There was a time, not all that long ago, when Manny Suarez was convinced he had tasted Division I basketball for the last time.
It was back during the 2014-15 season when the 6-10, 250-pound center from Cliffside Park, New Jersey, was finishing up his second season at Fordham University in the Bronx following a redshirt season the year before. But the end of that season also saw a coaching change at Fordham and the beginning of the end of Suarez’ career in the Bronx.
“The coaching staff got fired, (head coach) Tom Pecora, (assistant) Tom Parrotta. It was a great coaching staff and the new coach (Jeff Neubauer) came in and it just wasn’t the right fit for me. So I decided to transfer and because I had redshirted my freshman year, and the whole NCAA transfer rule says if you transfer from one Division I school to another Division I school you have to sit out a year, I would lose a year. So I went down to Division II and went to Adelphi and played for coach (David) Duke who actually recruited me to Fordham when he was there. I played for him for two years.
During his two seasons at the Long Island school Suarez flourished, earning all-conference honorable mention honors after his first season while posting 13 double-doubles in his second year while averaging 16.9 points and 9.4 rebounds for the Panthers.
But when the 2016-17 season came to a close, Suarez also thought that was a wrap for his college basketball career.
Enter Uncle Vinny.
“My intention was not to go back to Division I until one day I was talking to my uncle Vinny and he told me that if I transferred to a Division I school I could play right away because I had already graduated from Adelphi,” Suarez said. “When I heard that I was like, ‘Oh wow. This gives me one more shot to prove to everyone that I could play on that level.’”
Soon the suitors starting lining up for the big man with UMass, Loyola-Chicago, St. Louis and Georgetown joining Creighton in the hunt. But it didn’t take Suarez long before deciding on his new college home.
He loved everything about the Bluejays.
“That was my second time going around the whole recruiting thing and people are saying this and saying that,” Suarez said. “So I just went with my gut and I just felt that the coaching staff and the environment at Creighton, I just knew this was the spot. It’s just tremendous. Just a blessing. I’m very happy and blessed to have the opportunity that I have right now, being under a coaching staff that not only knows the sport but also cares about the players first. In a lot of sports programs a lot of people are just focused on what needs to get done and how to do it and they don’t really care about the people. But Creighton is just a family-oriented program. It was just a great fit and I’m so glad I chose it.
One of the things Suarez has had to adapt to at Creighton - aside from once again competing against top Division I talent - has been the size of the crowds he is now playing in front. Creighton’s home court, the CenturyLink Center, which seats over 17,000 for basketball, is regularly rimming with Bluejays fanatics. That’s a far cry from playing before sparse crowds at both Fordham and Adelphi.
Yes, Omaha has been a welcome change for Suarez.
“Absolutely,” Suarez said. “There are no professional sports in Omaha. We’re the professionals and it’s a great feeling because the environment, besides the great coaches and teammates that I have, it just wouldn’t be as good without the fans. Everybody comes out and shows support no matter what day it is and that’s great. We cannot be who we are without our fans.”
Suarez saw his first action back in Division I when Creighton hosted Yale on Nov. 10. Suarez’ long road back to big time basketball was complete, but it didn’t come without some agita.
“I was actually kind of nervous,” said Suarez. “It was Opening Night and I had some butterflies in my stomach.”
Suarez’ long, strange basketball trip has brought him a long way from the Bronx and Long Island and he is relishing every minute in the final act of his basketball career. So far this season Suarez is averaging 11 minutes of playing time along with 4.7 points and 3.5 assists. In his latest outing, a 116-62 dismantling of USC-Upstate, Suarez played 19 minutes and scored eight points, pulled down nine rebounds and blocked two shots.
And though he has no assurances of seeing additional playing time, Suarez thinks if he puts in the work, dividends will eventually come his way.
“(Head coach Greg McDermott) and I haven’t really spoken about that but he has said I’ve been doing a good job,” Suarez said. “I don’t even ask, I just work. I have all the trust in him like the way he wants his rotation and the way the minutes are. If I earn my minutes, he’ll play me. That’s the way I look at it. I just go out there and work hard.”
Suarez said a tragic event in his life has helped fuel him to where he is now, the sudden passing of his beloved Aunt Lory who died two years ago.
“My aunt Lory was a huge role model in my life,” Suarez said. “She was like a second mother. She was everything. She supported me through my education and everything and then one day she wasn’t feeling well and went to the hospital and never left. She died at the age of 37 from a blood clot to her heart. My life was devastated. That’s why I’m grateful for where I am. It’s just been a crazy journey for me, ending up here at Creighton. It’s a great situation I have and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Ironically, Suarez, the Jersey boy, will get his first taste of BIG EAST conference action when the No. 25 Bluejays travel to Newark next Thursday to take on 23rd-ranked Seton Hall. It’s a night Suarez never thought he’d ever see happen.
“I’m tremendously looking forward to that game,” Suarez said. “This is the first BIG EAST conference game, this is where everything really starts coming together. And I’m also excited because this will be the first time I get to see my family in awhile. I have about 20 people coming to that game. Once I transferred to Division II I never expected this to happen but I guess the person up above had great plans for me and I appreciate this every step of the way. There have been a lot of setbacks in my life but this blessing right here has helped me out tremendously. I’m so grateful.”