Reggie Smith signs with MU

[KonaWarrior]

Interesting was beginning to pick up for Reggie Smith, and then he opted to end his recruitment. He committed and signed on Thursday.

Marquette added their third signee on the last day of the signing period.
Reggie Smith, a 6-foot-1 combo guard out of Harvey (Ill.) Thornton Township, verbally committed to Buzz Williams and his staff and made it official by signing his Letter of Intent to play for the Golden Eagles.

"Yea he committed and signed," Mac Irving Fire coach Nick Irvin told Scout.com Thursday morning.

Marquette got the nod over strong interest from a host of programs. USC and Indiana had been showing interest, while UCLA and Wake Forest had put in last minute phone calls.

"it was a good fit for him," Irvin said. "They run a three guard offense and they get up and down. It's just his style of basketball and plus it's the Big East."

Smith joins four-star recruit Vander Blue and

[KonaWarrior]

Sorry but above story provided by Evan Daniels on Scout....couldn't put up the proper link

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/921335.html

[MUCrew]

This is a thumbs up, yes?

[mu89]

seems like an awesome athlete. hopefully he will be a great backup for JC. now let's save the last one for a big.

[MUfan12]

Phenomenal athlete, and a really nice insurance policy to have if Junior can't get back to 100% in time. Will be a nice change of pace guard. I feel a ton better about the backcourt next year already. A lot of options/combinations at Buzz's disposal.

[Milkshakes]

The link below will get you excited about this guy.  High upside.

http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=822&Itemid=93

[Ahoya06]

I'm hearing good things. Buzz is certainly busting his butt on the recruiting trail, and I think the results will start to show next year, if not this one!

[mu89]

The link below will get you excited about this guy.  High upside.

http://illinoishsbasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=822&Itemid=93

haha makes him sound like DJ with an outside shot. LET'S HOPE!

[LastWarrior]

Ranked #105 on Rivals



Some comments from various Rivals articles...
http://marquette.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=968447

"Reggie Smith (2011 Mac Irvin Fire)- The dynamic guard played well alongside Starks, doing a nice job of choosing his moments to assert himself. As usual, he attacked the rim with authority and also knocked down a three-pointer on the way to a 15 point game."


http://marquette.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=964533
He may be underrated on the rankings front but 6-foot-1 Reggie Smith of Harvey (Ill.) Thornton High School near Chicago is becoming a pretty well thought of commodity in the Class of 2010. Smith earned a spot in the LeBron James Skills Academy and King City Classic last week in Ohio and drew good reviews from multiple reporters there as he displayed his wares in front of big time college coaches.

While in Cleveland, Smith took a few minutes to talk to Peegs.com about the week.

"It is a great experience to play against all these top players," said Smith. "If you can't play the point well with all these guys here then there is nowhere else to play it. It is helping me a lot to have all these shooters and driving it and kicking it out."

As a junior Smith helped lead Thornton to a 29-game winning streak that was finally ended in the Class 4A final four by eventual champ Whitney Young.

When we spoke to Smith in early May, his recruiting outlook was pretty midwest focused. Since then it has started to go more national.

"I have been getting a lot of west coast schools now," said Smith. "I talk to Arizona a lot. I talk to Oregon. Also been talking to South Florida. Everything is getting bigger and bigger, so that has been fun."

He talked about the schools that have been in the hunt for a longer time.

"Marquette has been there all along, Indiana, Kentucky when Tracy (Webster) was there and they still like me, once you think about you forget schools but there has been a lot," said Smith.

Wednesday and Thursday were his first days in front of a full cadre of college coaches in a real competitive environment.

"You want to play more crisp but as long as you just view it as a regular game you should be alright," said Smith.

He knows he got viewed in Cleveland by Indiana head coach Tom Crean.

"I saw him up there," said Smith. "I have not talked to him lately but last time I talked to him he said he liked the way I have been playing and that he was looking forward to keeping in touch with me."

Smith will be competing the rest of July with his Mac Irvin Fire team. Today that team is competing at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C.

[Henry Sugar]

questions about his ability to run the point, but a freak athlete

http://ilprepbullseye.com/page12.html

http://blogs.suntimes.com/illinois/2009/02/these_teams_will_be_playing_in.html

Thornton has clearly emerged as the best team in Chicago's south suburbs this season and might have the most favorable road to Peoria of any team in class 4A. 6'0 class of 2010 guard Reggie Smith has consistently gotten it done in the clutch all season long and is one of those players who simply wills his team to win. Translation: teams with players like Smith often stick around for a long time once the state tournament arrives.

sick dunks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGQCLxVenw4

[nyg]

Agree, great backup for JC.  Now Blue, Buycks, DJO, JC and Smith at the guard spots next year.  Impressive backcourt.

Jones, Williams, Maymon, Fulce and Butler at the wings.  That will work.

Otule and Mbao at center.  Please one more talented bigman.

Even though they just missed with Black, nice job MU Staff.

[Pakuni]

The young man certainly can jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjV3KsP2-s

[GoldenWarrior]

seems like an awesome athlete. hopefully he will be a great backup for JC. now let's save the last one for a big.

+1,000  We need a big man to complement all of these great guards now and then we'll be right there competing with the best of the best!!! T bLack would've been great, but we can't let that slow us down from others!  C'mon Buzz make it happen!!!

[Henry Sugar]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/teams/preps/story?id=4534038  (HT:  MU Chi-IL)

[Ahoya06]

#105- Not bad, for our third signing. I agree that a big will probably be in the cards. Too bad about T-Black, he could very well have been the missing piece.

Welcome to the Warrriors, Reggie.

[Schmidtyfactor]

Here's another link from ESPN Chicago.

"Smith said his top three choices are Marquette, UCLA and USC, with USC slightly in the lead. He will attend USC's Midnight Madness later this month."

Not bad company!

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/teams/preps/story?id=4534038

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Looks like he's got big hops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGQCLxVenw4

BMA, any thoughts?

[Pakuni]

Nice Q&A with the Sun-Times last year. Sounds like a real good kid with his head on straight.

http://yourseason.suntimes.com/boys_basketball/1327387,121108-thornton-reggie-smith.article

Thornton is off to a great start, including a victory over Simeon. How much better can the team get? A lot better. We've got to play hard every day. Our defense and our bench can improve. We have a lot of juniors on the bench, and they are inexperienced. The defense has to work on boxing out and rebounding, stopping opponents from getting second-chance points.

How much better can you get? A lot better. I work out every day after practice. My biggest area for improvement is being a leader on the floor. I'm soft-spoken. Everybody says I'm like Derrick Rose, very quiet. I have to become more vocal and have more confidence in my three-point shooting.

Your father was a star at South Shore in the 1980s. What's the best advice he has given you? Play hard and do my best every time I get on the court. I watch a lot of his film. He wasn't scared of anything. I want to go to the rim and take the contact, no matter who is there.

Who would you like to challenge to a game of HORSE? Kobe Bryant. The shots he makes are unreal. I wonder what he can do when he's just playing around.

Who would you like to play one-on-one? My dad. I look at his film and see how good he was. Who was better, him in his prime or me?

How much are you aware of Thornton's tradition? Every day they talk about it, teachers and coaches. Thornton has a great tradition in football and basketball. But it is a football school. A lot of football players played basketball. I want to keep the tradition going. I want to win as much as they did or more, go as far as other teams did.

Your heroes? My uncles, Antoine and Anthony Johnson, my mother's twin brothers. They went to Thornwood. They keep me away from negative things and will be a big part of my college decision.

Your recruiting situation? It's crazy, I have three construction garbage bags of mail at home. And the coach has three buckets of mail at his office. I'm not giving up on anyone at this point. I want to visit Arizona, Marquette and Kentucky.

If you had a choice, which school would you attend? Arizona. Things haven't changed since coach Lute Olson retired. I like their style of play. A lot of good guards have been developed there.

Coach Troy Jackson said you could be the best player in the state as a senior. How do you describe your game? I'm an unselfish player, pass first and shoot second. But I love shooting the last shots. I want the ball in my hands at the end of a close game. I pride myself on finding ways to score. Sometimes I don't know how I do it.

Superstition? I don't like to get new things for a game. I don't want to shoot a new ball or wear new Nikes. Last Saturday, we wore new warmup pants for the first time for our game against Simeon. I couldn't wait to get them off.

Nobody knows ... My favorite television show is "Jimmy Neutron."

What do you like most about coach Jackson? He is smart. Everything the other team does, he has something to counter it. And he has a great relationship with his players.

What do you like least about coach Jackson? Practice. You've got to be perfect about a lot of things. Sometimes practices last three hours. And if you miss practice, you might as well start running forever.

[Rockmic87]

Who do you think our next signee would be? According to http://jucojunction.rivals.com/, there seems to be a handful of 3 star centers and Power Forwards still unsigned. Im hoping Buzz is able to at least sign one big man!

[GGGG]

Well, Pinkston would be the best choice.

Outside of that, we are either small or going JUCO.  Too bad Clark is such a f*ck up because he would have fit perfectly.

[cheebs09]

This is a quality signing. A versatile guy that can hopefully be a backup for Cadougan and if he doesn't come back full strength could step in. We needed another guard and weren't going to get a stud with Cadougan and Blue, but to get a guy just on the outside of the top 100 in one service with a lot of upside is a great get.

Also not to be overlooked is it gets us back in the Illinois area, mainly Chicago. Also, he plays on the same AAU team as Wayne Blackshear and Mike Shaw. It could help with their recruitment, but also good to get a quality player out of Chicago regardless.

[bma725]

Looks like he's got big hops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGQCLxVenw4

BMA, any thoughts?

Not much I can add that hasn't already been said about his game.  He's been able to play at a very high level based mostly on his athleticism and competitive drive.  If he can develop his skills just a bit more, watch out.

[Rockmic87]

I don't understand why it had been soooo hard for us to sign a legit PF or C? You'd think at this point, they would look at our roster and see that they would have a great chance of coming in as a freshman and starting.

[MU Chi_IL]

  My excitement is in uncharted territory with our recruiting...

[MUfan12]

Well, Pinkston would be the best choice.

Outside of that, we are either small or going JUCO.  Too bad Clark is such a f*ck up because he would have fit perfectly.

It's a shame Black went to Memphis... that would have been the perfect last piece to the class.

Never know what can happen with coaching changes, transfers, etc. Not saying it will happen, but what if Ernie gets the ax at Oregon, and Jamil Wilson wants to transfer? I'd definitely want that scholarship available. Again, just a hypothetical, but it's a good thing to have a scholly open in the Spring, just in case.