Nolan Smith

You're going to have to win some ugly games where you're shooting like one for 13 from three.

And so if they can figure that out, I do think that Nolan Smith and the Tigers are going to win this year.

And Nolan Smith is going to move on to another school because he is looking so incredible as a recruiter and as a coach.

Certainly impressive what Nolan Smith has done in just a short amount of time with Tennessee State, but we'll see.

That's why they play the game.

It can be played on paper, but then once the ball gets tipped up on November 2nd, that's when we learn for real just what each of these squads looks like.

Bye.

Tennessee State head coach Nolan Smith, probably two-time coach of the year in the OVC coming up.

Uh, go ahead, Higgy.

What were you saying?

running the football program.

Speaking of Kenny Payne assistants, Nolan Smith kind of has a wagon at Tennessee State.

He's got Aaron Bradshaw down there.

He's got Arterio Morris, who is probably not a good person.

but still a talented basketball player.

That dude, he's got it going on, and I did not expect that from Nolan Smith, the guy who had to have his sister and his wife fight Kentucky fans on Twitter because they were being mean to Kenny Payne.

No win, Smith.

But he is winning.

I mean, you can go back to when he first became the head coach and he had to bring some of his own assistant coaches on that left after that final year.

Mike Krzyzewski, Nolan Smith is one of them who moved on and now is the head coach.

head coach of his own program, there's always been, it feels like, coaching turnover.

Additions to the staff, maybe not necessarily on the bench, but deeper into the program.

I'm going to call the games that are in South Dakota.

But, you know, whether it be Tennessee State and Nolan Smith and the talent he's improved, Ryan Miller at Murray State, they actually play each other.

There's going to be a lot of really intriguing basketball, not just at the high major level, but a lot of talent at the mid-major level, too.

One thing that has become very interesting to me is what's happening over the summer.

He has made Howard basketball relevant in Washington, D.C., and also relevant nationally as a program that has been a regular player in the greatest tournament in the world.

Next up is another Duke guy, and that's Nolan Smith at Tennessee State.

Now, Nolan Smith...

And Tennessee State were a part of the region I covered in St. Louis with our NCAA tournament coverage here on CBS and also, obviously, with Turner.

And, you know, one thing I noticed about Nolan Smith just covering Tennessee State last year in their game against Iowa State is just his great powers of assimilation.

Incredible with people.

Incredible, obviously, you know, uniting a team as he did last year.

late in the year.