Smith close to a commitment

Hampered by a bruised foot and bruised knee, Nolan Smith, the No. 5 ranked player in the class of 2007, was not a dominant player on the court Friday night for the DC Assault. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound combo guard did play some quality minutes coming off the bench. Then after the game, he indicated to Rivals.com that he is close to making a commitment.

"Louisville is pretty much the only school I am talking to," said Smith. "I'm close to making a commitment. I'll probably commit soon."

This proclamation does not come as a great surprise with Smith's father being the late Derek Smith, who stared at Louisville.

Smith also named two other schools still on his list in Charlotte and Duke. The Charlotte connection for Smith is his AAU and high school teammate Michael Beasley, who has already committed to Charlotte.

"Yeh, I keep listening to him [Beasley] about us playing together, just incase something happens," said Smith.

With a long day of basketball ahead of him on Saturday, including a showdown in pool play against the Indy Spiece Heat, Smith has no time to rest his injuries. He and backcourt teammates Adrian Bowie and Austin Freeman will square off against the backcourt of Mike Conley, Eric Gordon and Daequan Cook at 3:00 central.