On the first day of practice, Creighton point guard Maurice Watson Jr. saw a blue jersey hanging in his locker. This signified that he was no longer on the scout team, a season-long role he played as he sat out all of last season.
Blue seems like a fitting color for the 5-foot-11 floor general. He wants to be the good cop. He also wants to play the bad cop.
“I’m the type of guy where I’ll get on you, but I’m gonna build you back up,” Watson said. “If you miss a layup or a pass, I’m gonna tell you. But I’m also gonna come right back to you the next time down the floor.
“I want to be bad cop, but then good cop in the end.”
He applies the same tactic to himself.
Watson has always played with emotion. He did so growing up playing West Philadelphia, where he first started playing with a chip on his shoulder, and at Boston University, where he was a starter from day one and an All-Patriot League first team selection as a sophomore before transferring to Creighton in 2014.
Watson said the biggest adjustment for him during his year off – he sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules – was controlling those emotions. When he plays he appears mostly like the good cop. The bad cop persona can come out behind closed doors, like it does in an interrogation room.
“It’s my emotion and passion and the looks I have on my face,” Watson said. “If my facial expression is bad, my teammates will follow. I needed to learn to control my passion. I can be mad at myself in the room watching film, but when I’m on the court I need to have that smile.”
While his first season at Creighton didn’t get off to a smooth start – he broke his foot in November – he was able to step into a leadership role. Everyday he went head-to-head with Austin Chatman in practice. Off the court, Chatman helped Watson understand system and prepare for the transition to Big East play. Chatman had gone through it the previous year, as the Bluejays aligned with the new Big East.
Watson would sit behind every game along with transfer Cole Huff and redshirt freshman Ronnie Harrell. Even then, he was still able to lead.
“I’d come on the court during timeouts and could say things like, ‘Last play, I saw this …’ And he listened. And he was a senior. I think he set a good example and I’m ready to fill that void.”
Even though his official debut for Creighton isn’t until Saturday night against Texas Southern, he did suit up for the Bluejays this summer during the team’s foreign trip to Italy.
In three games, Watson averaged 10.3 points and 6.7 assists per game.
“It was so important for Cole, Ronnie and myself to play our first game over there because we got our jitters out of the way,” he said.
The competition was from what the team will see in the Big East, with Creighton wininng by an average margin of 67 points. The three games were secondary to the 10 practices they were allowed.
“The value was in those 10 practices,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “It really did a lot for us, spending that much time as a team. Cell phones don’t work as well, you actually have to talk to each other.”
Creighton was picked ninth by the coaches in the preseason Big East poll, a season after finishing tied for last in the conference with a 4-14 record. Seven of those losses came by four points or less.
With the ball in his hands, and 3-point shooters surrounding him, Watson plans on having those results even out more favorably this season for Creighton.
