• The KillerFrogs

TCU Hoops Thoughts

Dogfrog

Active Member
As much as I like and enjoy our current team and look forward to the season, gotta love that 70-71 team.
How Johnny Swaim picked up Goo and Degrate has to be a great story. Both were at FWCC the year before as I recall. Years later in late 70’s while I was in college Degrate was living in FW and played on our Stables city league team. We would just lob to him for a reverse dunk. I was there for the beer.
 

EUROFROG

Active Member
I’ve watched many ridiculous games over the last 25 years. I am as excited as I have been since 97-98. I have no doubt this year team will be the best TCU team ever. Heck, last years team actually has a decent argument. We return the whole squad full of hard workers. Hopefully, they are shooting thousands of shots a day.
Would those 1000's of shots be 3's or free throws?
 

Eight

Member
Would those 1000's of shots be 3's or free throws?

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Pitt Friend

Active Member
here is a question for you that is very relevant for this team and maybe one reason why the excitement doesn't seem to be at the level you believe appropriate

while at pitt, if a dixon team had a very apparent weakness at the end of one year did that weakness show up next year unaddressed

specifically, last year's team struggled to shoot from behind the arc as last year's team shot 30% from behind the arc and took way too many 3's to not be at least average on that shot

actually, this has been a continued problem and the reason why it is so troubling is they have one big who is damn good, a few others who can score, players who can slash and score and they would be lethal if defenses had to play them honest, but over the last few years smart defenses have dropped back in and dared the frogs outside shooters who unfortunately in the words of the immortal patches o'houlihan looked like a bunch of retards trying to hump a door nob

realize that sounds harsh and most likely the bouron talking but this has been a continued plight the last few years for jamie's teams and while they play hard and play good defense that isn't enough in this league

so in the past would his guys do the work to get better in an area of weakness

understand the perspective here as the frog's football team has a transfer corner who keeps talking about how improving his craft is on him and he takes it upon himself to watch film and work on his footwork and so when i see a frog basketball player who the past few years is about as accurate from behind the arc as a major news pundit it does damper my enthusiasm a bit because i know it can be done if you freaking do the work

I would say that many of Dixon's teams with experience were able make improvements among the returning players. Teams during our best years demonstrated noteworthy upperclassman leadership. It wasn't as if Dixon "demanded" it -- he wanted his leaders to lead. I don't know your team well, but I'm guessing that if two upperclassmen who declared for the draft decided to return, and another starter who is returning for his 6th year, you've got a team totally bought into what it takes as a team to improve, or as much as a team can be together to buy into such a thing in college basketball now.

For example, I would expect TCU's problem's with turnovers to improve. Dixon is very much a perfectionist type of a personality (and I don't always mean this as a positive) but I would be surprised if better decision making wasn't at the top of his list. Dixon isn't going to make anyone a better shooter in 6 months, but he will emphasize "talking good shots" which is something he's professed from his first day as a head coach.
 
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Pitt Friend

Active Member
When I lived in Cincy I saw the Bearcats play Pitt a few times in the Big East. Always seemed to upset em for some reason which made the Big O (usually in attendance) happy.

Pitt lost at Cincy in 2008 but that was the only time Dixon lost at Cincy. Bearcats beat us at our place during the 11-12 and 12-13 seasons.
 

Rose Bowl

Active Member
I’m super excited OP. There aren’t very many TCU fans like myself that are basketball folks. As the season gets into conference play the interest will increase.

This should be a most exciting and fun season. Just want to stay healthy and strive to get better.
 

tcumaniac

Full Member
I know internally the coaching staff thinks this team could be very special... like Elite 8 or better kind of special. Many players have made noticeable offseason improvements, namely Emanuel Miller and Xavier Cork who apparently both look incredible and are playing great and with a lot of confidence right now.

The staff's biggest concern is keeping the team focused and not letting them get caught up in how good they all know they could be.
 

Eight

Member
I know internally the coaching staff thinks this team could be very special... like Elite 8 or better kind of special. Many players have made noticeable offseason improvements, namely Emanuel Miller and Xavier Cork who apparently both look incredible and are playing great and with a lot of confidence right now.

The staff's biggest concern is keeping the team focused and not letting them get caught up in how good they all know they could be.

cork would be huge as he would provide some relief when eddie is out of the game or the frogs face a bigger team

miller, peavy, baugh, those guys just need to find consistency in their games. would be great if miller can provide another scoring threat
 
The only thing I have to wonder is why there doesn't seem to be much excitement, heck even any conversation, here on this message board about Hoops at all. We've have plenty more conversation on Pitt message boards this summer and our hope is finally for our first winning record since Dixon left instead of the preseason Top 15 team like TCU will be. I still remember those days at Pitt fondly. Nonetheless, I wish all the best for TCU hoops and hope you have a special season If there's any questions you might have about Dixon from his days at Pitt, I will be happy to try to answer.
As I have repeatedly stated—basketball should have always been a priority and thē vehicle tor TCU’s national exposure. There are only 15 on a roster for basketball and that should be the first priority for winning a national championship and TCU’s front porch and visibility. TCU can easily compete in NIL on a roster of 15. TCU can win a championship in buckets and be in The Big Dance and those office brackets every goldarn March Madness. Duke and Gonzaga’s visibility is because of basketball. No reason for upperclassman to leave for sunnier horizons in hoops when TCU can be at the top of the food chain. Look at Baylor and Houston, and yes, Pitt, when the Panthers had our Coach Dixon.

And, now TCU is in a premier basketball conference—take advantage of that! Basketball recruits want to play in the Big XII.
 
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CountryFrog

Active Member
cork would be huge as he would provide some relief when eddie is out of the game or the frogs face a bigger team

miller, peavy, baugh, those guys just need to find consistency in their games. would be great if miller can provide another scoring threat
Agree on Peavy and Baugh needing to be more consistent. I honestly think the only thing holding back Miller (besides his FT struggles) is a lack of consistent touches. I'm not vying for him to be the focal point of the offense but there were so many times last where he'd go 8-10 minutes without attempting a shot. And even worse there were times (OK St game in Suckwater comes to mind) where he's not even out there at the end.

I don't know if this is intentional by the staff or a lack of execution from the guards in getting the ball to Miller or most likely some of both but I think Miller can be an efficient 12 - 14 ppg kind of scorer if given consistent opportunities.
 

Eight

Member
Agree on Peavy and Baugh needing to be more consistent. I honestly think the only thing holding back Miller (besides his FT struggles) is a lack of consistent touches. I'm not vying for him to be the focal point of the offense but there were so many times last where he'd go 8-10 minutes without attempting a shot. And even worse there were times (OK St game in Suckwater comes to mind) where he's not even out there at the end.

I don't know if this is intentional by the staff or a lack of execution from the guards in getting the ball to Miller or most likely some of both but I think Miller can be an efficient 12 - 14 ppg kind of scorer if given consistent opportunities.

agreed and i do think the strength of this team is indeed the number of players truly capable of scoring 12-15 points in a night, but the weakness at times is that very thing

the ball gets stuck in times in the hands of players who don't have the scoring potential of some of the wing and post players and the result is those extended periods of lack of touches.

you can't expect big eddie or miller to go 5 minutes working their arses off on both ends and to score with their first touch

i really think what i want to see is each of those guys to find a spot where if the opposing defense gives them the shot they are going to hit it and it all doesn't have to be 3's

if miller and baugh have improved from 3 great, would love to see peavy add a 15 foot shot to go with his ability to drive and i would love to see cork pose a decent threat down low with a move or two. all just enough to force defenses to play them honest because if that happens guarding guys like mike and baugh going to the basket is going to a [ hundin]
 

Pitt Friend

Active Member
Good Evening Friends:

We had a great time defeating your B-12 foe WVU on Thursday! However, of greater interest to TCU fans is that your Hoops Coach joined for the win. Your coach Dixon stopped through many tailgating Pitt fans offering well wishes. A close friend with whom I sit with during hoops and football games got a picture with him and chatted with him for a few minutes. When Dixon left us 6 years ago, there was a segment of Pitt Hoops fans with whom Dixon had perhaps worn out his welcome (maybe 25-35%). However, after 6 years of misery, now most hold him in the highest regard. In other words, we just didn't appreciate how good we had it then.

I've included a photo from twitter. The man with the gray hair walking with Dixon is the same man whom I referred to and quoted in my original post in this thread.

Continued best wishes for a special season.

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TCUdirtbag

Active Member
I can’t find the 2022-23 MBB thread (maybe we haven’t started one?).

High likelihood Big 12 schedule comes out this week. Came out Wednesday 9/14 last year.
 
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