’ll be playing with sharpshooter Avery Dingman and redshirt freshman Geoffrey Groselle, who fans have only caught a glimpse of at summer league, Bluejay Madness and the exhibition game against Rockhurst a year ago.
Without a doubt, the team that catches everyone’s eye is the pairing of Doug McDermott and Austin Chatman with a litany of Bluejay Legends — Nick Bahe, Nate Funk, Antoine Young and in limited duty, Anthony Tolliver. That’s practically a Dream Team for summer hoops, isn’t it?
Admission to all games is free, but if you can’t make it out to the Omaha Sports Academy, the good news is that you will not have to go far to keep up with the league. Once again this year, White & Blue Review is proud to be the exclusive home to the Metro Basketball League. Our Summer League minisite is home to the schedule, results, rosters and everything else that relates to summer league play. You can get previews, recaps and more on the main WBR site as well.
The action starts in just 13 days!