NCAA: Former Linn-Mar Star Unexpectedly Gets 2nd Senior Year with Creighton Basketball

Here's a name from the past, Marion.

Former Linn-Mar star basketball player Grant Gibbs will get to play a second senior season after being granted a sixth year of eligibility to play basketball at the college level. 

Grant Gibbs, 23, of Marion, is a 6-5 guard for the Creighton Bluejays. With his return and that of all-American Doug McDermott, who could have jumped to the NBA, things are looking up in Omaha. And, looking up could mean big things for the small school that won 28 games and was nationally ranked much of last year.

Here's how Omaha.com reports it:

Suddenly, Creighton is seeing its name thrown around the Internet as possibly the early favorite in the new conference’s first basketball race.

“I have no idea,” Gibbs said when asked about that speculation. “We know that things are going to be extremely tough with the caliber of teams we’ll be playing and all the things that come with moving into a new conference.

Back in his junior year at Linn-Mar, Gibbs helped lead his team to a state basketball title and he was named first-team all-Iowa as a senior. 

Gibbs, who was an honorable mention all Missouri Valley Conference Selection this past year and has led his team in assists the past two years, wasn't expected to get the waiver for another season.

He was on the Gonzaga roster for two years out of high school in 2008-10, but was injured much of that time. He decided to transfer and was injured much of the next year as well. 

“It’s just good to see the NCAA rule in favor of the student-athlete,” Coach Greg McDermott told Omaha.com. “We tend to hear the stories where they don’t, and those are the ones that get a lot of national attention."