Scouting Reports BURIED TREASURE

IT IS FITTING THAT ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S BEST UNKNOWN PLAYERS
carries the forgettable name of Smith. He's not even the best-known
Smith in his own conference; that honor goes to forward Michael Smith
of Brigham Young. But down the road from Provo in Salt Lake City,
Mitch Smith of Utah, an angular 6 ft. 8 in. forward-center who
resembles Jerry West in the face and former Ute Tom Chambers in the
low post, was the WAC's leading rebounder with 9.4 boards per game
last season. Problem is, Smith plays in a conference and time zone
where the networks fear to tread.
Also standing in the shadows are the nation's top rebounder and
top returning scorer, both of whom play for the other Loyola. While
high scoring Loyola Marymount was charming the media, Loyola of
Chicago's sophomore center Kenny Miller was grabbing 13.6 rebounds
per game to lead the country as a freshman, and senior forward Gerald
Hayward was averaging 26.1 points to finish fourth in scoring. Alas,
the Ramblers' attendance was less noteworthy. The largest crowd to
see them play at home in 1987-88 was 4,779. Adding insult to
obscurity, Miller will be academically ineligible until at least mid-
December.
Junie Lewis and Jeff Hodge wear red, white and blue uniforms with
the letters USA on their shorts, but you didn't see them talking to
Bryant Gumbel in Seoul. The senior guards play for a different USA,
the University of South Alabama. Known as ''Peanut Butter'' (Lewis)
and ''Jelly'' (Hodge), the duo accounted for 44 points per game last
season.
Hiding even deeper in the bushes is 5 ft. 7 in., 140-pound senior
Greg Grant, who has a career average of 29.6 points per game at
Division III Trenton (N.J.) State. Last August, Grant made a
Philadelphia summer league's all-star team along with Division I
stars Mark Macon of Temple and Lionel Simmons of La Salle. ''Greg's a
scorer at that size,'' says Trenton State coach Kevin Bannon, who
found his talented guard back in 1986, working in a fish market.