Juwan Howard’s first recruiting class was ranked No. 15 nationally, a collection of four prep standouts with different skills. The haul was made even better when the Michigan head coach added one of the most sought-after grad transfers in the country in 5-11 Mike Smith. The 22.6-points per game scorer will fill a need at point guard, and he can’t wait to get started.

The diminutive Smith chose U-M over Gonzaga, Arizona and others, and for many reasons. Education was big for him, obviously — his first stint was at Columbia in the Ivy League — and Michigan “is a top tier school,” he noted, adding, “you can’t go wrong with that.”

His family and friends (and particularly his father, who made it to every one of his games last year) will have an easier time making the 3.5-hour drive from his hometown of Chicago to Ann Arbor, and he now gets to play in the Big Ten.

Smith was very familiar with Howard, a Chicago legend, and he’s also befriended NBA standout Jimmy Butler, who had ties to Howard in Miami. When it came to honesty, he said, Howard was above and beyond. The Michigan coach was set on taking either Smith or Harvard transfer Bryce Aiken — rather than pit them against each other, he kept it real.

“He said Bryce and I were the two guards he was looking at, and I was good friends with Bryce,” Smith recalled. “I knew he told Bryce the same thing, so I knew he was a man of his word. When he said something, he actually meant it.

“The recruiting process, it’s hard … it’s a business. A lot of people tell you what you want to hear. But Coach Howard, he said that, and he said we need somebody to step in right away, to help the team next year, and he thinks I have the capability of doing that.

First, though, he said he was really looking forward to getting to know him. That alone helped them hit it off right away.

It wasn’t their first meeting, however, Smith said. The first one happened when Smith was in second or third grade, when he attended Howard’s basketball camp in Chicago. He remembered being “star struck,” taking a picture with him and taking some pointers he’d use to become a prep standout at Chicago Fenwick High, where he averaged 19.3 points and four assists per game, leading the program to a record 28 wins and a state Class 3A title.

Several mid-majors offered him after he finished second in Illinois state Mr. Basketball voting, and even a few high majors started to inquire. But the Ivy League education won out, and Smith used it to earn a prestigious degree and prove he could play against NCAA competition despite his smallish stature.

He doesn’t envision himself scoring 20-plus points per game in Ann Arbor, but if they want him to try, he will. He’s a self-described “fast” guard and a great passer, can score off the dribble and has an excellent midrange game.

It’s important to him, Smith added, that he not pigeonhole himself into a role without knowing how his game meshes with his future teammates. He’s confident he’ll be able to do what’s asked of him, regardless, a self-described “hard worker” who is willing to do all the dirty work, a guy who just wants to win. He expects to help do that in Ann Arbor.

“I had been breaking down a lot of film on Michigan and Gonzaga. Both run ball screen offenses, but I think Michigan runs it a little better,” he said. “I really enjoy playing in a ball screen because I can see the floor, read things before it happens. If the low man is in the circle under the paint, I know somebody is going to be wide open, and I know the roll isn’t going to be open, so I enjoy reading it.

“I think I have a really high IQ, and that really helps me being small. You have to be able to something really well [at my size], and I think that and my speed are two things that will translate over, for sure. If you can play basketball, you can play basketball. People will recognize you.”

Howard and several other high major coaches did, and now he’s ready to prove it in the Big Ten. While he’d love to start and contribute, winning is the goal, he said.

“We definitely have the capability of doing that. It just depends on if we get to play this year,” he said. “We have Big Ten championship goals, regular season and the tournament.”

And in that respect, Smith seems like he’s already been with the program a long time.

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