Inside the rise of TCU women’s basketball: From forfeiting games to being one of the nation’s best
Roughly a year ago, No. 10 TCU was in a much different place as a women’s basketball program.
The team’s historic start hit a major snag as injuries ravaged the program and forced the Horned Frogs to forfeit two Big 12 games.
By the time they returned to the court against UCF on Jan. 23, 2024 almost half of the roster was made up of ‘Under frogs’, a group of walk-ons that had to be added to the team just so TCU could play a game. Somehow the Horned Frogs managed to win that game, 66-60, in an emotional victory that would end up setting the course for another historic season.
Fast forward a year later and the Horned Frogs look like a Final Four contender with multiple ranked wins during a 19-1 start to the year. The growth of the program from forfeiting two league games one season to starting 7-0 in the same conference has been massive.
That moment, and the addition of another star-studded transfer class, has set the stage for TCU women’s basketball to have its best season ever.
The first crossroad
Coaches are just as competitive as their players and it was a gut punch for head coach Mark Campbell to forfeit two games.
“We were rolling, you go from rolling at 14-0 to forfeiting games,” Campbell said. “As a competitor your hands are tied due to the safety and the welfare of the student athletes. That was a hard one.”
As agonizing as it was for Campbell, it was also a growth opportunity for Campbell as a coach. The Horned Frogs held open tryouts and added the four walk-ons to a roster that was missing its three best players Sedona Prince, Madison Conner and Jaden Owens.
He crafted his system around that trio, but with them not available it forced Campbell to think outside the box and pushed him to grow.
“It a was hard situation, but in hindsight it truly was a blessing,” Campbell said. “It helped me grow incredibly. In the way you lead, schematically you had to figure out how to survive with this new group. Your entire system was based on those three kids, it was stressful, it was hard.”
After the victory over UCF, Campbell wanted to make sure it was a moment that the program would never forget. In the women’s basketball meeting room there’s a mural of last year’s team with the four under frogs in the middle, surrounded by veterans like Prince and Conner on one side plus their teammates on the other.
It’s one of the first things you see walking in the women’s basketball coaches and it was one of the first crossroads moments for a program that was in the midst of transforming itself after a 1-17 year in Big 12 play in 2022-23.
“It laid the foundation of toughness, of grittiness, of resilience that our program was going to be established on,” Campbell said.
The win became a national storyline and would resonate with players across the country. Despite losing the next five games when Prince and Conner returned to the lineup, TCU was able to finish last season 21-12.
When Prince and Conner announced they would return for another season, Campbell knew he could have something special. The roster was missing just one key piece.
Finding the playmaker
With Prince and Conner, TCU already had a dynamic duo as Prince was arguably the best big in the country and there are few that can shoot it like Conner.
Campbell knew TCU needed a playmaker to maximize both them and the rest of the roster. Originally it appeared it was going to be Haley Cavinder, who signed with the program in November 2023, but she eventually de-commited and stayed at Miami with her sister Hanna.
Cavinder woud’ve been a nice pick up after being an All-ACC guard, but her decision helped open the door for a bigger prize: Hailey Van Lith. There are a handful of players nationally that move the needle like Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins. Van Lith has a similar impact on social media.
While Campbell was looking for his playmaker, Van Lith was weighing whether to go to the WNBA or find another school after one year with Angel Reese at LSU under Kim Mulkey. Van Lith didn’t get the feedback she wanted, so she opted for a final year of college.
It was a pivotal year for Van Lith and she knew exactly what type of program she wanted to join.
“The reality of my situation last year (at LSU) was below my potential,” Van Lith said. “Just from a draft perspective, I felt like I owed it to myself to give myself the best opportunity to go and get what I’ve worked for. That’s why I chose to give it another year to see if I could have another great year and put myself in a position I was comfortable with.”
Van Lith and Campbell had a pre-existing relationship from Campbell’s time at Oregon. Van Lith, originally from Wenatchee, Washington, was heavily recruited by the Ducks and every other team across the country.
Campbell tried to convince Van Lith to join the program last year, but TCU was still an unknown in Campbell’s first season.
“Somebody of her magnitude wasn’t going to come to TCU,” Campbell said. “There was no product, but after what we did last year and how we were going to use them in our system, that was easy for (players) to see.”
And that player ended up being Van Lith. Even when she wasn’t interested in TCU the first time around, Campbell remained a close confidant and tried to help her with her decision just like he did when she went to Louisville instead of Oregon.
“He’s always been somebody that’s genuinely cared about me,” Van Lith said. “I was looking for a team where I could have a healthy connection with my head coach. With the position that I play, the player-coach relationship has to be functional or else both sides are going to suffer. I trusted Mark with that and that’s why I chose TCU.”
As news of Van Lith’s commitment began to circulate around the country, Campbell also added USC transfer Taylor Bigby, Oregon State transfer Donovyn Hunter and Kentucky transfer Maddie Scherr to spearhead another elite transfer class.
With Van Lith leading the way, the stage was set for TCU to make history.
A historical start
Both Campbell and Van Lith knew the Horned Frogs would be good after the terrific off-season, but both had different moments where they realized that the Horned Frogs had even more potential than they realized.
“I was going back and forth from the Olympics and working out with the team,” Van Lith said of her summer. “But the chances I did get to play pick up with the team, it was so competitive. We just have a very balanced team, we didn’t really have any holes.
“I played on enough teams to recognize when that’s sustainable or when it’s just because it’s pick up. I was immediately like this was sustainable.”
Like Van Lith, Campbell also saw signs of a special team during the preseason. He got further confirmation of his belief when TCU won two ranked games against some of the best programs in the country.
“We had two closed scrimmages and after those scrimmages you start going we could be pretty good,” Campbell said. “You still don’t know how good, but that ‘Aha’ moment came against N.C. State. They were coming off a Final Four season, they have some of the best guards in the country.
“That was the first moment you had to lace them up and compete against a really good program and you saw the spirit and the fight. The Notre Dame moment was when we arrived. Notre Dame is clearly one of the top five teams in the country this year, we were down in the third quarter going into the fourth and our kids fought their way back.”
TCU’s new big three of Prince, Conner and Van Lith were excellent in both games, especially Prince who scored 31 points against the Wolfpack.
TCU continued to roll, jumping out to a 9-0 start before the biggest game in program history against Dawn Staley and South Carolina on Dec. 8. It was a humbling experience as the Horned Frogs were routed 85-52 by the Gamecocks.
It was another crossroad moments for a program that was just now experiencing national success. How would the Horned Frogs respond after being brought back down to Earth? It started with self reflection in the locker room for one of their leaders.
“That game is probably going to be the biggest blessing of our season,” Prince said on Jan. 14 after TCU defeated UCF. “It taught me a lot personally and each person learned different things. For me it was about my mindset, I’ve had a crazy career. I’ve been up and down, in and out of college and I never just honed into my mindset and figured out how to just be a pro in all facets of my life.
“It taught me that we had a good run and I was feeling good and I let my foot off the gas. It locked me back in.”
Prince scored just six points against the Gamecocks, but since that moment she’s been as impactful as anybody in the country as TCU reeled off nine straight wins after the defeat. In the first six games of Big 12 play Prince is averaging 22.3 points and nine rebounds a game including 30 points in a win over Kansas.
Prince was the trailblazer that alerted the nation to how different women college basketball players were treated at the NCAA Tournament to the male counterparts and now she was also helping blaze a new trail for TCU basketball. Being a part of this turnaround was something that brought Prince to tears after the win over UCF as she reflected on her career in Fort Worth.
“My personal career has been a journey,” Prince said as she fought through tears. “I was really lost and really scared and had no idea if I was ever going to play basketball again. For this opportunity to come to this amazing community has been a blessing. It’s unreal how far we’ve come since last year. Being here in this moment is incredibly special.”
Without Prince being the first domino to fall, it’s unlikely TCU would’ve been able to land players like Van Lith or Bigby. Now after not knowing if her career was over, Prince could contend for an All-American spot, just like Van Lith, who is averaging 18.3 points and a career-high 6.2 assists.
TCU women’s basketball has never made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, but ever since Campbell started he’s helped the program reach milestone after milestone.
With a legitimate big three that’s complemented by the rest of the roster, the Horned Frogs aren’t done making history.
