Four-star Smith big on tradition
THE RIVALS150: Class of 2014 - Class of 2015
Despite a relatively early exit from the playoffs, Las Vegas (Nev.) small forward Ray Smith had a monster junior season. Averaging 26 points per game, the four-star prospect led the state in scoring.
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His ability to light up the scoreboard has college coaches really excited about the possibility of coaching him down the road. Several Pac-12 schools have extended scholarship offers, and an East Coast powerhouse recently began to recruit Smith.
"I've been talking to a lot of Pac-12 schools like Arizona, Arizona State, California, UCLA, USC and Georgetown has been calling me lately too," Smith said. "They have all offered except Georgetown,"
Due to a busy schedule, Smith has been unable to get out and take unofficial visits to the schools recruiting. That's going to change in a couple weeks as he's made plans to visit a Pac-12 program.
"I haven't been anywhere for visits lately, but I'm supposed to go to Cal on [March 8] for an unofficial visit. Cal gets out and runs a lot. Coach [Mike] Montgomery and those guys are cool. I talk to their assistant coach a lot."
Arizona's style of play and coaching staff have caught the attention of the No. 66 prospect in the class of 2015 Rivals150.
"It's a nice program. They play my style of play, which is running up and down the court. They set a lot of screens. Coach [Sean] Miller is really cool. I talk to Damon Stoudamire the most from there."
USC has a direct connection to Smith as one of his former teammates is a current player for the Trojans.
"USC is really cool. One of my teammates, Julian Jacobs, went there. I think Coach [Andy] Enfield just needs a little time to get it going there."
Smith has no plans of making a commitment any time soon, but he doesn't intend on letting his recruitment drag on too long.
"I should be cutting my list down sometime this summer and then I'll commit later in the summer before school starts. I haven't really sat down with my dad yet to discuss what I want in a school, but I'm big on tradition."
Dan McDonald is a contributing national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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