Cardinals’ Russ Smith Drops Chance to Go Pro and Stays at Louisville for Senior Season

Going pro is the goal of many college basketball players, but for Russ Smith, there are more important things in this life. At least that what Louisville's 6-foot-1 guard announced this Wednesday.  Smith, who was expected to enter this year’s NBA Draft and become a pro, told the media that he’s staying in school for his senior season and that he will play another year with the current NCAA Men Basketball Champs.

Smith said he would like to have some extra time to develop his game skills before making the transition to the NBA. The announcement comes less than a month after his father, Russ Smith Sr. told the media that Russ was ready to leave Louisville and enter the NBA draft. But those words didn’t stick for too long.  Just yesterday, Smith gave his version of how he’d like to handle his future, saying that he’s not ready to join the NBA draft and that he’d like to return to Louisville for his senior season. 

With 18.7 points per game this season, including 22.3 in the NCAA tournament, Smith was a driving force behind his team’s success, leading the squad to back-to-back Final Fours and helping the Cardinals to win their first national championship since 1986.

Russ was named to the Big East All-Tournament Team and his team won the Big East Tournament Championship game versus Syracuse by a score of 78–61 after trailing by 13 at halftime.  In Louisville's 85–63 regional final win against Duke, Smith recorded 23 points and was subsequently named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament's Midwest Region.

The player said he consulted his decision with team coach and mentor Rick Pitino, whose coaching resume’ includes gigs with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. Pitino stated that he personally recommended Smith to take a week to make up his mind and clarify his situation before making any decision.

Both Louisville and Pitino are happy to have Smith for another campaign. His return leaves the Cardinals with three starters and eight regulars from the team that won the NCAA title. In addition to Smith, starting forwards Chane Behanan and Wayne Blackshear, guard/forward Luke Hancock, the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, as well as reserves Stephan Van Treese, Montrezl Harrell and Tim Henderson are also confirmed to be back with the Cardinals this year.

"I'm happy I finally got it off my chest.” said Smith. ”What was crazy after doing all the pros and cons of staying or going, the pros of staying were so much better than the pros of leaving. All my pros I put down for me leaving were very immature. You have to put the work in to get better, you have to do this, you have to do that. Those are challenges I felt like, along with coach, we both felt I'd be running way from, getting better and maturing as a player.”

Find the latest sportsbook betting odds at Sports Betting Online. All you have to do is create a FREE account by clicking here and you can start betting right away. Also, you might be interested to know that you get an incredible 10% cash-back reward on every bet you make deposited to your account every week.