Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Frogs gear up for Conference USA
Mittie wants opposing teams to adjust to TCU’s style of play, not vice versa
By Jordan Blum
Staff Reporter

Adjusting to a new conference is always a challenge for a young, inexperienced team, but women’s basketball head coach Jeff Mittie says he would rather force the other teams in Conference USA to adjust to the Frog’s style of play.

With a move to C-USA, the Frogs will face more challenging opponents and new rivalries. However, Mittie said the move will help the team rather than hinder them.

“Any time you change leagues certain ones are shooters or power leagues and Conference USA is a very athletic league,” Mittie said. “This year’s team may take a little longer to gel than last year’s, but they’re more talented now and the new conference will give them more seasoning for the post-season.”

Mittie said a difficult strength of schedule will help TCU’s prestige and postseason ranking.

“Record isn’t always an indicator of how good you are,” he said. “Last year we had to win the WAC tournament to guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament. Louisville lost in the first round of the Conference USA tournament last year and still got into the NCAA’s. This conference could have five or six teams playing in the postseason on a good year.”

C-USA features last year’s conference champ Louisville (19-10) and Tulane (22-10), who both lost in the first round of the NCAA’s, as well as featured players such as UAB’s Deanna Jackson (25.1 ppg), last year’s C-USA Player of the Year, and Freshman of the Year Chandi Jones of Houston.

Sophomore guard Ebony Shaw said expectations are high for their performance in C-USA and that the team will be prepared to face new competition.

“The new conference will be a great experience and because it’s more highly rated than the WAC there won’t be as much pressure in the conference tournament,” Shaw said. “Our preparations will be similar to last year. We’re not too familiar with the other teams yet, but the coaches are really good at getting tapes ready and making good scouting reports for us.”

Sophomore forward Tiffany Evans said the Frogs hope to improve on last year’s success, but they will first have to earn the respect of their opponents.

“We have a pyramid of goals in our locker room and getting back to the Sweet 16 is at the top, but that’s just a starting point because we definitely want to go even further,” Evans said. “We’re picked third in the conference (behind Tulane and Louisville) because we’re new and they don’t know about us yet. So we have to earn our place in the league.

“(Our ranking) would be different if we were staying in the WAC, but we’re in a new conference and we have to earn their respect. We’re going to do our best to go beyond our ranking,” Evans said.

Lisa Stockton, head coach of Tulane, said TCU may have a tough transition, but the Frogs will be a valuable addition to C-USA.

“It’s difficult for all the teams to have a national conference with so much travel involved. The transition will be tough for TCU at first, but I expect them to adjust to it over the course of the season,” Stockton said. “TCU is coming off a Sweet 16 season and Louisville returns all of its players, and any of the top five teams are consistently good and have a chance to win the conference.”

Mittie said the coaching staff is still working on learning about C-USA opponents, but he said teams like Tulane, Louisville and UAB will be very challenging and the Frogs already have a natural rivalry with Houston.

Mittie said he’d rather the Frogs focus on their own play than who they are playing.

“I’m concerned about us doing what we do well,” he said. “What we do, I want to do very well. Hopefully, (our opponents’) style of play will be one where everybody says we’ve got to make adjustments to match you.”

Jordan Blum
j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu