Does the name Maurice Creek ring a bell for you?
No one blames you if it doesn’t. Creek, who is now in his fourth year at Indiana, had a terrific start to his freshman campaign. Through 11 games, he was averaging 17.6 points, which included a 31 point performance in a loss to Kentucky. Creek never truly got much national attention, however, because Indiana still wasn’t any good at that point.
In the 12th game of the year, Creek went down with a torn patella tendon. The injury ended his season. He returned as a sophomore, but was no where near 100%, averaging just 8.3 points, before a stress fracture in the patella in his other knee forced him to have surgery and shut down his season. And then last October, Creek suffered his third devastating injury, tearing an Achilles’ tendon in a non-basketball activity.
Three surgeries in 22 months.
And he’s finally healthy.
“Physically, I’m doing really well. You feel the aches and pains during practice and stuff like that, but over time it goes away,” Creek said in an interview with the IU Athletics Department. “I would have thought I’d have been on a day-to-day process, but I’m going full-go and I’m grateful for that.”
The question heading into this season is going to be the role that Creek plays.
By the time the first game of the season rolls around, Creek will have gone 22 months without playing a real basketball game. It will have been just under three full years since he played a game fully healthy. Will he be able to score like he used to? If he can’t -- which is not only expected, but understandable -- will he be able to adapt to being a role player? Will he be thankful that he’s able to get back on the floor after three surgeries or angry at the fact that he had three years taken away from his athletic career?
As of now, Creek is at least saying all of the right things.
“It’s very exciting to be back with the guys. They had a great season, it was very exciting,” he said. “Now that I’m coming back with them, I just feel like I gotta catch up to their level. At the same time, I just worry about what they do and try to help them out anyway I can.”
“I just want to be myself and play my game, and whatever happens from there happens. [...] I don’t want to rush nothing, I don’t want to force anything. Just play how the team plays and go with what the team do, and win games. It’s all I really care about.”
Creek has two years of eligibility remaining. He’ll have a chance, if he stays healthy, to get back to where he was. But at this point, his focus seems to be on simply getting back out onto the Assembly Hall floor.
“I just can’t wait to have that jersey on again and play with the guys again in a game.”
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.