At the beginning of the summer, Dave introduced a new ongoing feature: "Where are they now?". In his opening piece, Dave caught us up with Jason Fife. EDIT: Oops. Dave actually has done pieces on Kenny Wheaton and Julius Hicks. I need to pay more attention. I decided to check in see what happened to one of my favorite basketball players while I was a student at Oregon: A.D. Smith..
First, a quick recap of Smith's time at Oregon. He enrolled at Oregon after playing high school basketball locally as a Lancer for Churchill. As a prep senior, he led Churchill to the 1995 4A state title, which at the time was the highest classification in the state. Additionally, he was the 1995 Oregon high school basketball player of the year.
As a Duck, Smith was a two time All-Pac-10 honorary member, as well as a three time member on the Academic All-Conference team. Probably one of the most memorable Smith moments for Duck fans occurred during his senior season when he fractured his cheekbone late in the season against USC. He was thought to be out for the remainder of the regular season, but ended up returning a week later to help Oregon upset #3 Arizona at Mac Court. The game feature Smith's return wearing a face mask. Try as I might, I could not find a picture of Smith wearing the mask to post on the site.
After his time at Oregon, Smith participated in the Nike Summer LEague in Treviso, Italy. The following season, Smith began his professional basketball career in Europe. First, he played for Gent United, a Division 1 team in the Belgian League. Smith continued playing basketball in Europe through 2006. Some of his noteworthy achievements include playing for the Danish League champion team in 2003 (BF Copenhagen) in 2003. Also in '03, Smith was named the All-Danish Basketball League Forward of the year and was a member of the All-League First Team and Danish All-Imports Team. The next season, Smith was on a German team that reached the semifinals. And, in 2005 Smith's French team again reached the semi-finals.
Recently, Smith conceded to Ron Bellamy and the Register-Guard that his playing days are most likely over. He now has a house in West Eugene that he shares with his wife and daughter. While currently not involved in coaching, Smith does participate in local camps for are youths. Smith also hinted that coaching at the high school or small college level might appeal to him in the future.