Quote Originally Posted by Phantom Warrior View Post
I remember watching Tony Smith play in the State Tournament - I'm pretty sure it was his senior year. It was obvious he was a terrific athlete, but he couldn't shoot a lick outside of five feet. He could get to the hoop and score, but he didn't have even a decent mid-range shot. I recall thinking, "I really hope MU doesn't recruit him." But they did, and, of course, the rest is history.

I'm not sure any MU player, at least in the last 40 years or so, improved as much over his four years at MU as TS did. The fact that he became such a good three-point shooter by his senior season was astonishing, but equally impressive, his ball handling also improved dramatically. He evolved into a more than serviceable point guard his senior year after having never played the position at any level.

It's hard to imagine to what depths - or should I say greater depths - the program would have sunk to without Tony. We could have ended up like Detroit and Loyola. We came pretty close to that even with him.

Smith's Tosa East team lost in the semis his senior year to eventual champion Sheboygan North.