It didn’t take much to get Carla Gugino excited about “The Mighty Macs.”

No, the actress — known for an array of substantial film (“Spy Kids” and “Sin City”) and television (recently “Entourage” and “Californication”) roles — wasn’t a big-time athlete growing up. But when writer-director Tim Chambers approached her in 2006, he showed Gugino the script based on Cathy Rush, a before-her-time basketball coach who surprisingly led tiny Immaculata College (near Philadelphia) to the first ever women’s collegiate national championship in 1972.

“And I was just really taken with it,” Gugino said Thursday, a day before the film’s Philadelphia premiere and a week-plus before its theatrical opening. “There was something really interesting about this woman who, in a very no-nonsense kind of way, went about changing the face of women’s basketball.”

Of course, with no basketball experience of her own — she’s a fan, she said, but not a former player — Gugino needed help capturing the essence of a headstrong coach who took over Immaculata as an outsider and rallied that bunch into a perennial winner.

Enter some assistant coaches/consultants, plus Rush herself, who showed up on set — the film was shot at Immaculata — to help Gugino and the on-screen basketball team.

Naturally, Gugino said Rush was “hugely informative.” Ed T. Rush, Cathy’s husband and a former NBA referee, also was around, plus executive producer (and former Sixers executive) Pat Croce.

“It was kind of amazing to have all of the people surrounding us,” Gugino said.

So what are Gugino’s hopes for the film? Popularity, of course, although she knows its non-Hollywood production and marketing make word of mouth especially important.

But Gugino believes that, as a true sports movie, “The Mighty Macs” might just speak to a lot of people.

“[It’s] something that the entire family can go to and everyone can enjoy,” Gugino said. “It’s that kind of reminder that you just need one person — yourself — to believe in something and you can accomplish a lot.”