SAN ANTONIO — Doug McDermott is the country’s most prolific scorer and college basketball’s top player. But after giving up his scholarship to help a teammate, the Creighton star might be the best walk-on in memory — and NBA personnel say he’s the safest pick in the entire draft.
Whether that’s enough to get his third-seeded Bluejays (26-7) on a deep NCAA Tournament run remains to be seen. They open Friday against Louisiana-Lafayette at the AT &T Center, determined to reach the elusive Sweet 16. And if they do, it’ll likely be McDermott who carries them there.
“I feel like this thing’s never going to end. I just enjoy being around these guys so much, we’re just having so much fun, we’re going to continue to play basketball and hopefully continue to win,’’ McDermott said. “We’d love to make the Sweet Sixteen. Every team dreams of that. … The last couple years we’ve fallen short of our goal. Now we’re all back together. We feel like we can make a deep run.”
There were third-round losses to No. 6 Duke last season, and No. 4 North Carolina the year before that. But they have a veteran, senior-laden team that includes Grant Gibbs, who — when granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA — would have pushed them past the scholarship limit of 13. So McDermott’s father Greg, Creighton’s coach, paid his son’s way so Gibbs could play.
“It was a tremendous gesture obviously by coach and Doug to do that for me,’’ Gibbs said. “He kind of solidified his spot as the best walk-on in the nation.’’
He might be the best player, too. Many presumed he’d take the NBA money and run after last year, and even his father encouraged him to turn pro. But McDermott came back for a senior season that saw him become the fifth-leading scorer in NCAA history, the National Player of the Year and last week’s Sports Illustrated cover boy.
“He’s the safest pick out there,’’ one NBA front-office executive said of McDermott, adding at his size (6-foot-8, 225 pounds) his shooting and versatility will keep him in the league for years.
“It paid off, returning to school. He’s a projected mid-lottery player, 8-to-10. He’s a safe pick,’’ an NBA scout said. “Sometimes teams get scared, looking for that home-run, unlimited-upside guy, but he’s got great pedigree, probably got a good shelf-life on the next level.”
McDermott arrived at Creighton as primarily an inside scorer, then added the 3-pointer to his arsenal as a sophomore and a midrange jumper last season. And even though he’s made Creighton an estimated $12 million over his career according to the Big Lead, he’s poised to cash in himself.
“He’s had bull’s-eye on his back and he’s still produced, so he’s going to continue to be a guy who scores 27 points, grabs seven rebounds, still makes assists and defends. He can shoot the ball, and what he does well, its instincts,’’ said NBA Director of Scouting Ryan Blake, who expects McDermott to excel this March, defend better than expected and have a long pro career.
“I absolutely could see him in [the] lottery. … McDermott’s a guy I say with analytics you get for three years relatively cheap, then could become something better. You take him with confidence. You take somebody with injuries, can’t shoot, might be a risk, you have to consider those equations. … He’s off the charts. … You take the eye test and say he’s good; you look at the analytics and he’s [very good].
“The versatility you have, whether or not McDermott turns into a sixth man or averages 10 and 10, he’s going to be so valuable because of that versatility. And he does that shooting 46, 47 percent from behind the arc, at 6-8. You can utilize that, so he’s going to be valuable in many ways. Then if you watch him, you can see the knowledge: Spacing, screen-setting, timing. That’s so important.’’