His mother's son

We hear a lot about sons following in their father's footsteps, which is why it was so cool Angela Rye demonstrated how Paolo Banchero's basketball career was molded by his Mom, a UW legend.

She may be better known as Paolo’s Mom these, but there was a time when Rhonda Smith-Banchero was a singular force of nature on the blocks.

“There were no surer two points than Rhonda Smith,” said Chris Gobrecht, her coach at the University of Washington.

I covered Rhonda Smith’s senior season in 1994-95. I was a sophomore in college working for the stude…