TCU owns Texas, and the Frogs are an NCAA team

It’s official — Bevo has become the Horned Frogs’ ... female dog. If that doesn’t work for you, the Horned Frog is Bevo’s daddy.

On Saturday afternoon, UT officially regretted ever green-lighting TCU’s inclusion into the Big 12. It should have asked UTEP.

TCU swept UT in the revenue sports — football and now twice in basketball for the first time since 1958-59.

Thank God the students in attendance for TCU’s 78-63 win over UT knew better than to storm the floor after beating this steaming pile of over-priced disappointment.

Instead, the students chanted, “Just like football! Just like football” in the game’s final minutes.

That’s not fake news.

When TCU asked former basketball great Kurt Thomas what game he wanted to have his No. 40 retired, he requested Texas. That’s right, Texas is now a Homecoming opponent. That’s what happens when you lose to Kansas in football.

Somewhere high above us all, Darrell K. Royal cursed while due east in Knoxville, Tenn., Rick Barnes laughed. Barnes could drive his apathetic fan base nuts, but the man knew better than to lose to TCU.

With Thomas watching, along with the most successful coach in the modern era — Billy Tubbs — the Horned Frogs improved to 16-7 and 5-5 in the Big 12. TCU is tied for fifth in the league.

It was undeniably fun to hear Schollmaier Arena come alive the way it did when Tubbs had this program relevant in the ’90s. Or when TCU’s new coach Jamie Dixon beat UT with his famous 40-foot shot in 1986.

With a nod to his predecessor, Trent Johnson, Dixon will be named Big 12 coach of the year, and he should win a national award or two. Whatever happens the rest of the year, the season is a success by any definition.

The Horned Frogs are good enough to be an NCAA tournament team for the first time since Billy was the coach, and this program is at last set up to be far better than Tubbs’ teams ever were.

The school spent the cash, and Dixon is a better game coach. Sorry, Billy. It’s the truth.

First the tourney; in order for TCU to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998, it can finish no worse than two games under .500 in conference play. It needs to reach 20 wins, and look good in remaining games at Baylor, Kansas and home to West Virginia.

A win in the Big 12 tournament would be nice, too.

UT head coach Shaka Smart guessed no less than seven teams from the Big 12 will make the tournament and said, “I think TCU is definitely a deserving team.”

The numbers bear that out; TCU’s RPI ranking is 43, and that is before the Frogs’ win over UT.

When asked if he thought this team was tournament caliber, Dixon didn’t flinch.

“Yeah, no question,” he said. “Our losses aren’t going to hurt you [in the rankings]. ... We have to win our home games.”

To his credit, Dixon thought the tournament was a possibility back in August when he assembled this team for the first time. In a casual conversation we had before the start of fall practice, he asked me, “Why can’t we do it? Why can’t that be us?”

I thought Dixon was either drunk (kidding) or had obviously not seen enough of his team to doubt that an NCAA tournament was imminent.

He was right.

Right now, TCU has all of the characteristics of a First Four In or Last Four Out team when the NCAA selection committee meets to decide the field of 68 in March. If TCU makes the NCAA tournament in Dixon’s first season, his statue needs to be erected next to Gary Patterson’s by no later than July.

The fact that TCU as a tournament team is even a point of legitimate discussion this season speaks highly of everyone involved, including Trent Johnson.

With the exception of starting freshman point guard Jaylen Fisher and reserve swing player Desmond Bane, every single contributor on this team was recruited and signed by the guy TCU fired after four years.

As good as this version of TCU’s team is, it should be a virtual lock to the make the NCAA tournament next season, something Tubbs never did in his eight seasons in Fort Worth; the Frogs under Billy only made one NCAA tournament.

He was a good coach, but his teams never played with the discipline, or the half court defense, the way Dixon’s team did at Pitt and now at TCU. Tubbs’ teams were fun to watch race up and down and score, but that style seldom works for wins against disciplined, talented teams.

Dixon’s style and structured play is not quite as exciting as Billy Ball, but it’s the better play for more wins against good competition.

In Dixon’s first season, TCU has far more wins than could have been reasonably expected and an NCAA tourney berth is realistic.

And now the Frogs own Texas, too.

This story was originally published February 4, 2017 at 7:09 PM with the headline "TCU owns Texas, and the Frogs are an NCAA team."