Karl Smesko built an absolute women’s basketball juggernaut at Florida Gulf Coast.
asserted
Smesko → build → Coast
His teams led the country in 3-pointers made almost every year.
asserted
teams → lead → pointers
He had eight 30-win seasons there, took the school to the NCAA tournament 10 times in a 13-year span and was basically an annual lock for his conference’s coach of the year award.
asserted
He → have → award
And the Atlanta Dream called him at the right time.
asserted
Dream → call → time
Smesko had come to grips with the fact that winning a national championship at FGCU was highly unlikely.
asserted
winning → come → FGCU
So, when the Dream called two years ago with an offer — leave the campus that has a beach and come take over a WNBA club — Smesko stepped out of his comfort zone.
asserted
Smesko → call → zone
The championship he was never going to get at FGCU is now four wins away, with the title series against the favored Golden State Valkyries set to begin on Saturday.
asserted
series → go → Saturday
“As good as we were at Florida Gulf Coast, the odds were very stacked against us to make that type of championship run,” Smesko said.
asserted
Smesko → stack → run
“In the pros, I definitely thought there was more of an opportunity.
asserted
I → think → opportunity
It’s a more equal playing field to win the whole thing and that was appealing to me.
asserted
that → ’ → me
To the finals in Year 2
It’s a matchup of second-year coaches: Smesko in Atlanta and Natalie Nakase in Golden State, which is in just its second year of existence.
asserted
which → ’ → existence
The Valkyries went 3-0 against the Dream this season, making them just the second team to sweep Smesko’s club in his tenure there.
asserted
them → go → tenure
Las Vegas did it last season, and the Aces went on to win the WNBA title as well.
asserted
Aces → do → title
But in Smesko they trust, and the Dream have gone 5-0 in the playoffs to earn their finals berth.
asserted
Dream → trust → berth
“He’s a coach that really believes in you and he knows what’s best,” Dream center Angel Reese said.
asserted
Reese → ’ → you
“And I’m really thankful for him, for being able to help me with my career and help me be better for the team — because I don’t think I would be in this situation and thriving as I am individually without him.
asserted
I → ’m → him
The offer from the Dream came as FGCU was starting its 2024-25 season; he wound up leaving after two games that year, though some at the school believe he was tempted to try to handle both jobs at once for a few months and finish that season.
asserted
he → come → season
He ended up turning the keys to FGCU over to longtime top assistant Chelsea Lyles, who did what her mentor does — won 30 games and got the Eagles to the NCAA tournament.
asserted
mentor → end → tournament
Lyles wound up following Smesko to Atlanta after that season, as did others with FGCU ties.
asserted
others → wind → ties
He has made clear that the familiarity has made life easier, and the Dream have back-to-back 30-14 regular season records as proof of how it paid off.
asserted
it → make → proof
“It’s been huge,” Smesko said, “because we think about the game a little differently.”
asserted
we → say → game
They do, indeed.
asserted
They → do → ?
FGCU, in the Smesko era, had an offense like few others in college basketball.
asserted
FGCU → have → basketball
How the system works
Midrange shots were essentially banned.
asserted
shots → work → ?
Layups and free throws are the easiest shots to make in basketball, and if his teams could make more than one-third of their 3-point tries then that would lead to more points than making half of their midrange shots.
uncertain
that → make → shots
It doesn’t work quite that way at the WNBA level; a 24-second shot clock has forced Smesko to grudgingly accept that some midrange shots will have to be tried.
asserted
shots → work → Smesko
But he still preaches the taproots of what he used in college: layups, 3s and free throws.
asserted
he → preach → college
“The moment that Karl and the coaching staff got here, we were working on 3s,” Dream guard Jordin Canada said.
asserted
Canada → get → 3s
“He just talked about how making one more 3 every 25 shots would increase your percentage.
asserted
making → talk → percentage
And we constantly worked on it, worked on it, worked on it. ...
asserted
we → work → it
I think it’s just a testament to him believing in that everybody can shoot the 3 and working on it consistently.”
asserted
everybody → think → it
Part of the annual schedule at FGCU, it seemed, was frustration over how the NCAA selection committee would seed the Eagles.
asserted
committee → seem → Eagles
There were a number of years that school officials, conference officials and even other coaches felt that the committee didn’t give FGCU its deserved spot on the bracket and seeded them far lower than what was merited.
asserted
what → be → them
But in the WNBA, that’s not an issue.
asserted
that → ’ → WNBA
Teams earn their seed.
asserted
Teams → earn → seed
Everybody plays everybody.
asserted
Everybody → play → everybody
Smesko — who went 611-112 at FGCU and won 25 games in each of his last 14 seasons there, a run matched by only mighty Geno Auriemma and UConn in that span — took the leap into the pro world.
asserted
who → go → world
And a trip to the finals shows he made the right move.
asserted
he → show → move
“First, I was ready for a new challenge, and two, the WNBA was something that I would have never thought I would be able to do,” Smesko said.
asserted
Smesko → think → that
‘I am a big fan of the WNBA, and to me, it seemed like the most exciting move was to get to work with the best athletes in the world and do it against the best competition and see if you could make something work at that level.”
uncertain
something → seem → level
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
