Edwardsville’s Mark Smith says he’ll play basketball at Illinois

Edwardsville High School basketball star Mark Smith stayed true to his state Wednesday, ending a long recruiting period by announcing he will play at Illinois.

Smith, a 6-foot-4 guard, revealed his decision at a highly anticipated and attended news conference at Lucco-Jackson Gymnasium inside the high school. About 300 people came to watch Smith make his announcement public.

Smith, who averaged 21.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 8.4 assists and 2.1 steals for the Tigers, selected the Illini and new coach Brad Underwood over Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky and Ohio State. Although Duke never made a formal offer, the other finalists did.

“I’m excited,” Smith said. “I think we’re going to be really good. Just to play for Coach Underwood, he has a good plan for me. There’s a blueprint, and I think we’re going to win a lot. I’m excited to play there, and we’ve got good players.”

Smith also received offers from Indiana, Kansas State, Missouri, Butler, California, Nebraska, Texas, Northwestern, DePaul, Utah, Georgia Tech and Boston College.

A long list of mid-majors also recruited Smith, particularly early in the process. But Smith played himself out of their range with a prolific season that took off Nov. 21 and never diverted from that course, until March 14, when Edwardsville (30-2) was defeated by Chicago Simeon 76-64 in the Class 4A Normal Super-Sectional.

Smith, seated behind a table with his dad, Anthony, and his mom, Yvonne, turned his back to the crowd and took off his black Edwardsville jacket. When he turned around, Smith was wearing a white shirt with the distinctive orange “I” and a blue hat with the same “I”. Many in the crowed applauded.

Smith said he decided on Illinois on Sunday.

“The other places I was at, it just didn’t feel like home,” Smith said. “After I went to visit (Illinois) the first couple of times, I just got the feeling this was the spot for me. Once I got to know Coach Underwood a lot and, we built up a good relationship in the past two, three weeks. He’s been there. I knew it was the spot for me.”

Smith took an an official visit to Ohio State over the weekend, then canceled a trip to Duke. Smith last went to Illinois last Thursday.

“I met with the team, kind of met the players and talked to Coach Underwood,” Smith said. “He showed me more stuff and talked to me individually about what he has in mind for me, how he trusts me and how we’re going to be good next year.

“He said he wants to get me the ball, but I have to earn it. I’m not expecting anything to be given to me, so I’m going to come in and earn it and work hard. I’ll come in and represent my state the best I can.”

Smith was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Illinois on March 20 and Mr. Basketball in Illinois on March 21. Metro-east coaches overwhelmingly voted Smith the Belleville News-Democrat’s Large-School Player of the Year on April 10.

On Wednesday, Smith was recognized as a first-team pick on the American Family Insurance All-USA Illinois team, announced by USA Today. Althoff’s Jordan Goodwin, a Saint Louis University recruit, and East St. Louis’ Jeremiah Tilmon also made the first team.

Smith said he won’t feel pressure to succeed at Illinois after being the state’s Mr. Basketball, in addition to all his other accolades.

“I like that kind of pressure, but I’m not really worried what people (expect),” Smith said. “I’m just going to try to go out there and win, and play my game, and obviously get a great education.”

Smith said staying close to home “wasn’t a big factor for me.”

“But now that I think about it, it is,” he said. “It’s only two hours away. They can come see every home game (and) I can get home easily. It is great. Playing for the home state means a lot, to represent Edwardsville and represent the state like (Belleville East) graduate Malcolm Hill did. Hopefully, (we can) do big things.”

Smith scored in double figures in 31 of the Tigers’ 32 games. The only time he didn’t reach double figures was Dec. 9, when he had seven points in a 73-40 win at Collinsville.

Ironically, Vergil Fletcher Gym in Collinsville is where Smith had some of his better performances. In five other games there, Smith averaged 24.4 points, seven rebounds and 7.6 assists.

Smith was the MVP of the Collinsville-Prairie Farms Holiday Classic in December, where in victories over McCluer North, Lincoln, Springfield Southeast and Althoff, he recorded 91 points, grabbed 29 rebounds and handed out 34 assists as the Tigers won the championship.

Former Illinois coach John Groce attended the Dec. 30 title game against Althoff when Smith had 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in addition to a contested dunk that ranked as one of his best of the season. Illinois offered a scholarship to Smith three days later.

Groce, however, was fired March 11, replaced by former Oklahoma State coach Underwood a week later. It seemed to hurt the Illini’s recruitment of Smith, who had built a solid relationship with Groce and had never met Underwood.

Smith said it was difficult to see Groce removed.

“When Coach Groce left, it was between Indiana and Illinois,” Smith said. “I had a good relationship with Coach (Tom) Crean, but then he got fired.”

Soon after Underwood was hired, two metro-east players who had committed to Illinois, Tilmon and Belleville East’s Javon Pickett, decommitted.

With other programs targeting Smith, it seemed Illinois was an underdog. Underwood visited the Smiths in their home, but so did Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, Kentucky coach John Calipari, new Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin and Duke assistant Jon Scheyer.

“I feel like this is the best decision for me,” Smith said. “I have a lot of respect for those guys. A lot of legends came to my house, and I got to meet a lot of great people. I respect them a lot for recruiting me and taking the time, too. I just felt like (Illinois) was the best spot for me.”

The recruiting of Smith did wonders for the player’s Twitter account, which grew from 900 followers to more than 5,000 during the process.

Smith followed social media and drew a few laughs from it.

“It was actually kind of funny for me to read the stuff,” he said. “I didn’t have, really, anything else to do. It was fun for me. I liked the fans talking to me. I thought it was exciting. But sometimes when I had to do homework, my mom took my phone from me.”

Smith had originally committed to Missouri, but as a pitcher for the baseball team. He opted out of his scholarship because of an elbow injury and the departure of coach Tim Jamieson.

Unlike some athletes who tend to become frustrated with the hectic pace of being recruited, Smith and his family did their best to embrace it and go with the flow.

“It wasn’t really overwhelming for me, but just a little stressful,” Smith said. “People are always asking you (questions), and sometimes they stump you a little bit and try to get you to say something. I liked it a lot; I had a lot of fun with it.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Edwardsville’s Mark Smith says he’ll play basketball at Illinois."