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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Braden Smith scrolls through the videos on his phone, looking for one of his favorite assists from a practice last season. He keeps some of his best saved, like a hunter hanging deer heads on the wall.

“This is honestly probably one of my best passes I’ve ever thrown,” he says, and turns his phone.

Smith, with his back to the baseline, cups the ball in his right hand as 7-foot-2 center Will Berg sets a screen on the left side of the floor, and before Smith even clears the big man’s shoulder, he whips a pass around Berg to the opposite side of the floor, hitting Gicarri Harris in the shooting pocket.

“You know in ‘(NBA)2K’ when you get a green release, and you’re like, ‘That’s in, swish?’” Smith asks. “That’s how it felt with the pass when it came off my hand. Green release.”

Smith, the Purdue senior point guard, became college basketball’s assist king when he broke Duke great Bobby Hurley’s Division I men’s assists record Friday in an NCAA Tournament first-round game against Queens. Recently, I watched every assist from Smith’s career, and picked some favorites to show Smith and get inside the mind of one of college basketball’s greatest passers ever.

Smith said he never goes back to watch his old clips — maybe he’s saving his favorites because someday he will — but his recall is perfect.

He has 1,077 assists and counting, and he remembers them all.

Assist No. 15

Nov. 25, 2022 vs. Gonzaga (in Portland, Ore.)

Smith arrived at Purdue at the perfect time. Zach Edey was ready to become the most dominant center in the modern era of college hoops. A back-to-back National Player of the Year. A giant 7-foot-4 target. A point guard’s dream, right?

“If I’m going to be honest,” Smith says, “he’s harder to throw it to than really anybody else I’ve thrown the ball to.”

It took Smith a few games to feel comfortable feeding Edey. He’d never played with anyone that big and his high school team ran mostly pick-and-roll. Smith was experiencing something he’s rarely felt on a basketball court — hesitancy.

Then Purdue coach Matt Painter gave him a pointer: Throw it as fast as you can and hit him right in the forehead. If he misses it once, he won’t miss it again.

Smith got his first post assist to Edey in the fourth game of his freshman season, in the opening round of the Phil Knight Legacy in Portland against West Virginia. The pass was off target, but Edey snagged it with one hand.

That earned some trust, and the next day Smith really put the big fella to the test. It was Smith’s first game against a Top 25 team — sixth-ranked Gonzaga — and Smith was introducing himself to the college basketball world. He’d finish with 14 points and seven dimes in a 84-66 win for the 24th-ranked Boilermakers. Late in the game, his confidence growing by the minute, Smith saw some open space in transition and saw Gonzaga wing Julian Strawther’s hips open.

“If anybody’s in front of me like that, I’m getting around him,” Smith says, “because I’m gonna use my speed.”

Once Smith got past Strawther and saw Edey’s man, Ben Gregg, had committed to stopping him …

“It’s kind of like a flow state,” he says. “When I pass those no-looks, it’s like I see them, but I don’t. It’s just that conscious feeling of knowing that he’s there.”

Smith missed the forehead, but the chin works, too.

Assist No. 24

Nov. 30, 2022 at Florida State

Before every Purdue game, Smith has walk-on Aaron Fine stand on one sideline and he goes to the other. Then he starts throwing passes. Two hands. One hand. Different arm angles and body contortions. Growing up in Westfield, Ind., he used to take his little brother to the court in their backyard and place him in different spots as he’d experiment with new passes.

As soon as I hit play, and Smith sees the big Florida State Seminole at half court, he knows what’s coming.

“Threw it to Caleb (Furst) in the corner,” he says. “I have this one on my phone.”

Smith claims he has only two or three saved. I suspect there are a few more.

Most of his assists he’s unimpressed with, but this one against the Seminoles was special. It was one of the first times he really uncorked one of those passes that make him him. Smith is only 5-foot-11, but his wingspan is 6-4 1/2. He used to get made fun of because when he’d rest his arms at his side, his fingertips would reach his knees. But that wingspan allows him to complete passes past the outstretched arms of taller defenders — passes it doesn’t seem like someone his size should be able to deliver.

“Obviously, you gotta have confidence with it,” he says. “Because sometimes it doesn’t work. Sometimes I’ll throw it like that and it goes in the fourth row.”

This was one of those green releases. Once Smith saw Furst’s man slide over to the paint to discourage a post feed to Edey, Smith fired a bullet over 6-foot-6 Jalen Warley’s head that covered nearly 60 feet right to Furst.

“I don’t think he had to move his hands,” Smith says proudly. “Right in the pocket.”

Assist No. 177

Nov. 13, 2023 vs. Xavier

A point guard is taught certain rules at a young age. Always keep your head up. Never get caught in a corner. And do not jump to pass, especially if you don’t have a plan when your feet leave the floor.

Smith breaks that last rule a lot. Why?

“I’m a gambler,” he says.

Painter tells Smith to use his instincts. Sometimes it doesn’t work out. Freshman year at Indiana, his first time in the rivalry game. Boilers down 3, under a minute to go. Smith drove toward the basket and left the ground, floating over the baseline and eyeing the baseline drift. IU’s Race Thompson read it perfectly and Smith didn’t have a second option.

“They won the game because of that,” he says.

Usually, Smith has multiple options when he leaves the floor. On this one at Xavier, Smith jumps because that takes one defender away; Quincy Olivari meets him at the rim to try to block Smith’s shot.

“I’m honestly reading that out guy (No. 1 Desmond Claude),” Smith explains. “Who’s he going to? He’s drifting down and Morty (Ethan Morton) was open, so that’s my read.

“I remember Morty making that 3 because he wasn’t actually a 3-point shooter. When it went in, I was like, ‘Hell yeah, give me my assist.’”

Assist No. 270

Jan. 16, 2024 at Indiana

Smith ranked 198th in his recruiting class and wasn’t recruited by any high-majors until Jameel Brown backed out of his commitment to Purdue to follow former Purdue assistant Micah Shrewsberry to Penn State. Painter had heard about Smith from Purdue’s previous all-time assist leader, Bruce Parkinson, and Smith was one of five point guards Painter considered once Brown decommitted. Smith was the lowest-ranked, but Painter’s favorite.

Had Penn State not hired Shrewsberry, Smith might have ended up at a mid-major. Undersized and overlooked.

The reason Smith is so close to breaking this record is that he was able to start right away. The two point guards from the 2021-22 season had both transferred when he arrived. But Smith knew he was going to be the starter no matter who was up for the job.

“Because I was going to out-compete whoever it was,” he says.

That confidence — combined with a little chip on his shoulder — is on display as the tape rolls from his first win against Indiana, his sophomore year.

The Hoosiers were trying to mix their ball screen coverage and on this particular play, Kel’el Ware hard-hedged and gambled for a steal.

“I just thought it was funny that they thought they could get me,” Smith says. “They thought a 7-footer could steal it from a point guard. Which obviously, he’s very talented. He’s in the NBA, on the Heat — but come on. They both thought they had that.”

It did take Smith’s best Curly Neal impression to get away from Ware and Gabe Cupps, and then he froze Malik Reneau by looking at Trey Kaufman-Renn in the corner.

“Look at Trey,” Smith says. “Trey thinks he’s getting it.”

That’s how Smith knows his eyes did the job. So why does he deliver the pass underhanded?

“Because if I just throw it with a chest pass, they’re going to steal it.”

Assist No. 439

April 8, 2024 vs. UConn (in Glendale, Ariz.)

“Do you have the one from the national championship,” Smith asks, “where I threw the lob to Zach and he dunked on (Donovan) Clingan?”

Smith loves this one because it’s the art of deception.

“You act like you’re shooting the layup and you see him, and if he’s coming to block, that’s when you change last second,” he says. “You just throw the lob instead.

“That’s one of my favorite ones to throw, because I think people assume that I’m shooting it.”

As Smith narrates, any time he gets excited about a pass, he drops a “then, boom.”

This one got the boom.

“It was cool,” he says. “I don’t think he’s ever seen anything like that before. I was just glad it got there to be honest.”

Assist No. 648

Feb. 7, 2025 vs. USC

Watch enough of Smith and see how often he completes his jump passes, and you come away convinced he knows exactly what he’s doing.

This one to Myles Colvin is one of those passes.

Smith could have passed it as soon as he got to the elbow and just delivered a simple chest pass to Colvin. Why doesn’t he?

“Just the angle,” he says. “Because I thought he was kind of up on his line. He can get there to that.”

But then, an admission.

“I wasn’t even thinking pass at that point, I’m not gonna lie. I was shooting it. And then I saw him help at the last second. I think I have really good peripheral vision of being able to see that like I can. I was going up and shooting it, and that’s when I saw him right here in the corner of my eye, and … That was one of those passes. Green release. Right in his pocket.”

Assist No. 671

Feb. 15, 2025 vs. Wisconsin

During the summers when Edey was still at Purdue, he and Smith used to be on separate teams in pickup games and Kaufman-Renn would play center for Smith’s squad. Because Edey was such a deterrent at the rim, Smith started hitting Kaufman-Renn on the short roll, and that’s where Kaufman-Renn’s patented mid-range push shot was born.

Kaufman-Renn was skilled enough that Smith could hit him with the pocket pass and allow Kaufman-Renn to become the decision-maker in space, either shooting his push shot or finding an open teammate.

They got so good at it the summer before their junior season that Painter and offensive coordinator PJ Thompson made the action one of the staples of the offense.

Smith knows the exact moment to deliver the pass.

“The funny part about Braden is he hates when I pass it,” Kaufman-Renn says. “He doesn’t want the hockey assist. He’s always rooting for me to shoot it.”

“I mean it’s fine,” Smith says when asked about the hockey assist. “It’s fine. It’s fine.”

He adds: “I’d rather him shoot it, but I mean, he’s making the right read.”

Ideally, Smith creates a situation where Kaufman-Renn doesn’t have that option.

There’s an opening initially for Smith to hit Furst, but … “It’s Caleb,” he says, a nice way of saying that’s not his specialty. A great point guard always knows his teammates’ strengths and weaknesses.

Smith also knows that once Furst exits to the other side of the floor, it’ll be an empty-side pick-and-roll with Kaufman-Renn.

And with no defender in front of him, he has no option but to go score and get Smith the assist.

“That’s why I throw it,” he says. “C’mon brother. Just shoot it.”

Assist No. 771

Nov. 7, 2025 vs. Oakland

“All those crazy passes he throws — between the legs, behind the back — he completes them at a really high rate,” Fletcher Loyer says.

The wildest pass Loyer has ever seen Smith deliver came against Arizona their sophomore year. The Wildcats were ranked No. 1, and the third-ranked Boilermakers had a 7-point lead as the clock hit one minute left. Smith, as he approached Arizona 7-footer Oumar Ballo, cradled the ball in his right hand and bounced the ball between his legs to a rolling Edey at the free throw line. Edey didn’t score, but got fouled.

“It was just ridiculous because of the time and score of the game,” Loyer says.

The stakes were much lower in the second game of the season this year, but Smith one-upped the absurdity when Loyer passed to Smith just past half court and Smith had one guy to beat to the basket. When he sped past that one defender, it appeared he was headed for a layup.

He had other plans.

“This one,” Loyer says as he saw it pop up on the screen, “he threw me something crazy.”

“He got mad at me for not shooting the 3,” Loyer says. “I’m like, dude, you threw me a wicked behind-the-neck pass. I was just worried about catching it.”

The over-the-shoulder pass is not one he invented, but to try one over that distance?

“I’ll give myself some credit here,” Smith says. “I actually don’t know how I got that there.”

Assist No. 803

Nov. 20, 2025 vs. Memphis (in Nassau, Bahamas)

When Smith gets comfortable, he’s bound to try a pass no one is expecting. That happened early this season against Memphis.

The Boilermakers set up a staggered ball screen, the first screen intended to get a switch. Smith paused to allow the defender to square him up. Oscar Cluff doesn’t set a great screen, but his defender has already made up his mind to hedge.

“I’m waiting to see what he does,” Smith says of Cluff’s defender.

Had Cluff set a better screen, it would have been ideal for a pocket pass. But there’s no window there and Smith is so far pushed up the floor, he wouldn’t dare try to hit Cluff on the long roll … would he?

Smith says the logical move is to follow the big with the dribble and “kind of snake my way through there.” But Smith sees a window, and…

“I’m just gonna bowl it into him,” he says.

Yes, like a bowling ball.

“I gotta be ready for anything and everything,” Cluff says. “When he’s got the ball, I have to keep my eyes on it even when I’m not expecting passes. He’s gotten me a couple of times when he’s thrown it to me and I wasn’t even ready for it.”

Assist No. 827

Dec. 2, 2025 at Rutgers

The summer is when Smith tries stuff, and this past summer, he started throwing behind-the-back passes coming off a ball screen when the big showed and the guard got hit by the screen, creating the perfect window. Smith had one against Texas Tech. Then the next game, he had two behind-the-back feeds in transition against Eastern Illinois.

“It’s honestly like a drug,” he says. “You do it once, it’s like, OK, now just keep doing it.”

The opportunity arrived again in the Big Ten opener against Rutgers.

“Because Cluff’s got behind Trey’s defender — Trey is at half court and No. 9 right there, he’s behind him now,” Smith narrates. “So that means a guard has to stop a 7-footer at the rim.

“So I’m just getting it to him early right there at that (Big Ten) logo. I thought that one was impressive, because he actually tried to steal it and I threw it literally perfectly in front of him. That honestly might be one of my best ones. That felt perfect.”

Assist No. 860

Dec. 20, 2025 vs. Auburn (in Indianapolis)

Smith is one of the only players who throws bounce passes from above his head.

If Smith puts the ball above his head, he explains, a defender is going to assume he’s trying to go high and that creates a low window.

This one against Auburn is one of my favorites, because of the absurdity of the length of the bounce pass and how quickly Smith dissects that he has an advantage.

“If Cluff has him in the paint that deep, you gotta give him the ball,” Smith says. “Their five’s on our four, and their four’s on our five. And there’s no help. Look, everybody’s — one, two, three — those guys don’t even know I threw it in. Well, those two do, but he had no clue. (Smith points at No. 1.) That’s honestly his help. That’s him.

“Boom, bounce pass. That’s really it.”

Assist No. 991

Feb. 20, 2026 vs. Indiana

“As a shooter, you’re always trying to get in the vision of the passer,” Loyer says. “But with a guy like Braden, you’re just trying to find the open window. He doesn’t even need to see you. It’s different. A lot of times you think he doesn’t even see you, but if you’re open, he’ll find you.”

Indiana was one of those nights Loyer was feeling it. He made 4-of-4 3s, all set up by Smith.

The final one plays on the screen.

“Did Fletcher hit a 3 right before this one?” Smith asks. (He did.) “OK, so it’s back-to-back. I’m aware of that.”

Smith narrates.

“I want to get as low as I can and use the screen. (Conor) Enright was holding me though. He was just making sure I couldn’t (get low), so I went between. He bit on it, spin, instinct. No one’s down there. I really had a layup.”

So why not shoot it?

“I knew I wasn’t shooting the layup,” he says. “I don’t shoot layups.”

Why is that?

“It’s just a low percentage shot,” Smith explains. “I just don’t. Why would I shoot a contested layup over a big guy, or a guy that’s a shot blocker? It just doesn’t make sense. If he’s jumping to contest my shot, why not throw it to his guy?”

Smith estimates he’s thrown 900 of these that haven’t gone in, but he trusts his shooters to make shots. And the math usually works in his favor. That’s how a man ends up with 1,000-plus assists.

Assist No. 1,077 (the record breaker)

March 20, 2026 vs. Queens (in St. Louis)

MOST ASSISTS ALL TIME

Braden Smith now has the most assists all time in men’s Division 1 college basketball history.

What a moment for the @boilerball legend 👏 pic.twitter.com/6ELyneAFIN

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 20, 2026

Simply winning is Smith’s main focus this month. But he had time last month to imagine the scenario when he breaks it.

“I think it would be cool to get it to Trey just because that was my first assist, and would be not necessarily the last, but the record breaker,” he said. “I think that would be really cool.”

What kind of pass?

“Gotta be the short roll, man,” he said with a smile. “Pocket pass to the floater. Gotta end on that. I think that’d be sick.”

A green release. Saved right to the phone.