TCU will go in on bended knee this Sunday for a routine visit, but with some add-ons to the usual petitions for the Big Guy.
If all goes right, by the end of the day, the Horned Frogs will be making their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and first in back-to-back seasons since Buster Brannon’s 1952-53 outfits.
In those days, the NIT was the prized destination for postseason madness. So, in reality, the Frogs are actually attempting to do something they’ve never done.
TCU will sit and wait today, drumming fingers and wringing hands.
To be among the NCAA’s 68 this season, TCU will have to be forgiven for some basketball trespasses committed.
The Frogs aren’t the only ones, of course.
Iowa State and its multiple personalities worked over No. 17 Kansas in showing its best side over three days in the Big 12 tournament. There was indeed something strange going on this season with Iowa State, as talented as anybody in the conference but underachievers in the regular season.
Whatever, the Cyclones seized the tournament title on Saturday.
Iowa State might be TCU’s ticket into the NCAA Tournament. The Frogs beat Iowa State twice, two victories that could be the difference between tournament inclusion and the consolation also-rans in the NIT.
Conventional wisdom in basketball circles suggests that the Frogs are one of five teams vying for four spots after Oregon did no bubble teams any favors by upsetting Washington in the Pac-12 final.
Thanks for nothing, Ducks.
The Pac-12 is the face of mediocrity in college basketball this season. And that’s probably not fair to the word mediocrity.
Before the Ducks clinched a tournament berth, analyst Bill Walton was talking them up as an at-large. Oregon was the Pac’s sixth seed.
Walton also said he walked by the Statue of Liberty while he was in Las Vegas.
To the children, deadheads and their habits have consequences.
The Big 12 has five locks, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Kansas, Baylor and Iowa State. Oklahoma is leaning as most likely in.
TCU and Texas are considered candidates with, using tournament parlance, “work to do.”
A consensus has formed suggesting that one among the Frogs, Arizona State, North Carolina State, St. John’s and Temple will be left out.
TCU’s credentials stack up well against those.
The Frogs have played 17 games against teams currently in the top 50 of the NET rankings. They were 6-11 in those games – all in the Big 12, except No. 50 Lipscomb, a loss — including the two very important victories over Iowa State.
The Frogs, by the way, are 51st.
Arizona State was a mere 4-1 against those teams, N.C. State 6-8, St. Johns 4-3, and Temple 3-6.
The Pac-12, home base of Arizona State, has one team, Washington (40), in the top 50. The Sun Devils beat Washington, too. Oregon is 56th. That quality of competition alone should disqualify the Sun Devils, though they did go 3-1 in the non-conference against top-50 teams, including a victory over Kansas.
Temple boasts a victory over No. 11 Houston.
Texas’ inclusion would cause a row not seen since the Trump election.
Yet, the Longhorns have a case, even if they’re an unpresuming 16-16. The tournament committee has never looked favorably on .500 teams.
However, Texas, 38th in the NET, has played 19 games against NET top-50 teams, plus victories against North Carolina (7 NET), Purdue (12), Baylor (39), Iowa State (22), Kansas (19), Kansas State (24) and Oklahoma (38).
Texas also has losses against Michigan State (8) and Virginia Commonwealth (33).
That’s a far better schedule than any other of those bubble teams, including TCU.
If they NCAA pharisees aren’t going to reward teams for playing good non-conference schedules, then why play them?
Though it doesn’t appear likely, OU could cause TCU a selection stubbed toe, too.
The Sooners, 37th in the NET, went a very modest 4-11 in NET top-50 games, including going 2-1 in non-conference games. OU beat Wofford and Florida.
Oklahoma, on the other hand, also swept TCU in the regular season. That was a TCU slip up that shouldn’t have been, but there’s nothing to do about it now.
In the end, however, the competition for TCU looks to be outside the conference, which is getting more than an ounce of respect.
As the sun rose on Sunday morning, as the metrics and nuance were all being weighed, things were looking up for TCU, a 20-game winner.
Then again, Dewey defeated Truman.
So, who fills out this field, well, God only knows.
