Dylan Smith: rising to the top

Dylan Smith is ready for high-major college basketball.

After a season at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Smith is transferring to the University of Arizona and joining the traditional power in the college basketball world.

A star on Hoover High School’s 2015 Class 7A state championship basketball team, Smith scored 17 overtime points in the Bucs’ semifinal game against Lee-Montgomery and helped the team to a win over Mountain Brook to capture the school’s first title.

“I wanted to win a state championship before I graduated,” Smith said. “We said all year it was title or bust, and we proved ourselves right.”

He then took his talents to UNC Asheville, where he starred as a freshman in 2015-16. Smith led the Bulldogs with 13.5 points per game, starting the final 18 games of the season. UNC Asheville won the Big South Conference Tournament to seal a spot in the NCAA Tournament and took on eventual national champion Villanova in the first round.

“We were in the game until they went on a run,” Smith said of the game against the Wildcats. “They were veteran players, knew the game well and moved the ball well.”

Despite the 86-56 loss, Smith led the team with 14 points, but he said the game brought him to a realization.

“I just felt like during the season I could go play high-major,” he said.

Smith spoke highly of the Bulldogs and his season there, and he said he used the opportunity to “prove the doubters wrong” — something he has been doing his whole life.

“I had a lot to prove growing up, being small and people saying I couldn’t play,” Smith said. “I have played with a chip on my shoulder all the time since I picked up a ball when I was 12.”

Smith will have to sit out the 2016-17 year due to NCAA transfer rules, but he said he will use the time to get better.

“Getting stronger and taking contact going to the rim. Skill-wise, I’m ready for that level, and I proved it,” he said. 

He chose Arizona over the likes of Oregon, Texas A&M, Butler and others.