Two months ago, Creighton was faced with Doug McDermott potentially going pro, and losing Grant Gibbs and Gregory Echenique to graduation. After today’s news, they’ll have two of those three back for their first year in the Big East.
It was considered a longshot by most observers, but on Tuesday, the NCAA granted a sixth year of eligibility to Grant Gibbs. He’s had a complicated career, injury wise. Gibbs spent two seasons at Gonzaga before transferring to Creighton, but redshirted his first year there — a season that coincided with an injury that would have kept him off the floor anyway. Then after his freshman year, he transferred to Creighton, and during the year he was forced to sit out because of the transfer, he had knee surgery for another injury that would have kept him off the floor anyway.
That was the crux of the appeal for a sixth year, and apparently, the reason for the NCAA granting him a rare exemption.
His return means Creighton will bring four starters from 2012-13 into next season, their first in the Big East, and could potentially make them favorites to win the league in their inaugural season in the new conference. Statistics tell an impressive story — Gibbs averaged 8.5 points, 5.8 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game last season, when he joined Syracuse’s Michael Carter-Williams as the nation’s only players with at least 300 points, 200 assists and 145 rebounds — but his intangibles as the team’s emotional leader and uncanny ability to put Doug McDermott in position to score make him perhaps the team’s unsung star.
This video of him hearing the news via conference call is pretty much the greatest thing you’ll see all day.
Check back with White & Blue Review this afternoon for more reaction to this big news.