This time of year BIGEAST.com likes to get a behind the scenes look into the NCAA’s Big Dance, which this year is all happening in the great state of Indiana. So for one season at least, perhaps March Madness is being replaced with Hoosier Hysteria.
 
So, Creighton freshman guard Andrew “Merf” Merfeld will be our guide this season as the Bluejays prepare for their first-round tournament game Saturday against UC-Santa Barbara.
 
A couple of things you need to know about Andrew. He is the son of current Creighton Assistant to the Head Coach Steve Merfeld, who gained some notoriety back in the 2001 tournament when he was head coach at Hampton University and his No. 15 Pirates knocked off No. 2 Iowa State, 58-57, before he was hoisted in the air by Hampton forward David Johnson. You’re sure to see it about a dozen more times this year during the tournament if you haven’t seen it 100 times already.
 
Andrew also made a little Nebraska sports history when he was part of undefeated football and basketball teams in his senior year at Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha. Each of those teams captured the state title.
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So the first question for Andrew: Is the school considering retiring your number at Skutt Catholic?
 
“No definitely not,” Andrew said laughing. “I only played football one year and I didn’t play very much so I didn’t have much to do with that state championship. But basketball, yeah. Maybe we can get some talk buzzing.”
 
Consider it done.
 
Now onto hoops. How pumped were you last weekend to be part of your first Selection Sunday as a player?
 
“My dad being a coach, I’ve always watched Creighton’s Selection Sundays as a kid growing up,” Andrew said. “Definitely being part of the team is something special, definitely different. Just that joy and excitement of seeing your name come up on that screen. It’s something you can’t explain.”
 
Was it especially more memorable because you could share the experience with your dad as members of the same program?
 
“Yeah definitely,” he said. “It was a special moment not just for us but for our whole family in general. It was awesome.”
 
Andrew wasn’t even born when his dad led Hampton to the biggest win in school history. But every March that now 20-year old clips frequently surfaces. What do you think of it?’
 
“I remember they posted it (on social media) about a month ago,” Andrew said. “I actually watched the whole clip for the first time ever. It was cool to watch him being so excited like that.”
 
Now be honest, does dad talk endlessly about that day?
 
“No not really,” he said laughing. “The only time I really see it is when it’s posted on social media his time of year.”
 
Let’s get back to this past Sunday night. What was the reaction of the team seeing your name pop up?
 
“We knew we were going to be on the screen at some point during the night so we knew we just had to put everything that happened the day before behind us (the loss to Georgetown in the BIG EAST final) and get ready for our name to be called. When our name finally was called we were filled with excitement and then tried to focus on Santa Barbara as quickly as we could.”
 
So what do you know now about UCSB that you didn’t Sunday night? 
 
“They play pretty slow and they got a pretty good guard in (JaQuori) McLaughlin.”
 
McLaughlin, a senior guard out of Tacoma, Washington, averages a team-leading 16.9 points and also has a team-best 21 three-pointers this season.
 
“So we just have to try and limit him and kind of take away everything he does for them,” Andrew said. “I think if we can do that we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
 
So what’s life like in Indianapolis this week? Is it crowded with teams and are you running into the other teams in your daily routine?
 
“We’re in the Hyatt Hotel and there are probably about 15 teams here with us,” Andrew said. “We haven’t really run into any other teams. I mean we see them walking around but we don’t interact or anything. The first day we had to quarantine until we got two negative results from everybody so that was boring. But we were finally able to get into the gym around nine o’clock Monday night after we got those two negative results. It’s definitely weird but we’re able to kind of freely move around the hotel but we try and limit it as much as we can.”
 
So what is a normal day in Indy for the Bluejays?
 
“Normally we wake up and have breakfast about 8:30 and then we attend our classes, which normally go to around noon, though it’s a little different for everybody,” Andrew said. “Then we’ll practice sometime in the afternoon and when we get done with that we come back and (Covid) test sometime in between then and dinner. That’s really it. That’s just kind of the routine we do every day now. We get tested every day.”
 
The Bluejays will be playing in Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts. So what do you think it will be like playing in a cavernous football stadium?
 
“I wouldn’t say there is an advantage or disadvantage,” he said. “It’s just another game that we gotta go play. We’re just trying to put everything aside and focus on the game of basketball.”
 
Are you and the rest of the team getting a little stir crazy spending so much time in the Hyatt?
 
“Oh yeah. It’s been a long week with us being in this hotel and being cooped up so we’re definitely chomping at the bit to get to Saturday.”
 
According to your team bio, you list current Indiana Pacer and former Creighton star Doug McDermott as your sports hero. Your coach, Greg McDermott, of course, is Doug’s dad and you averaged just over two minutes of playing time per game this year. So was that an ingenious plan to grease the skids with Mac to get you more playing time on Saturday? It’s rather brilliant in its simplicity.
 
“I guess so!” Andrew said laughing. “I didn’t even think about that. But I guess you can say that!”
 
So to be clear, you’re now looking for your high school basketball jersey to be retired AND get into Saturday’s game for big minutes, correct?
 
“Yes, that sounds like a deal,” he said laughing.
 
One last thing, the last time Creighton played UCSB was on Jan. 1, 1976 and the Bluejays lost that day, 83-81. It’s been a little over 45 years now but is there a burning revenge simmering amongst the Bluejays for this contest? Do you constantly talk about how you have to even the score with the Gauchos to salvage some pride for Creighton?
 
“Oh yeah definitely,” Andrew said, tongue squarely in his cheek. “We’ve had multiple discussions about that game.”
 
You can catch Andrew and the Bluejays on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET on truTV.