NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - FGCU VS VIRGINIA TECH

March 17, 2022

Karl Smesko

Florida Gulf Coast Eagles

Media Conference

KARL SMESKO: We're excited to be here. We know we have a great challenge ahead of us because we play a great team in Virginia Tech, but we're preparing, and we're hoping to make this a great game.

Q. Coach, Kenny mentioned that he's known you for a while and you have strong analytics proclivities, and your players said if they take a mid-range jumper, they'll probably be sitting on the bench next to you. How much do analytics play into your strategy and your team's style of play?

KARL SMESKO: Well, probably a great deal, although we were doing this well before anything was called analytics. We just try to make the most efficient shots and make the most out of every possession. And it seems the game has kind of progressed and become more similar to the style that we've been playing for a long time. But definitely I think it's smart to look at numbers and find out the most effective strategies in different situations. And then you also have to fit what works best for your team and factor that in as well.

Q. Have you played anyone this year that prepared you well to combat Kitley's talent?

KARL SMESKO: I mean we've played some BCS schools. We played at LSU. We played against Michigan State, and we were able to win both of those games. But Kitley is an exceptional talent. We're not expecting to shut her out. We're just trying to make her a little less efficient, hopefully she has to make tough shots rather than giving her easy shots. But they're extraordinarily well coached. He has done a fantastic job at Virginia Tech. And they run a very modern system, and they're very good at running it. So should be a lot of fun. Should be a great competition.

Q. Coach, I just want to know what the general like preparation process is for the tournament versus even the conference tournament, or the regular season. Like are you watching more film? Are you practicing more? How does it differ just from your normal procedures?

KARL SMESKO: It's actually pretty similar. Like we try to prepare for every opponent and every game the same way so that it's not a through thing once you get to the NCAA tournament and then you're trying to do a lot of things that you haven't done all year. So against every opponent we watch a lot of film, we break things down, and we go in with a game plan, and we try to be successful executing that game plan. And we've done that every game, and we're trying to do the same thing against Virginia Tech.

Q. With the way Virginia Tech plays, and they have taken the most threes in the ACC, but Kenny Brooks said they've taken 300 more threes than we have. What is it like playing a team that kind of mirrors the high-volume attempts from beyond the arc?

KARL SMESKO: Well, it's not the volume that I would mind so much. It's that they shoot such a good percentage, and they can shoot a good percentage on really pretty difficult shots. They can go off full speed and somebody goes under a screen and they can back up and knock down a shot with a little bit of contest on them. They just have really good players. And, obviously, when you have Kitley and then you surround them with excellent shooters, coming up with a game plan becomes much more difficult. But we're going to have to -- we're going to have to maybe force some turnovers or make some things happen. And we're going to have to have a really good day offensively where we're knocking down shots and we're getting good shots on every possession, because they're -- I mean they're really good. We understand they're a top 15 or so team in the country.

Q. You just had a couple of your players in here. They seem very motivated by the seeding you guys were given. Is that something you've tried to cultivate or have you tried to downplay it at all?

KARL SMESKO: Yeah, I haven't even brought it up. We earned our way in here by winning our conference tournament. It looks like if we hadn't have done that, we wouldn't have been part of this. So we're really excited that we get a chance to show what kind of team we have against a really good team. As for how they pick the teams, I don't know who's on the committee, I don't know how many people are on the committee. I know they have a bunch of factors, 14 or something factors that they figure in to put these seeds together. But I'm not sure anybody knows exactly which one outweighs another one and at which times they use which one. So you're kind of at the mercy of this committee. Hopefully we can get to the point where they can just have algorithm that's good enough that it could pick the best teams and it could seed the tournament, and I think that would be maybe a more fair situation for everybody. But for us, we're here. We get to play. We get to play a great opponent, and we're excited about it.

Q. I just wanted to ask about Bell. What is the nation about to learn about her for those who maybe haven't seen her this year?

KARL SMESKO: Well, she's an exceptional talent. One thing that maybe separates her from some others is her versatility. She's an exceptional cutter, can play without the ball. She sees things develop before anybody else and reacts faster than anybody else to those situations. She can shoot the three. She can take it to the rim. She likes the big game. She likes the big moments. So we're really hoping and expecting that she'll have a really, really good game tomorrow.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

KARL SMESKO: Thank you, everyone.