SPOKANE, Wash. | K.D. Johnson couldn't stop laughing. The Auburn guard was standing on the free-throw line during the Tigers' open practice session on Thursday and was trying to concentrate.

Chad Baker-Mazara wouldn't let him. His "evil twin," in Baker-Mazara's words, was messing with him from 80 feet away on the other side of the court. Standing at mid-court, Steven Pearl tried to get him to stop making noises so Johnson could shoot. It didn't stop him.

K.D. hit the free throw and then spun to celebrate in the direction of Baker-Mazara and Johni Broome, who was also messing with him.

It was just another day for the 2023-24 Auburn basketball team, which seems to enjoy being around each other more than any team I can remember. But this time, it was in Spokane Arena, and the national spotlight of the NCAA Tournament shining on them. No matter.

When you cover a team over the course of a season, you get to know the players' personalities, quirks, and, sometimes, tension among other teammates. This is especially true during the postseason when you get to enter the locker room and see how they interact with each other in those hollowed grounds.

You know who likes or dislikes each other. On past teams, it was evident who got along. On this team? Well, everyone is in on the run together.

It doesn't stop when the Tigers leave the gymnasium, either. Asking several players how they spent their flight on Tuesday from Montgomery to Spokane, if they weren't getting some sleep, they were messing with each other. Actually, you got messed with even if you were catching some Z's.

"When I was sleeping, Johni got a picture of it—I was lying down sleeping, and he took a picture of me, so I've got to get him back for that. I pretty much slept the whole way," Chaney Johnson said.

Classic veteran move by the center. And it might have cut some of the stress that Jaylin Williams and Tre Donaldson were experiencing.

"Me and Tre are the scariest dudes on the flight.," Williams said. "Like turbulence. Turbulence is awful. Even a little shake and me and Tre are like (look at each other). I'm like Tre, we're good, we're good. Just not going to speak on it."

How does Williams get through a flight when something might go awry?

"I know Tre is up, so me and Tre just have a little conversation," he said. "I just stare out the windows, look at the clouds, look at the city."

Not that anything can wake up Chris Moore.

"Then you've got C-Mo, who sleeps the entire flight," Williams said. "There could be a thunderstorm, the apocalypse. Anything. A bird could hit the plane, and C-Mo is still asleep. Then you land, and he just wakes up. I'm like, 'Dude, you didn't feel any of that?'"

If this team is to make a deep run in the tournament, it's the love that these guys have playing alongside each other will play a significant part. Bruce Pearl has stated more than once this is the closest team he's had.

You could see that in person on Thursday as the Tigers went through practice. And you could hear from K.D.'s unstoppable giggling.

It's a brotherhood that will connect them forever.