On the court after Monday’s national championship game, as the Louisville Cardinals cut down a net, Russ Smith Sr. told SI.com that his son Russ will turn pro. Russ Smith Jr., a junior, led Louisville in scoring this season.
“I told him, ‘Man, this is how you go out,'” Smith Sr. said. “All the people who doubted you since high school, you proved them wrong. You have back-to-back (Big East) championships, then you come back and win the national championship. All that hard work comes from working you out since you was three years old, running the beach, running the stairs, running with medicine balls, a boxing bag, it paid off.”
— Reported by Michael Rosenberg of SI.com
