‘The Beast’ : Joe Smith Makes Maryland a Final Four Prospect

Joe Smith hasn’t changed a bit, but his life has.

It used to be as ordinary as his name. But then he became last season’s national freshman of the year, led Maryland to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, made a genius out of Terrapin Coach Gary Williams and a chump out of North Carolina, which broke his heart by not recruiting him.

Now, he’s at it again. Smith, a 6-foot-10 center, is averaging 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds, while Maryland is averaging another convert each week. The Terrapins are 16-3, ranked No. 5 and the trendy pick to reach the Final Four in Seattle.

In fact, Smith’s mother, Aletha, will go one better than that. She already has informed her bosses back at the Norfolk (Va.) Naval Hospital, where she works as a clerk, that the first week of April is vacation time.

“I told those people I need those days for the Final Four,” she said.

Meanwhile, back in reality, a humble Smith tells everyone they’ve got it all wrong. He isn’t special, he said, only his basketball skills are. He shoots, he scores, he jumps, he rebounds. No need to compare him to Pasteur.

“I appreciate everything,” he said. “I know that it’s a God-given gift that I have. I know I’m not going to take it for granted.”

But at Maryland, where the ghost of Len Bias lingers, Smith is embraced in a schoolwide bear hug. Problem is, it won’t let go.

Smith, 19, used to be listed in the Maryland student directory, but that was before some drunken Terrapin fans started calling his dorm room at 4 a.m. to offer a slurred, “Great game. . . . You’re the best.”

Polite even when drowsy, Smith said, “Thanks, but I’m trying to get some sleep.” Then he changed his number. Twice.

Smith used to walk into a restaurant relatively unnoticed. Now, the autograph lines form as soon as he sits down to order.

At the campus bookstore, there are racks of He’s No Ordinary Joe T-shirts. At the local sporting goods stores, replica jerseys with his No. 32 are doing brisk business.

Joe-Mania is everywhere. At the team’s Midnight Madness in October, adoring fans asked Smith’s mom for her signature. And after a recent victory over Wake Forest at Cole Field House, a nice young man leaned over the red railing, introduced himself to Aletha Smith and started chatting about Joe’s 23-point, nine-rebound afternoon. That done, he adjusted his neon-red Bozo wig, smiled through his red-and-white-painted face, tugged at the Maryland state flag draped across his back like some sort of cartoon hero (Captain Terp?) and waved goodby.

If Smith is overwhelmed by any of this, he doesn’t show it. He has All-American status, a $1-million NCAA-approved insurance policy and, barring injury, a reserved place in the NBA lottery. But if Joe College didn’t get his occasional $25 check from his mom or sister, he’d be broke. And heaven forbid if anything ever happened to those weekly care packages Aletha puts together for him.

“I’ve got two boxes in the car right now,” she said as she waited for the crowd to thin after the Wake Forest game. “Peanuts, chips, gum, soda drinks, canned peaches. They’re all in there.”

OK, so Smith, the youngest of seven children, is a mama’s boy. There are worse fates.

Smith doesn’t do a thing without first thinking of Aletha. When she told him he had a special talent, he believed her. When she told him not to waste his skills, he worked harder. When she predicted wonderful things for him, he trusted her.

“I believe there is a saying about the seventh child or the seventh son being special,” she said. “That’s Joe.”

So sure was Aletha of Smith’s future that she began teaching him how to deal with fame. She considered every possibility, telling him years ago that when he appeared on television--and he would be on TV, she said--that slang was forbidden.

The grand plan took a detour north during high school. Smith wanted to play for Dean Smith at North Carolina. He adored the Tar Heels, even wore a North Carolina warm-up jacket all the time.

But the North Carolina coaching staff never wrote. Same goes for Duke.

“I’d see my name on a couple of those recruiting lists,” he said. “Top 100 . . . top 150. Basically, I was happy to see my name on any list, to tell you the truth. A lot of people don’t go to Norfolk, Va., to see a high school game.”

Maryland did. Williams first saw him in a summer league game after Smith’s sophomore year. He was only 6-7, “but he looked like he liked to play,” Williams said. “So we just put his name in an underclassmen file.”

By his senior season, four other Atlantic Coast Conference schools were recruiting Smith, but it was too late. Smith remembered Maryland being there at the start, so he signed with the Terrapins. Then he got rid of a certain baby blue warm-up jacket.

“My little niece is wearing it now,” he said.

He arrived at Maryland thinking he was good enough to play, but not entirely sure of it. Then he faced Georgetown and center Othella Harrington, the previous season’s Big East Conference freshman of the year. Then he knew.

“I was nervous the whole day,” he said. “We had our pregame meal at Bob’s Big Boy, but I couldn’t even eat breakfast. My first game. Going up against Othella Harrington. I didn’t know what to expect. But at tip-off the nervousness went away.”

The Terrapins not only beat the Hoyas in overtime, but Smith finished with 26 points, compared to Harrington’s 16. Smith had nine rebounds, three steals and made nine of 18 shots.

“But a lot of people thought it was a fluke,” he said. “That made me want to go out and do it night in, night out.”

Now it’s a fluke if he doesn’t reach double figures in points and rebounds. Through his 49-game career, Smith is averaging 19.4 points and 10.2 rebounds. Only four other players in Maryland history have finished their careers with double-doubles.

“There’s no downside to that kid,” said Utah Coach Rick Majerus, whose team was beaten by Maryland at the Maui Invitational. “He kicked our butt. We had (6-9 Keith) Van Horn on him. Then (6-11 Michael) Doleac. Then (6-10 Ben) Melmeth. It wouldn’t have made any difference.”

Smith had 33 points and 10 rebounds. Afterward, Majerus told Smith he had one tiny flaw: He turns the same shoulder every time he goes to shoot. Otherwise, there’s not a thing wrong with his game.

“A wonderful person,” Majerus said. “Great guy.”

Against Wake Forest a few weeks ago, Smith had 23 points and nine rebounds and thoroughly outplayed the Deacons’ fine sophomore center, Tim Duncan.

“I think Timmy wanted to play too well in this game,” Wake Forest Coach Dave Odom said.

Smith can do that to people. Then again, he isn’t alone.

Odom said he was thumbing through the Maryland media guide and noticed that every Terrapin starter was touted as an All-ACC candidate. But that wasn’t hype. It was truth.

“Every one of them could be an All-ACC player,” he said. “Of course, Joe Smith could be beyond that. He is beyond that.”

Smith is a throwback to another time. He doesn’t woof, showboat, trash talk or argue. He doesn’t do anything but play. “You know what it’s like?” Williams said. “It’s like the ‘60s.”

When teams started double-teaming him midway through the ACC schedule last year, Smith didn’t throw a fit. His scoring went down and his frustration level went up, but he didn’t panic. Instead, he went to you-know-who for advice.

Aletha told him that nobody said it was going to be easy.

As his reputation grew, so did the psychological war games. One opposing center, a senior (Smith won’t say whom), told him, “Ain’t no freshman doing this to me.”

Smith scorched him for double figures.

This season, the taunts are few and far between. No use getting Mr. Smith angry, right? Now when he sees a double team, he recognizes it and makes the appropriate pass. If he hears trash talk, he ignores it.

Joe Cool.

Still to be determined is his future. Majerus, who said Smith’s running ability is perfect for the NBA, predicts the Terrapin star could be picked anywhere from No. 2 to No. 4 in the draft. And if North Carolina’s Rasheed Wallace, another sophomore center, decides to stay put for his junior season, then who knows what could happen?

Smith said he isn’t sure what he’ll do. He asked his mom about it last summer. He told her he wanted to take care of her.

“My mother had it hard,” he said. “I would like to get her all the things she wanted. She doesn’t have a car. She doesn’t have the best of houses. She’s not in the best of areas. I want to let her live a life of luxury.”

Aletha said she can wait.

“That’s OK, I’m getting along,” she said. “He don’t have to worry about me. I bought my own house. I’ve got a car. My brother lent me a car and I’ve been using it. I’m happy. I get to and from work. I got family to bring me up here.”

So mother and son enjoy the wonderful ride. She frets. He snaps nets. She looks after him. He counts the months until he can look after her. It is a relationship forged in steel . . . with one exception.

Last summer, without his mom’s permission, Smith had a tattoo drawn on his left breast. It’s a bulldog--in honor of Smith’s nickname, “The Beast.”

Aletha didn’t know about it until she stopped by his room at her house to tell him she was going to work. That’s when she saw the blue lines on his chest.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Uh, a tattoo, or whatever,” he said.

“Whatever” didn’t go over well. Eventually, though, Aletha accepted the idea of her son as the illustrated man. So then, how about a companion tattoo for mom?

“No,” said Aletha, “I’ve got ‘The Beast.’ That’s enough.”