LEXINGTON, Ky. — The WWJD bracelet adorns Saul Smith’s left wrist, a ready reminder for how best to address adversity: What would Jesus do?
As Kentucky’s junior point guard enters the most stressful season of his young life, he may ask himself just as often what G.G. would do.
‘‘I learned a lot from him about keeping things to yourself, thinking about things before you do it,’’ Saul says of his older brother. ‘‘What’s that saying? ‘Thinking fast, acting slower.’’’
That’s the quiet, dignified example G.G. Smith set the past four years steering Georgia’s offense.
Saul, the middle son, the emotional firecracker, will need to exude similar calm this winter. UK chose not to recruit a point guard, entrusting college basketball’s winningest program to the coach’s son. Fans and critics have verbal howitzers aimed at his skull.
Patience, Saul. Then action.
‘‘I don’t worry much about him,’’ UK coach Tubby Smith says. ‘‘Saul is a natural leader. He’s feisty. He’ll get in your face when he needs to. He’s a wildcat.’’
Saul vs. G.G.
There will be turbulence. Saul is replacing a UK fixture in Wayne Turner, who set an NCAA record for games played and helped engineer the 1998 national championship run.
Saul has played in 76 games at UK. He averaged five points a game last year and ranked as the team’s third-best 3-point shooter (.356).
Yet he wasn’t a highly touted prep recruit, so critics will charge nepotism no matter how he plays. When he struggles, they will strike.
‘‘It’s a lot easier knowing it’s going to come,’’ he says. ‘‘I’m not a big guy on surprises. I know it’s not going to be an easy year.’’
In Athens, Ga., G.G. is completing his student-teaching requirements and should graduate next month. He plans to move to Lexington to attend grad school and rejoin his family.
G.G. played his first two seasons for his father before Tubby left to take the UK job. He continues to relay advice to his sibling.
‘‘People will say he’s only playing because he’s the coach’s son,’’ G.G. says. ‘‘If he does well, they expect it. If he goes out and commits six turnovers, people are going to criticize.’’
Saul is 6-foot-2, 175 pounds, a wiry, whirling dervish with a streaky shooting touch. G.G., at 5-11, 178, was stocky and steady, a thinking man’s point guard.
On court, Saul attacks. Off court, the fans do.
‘‘I know I’m going to make mistakes and people are going to criticize,’’ he says. ‘‘I’m just going to have to take it in stride. I have thick skin.
‘‘I’ve been out in public and someone will come up to me and say, ‘Oh, you’re not doing a good enough job.’ Of course, those were mostly drunken college students.’’
Smith vs. Sutton
Saul has struggled with his control. He shot .367 from the field last year, just 10th-best on the team. His pedestrian 1.3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio paled compared to G.G.’s 2.23-to-1.
Saul says he’ll improve with repetition. Fans often forget how Turner struggled as a part-time player before blooming when handed the reins.
‘‘I’ve watched him in practice (recently) and seen a lot of improvement,’’ G.G. says. ‘‘He was aggressive. He’s got to be a leader.’’
His dad thinks he will be. Accepting responsibility for the move — ‘‘My job is to take the heat for the players,’’ he says — Tubby chose not to recruit a point guard in the past year.
‘‘I think it was understandable,’’ Hoop Scoop publisher Clark Francis told the Enquirer in May. ‘‘Tubby loves his kid. But we thought it was a mistake. They’re going to see how good Saul is and basically rough it for a year.
‘‘Will it cost them going to the Final Four and winning a national championship? Well, it might, yeah.’’
This scenario has been seen here before. Sean Sutton, playing for his father, Eddie, started at point guard as a sophomore in the 1988-89 season. Sean did a credible job, averaging 5.9 points a game.
But he was the target of fan abuse because of his last name: Under his dad, UK landed on NCAA probation and finished 13-19 mark in ’88-89, the worst season of the past 73 years.
Bill Keightley, UK’s equipment manager since 1962, says the two hardest-working players he has ever seen here are Sean Sutton and Saul Smith. Unfortunately, that won’t be either’s legacy.
Son vs. player
Saul must walk a fine line between player and son. He usually refers to his father as ‘‘Coach Smith’’ in interviews, and Tubby likewise uses his son’s first and last names when discussing him.
The locker room this year belongs more to the son, second in seniority only to Jamaal Magloire among scholarship players. He will say the harsh words to teammates that his father won’t.
‘‘I deal with it pretty well,’’ Saul says. ‘‘I’m a player, so I complain about Coach’s decisions too sometimes. I get yelled at just as much as anyone else.’’
Says G.G.: ‘‘Dad treats all his players like his sons. He has such a family atmosphere. There’s no favoritism.’’
The last son, Brian, 15, is a freshman guard at Lexington Catholic High School, perhaps destined to play for Dad. They are all bound together, by blood and basketball.
‘‘I’m in a tough situation, but a unique one,’’ Saul says. ‘‘I get a chance to play for my dad. How many people get a chance to say that? Being the starting point guard at Kentucky, I know a lot of people can’t say that.
‘‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’’
