Bruins’ Smith has mixed emotions
He’s embracing Sweet 16 despite torn ACL
INDIANAPOLIS » Usually when a team makes a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, it rotates through different players to put the program’s name into the next round on the cartoonishly big bracket in the hotel lobby. Maybe the guy who had the best performance that night.
But as 11th-seeded UCLA has won three games to reach the Sweet 16, in which it will play second-seeded Alabama on Sunday, the honor has gone to the same player: Chris Smith.
The 6-foot-9 senior guard tore his ACL on New Year’s Eve, an injury that required surgery and ended his final season as a Bruin
prematurely. But Smith is in Indianapolis, and as UCLA advances, he teases his teammates, pulling the sticker back and forth before slapping it onto the board and into the next round.
“We’re really pushing for him,” guard Jaime Jaquez said following the First Four win over Michigan State, “trying to make this as special as we can for Chris.”
When this quote was relayed to Smith on Wednesday, he asked earnestly, “He said that?” Clearly touched, Smith quickly shifted to senior-leader mode.
“If the guys are playing for me, that’s great. I just want them to play for each other when they’re out there on the court,” said Smith, who is from Fort Worth, Texas. “When you’re out there, you’re supposed to be playing for four other people, your four other teammates that’s out on the court with you.”
This experience is as bittersweet for Smith as you might expect. There’s the obvious joy of seeing his teammates win, and the painful frustration of not being able to partake in the actual game action.
It’s this type of tournament run that Smith hoped for when he decided to stay for his senior year. He wanted to improve his game and show consistency to NBA front offices, too, of course. But in his previous three seasons at UCLA he played in only one March Madness game, a loss to St.
Bonaventure as a freshman.
“It’s just a lot of confronting emotions, you know?” asked Smith, who led UCLA in scoring with 13.1 points per game as a junior and was averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds through the first eight games this season.
“I’m happy for the guys, of course, and I always want to see UCLA win, so us winning is amazing. I love cheering on the guys. But obviously every bone in my body would rather be out there instead of on the sidelines.”
He didn’t even have to be on the sidelines. As UCLA head coach Mick Cronin has been quick to point out, already in Los Angeles, Smith could have chosen from a plethora of rehab centers and personal trainers in the area to recuperate and prepare for the NBA draft while doing virtual classwork.
Smith did have a month away from the team following his knee surgery. He missed a couple of home games and could not travel.
“That time spent away from the team, I didn’t like it,” Smith explained. “I’m not going to take classes and go home and do rehab, that’s dead.”
Cronin added, “It says a lot about our culture, but it says more about Chris Smith, though. You see how happy the guys were for him.”
And as the lone senior on the team, there’s wisdom that Smith can impart, especially to a starting backcourt with three sophomores.
He calls out on defense to protect them from breakdowns. But mostly he reminds the younger Bruins to maintain a deliberate pace, and not get tricked by the opposing defense into playing faster.
There are certainly times when he shakes his head when they mess up, but he appreciates that these sophomores and freshmen have been asked to do more than he was when he was in their shoes, and that they have lived up to the moment.
“Just trying to keep their heads up when they make mistakes and letting them know to just play their game,” Smith said. “Don’t let anybody speed you up, play for your teammates and play your game while you’re out there and you’ll look good.”
Smith’s recovery is coming along well as he works with UCLA trainer Shane Besedick. He’s grateful to be walking again, and he is able to shoot the ball again, albeit while tucking his injured left leg up as he jumps off the right.
As Cronin said, Smith could be elsewhere doing this work. But to him it wasn’t much of a choice. He wanted to be in Indianapolis, helping UCLA navigate the end of the season and now the NCAA Tournament in a polo and sweatpants.
“No matter if I’m on the court playing a role in that,” he says with a heavy sigh, “I still believe I’m part of the team.”