This possible first-team all-american finished his high school career with 53 straight wins and two state championships. A first-team all-state selection as a senior, he was the sixth man on his high school team as a junior. As a senior, he averaged 20.1 points and had 25 and 12 in an ESPNU showcase game. Despite the accolades, this player wasn’t the best player on his own high school team.
Meet Doug McDermott, sophomore forward for the Creighton Blue Jays. He’s the first freshman named to the Missouri Valley first-team all-league in nearly 60 years. Prior to his arrival at Creighton (more on that later), he was most famous for being the high school teammate of No. 1 player Harrison Barnes at Ames High. Today, he’s his own man.
Most red-blooded college hoop fans have asked themselves the same question: why is this guy not at a high-major program? “To be honest, I thought I was a mid-major player in high school,” McDermott said. “I couldn’t really see myself as a high-major.” And there you have it. From the man himself, Doug McDermott was a mid-major player … sort of. “I didn’t think I was good enough to play in the Big 12.”
Each time I saw McDermott in high school or AAU, I graded him out as a mid-major plus; the highest rating you can give a kid without proclaiming him a high-major. There was little question he could play for Iowa State, the school at which his father Greg served as head coach. The question was, how much?
At the time, Greg McDermott’s job with Iowa State wasn’t on solid ground. The decision was made that Doug would not play for his father and he signed with Northern Iowa. A lot of schools assumed Doug would play for his dad and didn’t bother recruiting him. One of those schools was Northwestern whose interest faded. Since then, Doug’s played the Wildcats twice averaging 20.5 points against Bill Carmody’s team. “Dang, I knew I should have recruited you,” Carmody said to McDermott following one of the games. Coach, join the club.
What happened with Doug McDermott happens every year. Jimmer Fredette, Steph Curry, Eric Maynor and the list goes on and on. In a business where you’re evaluating high school kids, often times ones who own bodies that haven’t matured yet, mistakes happen. You never accept them, but they occur every year.
Count McDermott amongst the most surprised people at his success. As a high school senior he viewed himself as a mid-major player. Since then he’s been all-league, worn a USA jersey and is on track to be one of the best the Valley’s seen in recent memory. One day he may be good enough to play in the NBA. All of this is news to McDermott who didn’t see it coming. “No, not at all,” he said. “My goal was to play in college.” Mission accomplished and then some.
Over the next few months, tons of kids are going to face a similar decision to McDermott. The lure to play at the highest level is often times too tempting to resist. According to McDermott, he’s not the player he is today unless he goes mid-major.
“I got a chance to put on 25 pounds before my freshman year,” McDermott said. “I was thinking of redshirting because of the guys at my position. I didn’t want to redshirt and I was forced to play.”
Had he gone to Iowa State out of high school, McDermott’s convinced he would have redshirted, settled into a role and never ever would have sported the same level of confidence. Now, at Creighton, McDermott finds confidence in his match ups. “My situation is a lot of fun. The four men I face are a lot like me.”
Like Curry and Fredette before him, McDermott drew tremendous confidence as a result of early playing time he earned as a freshman at the mid-major level. You don’t gain confidence watching others play in front of you. Confidence comes from trial and error and then success. McDermott believes the level he picked afforded him the confidence to grow into the player he is.
Plenty of kids are going to listen to McDermott’s story and do the exact opposite. For what it’s worth, McDermott has a piece of advice. “I’d tell them to go to the mid-major school. You see guys on the (high-major) border that might redshirt or become a role player. Come to a mid-major and have success early.”
McDermott likes mid-majors so much he committed to a pair of them. Once he decided to not follow his dad to Iowa State, he signed with Northern Iowa. He’d had a relationship with Ben Jacobsen for as long as he could remember. A few months later, he would ask for his release to attend Creighton and play for it’s new coach, Greg McDermott.
At least twice a year Jacobsen gets to bump into his old recruit. He probably wished Northwestern had offered him or Iowa State made him a priority because it can’t be fun watching the guy you signed torch you in league play.
