Maryland’s Smith Expected to Try NBA

Maryland sophomore Joe Smith will announce today that he’s leaving school with two years of eligibility remaining to make himself eligible for the NBA draft.

Smith’s mother, Letha Smith, said that her son would hold a news conference in the Norfolk, Va., high school where he played before coming to Maryland. Smith, who attended the team’s awards banquet Wednesday night, would not comment on his status, but a team source and newspaper reports all said he was NBA-bound.

Smith, a 6-foot-10 center, averaged 20.8 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots while leading Maryland to a 26-8 record. He was the Associated Press player of the year and Naismith college basketball player of the year.

“He’s in a no-lose situation,” Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. “He either returns to a team with four other starters, or he goes to the NBA and makes a lot of money. It’s a good situation to be in.”

Williams said he has talked to Smith frequently during the past several weeks and that Smith has considered all of his options.

“I think he’s done a good job of looking at every side of the issue,” Williams said. “My role is to answer any questions he may have and make sure that he looks at everything on every side.”

Even with the loss of Smith, Maryland still will have a strong program, Williams said.

“You’ll miss a player like Joe,” Williams said. “But if he goes, you won’t fold up your tent and go home.”

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Junior Gary Trent of Ohio U. made himself available for the NBA draft by passing up his senior season.

Trent, a 6-8 forward, is a three-time Mid-American Conference player of the year who averaged 22.8 points and 12.9 rebounds last season.

“I’m 20 years old, and now I’m taking off into the real world,” Trent said. “It’s time for me to grow up again. It’s just another step in life. I’ve made a lot of decisions in my life on my own and they’ve always turned out to be good and I think this decision will turn out to be good for me also.”

Tennis

Andre Agassi, paying the price for joining the U.S. Davis Cup effort--a sore back--still raised his game a notch when it counted Thursday.

Down 1-4 in the second set, Agassi bounced back for a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Canadian Sebastien Lareau to advance to the quarterfinals of the $1.2-million Japan Open at Tokyo.

In today’s quarterfinals, Agassi faces Australian qualifier Scott Draper, who ousted 10th-seeded Jonathan Stark in the first round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over American Michael Joyce.

Agassi scored a service break in the first set’s sixth game, then found himself down a break in the second when the 15th-seeded Lareau, put together a string of good shots.

He got it back in the seventh game and broke again in the 11th, using his power to pressure Lareau into mistakes.

“He just raised up a level and I had to answer,” Agassi said after improving his match record to 28-2 this year.