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
Gregory Echenique brings a post presence to the Bluejays (Adam Streur/WBR)
This time last year, some Creighton fans felt the true season wouldn’t start until December 17, 2010. Not because Missouri Valley Conference play was right around the corner then, but because Gregory Echenique would finally be eligible to be a Bluejay.
Eleven months before, reports started to surface about Echenique’s plans to transfer to Creighton from Rutgers, where he had impressed as a freshman in the Big East but suffered an eye injury as a sophomore. He came to Omaha from St. Benedict’s High School, via New Jersey, and was the nation’s #9 high school prospect according to ESPN. Few incoming Bluejays, whether transfers or true freshmen, brought the credentials to the Hilltop that Echenique did.
To welcome the big man back to action, Creighton scheduled a series of three games between December 18 and December 22, ahead of Valley play. He averaged 11.3 points and 4 rebounds in those games, while acclimating to playing competitive hoops for the first time in more than a year. By season’s end, the redshirt sophomore had earned MVC All-Newcomer Team and All-Defensive Team honors. Echenique led the Valley in field goal percentage and blocked shots per game, finished fourth in offensive rebounding, and tenth in rebounds per game.
Echenique finished the season in interesting fashion. In the regular season finale against Northern Iowa and the rematch a week later versus the Panthers in the Arch Madness quarterfinals, Ben Jacobsen’s squad focused increased energy and attention on shutting down Echenique. He scored just 2 points in both games, grabbing a combined 15 rebounds. Echenique’s 6 points and 7 rebounds against Missouri State in the semifinals couldn’t salvage the Bluejays, who lost to the Bears. But the CBI tournament experience was a godsend for Echenique, who averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds a game during Creighton’s run to the championship series against Oregon.
But Echenique’s busy first season of action at CU didn’t end there. The Venezuelan national team called, and asked the native of Caracas to try out for the squad coach Eric Musselman was putting together for a run at a spot in the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Echenique made the team, and was the starting center for the team that finished fifth in the FIBA Americans Tournament this past summer.
“I feel like I had a good experience overall,” Echenique told WBR about his time with the Venezuelan national team. “We practiced a lot. Coach Musselman really believed in being in the gym. We didn’t get many days off at all. But it paid off once we got to the tournament games.
I had an opportunity to play against pretty good NBA post players. I feel like I competed decently and that definitely helped my confidence. A lot of people weren’t too sure what I could do, and were kind of second guessing my abilities in going against those guys. I think it all worked out in the end and I am glad I had a chance to be a part of that team.”
Creighton head coach Greg McDermott has talked recently about the improved confidence Echenique and Doug McDermott gained this summer, playing for their respective national teams, and how it can affect their games this season.
“I feel the whole experience made my game better, but I am still learning and being humble,” Echenique said. “I try to learn from coach every day, and I work hard.”
Echenique and his teammates hope that effort and education will lead to improved results. The team plans on going through Echenique and McDermott most trips down the court.
“I think the guys are really buying into it [going into the post] and getting used to it. I like to pass the ball from the post, too. Every time I get it, it isn’t like I am trying to score. I think I am pretty good at passing the ball outside, and we have been doing that a lot in practice.
I think it will give a different attribute to the team, with Ethan [Wragge] healthy and other guys ready to shoot from outside. I will be able to kick it out to shooters when the defense closes in. Our offense will be a lot better this year.”