2008 Woodie Awards
Smith was basketball's Newcomer of the Year
Landree MacLennan
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Smith grew up in Phoenix with his mom until he was in eighth grade, and then moved to Peoria, Arizona. While in Phoenix, Smith played soccer all the way to sixth grade and then started to play basketball which was the first organized basketball team he participated in. Not many of the kids in Phoenix were into playing basketball then, but more interested into skateboarding. Like most normal kids would do, Smith stopped playing basketball and started skateboarding with the rest of his friends. When he moved to Peoria in eighth grade, more of his friends and classmates played basketball, so he started to play again and has played ever since.
When he was in high school he attended an individual camp that taught him all the different basketball skills such as dribbling, passing, shooting, different plays, the attitude one should have as they are playing, and also different techniques of each of those skills. Although his high school team never went to any team camps where they go and just play in tournaments a few weekends of the summer, Smith did join a travel team where he went and played with kids from other schools.
Marcus Faubion played on Smith's travel team with him in and as the Kansas Wesleyan coach found him, he talked Anthony into coming to college to play basketball with him. And is glad he made the choice he did.
To make himself a better player, Smith does his own workouts outside of practice. He goes to the weight room two to three times a week to lift weights and run to stay in shape. By doing this he makes himself more apt to be a better player on the court. Running and getting ones legs into shape will help in playing a game, so ones legs do not get tired because they are used to running and having that fatigue. He also takes time out of his day before and after practice to shoot around and make his shot better and also to get in the rhythm of shooting.
Smith plays a shooting guard on the Kansas Wesleyan basketball team and he loves the position he plays. When asking him if he likes what he plays and if he would change anything, he said, "No, I love this position, because you get to shoot."
Last year in the last regular season game Kansas Wesleyan played Ottawa and it turned out to be a very intense game for the fans, the players and their coaches. The coyotes were behind 78-73, until Smith scored the game's final eight points to win the game 81-78. With one minute left in the game, Smith hit a 3-pointer to bring the Coyotes closer to the win and put them down only two points. With 16 seconds left, Smith hit a short jump shot to tie the game at 78-78. Bringing his team up five points in less than one minute, Smith knew the game wasn't over as he stole the ball from an Ottawa guard and took it down and scored a three pointer from the left wing with ten seconds left, which brought the Coyotes up ahead of the Braves at 81-78. One could say Smith's play was somewhat heroic, and being the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference's (KCAC) leading scorer added 32 points and six rebounds to the Coyote victory.
Last year, Smith was named the KCAC Newcomer of the Year and was also awarded All-KCAC. He was a 6-3 junior guard from Arizona and led the KCAC in scoring at almost 20 points per game. He was ninth in the KCAC for his shooting percentage at 42 percent, and was tenth from the three-point line at 36 percent. Also, was ranked third in steals at about 2 per game.
As one can see, Anthony Smith has worked hard to be where he is today, being named Newcomer of the year and being nominated ALL-KCAC, is a very big accomplishment. The 2006-2007 basketball season has just started and the team is practicing harder than ever, and with very high goals. It will be interesting to see how this year will turn out.
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