The target on its back is as big as it is expected. There was no doubt Oak Hill Academy (VA) would return to DICK'S Nationals, but now it's time to see what it has in store in order to repeat as champions.

The No. 6 Warriors, the fifth seed in the eight-team tournament, don't have the easiest road to get back to the promise land, especially in Thursday's opening round against fifth-ranked Findlay Prep (NV), which beat them earlier this season. That's just the nature of the event. They, will, however, be ready to make it happen.

Legendary head coach Steve Smith knows what this is like better than anyone, and he definitely is excited to go back to New York City and see what happens.

FloHoops: Coach, you're going back to New York City for another DICK'S Nationals. Are you pretty excited for the opportunity once again?
Smith: Yeah, our guys are always excited to play in that tournament. We don't talk about it during the course of the season, but they all know, being at Oak Hill, that normally happens. I think we've been in every tournament except one. One year we went to China for two weeks in lieu of the DICK'S. Other than that, we've been to DICK'S every year they've had it. They had it in Washington for several years before it was called the DICK'S. 

So, we've played in it just about every single year and it's great for our guys. It's something to conclude your season with.

What is the experience like for teams participating in the event?
It's March Madness for high schools. It's a seeded tournament, a national tournament, one you can finish No. 1 in the country. You win the tournament or not, you're playing for a championship. And there's only eight teams playing right now left in high school basketball after this weekend. You're one of eight teams still playing and that's exciting. And it's in New York. It's not at Madison Square Garden like in years past. Our team has been lucky enough to play in the Garden the last three years.  So that was kind of something you maybe emphasize to your guys once you got there. We didn't talk about it until we got there, but once we did, it was, "Hey, win two games and you're going to play in the Garden." Most of those kids have never, ever done that. I can't think of any player I ever had that had played in the Garden prior to us playing there. So, that's a big deal.

Now this year you don't have that caveat to throw out at them, but it's still the DICK'S Nationals tournament, it's in New York City, everybody is excited to be there, and you're one of eight teams.

When you're one of those eight teams, what is that spotlight like to be in that moment?
The guys, once they get there, they realize how important it is. It's been four or five weeks since anybody has played. I think most of the teams in the tournament have not played for several weeks. There's teams that haven't played in a month and a half, It's exciting to be playing again. Exciting to be playing with your team. All of us have seniors on our teams so it's the last time for them to play together.

I've had four guards that had have played for me for two and three years, and they've all been there. They are excited to go back. I think they know how big the tournament is and how important it is. There's nothing else going on except the Final Four in college and then the DICK's Nationals tournament. So when you're playing that weekend, it's kind of a big deal.

Do you guys feel like you've had a target on your back all season considering you won it all last year?
We always have a target on our back being Oak Hill. With Oak Hill on your jersey, everybody wants to play us, everybody wants to beat us. We know we are everybody's big game. This year we're a little disappointed how we played in stretches. I think we were playing well the last month of the year so hopefully the will carry over in this tournament.

We always have a target, and I think moreso almost than anybody else. Montverde won the tournament three years in a row with (Ben) Simmons, but if you go through the last 30 years of high school basketball, nobody has a target like we have. That's always out there and our guys know that. We're expected to win every game, every year. That's not reality, but it's kind of what people think, "Oh, Oak Hill is playing, so they should win." It's hard and this tournament is hard. The timing of the tournament, all of the team and players that play in it, it's just tough tournament to win.

What do you like about your squad and what makes them dangerous to win it again?
We've got guards. I keep saying that the guards that we have, we've had them for two and three years. We had Ty-Shon (Alexander) and Lindell (Wigginton) for three years and we've had Matt (Coleman) and Devontae (Shuler) for the last two years. So these four guards have all played together. They are all high-level guards, they are all high Division I players. They've got a lot of experience. They've played in a lot of big games. Nobody has played in as many games as they have for the last two and three years.

It all comes down to one game. You could lose the first night at DICK'S. It's a one and done deal. I do think the experience of our guards, just the fact that they've been there two or three times in the DICK'S tournament should help us. It doesn't mean you're going to win the first game.

We have been in the finals and those guys have been in the finals every time they have been up there so they're kind of used to winning.

Is there a little chip on the shoulder knowing the first game against Findlay Prep and knowing they beat you at the Iolani Classic this season?
I think a little bit. That was, without question, our worst game of the year. Now, you have to give Findlay credit. They played really well. But we never played that poorly all year. We're excited to get back out and play again. I think both teams know each other. I thought they played extremely well and I thought we played as bad as we can play.

All of that being said, I don't know if it's a revenge factor, but we have a little bit of a makeup game in our system. I think our guys want to play better. Our guys want to show that game was not indicative of how we played all season long. The other games we lost were really close games. We lost a close game to Nathan Hale (WA). We lost a close game to Sierra Canyon (CA). So that's the only game I thought we did not really have a chance to win after two or three quarters of the game.

We were out of the game in the first quarter. We were down 15 or 16 at the end of the first quarter. I don't know why we played poorly, but you have to give Findlay credit. I think our guys are excited to get back out and show that they are a better team than that.

What does it take to show that and get past the first round? What are the keys?
We talked about how poorly we played after the game and I'll talk to them again when I see them at practice this week. When you look at the tape, and I've looked at the tape multiple times, we were so bad defensively. I don't know why, but our effort just didn't seem to be there.

Oak Hill is known for playing hard and playing defense, and we didn't do those things that night. That's why we got beat as bad as we did. We're obviously not hoping we will duplicate that again. We're expecting to play hard, expecting to execute defensively. We're expecting to do that come Thursday and we'll see what happens next week.

What kind of mindset will it take to win it again?
It's tough. We've been in the finals five times and won it just once. It's a hard tournament to win. It depends on your draw and times of the games. Sometimes you have McDonald's players, sometimes you don't. This year we have one in Billy Preston. He won't be with us in practice. The last time Billy was with the team was March 10. We have not seen Billy. We went on spring break and he won't here this week. He's at the McDonald's game. We'll see him about 10 o'clock Thursday morning. That makes it hard. They've got a player in PJ Washington whose not with them, but I think they've been together practicing. 

It's going to be a little different in that sense, but we need Billy to have a good game. He didn't play well against Findlay last time. I think it's documented that he didn't play well. He knows he didn't play well. So we need to have a good game out of him in order for us to win the game Thursday.

Are you ready to do this?
Yeah, I'm excited. It's always fun. I always tell the guys when they get to Oak Hill in the fall, "You come here for a reason. You come here to play the best schedule in America. You want to play against the best players. I want to coach against the best teams." That's what Oak Hill is all about and that's what DICK'S Nationals is all about.

So we're excited. I'm excited as a coach. In order for us to win, we're probably going to have to beat three top five teams in a row in less than a 48-hour time span. So it's a big challenge, but it's an exciting time of the year.