From the time Creighton started playing men’s basketball (1916-1917) through the 1959-1960 season, the Bluejays called the Vinardi Center home. CU went 336-92 in 42 seasons in the on-campus gym, which now stands as home to the basketball practice facility.
Ahead of this weekend’s game against Nebraska, we stopped by the Old Gym to talk with Coach McDermott and his players.
Coach Greg McDermott
Q: If you had to give your club a grade coming out of this trip, what would you give them?
Coach Greg McDermott: “Probably a C. I thought we had one really good win that will do us a lot of good down the road, against an Arizona State team that I think will make some noise in the Pac-12. Then we played 20 minutes of good basketball against San Diego State, did not play well at all against G.W., and then we bounced back with a win where we played well against Long Beach. So there’s certainly some things we can learn from on the trip, some things we can take from it both good and bad. The reality of it is eight days is long; it felt like we went and played in a bowl game or something, we were gone so long.”
Q: Have you made a decision on whether you’re going to keep Ethan Wragge as a starter, or move him back to the bench to start games?
GMcD: “No, that will be done game-by-game. I didn’t like the way we were playing, we were not functioning at the level that you need to. You try to get your best players on the floor the most minutes, and he’s definitely one of our best players and has proved that. Of everybody on our team, he’s probably, when you consider who’s playing at the highest level, the closest to their potential right now, Ethan’s probably right up there.”
Q: One of the things Ethan said they learned on the trip was that they have to bring it every night, because their target is even bigger this year having moved to the Big East. Is that good to hear?
GMcD: “You know, that’s where you want your program to be and that’s the type of respect that you’d like to have. At the same time, we have to understand that we’re not built like a Louisville, where you’re long and athletic and the front of your jersey says ‘LOUISVILLE’, so you’re probably still going to win against a team that isn’t quite at your level. That’s certainly not to take anything away from GW, they’re 7-1 and they’ve beaten some good teams. But that’s a game I definitely felt like we should have won.”
Q: The Nebraska game, as you know, is a big game not only for your team but for the fans. How do you look at this game?
GMcD: “It’s a very important game for both teams. Both teams have a couple of losses and some decent wins to go along with them. This is about basketball in the state of Nebraska, and for that evening anyway, everybody’s thinking about basketball in this state. And that’s pretty cool. I’ve been a part of these rivalries going all the way back to the start of my Division 1 coaching career with Northern Iowa, playing Iowa and Iowa State, and then of course the rivalry with Iowa when I was in Ames. It’s fun for the fans, it’s an exciting buildup to the game, but at the end of the day, we’re going to play a much improved basketball team, and we’re going to have to have three great days of preparation.”
Q: You’re 10-0 against Tim Miles. Do you have his number, or what?
GMcD: “On the golf course, or on the basketball court (laughing)? I knew I’d gotten him on the golf course more times than not. But, you know, we’ve played some really tight games, and we’ve been lucky to come out on top. Tim’s a heckuva basketball coach, he’s doing a great job, they’re building his program the way he wants, and in watching their team last year compared with this year, it’s a difference of night and day. They’re a much improved team.”
Q: Is it a size thing, a talent thing, or just across the board?
GMcD: “I think there’s more offensive options than what he had last year. You can see them getting a little better with each game. He’s brought a lot of new pieces together, and trying to make them function as one is always the challenge in the early going. You can see that they’re starting to understand what his goals and expectations are. Tim’s always done a good job of coaching his teams’ defensively, but this team, offensively, has many more options than they had a year ago.”
Q: Do you guys communicate during the season?
GMcD: “Ah, you know, we text back and forth every once in a while, we’ve been friends for twenty-some-odd years, so when he sends out a goofy Tweet I’ll send him a text and tell him how ridiculous I thought it was (laughing). But obviously outside of this game I’m pulling for him and his staff, he’s got a great group of guys that work for him.”
Q: The new Billy Bluejay’s going to make his debut Sunday. Have you seen it?
GMcD: “What do you mean, I’m wearing it! (laughing, points to logo on his shirt). I have not seen it. So I will be as surprised as everyone else when he finally makes his appearance.”
Q: Did you see the picture of Doug riding the roller coaster at Disney that was making the rounds on Twitter? He looked a little scared. Is that how he’s always been on rides?
GMcD: “I just saw the photo, I haven’t seen any of the footage that ESPN shot. Yeah, he’s always been kind of scared of that stuff. Had I known he was going to have the game he had against GW, I’d have told him to avoid the roller coasters for a bit.”
Doug McDermott
Q: Rumor has it you got the VIP treatment at Disneyland, and you got to skip lines for the rides. What was your favorite one?
Doug McDermott: “Yeah, we got some FastPasses, so we got to skip most of the lines. I think we did four rides, so it was good. I would say ‘Space Mountain’ — is that what it’s called? I forget what it was called. Space Mountain. That was good.”
Q: Talk to us about that picture that surfaced on Twitter. You looked a little scared…
DMcD: “I was scared! I’m not gonna lie. I was a little out of shape, a little rusty as far as going on rides. It was a little shocking. But Jeff (Goodman)’s young daughter was on it, so that made me feel a little bit better (laughing).”
Q: Who screamed louder, you or her?
DMcD: “Ah…probably me (laughing).”
Q: Back to basketball, what was the big takeaway from the trip? Ethan talked about the need to bring it every day, is that the biggest lesson you learned?
DMcD: “Yeah. We’ve got to be ready to play every single night. I think that was a great test for us, we played four games in six days, and we aren’t used to that so we learned our lesson. People are going to be coming after us. It’s not going to be easy. I thought we did a good job of taking care of business in the last game, and setting the tone for what I think our preparation should be the rest of the season.”
Q: What does the Nebraska rivalry game mean to you guys?
DMcD: “It means a lot. It’s a rivalry, for sure. We’re looking forward to playing them. Tim Miles has done a great job there already, you can tell that program is on the rise. It will be a tough challenge for sure, they’re a lot better than they were last year, so we’ll need to be ready.”
Q: What concerns you most with them?
DMcD: “I think they have a lot more players — they’re a lot deeper. And they have a lot more scorers. They’re a very capable team, they beat Miami who played close with George Washington, so I think it’s going to be a great game. The transfer from Texas Tech is giving them a big scoring lift, so I think that’ll be a tough challenge.”
Q: Do you know any of their guys? It seems like there’s some crossover with your team to where you might have interacted with them off the court.
DMcD: “Yeah, not really. I know Deverell Biggs, he came and played with us because he’s friends with Josh Jones. He’s pretty much the only one I know. Basically the rest of the guys I’m only familiar with from last year’s game.”
Q: There’s no animosity, or bad blood between the teams?
DMcD: “No, no, not at all. I think we’re trying to grow this rivalry even more, you know, because we’re in the Big East now and they’re Big Ten. I think their program is going to get a lot better, so I think this will grow and become bigger outside of the state.”
Q: In years past, for Creighton fans, this has been as big of a game as they had on the schedule. Will that still be true going forward?
DMcD: “In the past it definitely has been, obviously playing a Big Ten team, it’s always going to be a big game, especially with the in-state battle, but now we’ll have some other really good teams coming in during December and January and February. With that said, this is still a really good test for us early on.”
Ethan Wragge
Q: How was Disney? We saw pictures of you guys on some of the rides.
Ethan Wragge: “Saturday morning we went over, and a bunch of us got on five or six rides.”
Q: VIP?
EW: “If you’re hanging out with Doug, you’re VIP, so yeah (laughing).”
Q: Did you bring home any souvenirs?
EW: “I didn’t get anything, but my parents got some of those Goofy ears — Mickey ears? — Mickey ears. Yeah!”
Q: You really had some massive games out there, didn’t you?
EW: “It was a long trip for a team to be on, we came out and played really well against Arizona State and then we had some lapses in our next two games before closing it with a nice win in Long Beach, but yeah, it was a good trip. A lot of guys got to see what it’s like to play on the road, and how we need to bring it every night, and adjust to playing so many games so quickly, with four games in six days.”
Q: Was that the big lesson? That you need to bring it every night?
EW: “Yeah. We just can’t show up and expect to win. We’re not talented enough, we’re not athletic enough, to show up and turn it on and win. We need to make sure we’re prepared, know all the details of what everybody’s supposed to do.”
Q: Do you get the sense that Creighton is a big deal for other teams to play against now, like it’s a status thing to beat a Big East team?
EW: “Oh yeah. The Long Beach guys said this was their biggest home game of the year. We have to know that from now on, we’re going to take every team’s best punch, and we can’t start off slow or get off to a slow start because it’ll come back to hurt us.”
Q: You’ve never lost to Nebraska. What does this series mean?
EW: “This is a big rivalry, they live 45 miles down the street. It’s important for us to prepare and get ready for this game.”
Q: What do think about this Husker team, are they getting better?
EW: “From what I’ve seen and heard very briefly, they’ve improved from last year. They’re more offensively-minded, but they’re still a defensive-based team. We can’t approach this lightly. We’ll be ready.”
Q: How do you feel about your role, do you prefer starting or coming off the bench?
EW: “I’ve done both here at Creighton and I’m comfortable with whatever. Whether I’m starting or coming off the bench, it doesn’t change my mindset at all, which is to make sure that when I’m on the floor, I’m being effective and being efficient.”
Q: If you start again at the ‘5’, will you do the opening tip?
EW: “Probably not (laughing). Probably not.”
Q: What kind of rivalry is this, is it one where you hate the other team or is it one where there’s mutual respect?
EW: “Honestly, I don’t know many of the guys personally. It’s a big deal just because we’re both in-state teams, and a lot of us are proud to be where we’re at, so it’ll be two teams that really want to win.”
Q: Does it feel like a tournament game, almost, with all the buildup to it beforehand?
EW: “I don’t know, I’ve been out of town for eight days so I don’t know what people are saying. Traditionally, yeah, every year I’ve played them it’s been a big game. You pick up the schedule, you see ‘alright, we’re playing Nebraska this week.’ You know when you’re playing, you need to play your best because it means a lot to both sides.”