Fralick has track record of March success
EAST LANSING – Robyn Fralick knows what success in March looks like.
The first-year Michigan State women’s basketball coach has guided programs to plenty of postseason success during her time on the sidelines at Ashland and Bowling Green.
Fralick experienced four runs to the NCAA Division II national championship game at Ashland, which included two after transitioning from assistant to head coach. Ashland claimed a pair of national titles with Fralick claiming one as a head coach in 2017 as part of a 37-0 season.
There also was a deep postseason run last season for Fralick, who guided Bowling Green to the WNIT semifinals before being hired to lead the Spartans.
The mission now for Fralick is to help MSU experience NCAA tournament success. And she will get her first taste of the Division I NCAA tourney at 11:30 a.m. Friday when the No. 9 seed Spartans (22-8) open play against No. 8 seed North Carolina (19-12) in Columbia, South Carolina.
“What a fun time,” Fralick said of the tournament. “Your team has to have a confidence and belief about who they are and what they do. When I was at Ashland we were fortunate and we played in four national championship games in eight years. There’s a grind to that. There’s an excitement to that.
“It is different. There is a different energy around it and yet you also have to have the same level of composure that you have throughout the regular season.”
MSU guard Moira Joiner said having a coach with Fralick’s track record of postseason success can be an advantage for a Spartan program that has reached the second weekend of the NCAA tourney just three times in program history.
“I just think she brings a calmness to our team and steadiness,” Joiner said. “I talk about her consistency all the time and having that as a coach is so important.”
The biggest discovery for Fralick from past
deep tournament runs is the thin margin for error this time of year. She said the little things like box outs, grabbing a defensive rebound or making the most of free-throw opportunities make all the difference when strong teams are competing for titles.
“As we all know in the NCAA tournament, there are so many games that come down to the last few possessions and so many games that come down to the last few minutes,” Fralick said. “You have to have an understanding of that throughout the game. You’ve got to find
ways to win those small margins not in the last five minutes, but throughout the 40 minutes of the game.”