It was 11 months ago when Amanda Butler first met her Clemson basketball team. At the time, they obviously did not know each other. However, they quickly came together that day due to circumstances.

Now, 11 months later, the women’s basketball program is on the cusp of earning its first NCAA Tournament bid together since 2002, and they are group that has become very close friends.

“Last April, we were brand new friends and not friends that necessarily chose each other, but we all got put together by circumstances, but now we are connected,” Butler said. “We are a family. We are a group of people that share a common purpose and a common goal. We have experienced so many wonderful things together since last April that have made us that much closer.”

The Tigers have experienced a lot together in having the program’s best season in 17 years. Clemson will enter Thursday night’s regular-season finale at Duke with an 18-10 record, including a 9-6 mark in the ACC.

Both marks are the team’s best since the 2001-’02 season.

“I know every coach likes to say ‘coachy’ things in these situations about chemistry and how much we love each other and that sort of thing,” Butler said. “I truly mean this. This team is probably the closest, across the board, that I have ever coached.

“We have not dealt one time with any issue of an absence of chemistry or an absence of care or an absence of love for one another.”

Watch the rest of Amanda Butler’s interview with the media on TCITV.