TCU basketball’s future looks brighter than ever following banner season
TCU basketball used nine players in its heartbreaking 85-80 overtime loss to 1-seed Arizona in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night in San Diego.
All nine players have eligibility remaining if they choose to return for another college season in 2022-23. But that’s far from a given with players possibly pursuing professional careers this offseason, or opting to enter the ever-growing NCAA transfer portal.
“Obviously at some point that’s been discussed and looked at. Obviously you’re always building programs, teams,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said following the game. “We’ve got some guys that have some opportunities. They have to look at their situations and we’ll support them along that process and be involved in that. And see what occurs.
“There’s still a lot of things to plan, still some games left in the tournament. But I know these guys love each other. I know they love playing with each other. And they love TCU. We’re obviously in a different world now, but we’re going to try to get through this loss here first and this disappointment from it. So that’s where we’re at.”
The biggest question mark is what sophomore guard Mike Miles decides to do. Miles is the Frogs’ top scorer, averaging 15.4 points per game this season. He scored 20 points in the season-ending loss to Arizona.
Miles, 19, is on NBA radars, although he’s projected as a borderline draft pick. Maybe another year in college would boost his stock even more if he’s fully healthy. Miles battled wrist and ankle injuries throughout the season.
A source close to Miles said no decision has been made but the plan is to “make a decision soon.”
Other guys who could look at professional opportunities include forward Chuck O’Bannon Jr. O’Bannon is 23 and just completed his fifth year in college. He had a standout game for the Frogs on Sunday night, scoring a team-high 23 points including knocking down five 3-pointers.
O’Bannon has as many as two years of eligibility left, so he’ll have to decide whether he wants to spend another year playing college ball or explore professional opportunities.
Of course players such as Emanuel Miller and Eddie Lampkin could “test the waters” to see where their stock sits going into the offseason.
But, of the three players who took part in the postgame news conference — Miles, O’Bannon and Lampkin — Lampkin is the only one who mentioned returning next season.
“We talked about let’s try to go to the tournament. And we did that,” Lampkin said. “We was planning on going all the way. It was cut short. But I love this team. The team fought. About the last play, I feel like we just had to compete more in overtime. But we’ll get it back next year.”
At the end of the day, TCU’s basketball brand is on the rise with its showing in March Madness and the development of big men such as Lampkin. Dixon has also seen his profile raise with the success he had in leading Team USA’s U19 team to a gold medal last summer in the FIBA World Cup.
TCU finished the season 21-13 with more highs than lows. The Frogs won a program-record five games against AP Top 25 teams, and ended a 35-year drought between NCAA Tournament victories. And then the Frogs hung with a national championship favorite in a game that easily could’ve tilted in their favor.
“It was a great season. Nobody was expecting us to get this far and we proved everybody wrong,” Miles said. “We deserve to win this game, but we didn’t. So it is what it is.
Added O’Bannon: “Everything was left on the line. A lot of guys didn’t have a lot in the tank, but everybody put it out on the floor.”
For Dixon, despite the disappointment of a season-ending loss, the way his team played and competed is something he and the school will cherish. “I told them they made millions of fans tonight by watching this game,” Dixon said. “And the challenge now is to handle it the right way after this loss.
“Certainly a lot of questions will be asked, but we’ll handle it the right way and do the right things because that’s what they’ve done all year long. So very proud of them. And TCU, I know, is proud of this team, and the fans and I think fans everywhere. We still felt we should have won the game. We did everything. And we just came up short.”
As TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati wrote on Twitter afterward, “I could not be more proud of our entire @TCUBasketball team and for the way they have represented TCU all season long. Like many Horned Frogs out there I am struggling to find the words at the moment but I do know this — we will be back.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 12:55 PM.
