TCU Basketball is going dancing for the first time since 1998.
The TCU Men's Basketball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years. What an accomplishment by Jamie Dixon, who returned to his alma mater last season after leading Pitt to 11 NCAA Tournament births in 13 seasons at the helm. Dixon guided the Horned Frogs to the NIT Championship last season, his first at the helm. The team went 24-15 in 2017 en route to the NIT Championship and improved on last year's record by going 21-11 this season. The Frogs will be a 6-seed and will play the winner of the 11-seed play-in game between Syracuse and Arizona State in Detroit.
NCAA Tournament Recent History
The Horned Frogs were a 5-seed in 1998 and a 4-seed in 1987, Jamie Dixon's senior year at TCU. The Horned Frogs lost to Florida State 87-96 in the first round of the NCAA in 1998 and advanced to the second round in 1987 defeating Marshall in the first round 76-60 before losing to Notre Dame in the second round 57-58 in 1987.
The Possible Matchups
Syracuse - Jim Boeheim and his 2-3 defense pose problems for most teams. He has been running this defense for the better parts of 42 years at the helm of Syracuse. Boeheim has led the Orange to 32 NCAA Tournament births and won the 2003 NCAA Championship with a team led by freshman phenom Carmelo Anthony.
This year Syracuse has gone 20-13, finishing 10th in the ACC and is led by sophomore shooting guard Tyus Battle, eho led the team with 19.8 points per game and freshman forward Oshae Brissett who averaged 14.7 points per game and a team-leading 8.8 rebounds per game.
Arizona State - Bobby Hurley has made just as big of an impact at Arizona State as Jamie Dixon has at TCU. Hurley is 50-46 with Arizona State and this will be his first NCAA Tournament appearance with the Sun Devils. Hurley led Buffalo to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
In 2018, Arizona State has gone 20-11 and finished eighth in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils are led by senior guards Shannon Evans and Tre Holder. Holder led the team with 18.4 points per game and Evans was second at 16.6 points per game. Both guards are relatively small, both 6-foot-1 and they combined to take 43 percent of the shots for the Sun Devils.
I would rather play Syracuse if I were the Horned Frogs. TCU matches up well against the 2-3 zone Jim Boeheim and the Orange play defensively. Also, Jamie Dixon has won five straight games against the Orange going back to his days at Pitt. Arizona is a streaky team that has a win over Kansas back on December 10th. Arizona State is the better shooting team of the two as well, shooting 46 percent as a team, compared to just 41 percent for the Orange.