OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — It’s that time of the year, as Creighton is preparing to make another run in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after reaching the elite eight a season ago. This year’s team includes Nebraska native Isaac Traudt, who has always had to prepare for games a little bit more than his teammates. That’s because he has always had to battle two opponents – the team he is going up against and Type I Diabetes.
- Creighton Men’s Basketball redshirt freshman forward Isaac Traudt balancing basketball and Type I Diabetes
- “If you have a dream, it’s reachable with Type I. That’s my thing, I don’t want those kids to get discouraged or think that they can’t do it, because they can. It’s no different, it just takes a little more,”
- #3 Creighton opens the NCAA Tournament Thursday, March 21 against #14 Akron.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I’m just surrounded by people I love so I couldn’t be happier.”
Redshirt freshman forward Isaac Traudt is back to living the good life in Nebraska
The Grand Island product is in his first season at Creighton after transferring from University of Virginia.
“I’m with a really good group of guys every single day, led by a great coach, so I couldn’t really ask for much more,” he said.
Traudt carries a bit more on his shoulders than his peers.
“It’s just — everything really. To live a healthy lifestyle, I kind of have to take it up a notch compared to the normal person.”
He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at four years old.
“You know, me and my family, we didn’t really know anything about it,” Traudt recalls. “Like we’ve never been around anybody that has had it, and it’s a condition where you really have to take care of yourself to be healthy and live a long life and all those things.”
Things we never have to think about are always on the top of his mind.
“I wear an insulin pump that I have to change the cartridge in every three days. I wear a continuous glucose monitor that tells me my blood sugar in real time.”
That’s on top of carefully watching what he eats, along with an emphasis on getting good sleep.
However, in this new NIL world the 6’10” sharpshooter was given a unique opportunity – a partnership with Dexcom U.
Dexcom’s NIL program is the first designed program to support and celebrate college athletes with diabetes.
“They take really good care of us. They always make sure we have the supplies we need . if we are ever running low, they send us some, and it’s usually here the next day,” Traudt said. “As a Type I Diabetic, that matters a lot to have all the supplies on hand, because I never get scared that I'm going to run out or anything because they’re so on top of it with me.”
As Traudt gets ready for his first big dance as a Bluejay, he says he hopes his platform will inspire kids like him who have dreams of playing on the big stage.
“If you have a dream, it’s reachable with Type I. That’s my thing, I don’t want those kids to get discouraged or think that they can’t do it, because they can. It’s no different, it just takes a little more,” he said.
Third seeded Creighton will open the NCAA Tournament against 14th seeded Akron in Pittsburgh Thursday, March 21 at 12:30 p.m. It will be televised on TNT.
