Clean Slate
June 03, 2007 10:50 PM | General
June 4, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Wellington Smith believes his path to the NBA just got a whole lot straighter when West Virginia University hired Bob Huggins last April. Smith knows the number of NBA players Huggins has produced and he says his teammates are well aware of it, too.
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| Wellington Smith believes playing for Bob Huggins will help him get closer to his dream of one day playing in the NBA.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
“Just the fact that he has brought like 16 guys to the NBA is amazing,” Smith said. “That just brings me and everyone else on the team closer to the NBA. Of course that’s our dream and that’s where we want to be.
“It’s so satisfying having a coach that wants to get you there.”
Smith may not have NBA credentials right now, but the athletic 6-foot-7-inch swingman has a ton of ability and believes Huggins is the right man to get the most out of his game.
Smith realizes, too, that his former coach John Beilein is one of the very best in the business. But the fact that he has never produced an NBA player in 29 years of coaching is something that can't be discounted either.
“I feel like Coach Beilein was always for the team, which is the best thing, but then you have the individual goals of a Joe Alexander or someone else of wanting to get higher than just college basketball,” Smith explained.
“It’s hard to do that in the system that we played in last year because there is not one person that is going to be shining,” Smith said. “We had Frank Young but it took until his senior year to get like that. It’s a team game but you can have a team game while you’re showcasing your best players, too.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Smith can recite some of the players Huggins has developed at Cincinnati.
“I was a very big fan of his teams when he coached at Cincinnati,” Smith said. “I didn’t realize he was at Cincinnati when I was watching them, but I always liked Kenyon Martin, Eric Hicks and all those big guys. I know if I workout like they did I can be a big guy and dunk on everybody and stuff like that.”
Smith is also familiar with how Kenyon Martin transformed himself from a 185-pounder when he went to Cincinnati into a 250-pound lottery pick when he left.
“Since I’ve got here I’m getting stronger and a lot bigger,” Smith noted, mentioning that he’s up to about 210 pounds right now. “I’m glad I’m getting stronger and bigger because that’s going to bring more playing time for me.”
Smith appeared to be on the fast track to substantial playing time last year as a freshman, but once the team got into Beilein’s system it took Smith longer than some others to get it down. He wound up appearing in 30 of 36 games, averaging 2.3 points and 0.9 rebounds per game.
“When I first got here I thought I was going to be the man,” Smith admitted. “During preseason I thought I was doing great. Then once the system hit and there was all that stuff to think about, my game went down to here – it just decreased a whole bunch.
“Now that Coach Huggins is here I’m going to try and get my swagger back like when I was in high school and just doing really well,” Smith said. “He’s going to let you play.”
Smith admits there was a period of uncertainty when Beilein left for Michigan. But once West Virginia named Huggins his successor his spirits got an immediate boost.
“When I first told my coach at Blair (Academy) he was like, ‘Coach Huggins is going to let you play. He loves athletes and you will fit in perfectly.’ My coach from Summit said the same exact thing. He said, ‘You’re going to be fine -- don’t worry about it.’ They asked me if I wanted to transfer and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to.’
“When I say I’m going to go to West Virginia then I’m staying here,” Smith said. “I’m not the type of person that if things are not going to go well for me then I’m going to leave after one year. That’s not how my parents raised me.”
The entire team’s spirits got an even bigger boost when Billy Hahn joined the coaching staff last month.
“Coach Hahn knows everybody,” Smith said. “Everyone I’ve talked to knows him. They’d say, ‘How’s Coach Hahn doing down there?’ I’m like, ‘He knows you too?’ Him, Coach Huggins and Coach (Erik) Martin are really going to help us along our path of getting prepared for where we all want to go.”
Smith hasn’t had a full-scale practice yet with Huggins, but he admits he has been surprised by how laidback and approachable he is with his players.
“Everyone said he was crazy but he’s really a quiet guy,” Smith said. “He’s not happy-go-lucky like Coach Beilein was but he’s just laidback. He’s probably easier to talk to than Coach Beilein is just because he is just so chill. You can go in and talk to him about anything.”
Smith elaborates.
“The whole coaching staff last year was down-to-earth and I’m not going to take anything away from last year, but now you can go into Coach Hahn’s office and hang out for however long you want and he’s not going to try and kick you out or anything,” Smith said. “Not that the guys from last year did that, but now you can hang out in the coaches’ office and feel comfortable and not feel like you’re a burden.”
Smith was also surprised by Huggins’ on-court demeanor the few opportunities he had to work with the players during individual drills last spring.
“When he first walked into the gym and I first saw him he walked in slow; he had his Jordan jumpsuit on and I’m thinking, oh man here we go. He’s going to start on us right now. I heard what everyone else was saying: ‘He’s crazy – he’ll curse you out.’ There wasn’t any of that. When he walked in I was nervous. I was like, wow, there he goes. Does he even know my name? But after a couple of drills he was real cool.”
Having a new coaching staff in the program provides everyone with a clean slate. Smith understands that it’s up to each player to earn playing time this fall.
“There could be a spot open for myself in the starting five and if not in the starting five, I can definitely come out as the sixth or seventh man,” he said. “Anyone who knows me knows that I play with passion; I play with a lot of heart and that’s what I want to bring to the team.”
