Middletown girls basketball coach Rob Smernoff led the Blue Dragons to an 11-10 record in the regular season this year. Though his team slumped near the end of the season, Middletown finished 8-7 in the CCC South, and matched the school’s highest win total from the past six seasons. The Blue Dragons qualified as the nineteenth seed in the Class LL Tournament and will face off against 14th-seeded Masuk on the road Tuesday night. Smernoff spoke to the Middletown Eye about his young team’s improvement over the season, their struggles in February and their chances for success in the state tournament.
Middletown Eye: In late January your team was 9-4 and playing very well. It looked like you were going to finish with a strong win total. From that point on your team struggled and went 2-6 through the rest of the season. What changed about how your play that caused you to get off track?
Rob Smernoff: In the second half of the season we played some tough teams for the second time and this time on the road. Our schedule was harder and teams were more familiar with us. Our youth and freshness didn’t surprise them as much. We lost a number of close games down the stretch. It wasn’t like we were playing all that worse. The team was just facing a brutal schedule and the close games we were winning early on were not going our way anymore. The things that were going right at the beginning of the year were going wrong.
ME: How has the team responded to the tough stretch you have gone through? What is the player’s mindset right now?
RS: The players are responding great. They are having excellent practices. I can’t remember a team I’ve coached that has shown so much confidence in practice and in their preparation. They will be ready to go on Tuesday (against Masuk).
ME: What do you think has been your team’s biggest strength this season?
RS: They are truly a team. There is amazing chemistry on this team. Every practice and game is a complete group effort.
ME: What would you say is your most significant weakness?
RS: That would definitely be our height. Often times we struggle rebounding the ball. That’s been a significant problem in our last few losses, particularly against Bristol Eastern. There is a direct correlation between our lack of height and our struggles on the boards. You can’t make your team taller.
ME: Who have been your most important players this year?
RS: DeAsia Lawrence has been our leader and was All-Conference. She can put the ball in the basket and is our best passer. She also leads the team in steals. And Rejenn Mayo has taken on a ton of responsibility playing point guard as a sophomore. She has led us in every game.
ME: How did your offense improve, or not improve, over the course of the season?
RS: We improved a lot playing in a half-court offense. We’re more effective getting out and running, but as the year went on we learned to play in the half-court effectively and how to be patient and get good looks.
ME: Asking the same question, how did you change on defense?
RS: Our press got stronger and more aggressive over time.
ME: How did the regular season live up to your overall expectations?
RS: I would have liked to end the season better. But overall I am very happy with how our season went. We’re a young team that lost a lot of players, and yet we had the most victories for our school in a number of years. It was a satisfying season. All the credit for our performance goes to our kids.
ME: Your first round game in the Class L Tournament is at Masuk on Tuesday night. How well do you believe your team matches up to Masuk, and what do you think your team’s chances are of winning this game?
RS: I think our teams are very evenly matched. I feel like if we played them ten times we would win five games and lose five games. It should be a close game against a tough team. The tough games we’ve had have made us ready for this.
ME: If you defeat Masuk, what do you believe your chances are of making a good run in the tournament?
RS: In Class L there are two teams at the top in E.O. Smith and Pomperaug that are in a class by themselves. After that I feel like there are 16 teams that can all beat each other. If we beat Masuk we would face Bacon Academy, who’s the third seed. That would be another tight game, but I could definitely see us beating them. After that anything could happen.
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