Smith: Louisville Will Recruit the 'Best Players in the Country'
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Head coach Kenny Payne's staff at Louisville is slowly starting to come together. This past Monday, Payne introduced former Duke assistant Nolan Smith as the first member of his coaching staff.
But even before he was officially introduced, Smith was hitting the recruiting trail.
As part of the first of two three-day evaluation periods this month, Smith spent the past weekend down in Orlando, Fla. for the the Nike EYBL event. There, he got to see several class of 2023 prospects in person that Louisville is actively recruiting, such as D.J. Wagner, G.G. Jackson, Aaron Bradshaw and others.
Sporting Louisville gear while at the event, Smith knew that his presence was being felt - both by prospects and opposing coaches alike.
"I felt a lot of fear from opposing schools. I'm serious, and it felt great," Smith said when asked what it was like to be at his first recruiting event as a member of the Cardinals' staff.
"Then just walking past kids, and you hear them go, 'that's Louisville!' There's just something about it, that when Kenny Payne was hired, and then when I was hired, it just felt a different feeling about this logo. This week, I really felt that."
It's understandable that other coaches aren't looking forward to getting into recruiting battles against Louisville with Payne and Smith as a 1-2 punch. Payne's track record while at Kentucky speaks for itself, and Smith played a large role in helping Duke get the No. 1 2022 recruiting class.
It's a far cry than what Louisville fans came to expect under Chris Mack. During his three and a half years as the head coach of the Cardinals, the program secured commitments from just two top-50 prospects: Samuell Williamson and Kamari Lands.
Moving forward, Smith says that Louisville will carry the same recruiting philosophy that he had at Duke, and that Payne had at Kentucky: get the nation's best.
"No change at all," he said when asked if he would have to alter his recruiting approach after leaving resource-laden Duke. "We're going after the best players in the country. We're going after the best."
Even with a limited amount of time in the left in the 2022 cycle, and the potential punishment from the NCAA presumed to be handed out sometime later this year, which could impact recruiting in the 2023 cycle and beyond, Smith thinks that Louisville will start to pull elite talent "very quickly".
"These facilities are amazing. They get to play in the Yum! Center. For me, it's not going to be hard at all," he said. "We're going to recruit with love, and they're gonna feel that. The families, everybody's gonna feel a part of this when we're recruiting, and I think that's gonna be different.
"Louisville basketball, this program is one of the best of the best, and always has been for a long time. So make sure they know that - the players that we're going after - they feel that, but we're not gonna lower ourselves. We want to coach the best. We want to be the best and we want to win."
(Photo of Nolan Smith: Matt Stone - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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