TCU (18-10) (NET: 45)
4-7 (Q1), 4-1 (Q2), 3-1 (Q3), 7-1 (Q4)
It’s no easy task for a team like TCU to stick around in the tough Big 12 race but the Horned Frogs have done what they can to stick around this year. Jamie Dixon’s team got the year off on the wrong foot but bounced back nicely before the challenges of Big 12 play and it’s a serious wonder of what could happen to this team if they make it into March Madness.
The Horned Frogs really showed up at the Rady Children’s Invitational back in November, getting impressive Quad 1 wins over Florida and Wisconsin. They won at Baylor in late January and had another nice showing in a win over Iowa State just a few weeks ago. Let’s also remember that this team played Michigan very close right before the Wolverines started blowing everyone out.
We mentioned getting the season off poorly and that was an opening night blunder, with TCU suffering a Quad 4 home loss against New Orleans. Losing at home to Notre Dame a month later wasn’t great either and was the Quad 3 loss, and having anchors like that doesn’t help matters.
Still, TCU has won five of six and are back up to 9-8 in the Big 12. They’ll get a rematch with Kansas State and a Quad 1 chance at Texas Tech next week that could really help their cause. Getting to 20 regular season wins and then showing up in the Big 12 Tournament is the best path forward to success.
Texas (16-11) (NET: 37)
5-8 (Q1), 2-2 (Q2), 2-1 (Q3), 7-0 (Q4)
On one hand, Texas is having a solid first season under new coach Sean Miller and have put themselves in position to make the NCAA Tournament again. On the other hand, it’s hard to call this season markedly better than last year’s team that barely snuck into the Big Dance and got Rodney Terry fired in the process.
The five Quad 1 wins are the clear headliner here and includes a nice win over NC State in Maui back in November. The Longhorns really boosted the resume with back-to-back wins over Alabama and Vanderbilt early on in league play and have added fringe Quad 1 wins at Oklahoma and Missouri since then. A recent five-game winning streak put Texas back on track in great shape as well and included those latter two victories.
The record isn’t exactly fantastic even with an 8-7 mark in the SEC. There’s also that Quad 3 loss with was a rough overtime home loss against Mississippi State in the conference debut back in early January. The Longhorns really got SEC play off on the wrong foot but have at least bounced back in recent weeks.
Each of their next two games are Quad 1 opportunities and they might just clinch a bid with good showings at Texas A&M and Arkansas in the week ahead. The Longhorns likely are sitting in a good spot but a few more notable wins wouldn’t hurt at all.