We are profiling each member of the 2011-12 Creighton men’s basketball team. Join us weekdays from now until the men’s exhibition opener against Rockhurst for an introduction to this year’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
See all of our 2011-12 Creighton men’s basketball profiles
Geoff Groselle (#23) could help back up the low post for Creighton this season
Geoff Groselle is a funny guy. Well, he seems like a funny guy. With the explosion of social media like Twitter and Facebook, one way to follow a person’s favorite athletes is through those outlets. If anyone has seen the Twitter feed that appears to belong to Groselle, it is one of those fun accounts that anyone would like to follow. However, there is one problem:
“The thing about the Twitter account though is that is actually isn’t me on the Twitter,” said Groselle. “It is sort of a parody account. Every once in a while, I’ll throw out a tweet and I have to monitor what they put out there.”
Whether that’s true or he is being funny doesn’t matter. Groselle’s at Creighton to play basketball. And as the school’s first seven-footer in some time, that is no joking matter.
The addition of Groselle to the roster this season puts him in a small class of seven-footers to suit up in the White and Blue. He is the first since Bill O’Dowd in 1991 and only the fifth seven-footer in Creighton history (Benoit Benjamin, Mike Heck, and Nate Stevens are the others).
As might be expected, Groselle’s numbers stick out for what he accomplished as a tall post player. He owns his Plano high school’s record for blocked shots and rebounds in a season. He averaged more than 12 points and 9 boards a game, earning recognition as one of the top 25 prospects in the state of Texas by Texashoops.com.
While the Omaha weather is a bit different than his native Plano (“It is kind of different than I expected; it is cold,” he said), Groselle came to Creighton because of the environment, fan support, coaching staff, and all the people involved in the program.
Heading into this season, Groselle will likely see minutes backing up Gregory Echenique in the post. With Echenique in Venezuela for the summer, Groselle was able to play a lot of minutes in the Bahamas. He averaged 5.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in four games on the trip, including a double-double against the Real Deal Shockers. The competition is a bit tougher in practice, where Groselle goes up against Echenique.
“It is pretty tough. It is not easy to stop him from scoring,” he said.
Groselle sees different results each day during this early stretch of practice. When asked what type of impact he thinks he’ll have on this year’s Creighton team, he says he’s still finding his way.
“Some days I come in and I am a really significant player [in practice], and other days I feel like I’m not going to make that much of a difference. I guess we will just have to wait and see how the season goes.”
That will happen sooner than later. With the season opener only a few weeks away, Groselle and his fellow freshmen will see the court for the first time.