The Smartest guy in the room
Dave Smart has 12 national university titles to his credit, but he’s not resting on his laurels
If Canada has a secret weapon at the FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship it may be head coach Dave Smart.
The team is loaded with star power headed to top NCAA programs.
Captain Andre Nembhard, a 6-foot-4 guard, has signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Florida. He will take over as point guard the first day he steps on campus.
Teammate A.J. Lawson, a 6foot-6 guard, has an offer from University of Oregon, but is coveted by University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks coach, Frank Martin, has been conspicuous court-side at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines this week, watching Lawson and making his larger-than-life presence felt.
U.S. colleges are also busy recruiting 6-foot-7 forward Emanuel Miller. Oklahoma and Ohio State are the front runners. He has already visited Notre Dame and Indiana.
Those players — and a strong supporting cast that includes Addison Patterson, Tyrese Samuel, Joel Brown and Jaden Bediako — form the nucleus of the No. 2 ranked team in the world in the under-18 age group.
Canada cruised through the preliminary round undefeated earlier this week and faced Panama in Thursday’s quarter-final.
But for all the flash on the Canadian roster, it is their irascible coach that sets the tone.
“Coach smart is the type of guy who doesn’t care who you are or where you come from,” Patterson said. “When you play for him, you will end up a better basketball player and a better person whether you like it or not. I appreciate the way he keeps it honest.”
As he works the sideline, Smart is rarely satisfied, always pushing for perfection at both ends of the court — especially while defending.
“We want other teams to be uncomfortable playing against us,” Smart said. “We don’t want to let other teams get to their spots on the court. We want to take that away from them.
“I am really happy with the pace at which we are playing. I think we are a difficult team to play against.
“We are trying to keep it reasonably simple, and the players are doing a pretty good job picking it up.”
It’s a formula that works for Smart. He may be unknown south of the border — but in Canada he is a legend.
His Carleton University Ravens have won 13 national titles and 92 per cent of his games against Canadian opposition since he took over the program in 1999. From 2002 to 2005, the Ravens won a Canadian record 87 consecutive games.
Smart has served as an assistant coach with the Canadian men’s national team on multiple occasions, including a stint at the side of Niagara Falls native Jay Triano, the former Raptors coach. Smart has also coached Great Britain’s under-20 team.
Smart’s teams almost always play their best when the stakes are the highest. The players trust him. They know he has their best interest at heart; and, if they listen and learn, they will win.
Joel Brown wants to win. The 6-foot-1 guard from Brampton is 17 years old isn’t intimidated by Smart’s methods.
“At the end of the day, coaches can be laid back, or they can be yelling all the time,” Brown said. “What matters is that the players get the message. If Coach Smart is yelling at you, you know it is because he cares and he wants
you to be a better player.
“I learned things in training camp that I had never thought of before. Being around him, and having him there to answer my questions, makes me a better player.”
Smart has attracted the attention of athletic directors in the United States. He has had offers.
There is a rumour that he accepted a job at an NCAA school a couple of years ago, but quickly changed his mind. He couldn’t tell the players he recruited to Carleton he was abandoning them for greener pastures.
And so he coaches on — relishing fresh opportunities and challenges from Basketball Canada at the international level.
He isn’t starving. Smart is the highest paid coach in Canadian men’s university basketball, earning about $160,000 a year.
An incident in Tuesday’s game against Chile offers some insight into the way he connects with players.
One of his star guards, Lawson, took a scary tumble in the game’s opening minutes. He landed flat on his back from the height of the basket after losing his grip on the rim following a dunk. Lawson’s head snapped back hard against the wooden floor with a thud. Lawson was guided from the court by the tournament’s medical staff who had quickly surrounded him. After a short time on the bench, he accompanied a trainer back to the locker-room.
Lawson reappeared at halftime, sitting on the bench in his warm-up shirt as his teammates prepared for the second half. His night was over.
Smart sat with him for a couple of minutes talking quietly. He rested his arm easily on Lawson’s shoulder. It’s not what you would expect from a old-school coach. It was almost tender. A couple of times, Lawson appeared to laugh, only to quickly look the other way.
Smart was asked after the game what he said to make Lawson laugh. He smiled. His eyes glinted with a hint of mischievousness.
“I told him, ‘A.J., I don’t even like you, but that fall was so bad, I almost made it to the three-point line to check on you.’
“Then I told him not to watch it on YouTube. It was that uuugly .I told him if he sees it, he may never want to play basketball again.”