How this SM West standout became a Kansas Jayhawks starter in the NCAA tournament

When the Kansas Jayhawks women’s basketball team went on a six-game run at Allen Fieldhouse to clinch last year’s WNIT championship, S’Mya Nichols — then a graduating senior at Shawnee Mission West High School — caught a glimpse of the future to which she’d committed.

Nichols chose KU over the likes of Tennessee, Oklahoma and several other big-name suitors.

She chose to stay home.

“It gave me chills,” Nichols said of that WNIT run. “I was watching on my iPad, and I mean, I just felt like I felt the energy. ... And then after that, everyone has high expectations of KU women’s basketball, and I’m just here to deliver.”

Nichols is well on her way. She’s the leading scorer — averaging 15.2 points per game (46.8% shooting) — for a team of Jayhawks that enters the NCAA Tournament with momentum, having won nine of its last 11.

In that span, Nichols has averaged 17.1 points with five games of 20 points or more. She recorded a season-high 29 against No. 20 Oklahoma.

But it’s March Madness, and the job isn’t finished until nets come down.

“It feels great, especially after the past week,” Nichols said of her first March experience with the Jayhawks. “It was mostly resting, but we still practiced, we still got our sweat in, but just calming our heads, resting, and getting our legs ready for some hectic weeks.”

Nichols feels the love at Kansas

Nichols formally committed to Kansas in November 2022, marking the end of a long recruiting journey with the Jayhawks.

Nichols said the courtship started when she was in seventh grade. When it finally came time to make a decision — to pick a college — she found solace in her closeness with the KU coaching staff and program.

“There’s like no place than playing (for your hometown),” Nichols said. “I wanted to play in a town, at a school that supported me throughout my whole high school years. And they (Shawnee Mission West) can still support me; I’m just right up the street.

“They recruited me very hard,” she added of Kansas, “and I really felt the love from everyone on staff.”

When it came to her decision, the freshman appreciated KU’s low-key approach.

“Kansas was just so, I guess, calm … They weren’t rushing me or pushing me,” Nichols said. “And the other schools were like, texting me every single day. I’d always have to be on the phone with them, and they’d want to know like, how much closer I am to committing to them than any other school.

“And Kansas was just sitting there. Probably just sitting there laughing at everybody else, because they knew where I wanted to go anyway.”

Nichols had forged connections with former KU associate head coach Terry Nooner, dating to Nichols’ AAU days with Nooner’s Missouri Phenom program. Nichols credits Nooner and her coach at Shawnee Mission West, Mark Rabbitt, for helping her become the player she is today.

2024 NCAA Women's Bracket by The Kansas City Star on Scribd

She remains close with both, even though Nooner has since been named the head women’s hoops coach at Wichita State and Rabbit’s no longer at SM West.

“She was phenomenal in high school, but she’s every bit as good at KU as she was in high school,” Rabbit said. “A lot of years, I’ve had a lot of kids playing in college, and when you’re in the grind of your season and all that, you don’t always get to enjoy it.

“Just being in that building,” Rabbit added, referring to Allen Fieldhouse, “even when it’s silent, it has a pretty darn cool feeling.”

LeBron James among Nichols’ role models

It’s clear Nichols has had positive role models in basketball — even, she admits, LeBron James.

“It’s not embarrassing if I don’t go too deep with it,” she said.

James may have inspired Nichols to pursue a business degree. She says that, between watching his highlights and trying to recreate his moves in her backyard, James has made a lasting impression.

“I made my own LeBron shoe,” she said. “But it was under my name. I created it — well, drew it out. ... Whole logo.”

More so, though, it was Nichols’ mother, Latreena Lambert, who set S’mya on the road to majoring in business.

“She’s always been a businesswoman, just handling her own things,” Nichols said of Lambert. “So no, I can’t see myself working underneath anyone, because I just want to handle everything by myself.”

Once on campus in Lawrence, Nichols added to her list of influential figures — namely, the group of seniors already on the Jayhawks’ roster.

“I absolutely love all of them,” Nichols said. “They’ve just been here before — for years, because they’re all fifth-year seniors.

“They accepted me right away. I honestly feel like we’re all the same age, I don’t ever feel belittled in anyway.”

KU led by core of seniors ... and Nichols

This year’s KU starting five is led by super-seniors: Taiyanna Jackson, Holly Kersgieter and Zakiyah Franklin. Senior Wyvette Mayberry is the team’s fourth starter and Nichols makes five.

While her time with this group is approaching its end point, Nichols has made lifelong memories this season. She’s looked right at home on the court, whether barking back and forth with Jackson or trading slick comments with Kersgieter.

Jackson and Franklin were on the last KU women’s team to make an NCAA tournament appearance, in 2022. And even just two years later, the world of women’s sports has changed drastically.

Last year’s tournament provided some watershed moments. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark became a household name and the Final Four and national championship games attracted the most viewership ever for women’s basketball.

This is the world into which the freshman Nichols has transitioned seamlessly.

“It’s exciting because it’s just the beginning,” she said of her faith in the future of women’s sports. “You see how much it’s done, how far it’s come. ... And we have so much future to go.”

For Nichols, that future is still just up the road. The youngest of five sisters, with “a whole bunch” of nieces and nephews, she knows she’s creating a pathway for others to follow. Younger relatives and their friends can sit in the stands near home and watch S’Mya play big-time college hoops.

“I keep talking to them,” she said. “And I’m not just trying to promote them to play basketball ... There are so many powerful women out there who play many different sports. I’m telling them, ‘Tennis is great, go play tennis, soccer, something!’

“Them coming to my games and witnessing women doing great things ... I feel like they really love that. And as they grow, I hope they continue to come because they’ll understand it more and more.”