My View/Your View: North Central's Smith-Rivera has a bright future ahead

Several freshmen boys basketball players in the YYPE High School Sports Magazine coverage area raised a few eyebrows this season. At least in my eyes. They include : - North Central's muscular, 6-3 D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, a threat to score inside and outside and who runs the floor well and is a pinpoint passer. - Lebanon guard Trey Hendricks, a 5-8 mighty-mite who can shoot it from long range and also handles the ball a great deal from the point position. - Carmel's 6-10 AJ Hammons, who possesses a great pair of hands and should have many great days ahead of him for the Greyhounds. - Guerin Catholic's Riley Rapp, a 5-11 guard, who has a good shooting touch and handles the ball a lot in tight games because of his steady free throw marksmanship. - Pike's Ronald Hunter, who's a good 3-point shooter with a great deal of range. - Hamilton Southeastern's 6-1 Gary Harris, who proved he could handle pressure and performed particularly well in the Hinkle Regional. Still, Smith-Rivera had the edge among the youngins' this season . . . hands down. It's difficult to make comparisons, and really it's probably not fair, trying to compare other great freshmen in years past. There have been many really talented freshmen in our state. Some of the better ones I recall seeing in my 45 years in the newspaper business include Lebanon's Rick Mount, Bedford North Lawrence's Damon Bailey, Marion's Dave Colescott, Peru's Kyle Macy and Kokomo's Brad McNulty. Certainly, Mount, the first Indiana player to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and Bailey, a legend for the ages, were special. Mighty special. OK, make that SPECIAL in caps. Smith-Rivera, who like Bailey stands 6-foot-3, certainly would rate as one of the most physical freshmen I ever saw. I cannot imagine another team in Hoosierland this season with a comparable player at such a young age. He played a major role as a starter on one of the state's top teams, helping the Panthers, who were ranked No. 1 at one time, produce a 22-2 won-loss record. Statistically, he was better than many seniors throughout Indiana, I'm sure. He averaged 16.1 points, centered nearly 80 percent of his free throws, shot .568 from the floor and .371 from beyond the arc, and he also averaged right at 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. And what a great athletic body. He's the total package. Smith-Rivera's coach, Doug Mitchell, told me after an early-season game that it was hard to say much to his rising star when he made a mistake because he simply did so many other things so well. It's a little early to talk about three years from now, but North Central fans certainly must be thinking about possible accolades that could be waiting for Smith-Rivera. "We have had three Mr. Basketballs during my tenure at North Central, and none have put up the kind of numbers during their freshman year that D`Vauntes has produced,'' said Mitchell.