“This team has great chemistry. We’re playing together, having fun and making connecting plays. If it’s me passing to Kyle and my teammate makes the shot, I feel like I made the shot. That’s just
how this team is. We’re having so much fun doing it.” NOLAN SMITH
come off the bench his sophomore year then to primarily be a point guard his last two years and to finish with a national championship -- above all else that shows that his best traits as a player are his will to win and his spirit. He has as strong a winning spirit as anybody I’ve ever coached. Coach K always creates a system with his personnel to put
everybody in a position where they will be most successful, so what we tried to do with Jon was to position him to be the person who took care of the ball and to be a face of strength for our whole team. He ended up having one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in school history. He was poised out there and in command when he had the ball. Then what we tried to do was put him in a position where he could be a scorer after he gave up the ball. So, he still scored as many
points, if not more, while leading and running our team. I’ve known Jon since he was five years old and I’ve known his parents for a long time. We’ve shared a special bond be- cause we come from the same place, we both love basketball so much, and we just have a lot in common. It is almost like a brother relationship, so to be able to win a national champi- onship together will be an amazing lifetime memory. When I see our embrace after winning it all on tape, I start to tear up every time because it doesn’t get any better than that. Nolan Smith… Nolan had as dramatic an improvement as anybody in college basketball this year, and he and Jon worked really well together in our backcourt. I think the main reason for his big improvement was his mind-set. He was a guy who showed gumption in his first two years. He had
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
After an electrifying run through the Big Dance, Nolan Smith had one last task in mind before departing Lucas Oil Stadium. On his way to the team bus, the junior slipped back to the court after fans had headed for the exits to pose with the national championship trophy and the court’s logo of the 1980 Final Four. Three decades earlier, Nolan’s late father Derek Smith had led Louisville to the NCAA title in the same city.
“It has definitely helped me connect with my father,” said Nolan. “Going down the path that he went down really just puts a smile on my face, it puts a smile on my mom’s face, and my sister’s of course. This is something very special to all of us that I get to do something that he did. Even though he is not here to watch it, we know he is looking down over me and just smiling too.”
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