We continue our brief profiles of each member of the 2010-11 Creighton men’s basketball team. Join us each weekday from now until the men’s exhibition game against Northern State for an introduction to this year’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
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What a difference two years makes. Had Grant Gibbs committed to Creighton out of Linn-Mar High School before the 2008-2009 season, it would have been seen as a recruiting coup for the Bluejays. Gibbs, an all-Iowa performer and state champion as a junior, passed up Iowa State (and then-head coach Greg McDermott) among others to travel west and play for national mid-major darling Gonzaga.
But after two less than fulfilling seasons in Spokane, Gibbs is back in the Midwest after joining McDermott at his latest stop. Creighton fans won’t see him on the floor this year, as he takes his mandatory redshirt for his transfer year, and perhaps that’s why not many people are talking about landing the versatile 6’4 combo guard once so heavily coveted by college basketball coaches around the country.
Gibbs took a medical redshirt during his first season at Gonzaga and sat on the bench as the Bulldogs went 28-6 and lost in the Sweet Sixteen to eventual national champions North Carolina. During his redshirt freshman season last year, Gibbs averaged 2.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 24 games for the Zags. After the season was over, he decided he was due for a change.
“In retrospect, I can honestly say that Gonzaga was just not the right place for me. I never got comfortable with the coaching staff or my role on the team, and when you’re that far from home and not happy it makes things pretty difficult,” Gibbs told WBR.
Grant Gibbs will sit out this season after transferring from Gonzaga
His mounting injury problems didn’t help the situation, either. After breaking his wrist as a senior in high school, he suffered a shoulder injury while at Gonzaga. He was in a sling for nearly four months and couldn’t really do anything but watch his teammates play. Last year, Gibbs suffered from knee tendinitis. He underwent surgery on his left knee this summer to correct some issues, and he’s recovering from that work right now.
“It’s been a bit of a rough road in terms of injuries, but as far as sitting out this season, I think I really need this year to get healthy and get my game and career back on track,” Gibbs said.
He hopes that happens in a Creighton uniform playing for McDermott, someone he’s known for quite some time.
“Going through the initial recruiting process out of high school, I developed a good relationship with Coach Mac but I didn’t feel Iowa State was the right place for me at that time,” Gibbs said. “But when he took the job here at Creighton, I knew I would have a coach that had seen me play a lot and knew what I could do on and off the court.
“Then when Doug (McDermott) and Kody Ingle, guys I already knew and had played with, decided they were coming to Creighton, it seemed like a good situation for me.
“I thought a lot about what I had to do to turn things around in my career, and I knew at Creighton I’d have the right people around me, both coaches and teammates, to get things turned around.”
That turnaround begins once Gibbs is healthy and can practice fully. He knows redshirt years can be beneficial as far as learning a new system and getting a feel for a new coaching staff, and he said he plans to take advantage of his time off the court as much as possible. But what can Creighton fans expect from Gibbs when he returns to action as a redshirt sophomore in 2011?
“I think I’m a distributor that can also score if called upon to do so. But I pride myself on being able to make my teammates better and having an astute understanding of the game,” he said, adding that he needs to get a lot better at on-ball defense. But ultimately, Gibbs knows that his ultimate job is to help Creighton win games.
“I just want to get back to playing everyday and doing whatever it takes to help this program,” he said. “After sitting for so long, I feel blessed just to be able to get back on the floor and practice and improve.”