For those Flyer fans anticipating the arrival of Dayton’s Nucleus Smith, sit back in your chairs and put away your cheesy nicknames. The Nuke was nabbed in the offseason by a seemingly frivolous part of college basketball: grades. In other words, it’s ‘no pass no play’ for the 6-2 guard from Pontiac Northern, MI, who is enrolled at hoops power Maine Central Institute in the hope that more classwork irons out those academic deficiencies in lieu of his national letter-of-intent with the Flyers. Nucleus Smith’s story is not without its perplexities however. Smith finished his senior year averaging 18.2ppg, 9.8rpg, and 5.6apg. He also earned Second Team All-State and was named Detroit News First-Team All-Detroit.

Smith plowed his way up the basketball charts in the talent-rich state of Michigan by guiding his HS team to the state semifinals. Luckily for Dayton, this was after Purnell signed him, leaving other schools wondering why they passed on the chance to add the all-purpose and extremely athletic player to their team. After Smith’s 30pt-10rb-11ast performance in the tournament, people took notice. When he outplayed National HS Player of the Year Jason Richardson in the state semis, people really took notice. Hooray for Dayton. But…

Like all good news, there’s a dark side to this story as well. With Smith signed and seemingly qualified academically, everything appeared taken care of. But NCAA cronies took issue with Smith’s “dramatic” improvement in his ACT score, thereby ordering him to retake the standardized test to prove his merits. He took it a third time, failed, and now finds himself at prep school. According to reports, Smith scored a 15 on his first try, below the minimum required score based on a sliding scale tied to a student’s core GPA. On his second try he scored a 20, easily above the requirements. On the third test he slipped back down to a 16. The NCAA smelled something fishy and ordered Nucleus ineligible. Although no one has accused Smith of cheating or any other inappropriate behavior, the NCAA acts with an iron fist, inconsistent, and without the theory of presumed innocence.

The loss of Smith hurts Dayton in many ways. Though the Flyers are stocked at shooting guard with Brooks Hall, Cain Doliboa, Tony Stanley, and occasionally Edwin Young, Smith is yet another weapon and another body Dayton goes to battle without. Even point guards David Morris and Young probably have the bulk of the ball-handling duties sewn up, but adding yet another scoring threat and ball handler could do nothing but help the team. Maybe more important however, it leaves Dayton once again without a full compliment of players for the third straight season. When foul trouble, pressing teams, and other gremlins strike the Flyers, Smith’s absence will be felt hardest.

As it stands, the loss of Andy Metzler and Nucleus Smith mean Dayton’s margin of error will be thinner than most of the opponents. Assuming the Flyers can avoid costly mistakes, injuries, and further suspensions, maybe their absence can go unnoticed. But that’s assuming a lot. Every year anomalies crop up and do their best to make winning extraordinarily difficult. The Dukes and Arizonas of the college basketball world can cover mistakes a lot easier than Dayton can. It’s much like repainting your house. The more helping hands and more brushes, the faster it gets done. Eventually, you get wider brushes and the job becomes easier. For too long we’ve been painting with smaller brushes and fewer brushes, and that makes winning difficult. The loss of Nucleus Smith won’t prevent the house from being painted, but it does mean everyone else must paint longer and faster — and avoid getting sloppy in the process. For a team looking to atone for an 11-17 season, that is easier said than done.