Above: Leslee Smith. Photo credit: Lincoln journal

Smith, a newcomer to the programme at Nebraska this season, will be challenging for a starting position having impressed during the pre-season training. However, it could have all been so different.

“From what I was told, that was the word on me, that I didn’t play hard, stuff like that,” said Smith, a newcomer to the Nebraska men’s basketball team. “When my (junior college) coach actually told me that, how that’s what he heard from other coaches, he told me I’d have to prove them wrong.”

Truth be told, Smith, a 6-foot-8, 253-pound forward, already knew he wasn’t meeting his potential.

And if he didn’t, the message was loud and clear when his coach at Seward County Community College, Bryan Zollinger, benched Smith from his starting role in the early part of the Jayhawk Conference season.

“When he did that I knew it was a sign that I’m not playing hard,” Smith said. “He didn’t have to tell me. I just figured it was on me. It wasn’t on him. The decision he made was on how I performed. I just decided to step up, play harder, don’t worry about getting tired or anything like that.”

Smith averaged 8.3 points and a team-best 6.6 rebounds last season, but over Seward County’s final six games, he averaged 12.1 points and 7.8 rebounds. The Saints, meanwhile, had only one loss in the final two months of the regular season — at Hutchinson, the nation’s top-ranked team.

“Just played harder,” Smith said. “That was the only change. I just played harder.”

He’s not stopped since!

“I don’t think there’s been a day I haven’t played hard,” Smith said. “I come out here, I practice hard, I listen to the coaches. Whatever they tell me to do, I go out and do it. They rarely come up to me and say, ‘You’re not going hard,’ because I know I’m going hard out there every day.”

Certainly no qualms from Nebraska coach Tim Miles, who said he’s impressed with Smith’s maturity.

“He’s a really poised guy. He’s got a savvyness about him,” Miles said. “You like being around him. He’s a real magnetic personality.”

Miles also likes Smith’s strength.

“He’s just got a real powerful presence about him. That usually translates well into basketball.”

Smith, a Virgin Islander, has made impressive gains with his conditioning too, a concern that lingered when he arrived in Lincoln partly because of his surgically repaired knee that bothered him at times.

Smith said he arrived in Lincoln weighing 260 pounds, and now weighs 253, having dropped his body fat by 3 percentage points to 10 percent.

“It’s a big improvement, just in two months,” Smith said. “I never had a full summer to work out, so this is all new to me. I’m really pleased with my body and the changes I’ve made.

“I can feel it, too. I can definitely feel it. I’m moving a lot faster, jumping a lot higher. My vertical increased about 5 inches (to 36 inches). This is the best I’ve felt in two years.”

Smith will challenge for a starting position at forward and give Nebraska’s frontcourt some much-needed size, strength and experience. Miles said the athletic Smith can play in screen-able situations and play out of the high post, too.

“I’ve always had quick feet,” Smith said. “My coaches always praised how quick I am on the floor, how I’m quick on my feet.”

Smith can also shoot from the perimeter — comfortably from 15 to 17 feet, although Miles said he wants Smith to be able to stretch that.

“He wants me to be able to shoot from any part of the floor; he wants me to have a full game,” Smith said. “I can make the three, but it’s not my strong point. That’s one thing I want to try to get better at.”

Smith said he’s been impressed with the leadership and motivation of teammates Shavon Shields and Terran Petteway, and that the team as a whole has a strong camaraderie.

“There’s like a charisma,” Smith said. “We have good chemistry, on and off the court. We have good teammates. They’re good people. That’s going to transfer to the court. Having the friendship and loyalty to each other is really going to affect how we’re going to play this year.”