h/t for picture from NC State basketball
Even though that this is a few days old, we wanted to make sure that everyone saw this really good profile of incoming freshman basketball point guard Dennis Smith Jr. Joe Giglio of the News and Observer.
In the article, Smith says:
“I want to come in and win games and have a pretty good season,” Smith said in an interview earlier this summer. “Ultimately I want to win a championship.”
“A championship” sounds vague, does Smith care to narrow that down?
“You have to start with the ACC championship,” said Smith, who is rated as the No. 7 player in the freshmen class by 247 Sports. “That’s the first one. That comes with winning games. And eventually win the national championship. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Another really interesting article regarding Smith is from foxsports.com.
Smith Jr. committed to NC State in November, deciding to attend the school that his father and grandmother grew up rooting for. He chose the Wolfpack because, as he said, their coaching staff built trust ‘by coming to every game they could come to.” But then came another decision: He wanted to enroll early.
…
The idea behind the decision was multi-fold. For starters, he needed to rehab, and both father and son knew that the best possible treatment he could get on the knee would come from the NC State coaching staff. Plus, it would also give him a jump-start on academics. Once on campus, Smith Jr. thrived academically as well. He finished 18 credits during a time that he could have easily been at home, cruising through his final season of high school ball.
Instead, he was on campus getting to know his teammates, making friends and enjoying one class in particular.
“Sociology,” Smith Jr. said, when asked what his favorite class was. “That’s my major. I like sociology. It’s the study of human interaction.”
…
He played with teammates Maverick Rowan and Abdul-Malik Abu at Adidas Nations this weekend, and anyone watching closely could see an already emerging chemistry among the trio. Add in other members of a highly-ranked recruiting class and several other returning upperclassmen, and the Wolfpack could be in for a surprise 2016-17 season.
Smith will be passing the ball to a couple of guys who are showing some pretty good verticals so far this preseason:
Abu:
.@MalikAbu_ can fly pic.twitter.com/S7TJetdff5
— NC State Men's Bball (@PackMensBball) September 26, 2016
Henderson:
Another video from yesterday, @t_henny3 showing he is 100% healthy and ready for the season. #WPN pic.twitter.com/2PuG1mb9ml
— NC State Men's Bball (@PackMensBball) September 27, 2016
As the football team prepares to face Wake Forest on Saturday, these stories and videos remind everyone that basketball is not too far away.
