But there beats an impassioned heart within a program's cold impersonality, a son who finds guidance and guile from a father who's now only a memory but whose wisdom remains his internal compass.How can you not root for Nolan Smith tonight?
There's another perfect symmetry revolving around tonight's national championship climax that doesn't involve life impersonating scripted Hollywood drama.
It was 30 years ago during another Final Four here that a Louisville forward oozing effervescence from every pore became the emotional rock for a national championship.
Derek Smith didn't receive the publicity or heroic following of his national player of the year teammate, Darrell Griffith, but Smith is remembered as the glue of that championship team. Some even credit him with introducing and popularizing the "high five" that season.
And now the son returns to the city of his father's biggest competitive achievement, hoping for his signature moment.
And now maybe -- just maybe -- there's a reason for the sadness and emptiness.
"He's with me every day, and he'll be with me Monday night," Smith said Sunday. "And I'm sure it'll be a very emotional moment for me if we're able to win because he's played such a big role in helping me get to this point in my life."
He has tattooed a tribute to his father on his right bicep that reads "Forever Looking Down."
Smith's story is unfortunately an aberration in today's college basketball. He HAD a father from the beginning, losing him not through indifference but through a heart defect that nobody saw -- until it was too late.
Many thought Derek Smith had a sure future as an NBA head coach, possessing that invaluable communicative gift that connects a message while not coming off as patronizing. Following a nine-year NBA career that ended through repeated knee injuries, Smith became a very popular assistant with the then-Washington Bullets.
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