Kyle Grosskopf
Assistant Sports Editor
The FGCU women’s basketball team has been announced as the No. 13 seed in the NCAA tournament. They will face the No. 4 seed, Miami, in Miami on Friday, March 22 at 9:30 p.m.
Even though the official announcement wasn’t intended until late in the evening, the full bracket was released hours ahead of schedule, but that didn’t stop the Eagles from being excited.
“Miami is a really good team,” FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. “They’ve had some really good teams, and I think this might be the best they’ve had. If you’ve beaten Notre Dame and Louisville in the same year, you’re really, really good. We know we have our work cut out for us. We’ll put together a game plan, and I expect to play well.”
Looking back in the tournament, the Eagles have some advantages moving into Friday’s game.
This is the third time in a row that the Eagles have made it to the NCAA tournament.
In 2018, the Eagles traveled to California. They won the first game against No. 5 seed Missouri, but lost in the second round to the No. 4 seed, Stanford.
Two years ago, the Eagles made a trip to Coral Gables to meet Miami in the first round of the tournament, only to lose by two points in the final 10 seconds of play.
“We should have won the last time we played them,” said Tytionia Adderly, the only Eagle to see minutes two years ago.
Two years ago, the Eagles were ranked No. 13 as well.