TCU Basketball: What Did We Learn This Week?

Welcome back. After a short hiatus from this weekly article, my favorite one to write, they are back. If you are new here, this is a weekly installment where I discuss what fans can take away that might not show up in the box score. Today is January 26th, so without further ado, let's get into this.

No lead is safe, regardless of whether you have high or low expectations for the season.

Both teams Wednesday night had leads of at least 14 points, yet neither team won their game. TCU Men's Basketball fell to the Kansas Jayhawks 74-61, a game closer than the final score would indicate. They had a 14-point lead over the #12 team in the country, starting the game off fast, and even maintained a lead going into halftime, only for Kansas's talent level to take over and ultimately win the game by 13 points. Conversely, the women had a lead of 15 with 4:20 left in the third quarter. On par with their trend for the season, though, the lead slipped, and Oklahoma State would take the lead with eight seconds left in the game to win 60-59.

That was somewhat to be expected for the men's side based on what fans have seen from the team this season; they lack the talent level and depth that a roster like Kansas has. The women, however, have been dominant in the first half of games before seemingly letting their foot off the gas, allowing games to have a final score closer than what happened. This could be a product of playing a short bench rotation, only using 7-8 players and then running out of gas, or maybe even mentally allowing yourself to relax rather than keeping the pressure up. Coach Campbell has mentioned multiple times he is still waiting to see his team play a full 40 minutes, and he isn't the only one.

That was a mid-week game, so obviously, they both bounced back for a big weekend performance, right? RIGHT?

Well, one of the teams did. The Women's team achieved something that hadn't been done in 35 years: they beat Baylor. While it wasn't still a full 40-minute game from the team, we will call it a 34-minute game, just a few minutes in the fourth quarter where they struggled. What Mark Campbell has done, precisely what he has built in Fort Worth, deserves praise from fans of the city and the alums. The players he has brought in, such as Sedona Prince, Hailey Van Lith, and Madison Conner, have entirely changed the expectations for what this program can become. What was once a program left to be forgotten by students and fans had a crowd against Baylor that rivaled even the men's game against Kansas. The future looks bright, and the future is now.

The future looks bright on the men's side of things, but unlike the women, the present does not. After being unable to maintain their lead against Kansas, they traveled to UCF, where they had their worst performance this season, and maybe of the last three seasons, losing 85 to 58. They never led in this one and were down by 28 at one point. They shot 36% from the floor and only 5% from beyond the arc, finishing 1-20. At this point in the season, you are playing for next season, and beyond that, you aren't playing for any success this season. Continue to play the freshmen, develop them, and focus on retaining David Punch, who looks like a cornerstone player to build around for next season.

It was an interesting week for TCU basketball, to say the least, with a combined 1-3 record, but the futures ahead look promising for fans. My last words to leave you with this week: if you have not been to a women's basketball game this season, get to one. This success isn't promised, and this high level of a team is something fans could never see again.

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