Roydell Smiley Is A Top JC Wing Prospect
Roydell Smiley, a 6-4, 200 pound shooting guard/swingman from Southeastern C.C. in West Burlington, Ia., should be one of the better wing prospects in junior college basketball this winter.
A Seattle native, Smiley was recruited heavily out of high school by Southern California, and if the Trojans offer Roydell, they would be a good bet to land him, said Southeastern Head Coach Joe O'Brien (who is pictured right).
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"I think he is leaning toward there, but whether he is going to sign with USC or not is up to him, his family and his high school coach," O'Brien told JUCO Junction/Rivalshoops.com. "Right now, that's kind of where we are leaving it, until he tells me differently."
In addition to USC, Washington and Illinois have also shown interest in Smiley, who reportedly spent much of the summer at UW playing pickup games with the Husky players.
"He's a Seattle kid, so you never know -- Washington might try and make a play on him," O'Brien said. "He was back home this summer and played at their place a lot."
Smiley is currently at Southeastern enrolled in a summer school course, and then will remain for the start of fall classes next week.
As a freshman at Southeastern, Smiley averaged 14 points, five rebounds and three assists per game to earn all-region honors. Prior to enrolling at SCC, he attended Garfield H.S. in Seattle.
O'Brien said that Southern Cal plans to send a coach to Southeastern in September to evaluate Smiley. Although Henry Bibby remains the head coach at the PAC 10 school, both Trojan assistants from last year -- Dave Miller and Sylvie Dominguez -- left the program in recent months.
O'Brien said he was not sure how much, if any, impact that might have on Smiley's outlook on the USC program.
But he was pretty certain on one thing -- Smiley probably won't sign early.
"Typically, our kids don't sign early," he said. "We have them wait until April. That's the gameplan as of right now with him as well."
JUCO Junction/Rivalshoops.com will keep you posted with any changes regarding Smiley's recruitment in the coming months.