Better Know a Freshman: Creighton's Martin Krampelj

The J is silent.

Martin Krampelj is most certainly a basketball player from Grosuplje, Slovenia - a city thats name translates roughly to 'the wet village', which happens to be the most accurate way to describe Krampelj's jumper - wet. A typical euro-style basketball player, Krampelj is well rounded in the essential fundamentals of basketball. Standing at a stalky 6'9 he most certainly has the proper height to play basketball while his weight sits at around 205lbs, also a good metric if you want to play hoopball. Perhaps he won't be bounding into the lanes against the mighty cottonwoods of the Big East but he'll be sitting behind the arc, and occasionally a few steps inside of it, pouring in buckets with relative ease. Almost impossible to defend from the perimeter considering his size, Krampelj will surely baffle his opponents by speaking a different language while nailing jumpers from anywhere on the court.

His hometown of Grosuplje is know for its mass grave - a place of eternal rest for Slovene soldiers and citizens created by mass executions under the communist regime during WWII. Grosuplje is also home to a parish church dedicated to Saint Michael who was noted as, "the great prince who stands up for the children of your people." Saint Michael was also appointed to lead God's army in the war against Satan in the book of revelation and is regarded as the protector of the people when the end times are near. In the Qur'an Michael is mentioned as being Allah's messenger and an enemy to all non-believers. If this isn't a phenomenal omen to the Creighton basketball program, I don't know what is. If you allow me to go completely off the rails here, I believe that the 'end times' refer to the departure of Doug McDermott. Creighton fans watched last year as the offense was stifled by a lack of consistent options and the children no longer had a player to latch on to for hope. Then, when the storm clouds looked their darkest, Martin Krampelj committed to the Bluejays and the offensive stagnation looks to weaken as the season approaches -- much like when Huracane Patricia hit Mexico's coast. Thus, Krampelj is an enemy to all those who do not believe in the Creighton basketball program, will protect the children from having to watch another sub-.500 squad, and will stand up for those back in Slovenia and make them proud to be part of something a lot less depressing than observing the Euro plummet in value.

Perhaps I'm a bit optimistic/obtuse/insane when I say that Martin Krampelj will be the savior that takes Creighton past the promised land (in other words, the Sweet 16), but I dare to dream a wildly fun dream. In all reality, Krampelj is a really good shooter and a solid all-around player. He's a 20 year old freshman and won a couple of national titles with his Slovenian U-16 team. He shot 65% in Creighton's summer trip to Italy (though, the Italians really didn't play defense) and he won Creighton's slam dunk contest!

Here's a video of a train passing through Krampelj's European home. Sure looks like beautiful country out there!