Linn-Mar has had its share of current and former players on the national stage. This time, it was Grant Gibbs squarely in the spotlight.

Gibbs, a 6-foot-4 junior, had a huge role in Creighton’s 83-79 overtime victory Sunday over Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference basketball championship game. He had a career-high 20 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 5 assists and no turnovers.

Creighton (28-5) automatically qualified for the NCAA Tournament, a trip that will be Gibbs’ second.

Gibbs made two free throws with 11.8 seconds remaining in regulation to give Creighton a two-point edge. Illinois State sent the game to overtime, but Gibbs canned a 3-pointer at the start of extra time to give the Bluejays the lead for good.

Gibbs has teamed nicely with Doug McDermott, Creighton’s leading scorer who had 33 points in the MVC final. Had McDermott’s father, Greg, not taken the Creighton job Gibbs might find himself somewhere else.

In fact, McDermott called Gibbs “a huge priority’’ when he was the head coach at Iowa State. Northern Iowa also was squarely in the recruiting fray, as Coach Ben Jacobson was the first to offer Gibbs a scholarship.

But Gibbs grew up a Gonzaga fan and ended up in the Far West. After a redshirt season, Gibbs played in 24 games for the Zags in 2009-2010 and went to the NCAA Tournament. But Gibbs, some 1,600 miles away from home, realized Gonzaga wasn’t the fit he hoped for and was given his release.

Searching for another school, Gibbs narrowed his options to Creighton and Northern Iowa before deciding to go to Omaha instead of Cedar Falls. Almost instantly, Gibbs became a team favorite. He was voted a captain before playing in his first game for Creighton.

"I calculated the votes for the captains, and I know what his teammates think of him," Greg McDermott told the Omaha World-Herald earlier this year. "The only person that didn't vote for Grant Gibbs is Grant Gibbs."

Linn-Mar products Jason Bohannon (Wisconsin), Jordan Printy (Indiana State) and Jaime Printy (Iowa women) have participated in NCAA tournaments in recent years. Former Lion and Miss Iowa Basketball Kiah Stokes will go this year with Connecticut. And current senior Marcus Paige almost certainly will make an appearance or two once he gets to North Carolina.

Zach Bohannon, Jason’s brother, and Jefferson’s Jarrod Uthoff also will technically be in the NCAA Tournament this year but won’t see the court. Both are redshirting this season at Wisconsin, Bohannon after transferring from Air Force and Uthoff in his freshman season.

Wes Washpun of Washington may also make the field. He is a freshman at Tennessee (18-13), which tied for second in the SEC but the Vols are not in most experts' bracket.

Gibbs and McDermott left no doubt about Creighton’s postseason situation on Sunday. The Bluejays would’ve received an at-large bid had they lost to Illinois State, but they enhanced their seed with a win.

So the madness of March is under way, and a local product named Grant Gibbs helped usher it in. And in a big way.

Note: You can read a feature article on Gibbs written by Jim Ecker. It appeared on MSR Jan. 8.

(Mark Dukes is former sports editor of the Cedar Rapid Gazette. He is co-host of The Gym Class radio show weekdays from 3-4 p.m. on KGYM-AM 1600 and FM-106.3.)