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Doug McDermott is an All-American walk-on paying full tuition

Doug McDermott

Doug McDermott’s decision to return to Creighton for his senior season will be prove to be a costly one after Tuesday’s events.

In the afternoon, point guard Grant Gibbs was informed that he had received a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA. Having Gibbs back is big for the Bluejays, but his return gave the Creighton one too many scholarship players for the 2013-2014.

The solution?

Head coach Greg McDermott will pay $17,000 for his son to attend Creighton for his senior year. That’s right, Dougie McBuckets -- the All-American forward -- is now a walk-on.

“Doug is fine with that,’’ Greg McDermott told Steven Pivovar of the Omaha World-Herald on Tuesday. “I texted him this morning, and no one is more excited about this than he is.’’

Greg McDermott was hired as the Creighton men’s basketball coach in April 2010. After serving as an employee for three years, he only has to pay half of the annual $34,000 tuition, according to the school’s Tuition Remission Benefit.

[UPDATED: 4:24 P.M.]: According to Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo! Sports’ The Dagger, the McDermotts will pay full tuition. Eisenberg tweeted the following:

Per Creighton SID Rob Anderson, Greg McDermott will have to pay full tuition ($30,00-40,000) to have Doug be a walk-on next season. Anderson told reporters earlier Greg would get a 50 percent discount but he falls one year short of the university tenure required for that.

The recently-named walk-on averaged 23.2 points and 7.7 boards per game while leading a 28-win team to the third round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. McDermott elected to return to Creighton back in April and with Gibbs joining him for another season in Omaha, the Bluejays are an early front runner in the new Big East Conference.

One of the early favorites to win player of the year honors will do it without a scholarship this fall.

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne