RUSTON - Louisiana Tech senior Savanna Langston summarized this morning's three-hour practice with head coach Tyler Summitt in just two short sentences Monday afternoon when she met with members of the media.

"I can't say that I've been through anything like that before," Langston said. "But I think when it was all said and done, we all felt like we got better today. "

Summitt, Langston and the Lady Techsters officially began team workouts at 6 a.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center. But what was so unusual about the practice session for Langston?

It was void of basketballs.

Not only did all 12 players don 20-pound weights vests for the entire three hours, but they completed the practice without one single basketball ever hitting the floor. They were all locked away in the storage closet because they were not needed on Monday morning.

For three solid hours, Summitt put his players through defensive drills, rebounding drills, conditioning drills, and more. He pushed them to their limit, and even past their limit in some cases.

"Nobody dropped out or quit," Summitt said. "From that aspect it was good. We had to push through. Out of those practices, you just want to see somebody get to their breaking point and then push through and then that breaking point is even further along.

"You are just training your mind to dominate your body. You are just training your mind to say no. When the body says quit, the mind says no. I am going to keep going. Before we get to anything else, we have to get that for every single possession."

It's that mindset that will help change the culture on and off the floor for this program, which hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2011.

"The first workouts we had with him we were like wow, this is going to be different," said Langston, who told reporters that her goal was to "win a Conference USA championship, first and foremost."

Summitt agrees with Langston.

"The biggest thing in our first year is that we have to compete for a conference championship, whether that means in the regular season or the tournament," Summitt said. "With five seniors, we are hoping to do that. We are expecting to compete this year at a high level."

Tech's roster includes only 10 players that are eligible to compete this year with Marquette transfers Ashley Santos and Brooke Pumroy sitting out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. However, five of Summitt's 10 active players are seniors, including captains Whitney Frazier, Kanedria Andrews and Langston, along with Kelia Shelton and Chrisstasia Walter.

"There are pros and cons to having five seniors," Summitt said. "One thing is that they have already been in college for three years, so they may have some habits that do not fit with our system, whether those are good or bad. So you have to break those habits. It might be easier with a freshman or sophomore who is new to college and still figuring things out. At the same time, the leadership that we are getting is great. We are expecting them to lead us."

In order to achieve the goal of competing for a C-USA title this season, the LA Tech players should expect more practices - a lot more - like the one Monday morning.

"I am not sure the players loved the weight vests with no basketball in sight along with the defense and rebounding physicality, but it is a culture that we have to instill," Summitt said. "The quicker that we buy into it, the quicker that we can get to using basketballs."

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