Senior solo
February 27, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
The Badgers' lone senior, Jordan Smith will have the spotlight to himself Sunday, something he has rarely had at Wisconsin
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — As a Wisconsin freshman, Jordan Smith watched Jordan Taylor and Rob Wilson go through it. The following year, it was Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz, Ryan Evans and J.D. Wise. A year later, it was Ben Brust and Zach Bohannon.
And, then, last year, he watched Frank Kaminsky, Traevon Jackson, Josh Gasser and Duje Dukan go through it. That was special for Smith because of his close friendship with Kaminsky, a longtime roommate, FIFA video game foe and fellow "Step Brothers" movie junkie.
On Sunday, the 23-year-old Smith will be going through it himself – at long last – Senior Day.
"And it's definitely going to be emotional," said Smith, the lone senior on the roster.
While admitting earlier in the week that it hadn't really sunk in yet that it's going to be his last game at the Kohl Center, Smith knows that it will definitely register with him once he's introduced and walks on to the floor with his parents, Gregg and Melanie, prior to the tipoff against Michigan.
"Probably the best five years of my life," he said, reflecting on his UW career.
It would be understandable if Smith, who seldom played as a collegian, had a flashback to his formative years since his father was his youth coach from kindergarten through sixth grade. "My mom and dad have been there for everything I've gone through in high school and college," he said.
As a seventh grader, Smith was practicing and dressing for the Orono (Minn.) High School team. As an eighth grader, he was the sixth man on the varsity. As a ninth grader, he was a starter. As a sophomore, he was the scoring heir apparent to Jon Leuer who went on to star at Wisconsin.
Smith once had 49 points in a game – making 11-of-16 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. Years later, he would playfully bring that singular achievement up in the company of Kaminsky to keep him grounded after Frank the Tank broke the UW's single-game record with 43 against North Dakota.Â
Smith went on to become Orono's all-time leading scorer with 2,518 points, most of them generated from 3-point range (321-of-686, 47 percent). As a senior, he led the Spartans to the Class 3A state championship. He had 21 points, his season average, in the title game against Columbia Heights.
Upon graduation, Smith had some options. Because of his strong academic profile, he considered some Ivy League schools like Harvard and Penn. There was a scholarship offer from Saint Louis and the late Rick Majerus and a walk-on invitation from Butler and Brad Stevens.
In the end, he opted to follow Leuer's path to Wisconsin. Even as a walk-on, Smith felt at home because of the Minnesota flavor in the locker room: Taylor, Bruesewitz and Berggren. Beyond the comradery, he felt like the Badgers offered him a good opportunity to compete for playing time.
"I wasn't coming on campus to just hang out (with the aforementioned Minnesotans) and just be a part of the team," Smith said. "You're coming here to play. It just never worked out."
In Smith's case, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard has regretted not having the luxury of shaping his roster in November – he didn't take over the program until mid-December when Bo Ryan retired – because he would have used the time back then to cultivate a role for the 6-3, 181-pound Smith.
This season, he has appeared in six games – a total of seven minutes. He last got off the bench on Feb. 18 when he was on the floor for the closing seconds of a loss at Michigan State. Prior to that, he was used midway through the second half – with the outcome was still in balance – at Penn State.
"Getting in at Penn State and playing meaningful minutes was something I've been working towards my whole career," Smith said. "That's kind of all you want as a player and that was cool to be able to get in and help the team in any way I could (the Badgers beat the Nittany Lions, 66-60)."
Overall, Smith has appeared in 37 games at Wisconsin. In 2012, he played five minutes against Presbyterian. In 2011, he scored five points against Mississippi Valley State. Both are career highs. His biggest impact has been on the scout team simulating the opposing shooting guard for the starters in practice.
On the eve of the Michigan State game in East Lansing, Smith was almost unstoppable. He made jumper after jumper after jumper against the first unit defense. It was very therapeutic for Smith who redshirted during 2013-14 season with the hopes of eventually carving out his niche in the rotation.
"It was a relief to get that out," Smith said of his shooting display in an empty Breslin Center, "and kind of prove that, 'Hey, I'm a player. I've still got it. I'm old but I definitely still have it and I've had it this whole time.' It just hasn't been showcased like I kind of wish it would have been."
Smith is too much of a competitor to accept anything less out of himself.
"You learn how to live with it, not accept it," he said of his lack of playing time. "You figure out how to work things from a different angle. You work your butt off in practice every day. You come in and try to give the varsity the best look that you possible can and hopefully that gives you looks.
"Unfortunately, that never came for me until this year and now it's a little late for all of that to take effect. It has definitely been frustrating. But it has made me a better person to have to live through that and overcome it and still focus on everything else that is going on in your life.
"You're still going to class and you still have to do well in the classroom. And you still have to be there for your teammates. You can't just sulk and be down about it (not playing). You still have to do everything you can to make sure the team has been as successful as it has been.
I've always believed I could play. I still do.''
Gard wouldn't have it any other way.
Nonetheless, Smith didn't play much. Did he ever think about transferring?
"That crosses your mind obviously," he said. "But after the first year, you get so close with the guys on the team – specifically Frank, my roommate, my best friend that I've ever had – that it's tough to make that decision to leave it all behind.
"I think it paid off. We got to go to back-to-back Final Fours. We did all kinds of great things together as a team. And there's something to be said about being a part of a winning program as opposed to going to a mid-major and playing a lot and maybe not winning as much as we did.
"That's just the kind of person that I am. I want to be a part of a winning program."
It's that attitude that has made Smith, an economics major, so marketable on the job market. After going through the interviewing process, he has already accepted a position as a financial analyst for General Mills in Minneapolis whose offices are a 10-minute drive from his parent's home.
Before joining the work force in late June, he will take part in a family vacation to Italy where his younger sister, Nicole, a University of Minnesota junior, is studying in Milan. But all of that is on the backburner. His No. 1 priority is, and always has been, getting the Badgers into the NCAA tournament.
Besides maybe being three inches taller – "I always joke if I had three more inches, I wouldn't still be here, I'd be in the NBA now" – Smith doesn't have any regrets on how it has all played out.
"Not at all," he said. "The education you get at Wisconsin, the alumni network that you get to be a part of when you're finished, the friends I've made, that success we've had, everything that has gone on here since I've been here was way more than I could have asked for when I came here."
Smith will never forget all the Wisconsin fans that jammed the lobby of the team hotel after the Badgers upset previously unbeaten Kentucky in the semifinals of last season's Final Four in Indianapolis. In a light moment, he will likely never forget the awkward moments, either.
"There are always those," he said with a grin. "But there are moments when people do recognize you and they make up for moments when they don't. It's hard when you're hanging out with Nigel (Hayes) and everybody goes up to him and asks for his autograph and you're just standing there ...
Holding the camera/phone. Resigned to take the picture of an adoring fan with his teammate. It was even worse with Kaminsky who had even a higher profile. But it was never a big deal for the unassuming Smith who will finally have the stage to himself Sunday during the pregame introductions.
"Basketball is the end of a phase in my life," he said. "It has been a great 18 years playing. Obviously, it's going to be missed and there's going to be a big void. But I will fill it with something."
Preferably with the memories from another deep run into March.
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