TCU’s Dixon: We’re shocked by NCAA Tournament snub

The TCU men’s basketball team is “shocked” the NCAA Tournament selection committee left them out of the Big Dance.

A watch party at Schollmaier Arena ended with a dud Sunday when the 68 teams were announced, and TCU didn’t have its name called.

“It’s very disappointing because we were expecting to get in,” senior forward JD Miller said. “You know, looking at all the little projections and stuff, they had us in.”

TCU had a 20-win season in arguably the toughest conference in the country, the Big 12. The Frogs had won two of their final three games, and were seemingly playing well down the stretch.

“We’re disappointed, obviously,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “We saw the projections and pretty much everybody we saw had us in, so it looks like we’re the team that’s probably the most surprised in the country. Certainly not something that you want to be, but that’s where we’re at. We’ve got to now get over our disappointment and get ready for the NIT, and play the best basketball we can going forward here.

“Again, shocked, but things don’t always go the way that people project or plan.”

TCU will have to settle for a one-seed in the NIT. The Frogs will host Sam Houston State in a first-round game at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Schollmaier Arena.

But disappointment is the storyline for the Frogs. They ranked as arguably the biggest “snub” of the Big Dance.

Instead of TCU, the committee opted for “bubble” teams such as Ohio State, Belmont, Arizona State and St. John’s. TCU was ranked No. 52 in the NCAA’s new NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings, which was better than schools such as Ohio State (55) and St. John’s (73).

St. John’s enters the tournament having lost four of its last five, including an 86-54 loss to Marquette in the Big East championship quarterfinals. Ohio State has also lost four of its last five.

At the end of the day, though, the committee made the decisions and TCU is NIT-bound. Only six Big 12 teams earned spots in the field after several bracket experts thought as many as eight could make it.

Senior point guard Alex Robinson called it a “joke” that only six Big 12 teams made it.

“Yeah, that’s crazy,” Robinson said. “I feel like we do have the most competitive conference in the country, from top to bottom. All year, it was talked about eight teams possibly getting in. Only getting six in? I think it’s kind of a joke, honestly.”

TCU can only look back at what could have been. Dixon mentioned having a combined seven losses to three teams that are 4- or 3-seeds in the tournament (Kansas State, Texas Tech and Kansas).

“It seems like you’re being penalized for playing in the toughest league in the country,” Dixon said. “That shouldn’t be the case. You shouldn’t be rewarded more for a non-conference game that’s just as tough as a conference game. We all factor in who was in our conference, who was in our non-conference, all those things are factored in.

“Maybe we could’ve won more games, but who’s playing seven games like that? No one is. The only teams that are doing it are us and teams in our conference.”

In fairness, the Frogs had their chances to make a stronger case and not leave it up to the committee.

A triple overtime loss at West Virginia stands out. TCU had two opportunities to win it at the end of regulation, and then at the end of the second overtime, but didn’t get a shot off.

A loss at Oklahoma early in conference play stands out. TCU had a lead with one minute to play, but didn’t make it stand.

A home loss to Kansas stands out. TCU had a led late, but once again failed to make it stand down the stretch or in overtime.

“The overtime games would be the obvious ones to think about, but we go into every game thinking we can win and should’ve won,” Dixon said. “The last couple days I’ve been watching the Kansas State, the most recent one in the tournament and we’re up there in that game, then we got some foul trouble and Desmond [Bane] didn’t get the minutes we wanted him to get. Those things factor in.

“It won’t be one game, certainly won’t be that, that would take away from our preparation. Again with this, there’s disappointment right now, but we’re going to get it turned. It’s all right to be disappointed for a short period of time, but we’re going to be ready to play and we’re going to prepare and we’re going to come out and perform.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2019 at 6:07 PM.