I've been a non-Jon Smith fan all season thinking he looks the part and we need the part, he just hasn't been doing any of the parts.  Give credit when credit is due---I thought Jon Smith played very well tonight.  10 rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds, active, couple nice dunks, played 21 minutes versus starting then having a seat on the bench---good job Jon!

He's been quietly improving as the season has gone along.  If he keeps this up, he could be a force in Feb.

Current student here:

I was walking down court st and saw Jon, I had to stop him and say congrats on the good season (12-1 at the time). He was a very nice guy. Smith matches the Groce-mentality of being a class act. 

I think he is a good player off the ball and rebounding or tip ins, which are all things we need.  He has room to grow as far as driving and finishing.  The moment last night where he had a clear path to the rim and instead spotted up a wide open 10 footer that missed badly looked pretty awkward.  He still doesn't look very comfortable with the ball, hoping that improves.  But rebounding/positioning and defense has been real good, and was very good last night.

Last night he started to look....dare I say it.... like he could be Flomo-esque.

I'm not surprised one bit about Jon Smith.


I may be the only one who has seen him play throughout his high school career so I know very well what his talents are and he is actually a lot more gifted offensively than he shows.

My initial take on him this preseason is that he simply isn't physically built adequately enough to deal with the banging that he never encountered while in high school on a regular basis.

To paraphrase what I used in one of my posts earlier this week, in high school he could succeed on skill alone.

Hopefully last night was an indication that he is mentally growing into the kind of competitor he needs to be at the collegiate level.

has he won every starting ball tip this year? I was trying to think of a game where we didn't get the opening tip and couldn't think of any.