IN MY OPINION

Column by Tom Shatel / World-Herald columnist

He blew everyone's mind the other night. The people who saw it said it looked like Doug McDermott was playing for the Globetrotters. He had a string attached to the ball, right?

Shot after shot, he kept topping himself. He scored a career-high 35 and the career is only 49 games old.

Doug McDermott, and this thing called Dougie Mania, is just getting warmed up, folks.

It feels like the beginning of something special up there on the Hilltop.

If you're Creighton Athletic Director Bruce Rasmussen, Little Mac looks like the kind of player who can get you in arenas you aren't in right now, put big-time games on the schedule and make the Jays a regular on ESPN the next two seasons.

If you're the head coach, not to mention the father, you have to be thinking this kind of kid can get you into living rooms you aren't in right now, for a chance to play with a talent like McDermott the next two seasons. Can Greg McDermott get the kind of athletes who were jumping over his kids at St. Joe's, the kind of muscle you see at Xavier or Marquette?

If you're the true blue crew in the seats, it looks like you just got a ticket on a magic carpet ride, prepared for takeoff. And maybe, just maybe, this is the guy to take you to the Promised Land, otherwise known as two consecutive wins in the NCAAs.

The possibilities are out there, everywhere, for a Creighton hoops transformation in the next 2½ years. The story's just begun.

It's a tale that couldn't have been told at Iowa State or Northwestern.

That's an interesting twist to Thursday night's game between Creighton and Northwestern, a game with all sorts of RPI and NCAA bubble implications.

But the other story line, with a Big Ten school in town, is the emergence of Doug, the nation's second-leading scorer, and why he's not flashing his game at the big-boy hoop level.

Northwestern and ISU were the only major conference schools that took an interest in Doug two years ago, when he was a skinny all-state kid at Ames High School. And Iowa State was in on him because Doug was living with the Cyclones' head coach.

But when Greg wouldn't recruit his own son, Northwestern backed off, too.

"He was a buck 85 (185 pounds) two years ago,'' Greg said. "That was 35 pounds ago.

"What he's done in the past two years has been incredible. You don't see it at that accelerated of a pace."

Doug's size surely scared off other big schools, who were usually in the gym watching Doug's high school teammate, Harrison Barnes. But when his own dad wouldn't bite, the other big boys took a cue, though dad had his reasons.

"Part of it was just the uncertainty of exactly where did he fit in," Greg said. "Is he a role player? Could he eventually develop into one of your main contributors?

"When you talk about the possibility of coaching your son, you want him to have the best possible experience that he can have. And I was a little leery to bring him into a situation where his ability would be questioned and my decisions to play him or not play him would be questioned.

"And, frankly, to be 100 percent honest, I wasn't real pleased with the culture of the program at my time at Iowa State. I had made some bad decisions. And as a result, the program didn't stand for the things that I wanted it to stand for. That's 100 percent my fault.

"He (Doug) lived my pain when I came home. He was frustrated by some of the things that had transpired in our program, which was 100 percent my fault."

Former Creighton star Kyle Korver once said he wouldn't have become the player he was if he had started at a major-conference school, because he wasn't ready for that level out of high school. He would have sat on the bench for at least two years. Getting on the court at CU helped him develop.

You could say the same for Doug. Had he gone to Iowa State or Northwestern, would he be the nation's No. 2 scorer 10 games into his sophomore year? Not likely.

But just suiting up for the Jays didn't flip the switch. There were questions last year whether Doug would be better suited redshirting his first year. But two twists of fate — injuries to Casey Harriman and Ethan Wragge — meant that Doug had to play.

Did he ever. Doug played in all 39 games, leading the Jays in scoring (14.9) and rebounds (7.2). It turned out to be a great career move.

"Who knows where he'd be today if Casey or Ethan hadn't gotten hurt?'' Greg asked.

It was a perfect storm of development. Center Gregory Echenique didn't arrive until midseason, so McDermott had to mix it up inside. He learned how to play on the low block. He also figured out he needed to get bigger.

But the weight McDermott gained in the offseason wasn't nearly as important as the growth that took place in his head.

"I had a lot of confidence built up last year,'' Doug said. "And my experiences over the summer (on the USA Under-19 team) showed me where I was compared to other guys in the nation."

There are a lot of reasons to like this Creighton team, from Antoine Young's floor leadership to Grant Gibbs' pure passing. But the story of this year has to be the emergence of a star who everyone assumed was going to be a star.

And yet McDermott keeps surprising people, keeps taking them to new heights. Thursday, he'll tangle again with the Big Ten. He's already shown that he belongs.

"I don't think there's any question now,'' Greg said. "He can play at that level."

It doesn't matter now, though. If he keeps going, Doug is going to own a town where Creighton hoops own the winter. He already gets mobbed around Omaha, by people asking for autographs, wanting him to pose for photos or just saying hi.

For a kid who grew up wanting to play in the Missouri Valley, it's not a bad gig.

"I was a little disappointed I wasn't recruited by bigger schools," said Doug, who committed to Northern Iowa out of high school. "At the same time, I knew I could come to a place and get some playing time and prove those people wrong."

That train has already left the station. All aboard.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

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