NCAA Championship: Duke's Nolan Derek Smith is hoping to make his dad proud

Nolan Derek Smith, in fact, has been The Man for Duke in a lot of ways during the NCAA Tournament, scoring a career-high 29 points in a win over Baylor to help lift Duke to the Final Four, dropping a cool 19 on West Virginia in the semifinals, when

he had six assists and no turnovers.But that doesn't mean he can't still be his father's son or that he isn't proud to be.Today, Smith would like nothing better than to follow in the footsteps of his late father, Derek, who died of a massive heart attack in 1996.Derek, you see, won the national championship as a Louisville player in 1980. The Cardinals, as fate would have it, won that title in Indianapolis, which is where Duke and Nolan will attempt to duplicate his father's feat, tonight against Butler at Lucas Oil Stadium."I've definitely been motivated by it," said Nolan, a junior guard and Duke's leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament with 18.6 points per game. "With that added in, it gives me a little more."Actually, it seems to have given him a lot more.Proudly, Derek bears a tattoo of his father on his right arm. Before the season began, his mother, Monica, drew for him the parallel that he would have a chance to play in the Final Four in Indianapolis. On gameday, he routinely listens to the song Derek favored, "This Is It," when Derek was helping lead the Cardinals.And when the NCAA Tournament began, Monica gave Nolan his father's national championship ring, and Nolan faithfully has looked to it for inspiration."That's what gets me going before every day," he said. "When I look at that ring, the piece of advice I remember him giving me is to play every game like it's your last because it might be."It's not difficult at all," he said of being the son of a national champion who also played nine NBA seasons before injuries cut short his career. "When I think about my father's past, I think about it -- and I smile."And if Nolan is smiling and happy, there's a pretty good chance Duke fans, his coaches and his teammates are smiling and happy.By far, he's the player most capable of creating something from nothing for Duke, of using his quickness and ball-handling to set up himself or a teammate for a score.One-on-one, no defender has been able to stay in front of him and prevent him from getting wherever he wants to go. When his jumper is on, he can go on one-man scoring binges. And when he's clicking alongside the other members of Duke's big three (Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler), the Blue Devils almost are unstoppable.If they prove to be potent one more time, Nolan will get what he's wanted since he signed with Duke, what his father received 30 years ago in the same city."I believe in a little bit over a year, he has become very, very comfortable with the situation now," Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Like, he can handle it as a result of some of the features that have been done nationally. It's an amazing story."He's really a happy kid. He's a really good kid. His mom's one of the best ever. Monica has done a great job in raising him to where he still has a love for his father, but it's not a burden like, 'Oh, I don't have him anymore.' He honors him on a day to day basis."Therefore, honoring him at the Final Four is not something new. He's done it day to day. I think it comes from his family, just such a good family."It has helped Nolan focus. The entire team is more focused during the tournament, he said."I turn my phone off; I post my last Tweet at 10 (p.m.)," Nolan said, laughing.