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Georgetown’s Joshua Smith to miss remainder of season for academic reasons

smith

After playing in six games at UCLA last season, center Joshua Smith made the decision to transfer and ultimately landed at Georgetown. And in a surprising twist the NCAA granted the 6-foot-10 Smith immediate eligibility, and despite his weight issues the big man was expected to potentially help the Hoyas make a return to the NCAA tournament and contend for a Big East title.

However after playing in Georgetown’s first two conference games Smith was sidelined for academic reasons, and on Friday head coach John Thompson III announced that Smith will miss the remainder of the season as a result. While Smith did struggle in each of his final four games this season he did string together a stretch of six consecutive games in double figures, and he averaged 11.5 points per game.

Georgetown, which visits Creighton on Saturday, is also without Jabril Trawick who continues to recover from a broken jaw so the news on Smith doesn’t help matters at all.

“So much was geared toward [Josh’s] presence,” Thompson III said according to Ben Standig of CSN Washington. “Now here in the middle of the season, between him and Jabril, you lose two starters. You have to reshuffle everything.

“But this is Georgetown. We have a set of standards here. Everyone has a responsibility above and beyond what goes on those doors right there. He let his teammates down, but the rest of the group will try to regroup here and figure it out.

And that’s the most disappointing thing about this, with Smith being given a second chance to realize the talent that made him a McDonald’s All-American as a high school senior. Georgetown welcomed him into the program, and the NCAA making the confusing decision to allow him to play immediately.

But he failed to take full advantage of this opportunity, resulting in the Hoyas being shorthanded for the remainder of the season. Thompson III also said that he’s hopeful Smith will do what it takes academically to return to the program next season. For Smith’s sake, hopefully that is the case.

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