Women's Gulf Coast Showcase: 6 NCAA teams in field including Baylor, Villanova, Michigan, USF

When Baylor women’s basketball coach Nicki Collen talks about her four years in Fort Myers, she talks family – her family and her FGCU family – friends she met and her sadness at not being able to give her players a full tour of Southwest Florida because of the devastating effects of Hurricane Ian.

Coming to FGCU also became her coming-out party as she was an assistant for the Eagles and Karl Smesko in 2014-15. It took her out of her highly successful husband’s shadow as a coach, established her independence and show her willingness to put herself on a limb.

With Smesko giving her more and more freedom – and some good recommendations — Collen went on the fast track to becoming a head coach, which she did with the WNBA's Atlanta Dream in 2017 and Baylor in May 2021.

Gulf Coast Showcase: FGCU to make third appearance in the 10th anniversary of tournament

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Friday, the Bears (3-1) will open play in the Women's Gulf Coast Showcase against St. Louis (1-5).

Other games include Belmont (1-3) vs. Villanova (4-0), Michigan (4-0) vs. Air Force (3-1) and Georgia Tech (3-1) vs. USF (6-0).

Baylor, Belmont, Villanova, Michigan, Georgia Tech and USF all made the NCAA Tournament last year and combined for six victories in the Big Dance with the Wolverines reaching the Elite Eight.

Brooks Downing, president of bdG Sports, who has held the Gulf Coast Showcase for the past 10 years, said without question, this is the best field team-for-team.

“We have some great winners, some established teams, some first-time teams,” he said. “We’ve tried to get USF for a while but couldn’t make it happen. Last year, they came over and played in our Bahamas event and that ingratiated us with (coach Jose Fernandez ). He’s done a remarkable job.

“When we put these fields together, it’s difficult to complete because those last teams look at the opponents and say, ‘Whoa, I don’t want to take that on. Those that have committed are all comfortable with being tested and tested early.”

Women’s Tournament Director and CBS/ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli also noted the depth.

“This year’s Gulf Coast Showcase field is deep with six teams from last year’s March Madness field and some of the top coaches in the game,” she said. “Nicki Collen is a rising star in coaching at Baylor and one that local fans may recognize from her days on staff at FGCU. The Bears may enter as the favorite but there are some great teams, led by some outstanding coaches in this year’s field, so several of the teams in the field could go home with the hardware on Sunday night.”

Collen had been an assistant at Colorado State, Ball State, Louisville and Arkansas before she came to FGCU.

At three of those stops and for 13 years, she had been an assistant to her husband Tom Collen, who won 349 Division I games and was respected as a recruiter and developing players.

In an interview with WBUR Radio in Boston, Collen wondered, "Do people think I’m good at my job, or do they think I got this job because I’m married to the head coach? And that really kind of was always with me, because I was never able to kind of go out on my own and just have my own voice."

Nicki Collen would have to make her own coaching decisions after Arkansas fired Tom Collen after a 19-11 record in 2014.

At age 61 – he’s 22 years older than Nicki – Tom Collen said Arkansas would be his last stop.

So when Nicki chose her next job, she wanted to work for a smart basketball mind she could learn from and grow with.

Collen chose Smesko and FGCU.

“I felt I was ready to be a head coach and capable so I wanted to be around someone with a different philosophy who was among the most successful,” Nicki Collen said. “And that’s Karl Smesko.

“Now, I don’t run his offense but when it comes to fundamentals and preparation and player development, Karl is a great teacher. He’ll work individually with players and help them develop. And it’s basketball, right?

“We became family, he and coach (Chelsea) Lyles and the other coaches. I still keep in touch with (athletic director) Ken Kavanagh.”

In her first season as an assistant at FGCU in 2014-15, the Eagles went 31-3 and won their first NCAA Tournament game, 75-67 over Oklahoma State. A year earlier, the Eagles had lost to the Cowgirls in the NCAAs.

The next season turned into a heartbreaker for FGCU but a revelation for Collen. After going 14-0 in Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season play, the Eagles lost to Jacksonville 56-54 in the A-Sun title game at home.

After receiving a bid to the Women’s NIT, Smesko turned a negative into a positive, saying he thought his team – if mentally ready – could win the Women’s NIT.

“Sometimes, when a team loses a game that costs it an NCAA Tournament, the players are ready for the season to end,” Collen said. “They won’t say it but that’s how they feel.

“But we got on a run and kept winning.

After beating Bethune-Cookman, Wake Forest, Tulane and Hofstra, FGCU played host to Michigan in the Final Four. Before a near-sell-out crowd of 4,633, the Eagles beat the Wolverines 71-62.

However, FGCU led just 62-60 with 2:31 to go. During a timeout in the final minutes, Collen – who had scouted Michigan – asked to diagram a defense the Eagles would play when Michigan came with the ball.

Smesko agreed.

“I asked Karl if I could take the board,” Collen said. “When the players went out and saw the Michigan players standing in almost the same exact places I told them, the ladies turned around and they were so fired up. We messed up their timing on the inbounds. It’s like we had the cheat code. We blew up their play.

“The trust thing coach had for me really meant a lot.”

Smesko, whose team lost in WNIT championship, said, “Nicki has a brilliant basketball mind and a tremendous ability to connect with players. Nicki is high-energy, self-motivated, and ultra competitive.”

The next season, Connecticut coach Curt Miller hired Collen as an assistant in the WNBA. She helped the Sun go from 14-20 to 21-13.

A few months later, the Atlanta Dream made it a dream for Collen when earned her first head coaching job on Oct. 30, 2017. Smesko came to her first training camp.

After three seasons with Atlanta, the Bears came calling. She lead Baylor to a 28-7 record last season and the Big 12 regular-season title before falling to Texas in the conference tournament final and the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“She will do great things at Baylor,” Smesko said.

Gulf Coast Showcase

When: Friday-Sunday

Where: Hertz Arena

Ticket information: gulfcoastshowcase.com

TV: Flohoops.com

Friday’s games

11 a.m.: Baylor (3-1) vs. St. Louis (1-5)

1:30 p.m.: Belmont (1-3) vs. Villanova (4-0)

5 p.m.: Michigan (4-0) vs. Air Force (3-1)

7:30 p.m.: Georgia Tech (3-1) vs. South Florida (6-0)

Air Force

Nickname: Falcons

Conference: Mountain West

NCAA Tournament history: Air Force hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament.

School trivia: The Air Force tracks Santa Claus. On December 24, 1955, a newspaper ad told kids that they could call Santa and listed a phone number. The number listed called the U.S. Air Defense Command. The colonel on duty ordered his team to give all kids Santa’s “current location.” This tradition now handles calls from over 200 countries.

Baylor

Nickname: Bears

Conference: Big 12

NCAA Tournament history: Baylor, which has won three national titles, has made 20 NCAA Tournaments.

Fun fact: Baylor is the largest, private Baptist institution in the world.

Belmont

Nickname: Bruins

Conference: Ohio Valley

NCAA Tournament history: Belmont has made the Big Dance seven times and has tourney wins over Gonzaga and Oregon the last two years.

Fun fact: Consistently recognized as a “Most Innovative” university, Belmont draws nearly 9,000 students who represent every state and more than 33 countries.

Georgia Tech

Nickname: Yellowjackets

Conference: ACC

NCAA Tournament history: Georgia Tech has made the NCAAs 11 time, including a Sweet 16 run in 2021 under current coach Nell Fortner.

Fun fact: In 1952 – 70 years ago – women were first allowed to attend Georgia Tech.

Michigan

Nickname: Wolverines

Conference: Big Ten

NCAA Tournament history: Michigan has made the NCAA Tournament seven times. It beat FGCU in 2021. Last year, the Wolverines made the Elite Eight.

School trivia: Michigan originally was called Catholepistemiad or the University of Michigania.

St. Louis

Nickname: Billikens

Conference: Atlantic 10

NCAA Tournament history: The Billikens never have made the NCAA Tournament.

Fun fact: St. Louis was the first Jesuit university to receive the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award.

South Florida

Nickname: Bulls

Conference: American Athletic

NCAA Tournament history: USF has made seven NCAA Tournaments and has four tourney wins.

Fun fact: The University of South Florida serves more than 50,000 students at its campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee.

Villanova

Nickname: Wildcats

Conference: Big East

NCAA Tournament history: The Wildcats have made the NCAAs 13 times and made the Elite Eight in 2003.

Fun fact: Harry Perretta coached the team for 42 seasons retiring after the 2019–2020 season.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Former FGCU assistant Nicki Collen brings Baylor to Gulf Coast Showcase