User:Cubbie15fan/Mark Smith (basketball)

Mark Smith is an American basketball player who completed his senior season for Edwardsville High School in Edwardsville, Illinois. Smith has signed a national letter of intent to play at the University of Illinois in the 2017–18 academic year as a freshman.

Early life
Smith is the son of Anthony and Yvonne Smith. His father, Anthony, played college basketball at Southern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville and his mother, Yvonne, also played college basketball at SIU Edwardsville. As a child, Smith was a three-sport athlete, competing in baseball, basketball, and football. While in high school, Smith participated in AAU basketball with the Ramey Jets United program through the Adidas circuit.

High school career
During his junior year of high school, Smith originally committed to play college baseball for Missouri as a right-handed pitcher. However, in July of 2016 Smith decommitted from Missouri given Tim Jamieson's retirement and because of an injury to the flexor pronator tendon in his throwing elbow. Prior to switching his athletic focus to basketball, Smith featured a fastball in the low-90s and was considered a major league baseball prospect out of high school.

As a high school senior, he led Edwardsville to a number one ranking in Illinois for the first time in history while averaging 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and was named to the first-team Associated Press All-state team. Smith was also selected as the 2017 Illinois Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year and as 2017 Illinois Mr. Basketball.

On April 26, 2017 Smith announced he would attend college at the University of Illinois to play for the Fighting Illini under new head coach Brad Underwood. In talking about schools he was considering through the recruitment process, Smith listed Duke and Michigan State as his finalists. Smith also considered scholarship offers from Kentucky and Ohio State.