It is the desire of every college basketball team to make it to the Big Dance in March, yet it means surviving a grueling season to get there.
Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese has seen her team go through its share of adversity, and she believes overcoming that is what led the Terps to the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Maryland will face Iowa State on Friday, March 22, in Portland at 7:30 p.m. EST. The path the Terps have taken this year has been a bumpy one. The team finished 19-13 on the season and 9-9 in the Big Ten, which included top teams Iowa, Indiana and Ohio State. Maryland defeated the top-seeded Buckeyes, 82-61, in the Big Ten quarterfinals on March 8 to essentially clinch an at-large bid.
“I felt like we had had enough tests through the season. I mean, we had played one of the top-five toughest schedules in the country. Our league prepares you game in and game out,” Frese said on Glenn Clark Radio March 14. “… This group has really been resilient and they’ve just continued to trust and work.”
Outside of the high level of competition the Terps faced, injuries have been another form of adversity that has been a thorn in the team’s side all season. Freshman guard Riley Nelson, redshirt sophomore forward Emma Chardon and graduate guard Lavender Briggs all had their seasons come to a close as a result of ACL tears.
Results like these could’ve easily taken the fight out of a team, yet Frese admired her team’s resilience in spite of these losses.
“They were really resilient,” Frese said. “Clearly your heart goes out whenever you see an injury … but they never felt sorry for themselves and never used it an excuse. I mean, they just continued to come in and trust the process and work.”
It would seem that the work paid off, as Maryland’s healthy players stepped up in big-time situations to help pave the way for the Terps’ 14th consecutive tournament bid. One of the key players has been junior guard Shyanne Sellers (15.5 points per game on 43 percent shooting). Her elite performance against Ohio State on March 8 (25 points on 52.9 percent shooting) helped get the team to this position.
Frese had nothing but praise for the Ohio native and believes it’s her fiery spirit that’ll help push the Terps forward in the tournament.
“Shyanne is someone that plays with a lot of energy and pizzazz,” Frese said. “… So, in her time, [Ohio State] has been a team that has really kind of gotten the better of her so just to see that growth, that’s why we’re in it. She played to the highest level she could play at and with that confidence. Our team fed off of her energy and her play. We’re going to have to have big, big things from her here in the NCAA Tournament, but she’s more than capable. She’s so talented. And she’s been our leader in charge in the way.”
While some may say that this season has been less than desirable given some of the games and players lost throughout it, Frese has been more than satisfied with the results. With everything that was in their way and the losses the team faced throughout the year, Maryland was entering the Big Ten Conference tournament on the bubble.
Yet, that didn’t deter the Terps. Frese has coached teams with more talent, but she finds immense satisfaction in what her team persevered to achieve this season.
“Just to see them just continue to trust. You know, a lot of teams could have folded. When we went to Penn State and we had lost Shyanne in that game with a knee injury, we’d lost by 30. A lot of teams would have quit right there,” Frese said. “This team, if anything, they’ve pulled themselves together and have shown their resiliency.”
As for what lies ahead for the Terps in the tournament, the Terps will have to earn it and make it happen. Yet given what she’s seen both from her past teams and in her current team, Frese is confident in their capabilities to make something happen.
“For us, the seed, the number in front of your name really doesn’t matter,” Frese said. “… It’s just playing the right way and playing when it all comes together like it did for us in the [conference] tournament and the way we played against Ohio State. We put more games like that together, then we’re going to continue through the tournament in a long fashion. If we don’t, we’ll be going home, but I love our odds and just love where this team has been trending.”
For more from Frese, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Chris Lyons/Maryland Athletics