This entire offseason, there was a lot of buzz about how Smith deserved a scholarship based on his performance last season. Yes, he made some key mistakes, but two out of those three were questionable calls. At some point, you'd expect a player with that much time in the program to adjust and realize how the refs are calling it. That said, he still found his way to the line when NU's offense was stagnant, especially during those dead possessions, something the freshmen and anyone outside of Martinelli weren't doing late.
Gelo, on the other hand, struggled from the jump. He had turnovers on two of the first few possessions, and defensively, both he and KJ were getting exploited. Honestly, the argument that Gelo is a better defender than Mullins still baffles me. Smith is generally a solid defender and doesn’t force things offensively, which is a good thing. Those fouls will serve as a learning experience.
Collins made the choice to start the guy who's been in his defensive system for three years over players with just part of a season under their belt, who were getting torched on screens, drives, and switches. I don't have an issue with that decision, it makes sense. As for Smith’s fouls, I’m not bothered by the first two. It’s that third one that was really tough, and then we saw Gelo subbed in for offense soon after.
Yes, Smith’s lack of an outside shot allowed defenses to sag off him, but at least he wasn’t turning the ball over in crunch time and got to the line a few times. NU got the win, and at the end of the day, Collins is still the best coach this program has had. I’m going to trust he knows the game and his players better than anyone else in this fanbase.
