Smith is not your typical Butler player

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Curt and Deb Smith have a wall full of family pictures in their home and prominently displayed is their third child out of four, Andrew, a Butler freshman who weighs in at 240 pounds and is closing in on seven feet tall.

Unlike his teammate Gordon Hayward, he never had a big growth spurt. In fact, like William "The Refrigerator" Perry of the Bears once said, he's been big, since he's been little.

"He was born at 24 and a quarter inches," said Smith. "He was a celebrity in the hospital. They wanted to see the baby and they wanted to see the mom."

The state's top rebounder his senior year at Covenant Christian, Andrew Smith settled on Butler after a great summer playing AAU. He was offered a full ride to Penn State and a number of other schools. But it was Coach Stevens who motivated him.

"It would be hard to wake up Andrew before one in the afternoon to cut the grass or do something," said his dad, Curt. "But if his coach called a 6 a.m. practice he'd get there on time."

Fans got a glimpse of Andrew in the Kansas State game. When Matt Howard sat out with early foul trouble, Andrew Smith stepped up and contributed. And his mother believes she knows why.

"He has good court vision and so he would and still does and was doing it at the last game, the Kansas game, was talking to his players his teammates, I would guess he's helping them see some things while he's out there.”

Curt and Deb say their son isn't typical in a number of ways. His favorite meal is salmon and wild rice, and he wrote on a survey that he likes classical music.

He doesn't like to look back at games, only forward. And the future is still to be written for this young man.

"He's new and because he was in a private school where athletics were not the emphasis we're really seeing what his potential is because he's around great players, great coaches everyday, so we don't know what the upside is with Andrew."