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Bodda Getta Daily Brew 3/21 - Court's in Session

Bodda Getta Daily Brew 3/21 - Court's in Session

March Madness begins TONIGHT for WBB as they take on the Arizona Wildcats in the First Four

Bodda Getta Brew Crew
March 21, 2024

Good morning. The Auburn women kick off their March Madness journey tonight as they take on the Arizona Wildcats in the First Four in Storrs, Connecticut. Game time is 6:10 p.m. CT at Gampel Pavilion, with a national broadcast on ESPN2.

The Tigers (20-11, 8-8 SEC) are making their 22^nd NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2019. Arizona (17-15, 8-10 Pac-12) is in their fourth straight NCAA Tournament and 11^th in program history.

The winner of Thursday's game will move into the bracket as the 11-seed in the Portland 3 Regional and will face sixth-seeded Syracuse on Saturday.

What else can you find mixed into today’s Brew?

🏀 A feature on Cliff Ellis, who coached Tigers MBB from 1994-2004
🎾 Nicholas Heng named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week
🐅 And much, much more!

📹 WAREAGLE+ THE FLIGHT

The Flight (S. 1, Ep. 7)
Part 1 of 2: Auburn closes out the regular season with Senior Night festivities before heading to Nashville for the SEC Tournament.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Bring It. No. 17 Auburn (14-6, 0-3 SEC) opens its Southeastern Conference home slate this weekend at Plainsman Park with a three-game series against No. 1 Arkansas (17-2, 3-0 SEC). First pitches are scheduled for today and tomorrow at 6 p.m. CT and Saturday at 2 p.m.

"This Arkansas team is so good, especially on the mound, but you can't duck and dive. You have to go right through them to have success," head coach Butch Thompson said.

🔼 Heat Wave. Opening night of the 2024 Women's Swimming and Diving National Championships provided plenty of fireworks for the No. 16 Auburn Tigers inside Gabrielsen Natatorium. An All-American performance in the 200 medley relay puts Auburn 18^th (4 points). Go here for what’s next.

🔼 Single-Handedly Winning. Nicholas Heng has been named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on Wednesday. The Auburn redshirt freshman received the nod after posting two pivotal singles wins over the weekend that helped the Tigers upset No. 25 Florida and No. 16 South Carolina.

🔼 Cliff Dwellers Unite. Named in honor of Cliff Ellis, who coached the Tigers from 1994-2004 and recently retired after 17 seasons at Coastal Carolina in a college career that spanned more than 50 years, the Cliff Dwellers packed Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, giving Auburn a decided home-court advantage.

“There were 6,000 of them,” recalled Ellis. “You get that bunch going, the Cliff Dwellers would take the keys out of their pocket and start jingling…”

The Cliff Dwellers peaked in 1999 when Ellis led Auburn to an SEC regular-season championship and a trip to the Sweet 16.

“That’s really the first time that Auburn fans got into basketball,” Ellis said. “It was an excitement. Back in the Beard-Eaves days, you could get lost. It was just not built for basketball. But when we had those teams, they certainly made it seem like it was a basketball arena.”

Read the feature on Ellis.

🔼 Making Fresh Tracks. Auburn track & field freshman Kanyinsola Ajayi was selected as the SEC Men's Freshman of the Week.

Making his outdoor season debut for the Tigers at last weekend’s Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta, Ajayi finished first in the men's 100m dash with a time of 10.21. He clocked the No. 6 time in the nation (38.74). The Lagos Ikorodu, Nigeria native also competed in the men's 4x100m where the relay team took gold. The quartet holds the fastest event time in the nation and the seventh-fastest time in Auburn history.

🔼 Speaking Tennis and Other Things. The 2024 season marks Ariana Arseneault's final few months as an Auburn Tiger and as a collegiate athlete. However, the two-time All-American is no stranger to tackling new experiences. Arseneault's decision to play college tennis was also a decision to move to a different country and immerse herself in a new culture.

"There aren't many international collegiate sports [in Canada]," Arseneault explained. "I didn't know much about Division I sports. Everything was new to me. I didn't know what the team environment was like, especially with tennis being an individual sport."

Read the feature on this two-time All-SEC selection, trilingual student-athlete.

🤔 TIGER TRIVIA

Herrrrrrre's Johnnie

Before coming to Auburn, WBB coach Johnnie Harris helped Texas to an Elite Eight appearance. What season was that?

🐅 ONE BIG THING

Sweet Swag. Who's ready for an action-packed weekend of baseball at Plainsman?! You probably don’t need an added incentive, but you’re getting it anyway with giveaways and promotions galore.

📬 SPREAD THE WORD

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📅 ON THE DOCKET

Thursday 3/21

Friday 3/22

🌊 Swimming & Diving @ Women’s NCAA Championship | Live Stats | Championship Central | Psych Sheet | Notebook

👟 XC/Track @ FSU Relays

🎾 Women’s Tennis @ Ole Miss @ 3 p.m. CT

🏀 Men’s Basketball vs. Yale - NCAA Tournament @ 3:15 p.m. CT TNT | Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Tickets

🎾 Men’s Tennis @ Vanderbilt @ 4 p.m. CT | Live Stats

🥎 Softball @ Texas A&M @ 6 p.m. CT SEC Network + | Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Tickets

🐅 Click here to view the entire Auburn Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Coach Johnnie Harris, aka Coach J, helped lead Texas to an Elite Eight appearance during the 2020-21 season.

🐅 Have a great Thursday, y’all