City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)

There was a point last year when Maurice Watson Jr. wondered just what he was doing in Nebraska.

The Philly native and former Boys’ Latin star wanted to play in the Big East after he made the decision to transfer following a pass-happy and productive two years at Boston University. He ended up in the conference, just not in the east.

Watson landed at Creighton, and the first few months there weren’t his best. First of all, he had to sit out the year due to NCAA rules. And last November, he couldn’t be on the court in any capacity because he broke his foot.

So Watson was stuck. Stuck on the sidelines. Stuck in a locker room filled with people he barely knew. And stuck in a region of the country where he felt like he didn’t belong.

About 11 months later, Watson was back on the East Coast in Madison Square Garden, representing that same Creighton team of which he is now a captain. He gave a nearly two-minute-long answer about how he felt he and his teammates were disrespected by being picked ninth in the conference. He spoke with a genuine fervor about being able to practice against the scout team rather than with it. A teammate called him “an obvious leader.”

Watson has come a long way in a not-so-long time to embrace his new program, and he’s ready to finally let that show on the court this season.

“The first two or three months, I wasn’t really happy being in Omaha,” Watson said at last month’s Big East media day in New York. “Coming from great places like Boston and Philly, it was different. I struggled with the adjustment.

“East Coast people are different than Midwest people. I’m like ‘I don’t know if I really mesh with this dude well.’ And they could think the same way about me and how I am. But I had to stop fighting it.”

What the Blue Jays are getting with Watson is a 5-foot-10 floor general who is one of the best passers in the country. In his first season with Creighton, Watson is looking comfortable with his new teammates with 13.5 ppg and 6.0 apg in four contests.

As a sophomore with Boston, Watson averaged 7.1 assists per game, the third-best mark in the country. He also racked up 13.3 points and 2.1 steals per game, helping the Terriers reach the NIT.

Watson and the Blue Jays are still more than a month from conference play. But just like he feels the team has something to prove as a whole, Watson wants to show he belongs in the Big East.

“I feel like they discredit things I did at Boston, they don’t look at how my numbers were and the effect I had on the court,” he said. “I like to fly under the radar, I can stay there for now. But come March, when we’re in that tournament, you’ll be able to see the impact that me and (my teammates) have had.”

Watson might not have that same confidence if he didn’t have an adjustment in his approach last season.

After first transferring and knowing he couldn’t play for a year anyway, Watson remembered that he got complacent and was sort of just going through the motions at times. That’s when Creighton coach Greg McDermott started getting on his new point guard.

“I was comfortable with where I was. I had a year off, I knew I was going to get better eventually,” Watson said. “So I wasn’t in the gym as much and coach Mac had to text me ‘You’re not in the gym as much. You’re not in the gym enough.’ It showed in my practice. I was out of shape; the jumper wasn’t always there. I was missing layups and free throws that you don’t miss. So having coach Mac jump on me and then breaking my foot, I had to sit back and reflect ‘How much do I really want this?’ ”

The broken foot happened innocently in practice last November when Watson landed on a teammate’s foot awkwardly. And it made himself wonder again if he made the right decision in coming to Creighton and just what his future held.

Even by the time January started, Watson admitted he still wasn’t fully bought into Creighton. Then the team went on a losing streak in conference play. Watson saw players starting to get upset and rejected, and he wanted to help.

“That’s when I started to embrace my teammates more,” he said. “I started wanting to do things more with them instead of just being with my own two or three (friends on the team). I think that all brought us together.”

“He’s a born leader, in my opinion,” Creighton senior and fellow senior Geoffrey Groselle said of Watson. “He’s good at rallying guys around him, getting guys on his side, telling people what to do. Last year he built his relationship with a lot of guys.”

There are still times he misses the East Coast, and his mother isn’t thrilled about having to watch a majority of her son’s games online. But Watson has two seasons to prove himself in the Big East.

And as unlikely as it may have seemed to him a year ago, he’s doing it around teammates he has adopted as a second family in a place that finally feels like home.

“The camaraderie I have now, I have not had with any team I’ve ever had in my entire life -- in all 18 years of basketball,” he said. “I think that is what’s going to make us the best team, we can play for each other and we’ll come together regardless of anything.”