Unbeaten TCU receives votes in AP men’s basketball poll

The TCU men’s basketball team remains undefeated and unranked under first-year coach Jamie Dixon. But the Horned Frogs (8-0) are making progress in efforts to scratch the “unranked” designation.

TCU received enough votes in Monday’s updated Associated Press poll that the Frogs would have finished No. 29 if the rankings included that many teams. Instead, it’s a Top 25 headed by No. 1 Villanova (8-0) and including six first-place votes for No. 4 Baylor (8-0), two of nine undefeated teams included in this week’s poll.

Four teams from the Big 12 earned Top 25 spots: Baylor, No. 3 Kansas (7-1), No. 15 West Virginia (7-1) and No. 25 Iowa State (5-2). Among the teams in the “receiving votes” category, TCU received 33 votes from AP voters, falling behind Syracuse (45), Southern California (43) and Ohio State (40) in addition to the 25 teams in the poll.

The Horned Frogs were 12-21 last season before hiring Dixon, a former TCU player who spent the last 13 seasons at Pittsburgh, to take over a program with a combined mark of 8-64 in conference play during its first four seasons as a Big 12 member.

TCU returns to action Wednesday at SMU (6-3). The contest is set for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Moody Coliseum.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 12:19 PM with the headline "Unbeaten TCU receives votes in AP men’s basketball poll."