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(KB
- 03/30/06) Comets Fusion guard Andrea Smith, her sister Andrell and
Comets Red forward Jordan Coleman are the best of friends.
But
it wasn't always that way.
We first met Andrea as a
twelve year old competing for the Tampa Spirit against the defending AAU state
champion FBVA Orlando Miracle 12U. Jordan came off the
floor during a timeout and said: "I don't like #11.
She said something about my mama."
To
which we replied: "Well, say something back!! How'd
you get to be so....so......suburban!!!"
Twelve and under AAU
competition was a big thing back then.
Later, after several such
confrontations we had occasion to meet Andrea in person.
She was the most polite, "yes sir, no sir", teen-ager we'd ever
met. This was the child who questioned
my wife's virtue?
Well, yes and no.
Andrea talks a good game on
the court.
She can back it up, too. She is an in-your-
face defender
who will take advantage
of any weakness to strip the ball away.
If you are
prone to verbal distractions,
you can expect a full Dave Chappelle
monologue
from Andrea.
Offensively, Andrea plays
like a boy.
She has perfect form and arc on her
jumper.
And if a defender falls for the
first pump fake, she has a quick first
step
and can find her way into the
paint with the barest shred of
daylight.
Andrea's strength is a wide
open
rollicking, run-and-gun game. In
open court she can use
her speed,
court vision and strength to
overpower weaker players with her
total
game. She led her high school,
Lake Gibson, to the verge of the
state
Final Four and led Polk
County in scoring with 22 ppg.
Andrea had a 43 point
outburst
against Tampa
Freedom in a regional
semifinal.
Andrea's biggest weakness is
that she
has been watching too many AND-1
videos and sometimes tries to be
too flashy.
But when she sticks to her fundamentals she is a
very,
very good player. She is ranked in Florida
as one of the top
three shooting guards in the class of 2008.
Andrea has been a varsity
starter since the seventh grade and an
All-Polk County selection as well.
She earns her propers.
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