The Horned Frogs last season won their final five regular-season games then their Big 12 tournament opener to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in 10 seasons since Jamie Dixon returned to his
alma mater. Before that, they had been only once since making it in 1987 when Dixon was a senior guard. Even though their leading scorer transferred, the Frogs still return 51% of their scoring, including double-digit scorers Xavier Edmonds and Micah Robinson. Among 10 newcomers are two in-conference transfers.
Edmonds, a 6-foot-8 forward, had 11 consecutive double-doubles in Big 12 play and finished last season averaging 12.8 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. ... Robinson, a 6-foot guard, added 10.9 ppg. Guard Brock Harding had 195 assists while setting a school record with his 2.95 assist-to-turnover ratio. They are the three returning starters.
David Punch, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 14.1 points, transferred to Texas. Liutauras Lelevicius, a forward from Lithuania who averaged 8.0 points, went to Clemson. ... Gavin Sykes was the Big West freshman of the year last season when scoring 19.4 points a game for Long Beach State. ... The Frogs signed top junior college recruit guard Trent Lincoln, who had 19.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists a game for Gulf Coast State in Florida. ... Luke Bamgboye is a 6-foot-10 forward who transferred from Texas Tech, where he started the final eight games last season after All-America post JT Toppin's knee injury. ... DJ Thomas is a 6-foot-10 Texas native who played 35 games a freshman last season at West Virginia. ... Ryan Hunt, a 7-foot Australian, averaged 14.9 points and 11.9 rebounds at Eastern Arizona.
TCU opens the season with five consecutive home games, with the opener Monday against Lindenwood and the fifth on Nov. 19 against Texas A&M. In a Thanksgiving week tournament in Las Vegas, they play No. 14 Miami in their first game and could face No. 16 Michigan the following game. TCU has only one true road game, Notre Dame on Dec. 5, before its Big 12 opener Jan. 2 at No. 10 Houston.
Dixon's 199 wins are six shy of the school-record 205 held by Buster Brannon, who also lost 259 games from 1948-67. Dixon is 199-138 at TCU, and 527-261 overall including his 13 seasons at Pittsburgh. ... The Frogs went international for two first-year forwards: 6-6 Ricards Aizpurs from Latvia and 6-10 Milos Sojic from Serbia.
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