The FGCU women's basketball team will open its 2019-20 season on the road Tuesday against Florida International at 7 p.m. in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
High expectations:
This year's version of the Eagles will have to replace a pair of starters - Lisa Zderadicka and Destiny Washington, but returns six of its top eight scorers - Nasrin Ulel (1st, 14.6), Keri Jewett-Giles (2nd, 12.8), Davion Wingate (5th, 7.6), Tytionia Adderly (T-6th, 6.5), Chandler Ryan (T-6th, 6.5) and Kerstie Phills (8th, 5.1). Furthermore, the 2019-20 season will represent the first time in program history that FGCU will have the A-SUN's reigning player (Ulel) and defensive player of the year (Adderly) suit up.
FGCU was slotted third in the initial CollegeInsider.com mid-major poll and sixth in the espnW mid-major poll to begin the season, and the Green and Blue received two votes in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll. The Eagles were also picked to repeat as conference champions by ASUN coaches and media.
Ulel and Adderly were selected as the A-SUN's preseason player and defensive player of the year, respectively, while Ulel and Jewett-Giles were named to the preseason all-conference team. As a team, the Eagles were unanimously tabbed to repeat as conference champs in both the media and coaches polls.
Historical Overview:
The Eagles are entering the program's 18th season of competition, including their 13th since beginning the transition to the Division I level. Led once again by head coach Karl Smesko, FGCU has 149 wins over the past five seasons, which is the most among all mid-majors and eighth-most among any Division I program – behind UConn (183), Notre Dame (172), Baylor (172), Mississippi State (159), South Carolina (152), Maryland (152) and Louisville (150). On top of that, the program is one of only seven Division I teams with three 30-win seasons during that stretch – joining UConn, Baylor, Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Maryland and South Carolina.
Entering the 2019-20 season, Smesko has compiled a 524-119 record (.815), which ranks him as the third winningest active Division I head coach behind Geno Auriemma (1,062-139, .884) and Kim Mulkey (576-99, .853). Furthermore, he passed Tara VanDerveer (1,067-247, .812) in 2017-18 to become the fifth winningest Division I women's head coach of all-time – behind Auriemma, Leon Barmore (576-87, .869), Mulkey and Pat Summitt (1,098-208, .841). If that isn't enough, he ranks as the 15th winningest women's collegiate basketball head coach all-time across all divisions.
Smesko has his team on pace to shatter the NCAA's all-time Division I winning percentage record by the end of the 2020-21 season. Prior to this year, the Eagles have compiled a 463-92 (.834) record since the program's inception in 2002-03, which would easily be the best winning percentage in the country, as the only two other teams with even a .770 or above percentage are Tennessee (1,363-333, .803) and UConn (1,153-301, .793). The NCAA, however, requires at least 10 years as a Division I program, and FGCU's four reclassification years (2007-11) do not count towards the 10-year minimum. The Eagles will have to wait just a little longer to be recognized as the winningest women's basketball program in the NCAA.
Furthermore, FGCU has also produced a level of sustained success matched by only three other Division I schools as the Eagles have achieved nine straight 25-win seasons - an accomplishment only achieved by UConn, Notre Dame and Baylor. The Green and Blue have also completed 15-straight 20-win seasons.
Another historical season:
In 2018-19, FGCU had another banner year, capturing both the A-SUN regular season and tournament championships and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in eight seasons of eligibility. In fact, it was the third time since the program became eligible for the A-SUN tournament that the Eagles finished undefeated in conference play (16-0) and won the postseason tournament in the same season. Prior to that, only one other team had accomplished that in the now 34-year history of the conference. On top of that, the Eagles now own five undefeated regular seasons since 2012 alone. The conference has only seen two other such seasons since 1986.
The Eagles, who finished 28-5 overall, nearly upset 4th-seeded Miami on the road in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, rallying from down 14 in the third quarter to take a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter. That appearance represented the program's 12th-straight postseason entry, which extends an NCAA record for a startup Division-I program. The team won at least 25 games for the ninth-straight season and captured its ninth A-SUN regular season title in the past 11 years in dominant 16-0 fashion. It also pushed FGCU's A-SUN regular season winning streak to 23 dating back to Feb. 3, 2018.
The Green and Blue also continued to reinforce its "Raining Threes" mantra by reaching two all-time milestones last year - 5,000 3-point field goals made as a program and 2,000 made 3-point field goals in A-SUN play.
Openers, series history:
FGCU is 12-5 all-time in season openers, which includes a 2-3 record on the road. One of those wins, however, came on Nov. 8, 2013 when FGCU opened its season with a 75-55 win over Florida International. Additionally, the Eagles produced an 88-52 win over FIU in the second game of the 2017-18 season. Overall, they've never lost to the Panthers in 10 all-time matches, including a 100-58 win in Alico Arena last year. The two teams have met once a year since 2009.
Nearing 1,000 points:
Three players are nearing 1,000 career points in their NCAA careers - Ulel (924), Jewett-Giles (911) and Wingate with 878.
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