Over the past few months of the season, no player in college basketball has had a better close to the season than Creighton senior forward Doug McDermott.
The nation’s most glamorous walk-on player surpassed names like Larry Bird, Elvin Hayes, Danny Manning, and Tyler Hansbrough to move into the Top 10 in all time scoring in NCAA history.
Then, as an encore on senior night, McDermott dropped an effortless 45 points on Providence on the final game of the regular season to surpass Hersey Hawkins and the “Big O” Oscar Robertson for 8th all time.
He has been favorably compared to being the next Larry Bird at the next level because of his similar frame and shooting ability as the Celtics’ legend.
One thing is for sure, is that he is not comparable to former NCAA POY Jimmer Fredette, whom also put up some staggering collegiate numbers at BYU a few years ago but hasn’t quite panned out in the NBA.
McDermott, a former teammate of Golden State Warriors and North Carolina standout Harrison Barnes, has undoubtedly quieted some of his harshest critics who argued that he put up such daunting offensive numbers only because of playing in a subpar conference, the Missouri Valley.
That argument doesn’t hold true as he has averaged an NCAA leading 26.5 ppg in the new Big East Conference this season, including having some monstrous games of 45, 39(twice), 33, and 30 points in against Big East competition.
He has led the Bluejays to a 24-6 overall record, including beating Big East regular season champion Villanova twice in blowout fashion, to earn his squad a 1st Round bye in the Big East Tournament and finishing with a #14 ranking in the final poll of the regular season.
With a decent showing in the postseason, McDermott could move into the top 5 in all time points scored and be mentioned in the same breath as Pete Maravich and Lionel Simmons.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
