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Frogs
disappointed despite two straight 20-win seasons TCU men’s basketball coach Billy Tubbs reclined in his chair slightly. Again his team won 20 games, and again rumors flew about his job status. “I’m glad we’re at the point where we’re not happy with 20 wins,” Tubbs said. “I wasn’t happy, our staff wasn’t happy and I don’t think the players were happy.” For the second consecutive year, the Frogs find themselves sitting home at tournament time despite posting 20 wins. TCU, 20-11, was plagued by inconsistency and the loss of two key players at midseason. Playing like champions at home, the Frogs could not make the types of plays that win games on the road. The series with Texas-El Paso defined TCU’s season. During a 92-89 loss in El Paso, the Frogs had the game tied with less than a minute to play. On three consecutive possessions, they missed a three pointer and had the ball stolen from senior Greedy Daniels, who was then the NCAA steals leader. TCU used a 7-2 run with 2:40 left during a 99-91 victory over the Miners on March 1. “Our season comes down to games where we needed to make plays down the stretch,” Tubbs said. “At home, we made those plays. On the road, we couldn’t.”
The Frogs, who entered play in the Western Athletic Conference at
11-4, could never muster more than a two-game winning streak in
conference. Back-to-back victories over Tulsa and Southern Methodist
were followed by losses at UTEP and Rice. “We were in that two-game pattern with (season-ending victories over) UTEP and SMU,” Tubbs said. “We dropped to Hawaii, so maybe we were destined to lose (in the NIT). Their first WAC road trip, in which the Frogs went 1-2, put the Frogs in a tailspin, Tubbs said. The Frogs, riding a 9-1 stretch at the time, never won more than three straight again. “I don’t think we ever really recovered our confidence,” Tubbs said. The dismissal of Daniels and senior Myron Anthony on Feb. 16 did little to help the situation. At the time of their dismissal, Daniels and Anthony combined for 31 points, 10.4 rebounds and 5.1 steals a game. Tubbs said he stands by his decision to remove the two players from the team. “I knew it would cost us some games, but it was right,” Tubbs said. “It comes down to: Do you put the program in a position to do right, or do you put the program in a position to win? I did what I thought was right. I’m proud of the way our players pulled together as a team.” The loss of Daniels was felt more acutely. TCU’s second-leading scorer with 16.7 points a game, Daniels excelled at breaking down defenses with his shooting and dribble penetration. Without his defensive abilities, the Frogs were forced to move out of their usual full-court pressure defense. “It didn’t let us do the things we like to do defensively,” Tubbs said. “He was the backbone of our press.”
The Frogs will lose four more players this year, seniors Ryan Carroll,
Thomas McTyer, Derrick Davenport and Larry Allaway. “We definitely have a solid core to move into Conference USA, with players who started at TCU as freshmen,” Tubbs said.
Matt Stiver |