LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- I still have some hate emails from Creighton basketball fans after I wrote that Russ Smith deserved the Wooden Award over Doug McDermott, the Bluejays' forward who won that trophy in 2014.
Smith, not McDermott or Shabazz Napier of NCAA champion Connecticut, finished the season ranked first in Ken Pomeroy’s player of the year analytics.
Russdiculous earned it.
Smith was a defensive terror as well as an offensive dynamo for Louisville from 2010-14. Look away for millisecond, and you risked missing something that would inspire Rick Pitino to stomp his loafers or pump his fist.
Smith collected unforgettable moments the way ordinary players collect wrist bands.
My favorite Russ Smith moment was March 5, 2014, in Dallas, Texas. Smith arrived at Moody Coliseum with a nasty stomach bug. There were questions about his availability against SMU.
Smith played. Ask SMU coach Larry Brown.
He also vomited into a court side trash can several times. Ask his teammates.
Smith brought Louisville back from a 10-point deficit, making all six of his shots from distance with 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
That was the start of a late-season seven-game U of L winning streak that resulted in the Cards winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles as well as a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
Let the record show that Russ Smith was a joy to watch or to interview. He filled the box score or the notebook — win or lose.
Enough tap dancing. Time to take it to the rack, the way Smith did.
The news arrived this week that Smith will join Charlie Tyra, Wes Unseld, Darrell Griffith and Pervis Ellison with a retired number (Jan. 22 when Notre Dame visits the KFC Yum! Center).
The question is one that I would ask if the guy being honored was Milt Wagner, DeJuan Wheat, Junior Bridgeman, Derek Smith or Butch Beard instead of Smith’s No. 2:
Who would you select as the guy to grow the Fab Four to a Fab Five?
Who would you vote as the next retired jersey for Louisville basketball?
My pick would have been Rodney McCray.
You don’t have to tell me that McCray ranks 38th, three points behind Jerry Eaves, on the Cards’ list of all-time leading scorers.
McCray ranks tied for first on another list: Most Final Fours.
He played in three: 1980, 1982 and 1983. He played out of position, moving to center, when the Cards won their first NCAA title in 1980. He started in 132 of 135 games over four seasons, and Louisville won 109 of them.
With Smith, Eaves, Wagner, Lancaster Gordon, Wiley Brown, Charles Jones and Rodney’s his brother, Scooter, McCray helped power Louisville back to the Final Four in 1982, a gathering in New Orleans that had more talented players than any Final Four in history.
In addition to the Louisville contingent, there was Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Patrick Ewing, Sleepy Floyd, Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon and much, much more.
McCray was only getting warmed up. He came back for his senior season in 1983 and led Louisville to 32 wins in 36 games. The Cards beat Kentucky in the original Dream Dame before losing to Houston (with Olajuwon and Drexler) in an unforgettable national semifinal.
The NBA recognized McCray’s immense all-around value. He was drafted third in the 1983 draft, behind Ralph Sampson and Steve Stipanovich. He exited the NBA with a championship ring as well as another appearance in the Finals.
Any Louisville player who wears No. 22 should be instructed to watch YouTube videos of everything McCray did for Denny Crum and the Cardinals.
But I’m open to a healthy discussion.
Wagner also played in three Final Fours, won a national title with Ellison in 1986 and specialized in clutch shots. Wheat ranks second on the school’s all-time scoring list and often is overlooked because the program stopped going to Final Fours during his run.
Bridgeman pushed Louisville to the 1975 Final Four and became a role model for his remarkable NBA career and success as a businessman and community leader.
Smith scored more than 1,800 points, was critical to the success of the 1980 champs and grew as much as a person and player as anybody in the program.
Beard teamed with Wes Unseld as Louisville moved ahead of most Southern programs while integrating its roster. His 19-point career scoring average ranks second to Unseld, and that was without a three-point shot. Beard became an NBA All-Star who won a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 1975. Those are serious credentials.
This time, the choice was Russ Smith, the first player from the Pitino era as well as a legitimate fan favorite.
But the discussion about retiring a number at a program as prestigious as Louisville is a fun one on a frigid snowy day.
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