College Basketball: 2014 Year in Review

Most Emotional Moment of 2014: Dougie Says Goodbye

The NCAA Tournament produces more tears from adult males on an annual basis than, well, anything. However, the final college basketball moment shared between Creighton head coach Greg McDermott and his son, Doug McDermott, tugged at the heartstrings of fans everywhere. Creighton exited the NCAA Tournament after an uncharacteristically bad performance that saw them blown out by Baylor in the Round of 32. In the final moments, dad pulled his son for the final time, effectively ending the career of one of college basketball’s most prolific scorers.

The father and son duo ended their partnership with a handshake and an embrace in front of the Blue Jays’ bench that put basketball and life in proper perspective. Fans of both Creighton and Baylor supplemented the moment with a standing ovation. No amount of disappointment in his team’s performance that day could stop Greg McDermott from showing his son the love and appreciation that he deserved for a remarkable run that forever changed the fortunes of Creighton basketball.

When Doug joined his dad at Creighton, the program was a middle of the road team in the mid-major Missouri Valley conference. He left with the program firmly entrenched in the upper half of the new Big East conference. Without Doug McDermott, Creighton would still be in the Valley. Instead, his father can continue to build on the foundation that he was able to lay with his son. It wasn’t a bad four years for a kid whose initial claim to fame was being a high school teammate of Harrison Barnes.