During the 2013-14 season, one of the biggest attention-grabbers in college basketball was the Sports Illustrated cover featuring Creighton’s Doug McDermott that was a recreation of the cover that featured Larry Bird back in 1979. While Bird played well enough at Indiana State to eventually have the Missouri Valley Conference name its Player of the Year award in his honor, McDermott won the award in 2013 before the Bluejays made the move to the Big East.
In his lone season in the Big East, McDermott earned Big East Player of the Year honors and every major individual honor he was eligible for nationally.
With his status as the best player in college basketball, the cover spot was certainly deserved. However according to Jay King of Masslive.com, McDermott wasn’t so sure about the idea when first approached. The winner of most of college basketball’s major individual awards discussed this at the NBA’s pre-Draft Combine on Thursday.
McDermott’s stated on multiple occasions that Bird is a player whose old highlights he studies on a regular basis, but he also noted in the story that he’s felt that those who make comparisons between the two were “crazy” considering what Bird accomplished throughout his basketball career.
McDermott, who’s expected to be a lottery pick in next month’s draft, did have to endure his share of good-natured ribbing from his teammates as well and that’s to be expected.
