College basketball notes: FGCU fan makes trek his late wife normally would join him on

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Ask Florida Gulf Coast University booster Garry Long how, well, long he's been an Eagles fan and he has a quick answer. 

"I've been here ever since the first day," he said. 

A resident of LaBelle, Long decided to buy men's season tickets for the first season of 2002-03. Wife Suzanne wanted to make sure he got women's season tickets, too. 

"She's the reason I'm a women's basketball fan," Long said. 

Long, 71, lost Suzanne about a year and a half ago due to complications from breast cancer. 

"She was my best buddy," Long said. "We went everywhere together. She just loved it. She would have not missed one of these girls' excursions."

Neither would he. 

Long was one of an armful of fans who ponied up $700 to join the team's charter flight to California for Saturday's NCAA tournament game against Missouri at Stanford. In fact, Long has never missed FGCU -- men or women -- in an NCAA tournament basketball game unless you count the men's First Four, play-in win at Dayton two years back. 

"Just a great group of people to be around," Long said. "We all get together sometime during the trip. It's a great experience. It's like a big extended family."

Thursday was Long's first time to join the Eagles on the charter, which he really enjoyed. 

"You get to know the players and the coaches," he said. 

Coaches playing catch-up

When Missouri and FGCU drew each other in a first-round game during Monday night's Selection Show, the Tigers and Eagles didn't know a whole lot about each other. 

FGCU program-founding coach Karl Smesko raved about 6-foot-1 Missouri junior Sophi Cunningham, who averages 18.0 points per game and has made 46.6 percent of her 146 3-point attempts. 

But that was about it as far as specific talk of fifth-seeded Missouri (24-7).

Eighth-year Missouri coach Robin Pingeton was even more vague about 12th-seeded FGCU (30-4). 

“I know that they are a team that shoots the lights out from the 3-point line,” she said. “I know they’re more of a guard-oriented team. I’m anxious to dive into the scouting report.”

Both coaches, of course, began cramming in earnest later Monday night and likely will continue doing a bit of that up until Saturday's 3:30 (EST) tip that will be televised by ESPN2. 

Smesko was watching breakdowns of the Tigers during much of Thursday's six-hour charter flight (followed by almost an hour on a bus) to the team hotel which is another 30-plus minutes from Stanford. 

CLOSE

FGCU players arrive at their team hotel in Palo Alto, California, on Thursday afternoon. FGCU plays Missouri in an NCAA first-rounder at Stanford on Saturday afternoon. Dana Caldwell/Naples Daily News

"This team's really physical," Smesko said of Missouri. "They're a great rebounding team and they have a lot of great shooters. That's why they're so difficult to guard. The big thing for us is going to be getting everybody willing to be physical without fouling. 

"And we're going to have to really run our offense efficiently and get the kind of shots that we need."

Defensively, Smesko said the Tigers are quite a lot like FGCU's biggest ASUN rival, Jacksonville. But taller. 

"They are a little like Jacksonville in the physicalness of their play," Smesko said. "They can get to you if you let little bumps bother you and things like that. So you have to be able to play through a little bit of contact and not let it slow you down."

Getting Preppy

FGCU had a Thursday night practice at Stanford's ACSR recreation center, but it was closed to the public and media. 

But Smesko -- not exactly one to embellish about positive workouts -- seemed almost giddy with the work the Eagles did on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

"Practices have been really good," Smesko said. "We've had a lot of focus. We've got most of the game plan in. I've been really happy with the last couple of days."

Eagles senior China Dow, who notched her second straight Atlantic Sun tournament MVP trophy after Sunday's home 68-58 win against Jacksonville in the championship game, also liked them. 

"We've been really, really focused coming into a different type team, not preparing for the same team in conference where we're playing them two or three times," Dow said. "It's a good team. We're locked in."

The Eagles will practice this afternoon from 4:10 to 5:40 ET, along with a media session.

Time for a Cool Change 

When the Eagles arrived in San Jose about 3:15 (EST), it was drizzly and windy and about 55 degrees. 

But Dow was glad to be here. 

"It's interesting weather, a different type of environment," Dow said. "It's fun to be here."

Smesko said he wasn't doing anything different in order for the Eagles to deal with the time change -- the Pacific Time Zone is three hours behind EST. 

Dow wasn't sweating it, either. 

"We'll get used to it," she said. "We've been in Las Vegas."

FGCU played in the Play4Kay Shootout in late November, beating then-No. 21 DePaul before losing to then-No. 8 Ohio State and Belmont.