By ANDREW JONES
FOXSportsCarolinas.com
Feb. 21, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. -- Move over Jimmer, Kemba and Mr. Sullinger, you have company atop the leaderboard for national player of the year, and his name is Nolan Smith.
The Duke senior guard has been creeping to this position all season, including before freshman point guard Kyrie Irving was injured Dec. 4. But in recent weeks, Smith has put the Blue Devils on his back, and with the top four teams in the nation losing this week, the fifth-ranked Devils are positioned for a No. 1 seed in next month's NCAA tournament if the bracket was released today.
Smith is the primary reason why.
Kyle Singler has slumped lately, and role players such as Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee and Andre Dawkins have been a bit inconsistent. But Smith hasn't. Every night out, he's the best player on the floor, like he was during Duke's 79-57 demolition of Georgia Tech on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"It's unbelievable how other teams can focus on him so much, but he can still do the things he does for us," Duke forward Ryan Kelly said. "It's offensively; it's defensively. Tonight, we had him on one of their best players (Iman Shumpert), and he did a real good job on him. We expect so much of him, and he seems to bring it every night."
Smith played just 14 minutes in the first half against the Yellow Jackets. But he scored his 20th point of the night just seven minutes into the second half. The second-half eruption included two 3-pointers and a pair of put-backs; one following his own miss and another after a botched alley-oop to Mason Plumlee on a pass Smith threw.
He finished with 28 points, four assists and seven rebounds, and even though he gave up 3 inches to the 6-foot-6 Shumpert, he held the Yellow Jackets star to just 13 points on 4-for-16 shooting.
It isn't just Smith's play on the court that has caught the attention of everyone around the program. He's been more demonstrative after big baskets, saluting, pounding his chest and making a myriad of gestures. His teammates see this as a positive.
"I've seen some of it, yeah," Singler said, sporting a big smile. "It's interesting, He's a good dancer, so it definitely doesn't surprise me.
"Nolan's always been an outgoing person. But, his freshman year, his sophomore year, he usually didn't show that. It's really cool to see him in his senior year kind of expressing himself and showing who he really is."
Smith the basketball player has been nothing short of sensational. He has scored 18 or more points in every ACC game this season, surpassing the 20 mark nine times. He leads the league in scoring (21.7) and in assists (5.3) and has managed to grab six or more rebounds eight times in the past 14 games.
But the more important statistic to Smith and everyone involved in his program, is that Duke is now 25-2 overall and 12-1 in the ACC. Without Irving running the show, the Blue Devils are 17-2 and 12-1. The losses were at St. John's and Florida State, two teams likely headed to the NCAA tournament.
Nobody works harder, nobody plays smarter, and nobody is better.
"I never talk about player of the year and all, but it's not even close in our conference," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "This kid nationally has got to be recognized. And he's been consistent, and understand he was doing that with Kyrie, And then Kyrie goes down, that's a big load.
"I'm not sure anybody in the country has had that change. . . . He just went,
