Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Will Smythe commits to Loyola
Ramble on, young, sir.
Will Smythe may or may not be an Allman Brothers Band fan, but one thing is for sure, the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s senior sniper is now a Rambling Man.
The Eaglets’ 6-foot-3 recordbreaking sharpshooter, committed to the Loyola Ramblers men’s basketball program as a preferred walk-on this week, giving new Ramblers’ head coach Drew Valentine his first recruit from his home state.
Smythe was the best outside shooter in Metro Detroit this past season (averaging 11 points and almost four 3-pointers per night). He knocked down a St. Mary’s single-game record 12 triples in a win over Ferndale last month. He tied the previous record (7) in only his second game in an Eaglets uniform.
St. Mary’s was the No. 1 team in the state in 2021, however the Eaglets failed to reach the final four and was bounced by Grand Blanc in the Division 1 quarterfinals. Smythe arrived at St. Mary’s in the offseason via a transfer from Warren De
La Salle.
“Will can shoot it as well as anyone I’ve seen,” St. Mary’s head coach Todd Covert said. “I think he’ll find his way into the lineup at Loyola eventually. That’s the kind of player he is, that his determination level. He knows how to put in work and
just finds a way to “fit-in to getin,” no matter where he’s playing or who he’s playing for.”
An exceptional student, Smythe is graduating with a 4.0 grade point average. Virginia Military Institute offered him a full-ride last offseason. Lehigh was said to be on the verge of offering a scholarship when he decided to end his recruitment and pledge his loyalty to Valentine and the Ramblers.
Loyola has made a run to at least the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in two of the last four years, including a trip to the 2018 Final Four. Valentine recently replaced Porter Moser, who left the Ramblers after eight seasons on the bench to take the Oklahoma job. Loyola plays in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Born in Lansing, Valentine prepped at Lansing Sexton and played in college at Oakland University. At 29, he’s the youngest Division I head coach in the NCAA right now.
LVC farewells
South Lyon East football coach Joe Pesci and Walled Lake
Western girls basketball coach Steve Emert both resigned last month.
Emert has been a staple on the girls and boys sidelines for more than three decades, winning 440 games. He briefly left
the coaching ranks in the late 1990s, only to return in the 2000s to coach the girls at Oxford and then return to Walled Lake and assume command of a talented Western team.
Emert’s Walled Lake Central girls and boys squads were state powers in the 1990s, the Vikings boys making it to the quarterfinals in 1992
and the Vikings girls journeying to the state finals in 1995. The trophy case in the Emert household his pretty full, with the savvy vet claiming 13 league championships and nine districts titles.
Pesci led the East football program for the past six years, guiding the Cougars to a pair of playoff appearances since 2018. East
finished 5-3 in the 20202021 COVID-19 shortened campaign. He was selected Regional Coach of The Year in December.
Pesci graduated from Farmington Hills Harrison (playing under center for the legendary John Herrington) and his son Dom will be taking the quarterbacking reins at Farmington in the fall.
Getting to watch his son’s varsity games was the primary reason Pesci stepped away.
Tweet of the Week
“You can’t have a million-dollar dream and a 10-cent work ethic, put work in daily, get better every day,” Troy assistant boys basketball coach Gary Parker