TWO TEAMS, ONE FAMILY: HPU MEN'S AND WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STRIVE FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE.

• Position: INSPIRING ENVIRONMENT: #SQUADGOALS

Scott Cherry and DeUnna Hendrix have been at the helm of the High Point University men's and women's basketball programs for a combined 13 seasons and share similarities with most coaches around the country. Both preach to their respective teams hard work, putting the team before one's self and place an emphasis on not only succeeding on the court, but in the classroom and in the community.

However, one similarity the pair of HPU head coaches share is not common elsewhere. Both Cherry and Hendrix have played in the NCAA Division I Tournament themselves.

Hendrix made the NCAA Tournament with Richmond in 2005 under Joanne Boyle, who has coached at University of California, Berkeley and currently is the head coach at Virginia, while Cherry played in the NCAA Tournament four times at North Carolina, making the NCAA Sweet 16 all four years, capped by a national championship under legendary coach Dean Smith in 1993.

Their experiences at the highest level of collegiate basketball have shaped their coaching careers and fueled them to lead the Panthers to do the same.

"Everything that surrounds the NCAA Tournament--the media, the first-class treatment you receive, the places you get to go, the police escorts, the number of people that just watch you practice--the whole package is such a special deal," Cherry said. "There is nothing like the experience that you get of playing in the NCAA Tournament."

"I'll never forget it, sitting in a room with the community and seeing our name pop up on the screen," Hendrix said. "More than anything, it's everything leading up to the game. Getting your name announced, sitting on a bus with leather seats and TVs, getting escorted and walking into the gym where Connecticut plays and realizing, 'We're on the same stage as UConn.' I don't actually have many memories from the game itself, but having that feeling that we had arrived and made it was something we will never forget."

Even though both have been through that same unforgettable experience, the two Panther head coaches differ on how they use it in their coaching style.

"I try not to bring it up," Hendrix said. "I think when you add another pressure, it is counter-productive, so we try to just be consistent with our approach to every game. If you put the work in, the work takes care of the result. They will come to me and ask questions about it, and I will tell them, 'It's just something you want to experience and something that every college basketball player...