'Extremely relentless' - women's basketball ready for NCAA Tournament encore

'Extremely relentless' - women's basketball ready for NCAA Tournament encore'Extremely relentless' - women's basketball ready for NCAA Tournament encore

March 14, 2017

By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. - When the celebration ended, the scouting began.

Auburn's women's basketball team, last seen jumping out of their chairs Monday night upon receiving an NCAA Tournament bid, practiced Tuesday afternoon.

"We celebrated. Now let's go do what we need to do," said coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.

The Tigers depart Wednesday for Austin, Texas. Auburn, the No. 11 seed, plays No. 6 seed North Carolina State Friday at 11 a.m. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

While Auburn's players reveled in their postseason invitation, the coaching staff studied the Wolfpack.

"Technology is so good now," Williams-Flournoy said. "It's not like back in the day when you used to have to get on the phone and call up your best friend who's not really your best friend, but you pretend like they're you're best friend just so you can get a tape and send your coach down the road to pick it up because you don't have time to wait for it to come in the mail. Technology now makes life a lot easier."

It's Auburn's second straight NCAA Tournament trip to Texas. Last year, the Tigers won in Waco, beating St. John's in the first round before losing to Baylor.

"You want back-to-back NCAA Tournaments because it really does show that you're building a program," Williams-Flournoy said. "You changed the culture when you got here. Now everybody understands the culture.

"And now you set a standard. Our kids would have been very disappointed had we not gone to the NCAA Tournament this year. Now it becomes something that we know we need to do every single year."

After the SEC Tournament two weeks ago, the Tigers took a four-day break, then practiced four times, hoping an NCAA bid was forthcoming.

"I think our coaches did a good job of communicating to us that we're going to continue to practice like we're an NCAA Tournament team," said Katie Frerking. "We never really struggle to practice with intensity. We play at such a high level of intensity that I think our bodies needed that rest. You're going to see a team that comes out with a renewed level of energy."

Frerking, the SEC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, is one of four seniors on Auburn's roster, along with Brandy Montgomery, Khady Dieng, and Tiffany Lewis.

"Any time a senior can go through four years with me, they deserve any and everything we can get," Williams-Flournoy said. "Because we work hard. We work really hard. And now that it starts so early. It starts in the summer.

"And the way we play and the way we condition, it's hard work. Why not reap the reward of the pain that you had to go through?"

With that, Coach Flo left the media room and returned to her office at Auburn Arena, trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of video study before practice.

"When it's one and one, you leave it all out on the floor," Williams-Flournoy said. "But we don't really have a problem leaving it all out on the floor. This team is extremely relentless and we're going to fight all the way to the end."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer