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CLEVELAND - Marquette men's basketball coach Shaka Smart has some deep ties in Northeast Ohio.
When he was working as an assistant coach at Akron, Smart met his wife, Maya. That was also when he experienced one of his best stories in over two decades of coaching in college, one he relayed to his Golden Eagles players after arriving yesterday.
Smart's second boss at Dayton was Keith Dambrot, who rose to fame as coach of a St. Vincent-St. Mary High School team that featured LeBron James.
Smart got an early glimpse at James' greatness.
"My very first day on the job, he took me to meet a young 18-year-old kid and helped Keith put him through a workout," Smart said on Thursday at Rocket Arena, in which James played for the Cleveland Cavaliers. "That kid ended up being a pretty good player."
Smart was suddenly thrust in the circle that included Dru Joyce III, James' prep teammate who played at Akron and is now the head coach at Duquesne.
"Dru Joyce was the first player to ever curse me out as a coach, so I'm a coach and he's a player," Smart said. "I'll never forget it.
"Dru has got a bright future. I was at Dru and Romeo (Travis, another St. Vincent-St. Mary teammate) and LeBron's graduation party. There's only one reason for that. It's because of Keith. Keith treated me like a brother from the first day that I ever met him. I've never been around someone that was so sharing and giving."
Assistant coach C.J. Rivers was hired by MU after one season as an assistant at Colorado State.
That means that Rivers is very familiar with first-round foe New Mexico after spending last season in the Mountain West conference. Rivers especially knows the challenge posed by super-quick Lobos senior guard Donovan Dent.
"I've lived it," Rivers said. "Being in the Mountain West last year, those guys winning the Mountain West tournament.
"And then watching them on film this year. Obviously, he's gotten better. Just being aggressive. We're not going to be on our heels or passive in any way. Just being the aggressors. Impacting the ball when he's in ball-screens. Because he's a really good ball-screen handler, for himself and others. And then just all five guys doing the job of being one on the court."
MU defensive ace Stevie Mitchell will likely see a lot of time on Dent.
"The biggest thing that stood out is how he's a really good player," Mitchell said. "You can see that on film. You can see that by the stats.
"We're just excited for the challenge that we have in front of us to guard him, five guys, whoever gets switched on to him, whoever starts on him. It's just an exciting challenge. We're preparing for it, watching film, and have prepared for it all year, going against good players as well."
NCAA tournament games can come down to free throws. MU has struggled in some clutch moments this season at the charity stripe, especially in the regular-season finale against St. John's. The Golden Eagles are a 72.3% free-throw shooting team, which puts them No. 177 in the country.
MU senior David Joplin has seen both outcomes in March at the line. He sank two clutch free throws to seal a second-round win over Colorado last season. Then in the Sweet 16 loss to North Carolina State, he missed all of his attempts after getting fouled on a three-pointer at the end of the first half, keeping MU from getting any momentum.
"Just being confident," Joplin said. "A lot of games come down to that. I thought we made a big emphasis on, not only the late-game shots that were tournament clutch, but earlier in the game making all our free throws.
"The best teams in this month make their free throws and they win games that way. Those late-game free throws definitely count, but all of them matter."
With more non-local media at MU's press conference, there were a lot of questions for Smart about not using the transfer portal like most college coaches.
Some have pondered if Smart will use the portal this spring after losing key seniors Mitchell, Joplin and All-American guard Kam Jones.
"I remember after our first year (at MU), Tyler (Kolek) actually said we've got to go get a big guy," Smart said. "We're losing Kur (Kuath). Kur was our starting big guy. I said, no, Oso (Ighodaro) is going to be just fine. And he was.
"But you bring up a great point. Every year is different, and we've lost - from that initial core group of young guys, three guys that are in the NBA and then, after this season, three guys that have been integral parts of what we've done the last four years.
"It's definitely going to stress test our way of doing things. I tend to err on the side of really, really pouring into the guys we have and focusing on them. There's a lot of reasons behind that that, again, we don't necessarily have time to get into now. So, yes, we believe in our way of doing things."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette's Shaka Smart met young LeBron James through Keith Dambrot
Continue reading...
When he was working as an assistant coach at Akron, Smart met his wife, Maya. That was also when he experienced one of his best stories in over two decades of coaching in college, one he relayed to his Golden Eagles players after arriving yesterday.
Smart's second boss at Dayton was Keith Dambrot, who rose to fame as coach of a St. Vincent-St. Mary High School team that featured LeBron James.
Smart got an early glimpse at James' greatness.
"My very first day on the job, he took me to meet a young 18-year-old kid and helped Keith put him through a workout," Smart said on Thursday at Rocket Arena, in which James played for the Cleveland Cavaliers. "That kid ended up being a pretty good player."
Smart was suddenly thrust in the circle that included Dru Joyce III, James' prep teammate who played at Akron and is now the head coach at Duquesne.
"Dru Joyce was the first player to ever curse me out as a coach, so I'm a coach and he's a player," Smart said. "I'll never forget it.
"Dru has got a bright future. I was at Dru and Romeo (Travis, another St. Vincent-St. Mary teammate) and LeBron's graduation party. There's only one reason for that. It's because of Keith. Keith treated me like a brother from the first day that I ever met him. I've never been around someone that was so sharing and giving."
Marquette assistant coach C.J. Rivers knows New Mexico guard Donovan Dent well
Assistant coach C.J. Rivers was hired by MU after one season as an assistant at Colorado State.
That means that Rivers is very familiar with first-round foe New Mexico after spending last season in the Mountain West conference. Rivers especially knows the challenge posed by super-quick Lobos senior guard Donovan Dent.
"I've lived it," Rivers said. "Being in the Mountain West last year, those guys winning the Mountain West tournament.
"And then watching them on film this year. Obviously, he's gotten better. Just being aggressive. We're not going to be on our heels or passive in any way. Just being the aggressors. Impacting the ball when he's in ball-screens. Because he's a really good ball-screen handler, for himself and others. And then just all five guys doing the job of being one on the court."
MU defensive ace Stevie Mitchell will likely see a lot of time on Dent.
"The biggest thing that stood out is how he's a really good player," Mitchell said. "You can see that on film. You can see that by the stats.
"We're just excited for the challenge that we have in front of us to guard him, five guys, whoever gets switched on to him, whoever starts on him. It's just an exciting challenge. We're preparing for it, watching film, and have prepared for it all year, going against good players as well."
David Joplin talks about hitting clutch free throws
NCAA tournament games can come down to free throws. MU has struggled in some clutch moments this season at the charity stripe, especially in the regular-season finale against St. John's. The Golden Eagles are a 72.3% free-throw shooting team, which puts them No. 177 in the country.
MU senior David Joplin has seen both outcomes in March at the line. He sank two clutch free throws to seal a second-round win over Colorado last season. Then in the Sweet 16 loss to North Carolina State, he missed all of his attempts after getting fouled on a three-pointer at the end of the first half, keeping MU from getting any momentum.
"Just being confident," Joplin said. "A lot of games come down to that. I thought we made a big emphasis on, not only the late-game shots that were tournament clutch, but earlier in the game making all our free throws.
"The best teams in this month make their free throws and they win games that way. Those late-game free throws definitely count, but all of them matter."
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Shaka Smart asked about transfer portal
With more non-local media at MU's press conference, there were a lot of questions for Smart about not using the transfer portal like most college coaches.
Some have pondered if Smart will use the portal this spring after losing key seniors Mitchell, Joplin and All-American guard Kam Jones.
"I remember after our first year (at MU), Tyler (Kolek) actually said we've got to go get a big guy," Smart said. "We're losing Kur (Kuath). Kur was our starting big guy. I said, no, Oso (Ighodaro) is going to be just fine. And he was.
"But you bring up a great point. Every year is different, and we've lost - from that initial core group of young guys, three guys that are in the NBA and then, after this season, three guys that have been integral parts of what we've done the last four years.
"It's definitely going to stress test our way of doing things. I tend to err on the side of really, really pouring into the guys we have and focusing on them. There's a lot of reasons behind that that, again, we don't necessarily have time to get into now. So, yes, we believe in our way of doing things."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette's Shaka Smart met young LeBron James through Keith Dambrot
Continue reading...
