We're No. 69! TCU Edition

The Big 12 Conference is one of the four remaining power leagues in college athletics and thus assured of receiving multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament. It’s home to a handful of Bigfoot programs that are annual participants – Kansas, Arizona, Houston, Iowa State (how and why the Cyclones are a national hoops power is one of the sport’s great curiosities) and several others that cycle in and out of the discussion. Conference realignment and consolidation have seen the league add programs such as ‘Zona and Houston and BYU in recent years, which strengthened the overall product but also made it a stone-cold gauntlet for any program that doesn’t have an elite talent pipeline. 

Which brings us to today’s entry in the almost-but-not-quite discussion of the 68-team field: the TCU Horned Frogs. Texas Christian sits squarely in the middle of the 16-team league with a decidedly bubbly resume’. Hoops guru Ken Pomeroy has the Frogs rated 50th following the weekend. NCAA Net Rankings have TCU at No. 45, and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index has them at No. 53. ESPN bracketology hound Joe Lunardi has the Horned Frogs as his first team out of the field. 

Historically, the private university in Fort Worth, Texas was a fixture in the old Southwest Conference. After the SWC demise in the mid-1990s, TCU wasn’t included with its traditional rivals in the aftermath and spent the next 16 years bouncing between the Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Mountain West before latching onto the Big 12 in 2012. The Horned Frogs have a pretty modest hoops history, but head coach and TCU alum Jamie Dixon has elevated the program in his 10 years. 

Recent history: Four NCAA appearances since 2018, including three in a row from 2022-24. As many tournament appearances since 2018 as in the previous 49 years. Also, an NIT title in 2017, all of which traces to Dixon. He was an all-conference player at TCU in the late ‘80s and inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame. He’s won more than 500 games as head coach in 23 years, first at Pittsburgh and then TCU, and is one of 11 active coaches with 15 NCAA trips. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Horned Frogs are a nod to one of the region’s common animals, which is actually a horned lizard and not an amphibian and the Texas state reptile. Its use as sports team mascot dates to the late 1800s. 

Home arena: Schollmaier Arena (cap. 6,700), which opened in 1961 and has been renovated and updated several times, most recently an $80-million upgrade completed in 2015. It also has one of the singularly distinct home courts in college hoops, a kind of multi-shaded gray mosaic that’s supposed to emulate lizard skin. 

Notable hoops alumni: Kurt Thomas (New York Knicks), Lee Nailon (15-year pro career in the NBA and overseas), Kenrich Williams (OKC Thunder), Emanuel Miller (Cleveland Cavs), Desmond Bane (Orlando Magic). 

Current season: Horned Frogs (16-9, 6-6) have won three in a row, heading into Tuesday’s XL matchup against fellow bubble resident Central Florida. No stars, but decent balance. Four players in double figures, led by 6-7 sophomore David Punch (14.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg), 6-8 junior Xavier Edmonds (12.4 ppg, 6 rpg) and 6-0 senior Jayden Pierre (10.7 ppg). Eight players average between five and 14 points per game. 

Reasons to believe: To start with, Dixon, an excellent coach and tactician who has excelled at both the college and international level. Quality wins against Florida, Iowa State and Wisconsin. A respectable 5-6 record against Quad 1 teams and 4-2 versus Quad 2 and 3 teams. Big 12 schedule elevates their profile. 

Reasons to fade them: A lot of undistinguished numbers. Middle of the pack in effective field goal percentage offense and defense. Below middle of the pack in 2-point and 3-point shooting. A non-conference strength of schedule that’s No. 336. A dreadful loss to New Orleans to open the season, a beatdown by Colorado and a loss to Utah for the Utes’ only conference win so far. Lunardi projects the Big 12 to get seven teams in the field. TCU currently is tied for eighth, so unless the Frogs step up in their final six games and conference tournament, their horns are likely to get squeezed.

What the Kids are Doing

I was 55 years old the first time I went to a record release party, and I was quite likely the oldest person in the joint. Hanging with the youths keeps me young. 

My eldest kid lives in an apartment Richmond with the lead singer of Receiver, who bill themselves thusly: "Receiver formed from the ashes of Charlottesville band Natalie Blue, as two members - vocalist and guitarist Jamie Vandenheede and bassist Liam Keough - moved to Richmond. Shortly after rounding out their lineup with guitarist Leo Pecci and drummer Sasha Kennedy, Receiver began a grueling 2025 that featured 25+ shows, an EP and an infomercial! Their sound is informed by the hypnotic rhythms and angular guitar lines of late 70s and early 80s post-punk and the guitar-pop sensibilities of the 80s college rock circuit."

Here's their first single, "Souvenir":

And this link has a couple of snippets from the release party at The Camel, a cool little dive bar/music venue on Broad Street. 

The kids are alright.

Fashion is... Teejus F'ing Christ, What are these Abominations?

 And why must I own them...

Before clicking this link, come up with what you think these cost? Then be prepared to have your mind blown by what they actually cost. What are we doing here people?

SAGTTP (Should a Gheorghie Take The Piss)?

Gheorgies,

I have a bit of a conundrum. There's a retired guy that is often at my local YMCA. I don't want to dox him, so let's call this fellow Karen.

Karen talks to everybody. I occasionally see him jawing in the weight room, but the locker room is where he prefers to work. In fact I've probably mentioned him before in the comments as the guy who played The Rush Limbaugh Show at high volume on his phone speaker in the locker room (rest in piss, el rushbo). He wears a red hat to the gym sometimes. Yes, the standard issue version.

There are lots of Karens. This is the one I'm referring to.

I make it a practice to simply ignore Karen when I see him. If I had to break down the percentages for my reasons to ignore him, I'd put it at 69% due to loudcasting his support for toxic politics and 31% not wanting to risk catching a glimpse of Karen's tiny flaccid pecker.

Today, while I was chatting with someone else Karen piped up with a comment about 'topics that set him off'. "Give us a warning of what they are so we can avoid them" I said as I finished getting on my workout clothes. I'm not sure what came next was exactly the warning I'd requested. 

Gheorghies, he Karened. "I wanna know how that Ilhan Omar went from having no money to having $30 million! I think we need to throw her in jail for 20 years and then deport her..." I imagine he kept going, but I started walking as soon as he started his diatribe. It did call to mind a revenge fantasy I may or may not have imagined in the past.

Apparently only some politicians are allowed to have money.

And Gheorghies, that's where you come in. What's a fair comeuppance for this locker room Karen? I'll share my diabolical idea first, and accept suggestions in the comments for other more sensible measures. This is all strictly hypotheical, of course.

Proposal A - Fill small squeeze bottle with urine and keep it stashed in the back of my locker, until I find myself there alone, at which point I discharge the squeeze bottle of piss into one of the vent holes in Karen's locker. A budget version golden shower, if you will. 

Surely there are some drawbacks to this plan. I know it's gross. But I'm also ridiculously hydrated most of the time, so I also worry it may not be gross enough.

Sound off and tell me - SAGTTP? TIA!

We're No. 69: Santa Clara

Five weeks away from Selection Sunday and the best event in sports, the NCAA Tournament. According to several bracketologists, almost 30 teams are locks for the 68-team field, another dozen are almost assured spots barring late-season face-plants, and roughly two dozen teams have work to do to and are on the bubble. Which brings us to the first entry in this season’s series: the Santa Clara Broncos. 

The Broncos are a case study in both seasonal evaluations that go into selection and the larger college hoops landscape that determines who gets a seat at the table. The school is a private Jesuit university located down the road from the San Francisco Bay area and California’s oldest institution of higher learning. It’s a charter member of the West Coast Conference, founded in 1952, and its notable conference hoops rivals are Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. The Broncos are No. 41 in current NCAA Net rankings, which the committee uses to separate teams, No. 38 in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings, and No. 51 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI). Herb Sendek – yes, *that* Herb Sendek, formerly of Arizona State and N.C. State – is in his 10th season as head coach. 

Let’s give them a look: 

Recent history: At least 20 wins the past five seasons, including this year. NIT appearances three of the past four seasons. A pretty fair historical footprint, with seven NCAA appearances, including the 1952 Final Four, and four other NIT trips. The Broncos have had only seven coaches since 1935, and all but one of them had career winning records. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Broncos and a mascot named Bucky, of which there appears to blessedly little history. The student section is referred to as “Ruff Riders.”

Home arena: Leavey Center (cap. 4,500) in Santa Clara, named for alum Thomas E. Leavey (Class of 1922), the founder of Farmers Insurance (cue J.K. Simmons and the TV commercial theme). 

Notable hoops alumni: Steve Nash, who led the Broncos to the NCAAs in 1993, ’95 and ’96 and was a two-time NBA MVP; Kurt Rambis; Jalen Williams (Oklahoma City Thunder), Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors); John Bryant (WCC Player of Year, fixture in German professional league to present day); Dennis Awtrey; Ken Sears (1950s All-American and first college hoops player to appear on cover of Sports Illustrated). 

Current season: Santa Clara (21-5, 12-1) is currently in first place in the WCC, a half-game ahead of Gonzaga and a game-and-a-half up on St. Mary’s in a top-heavy league in which the top three have separated from the pack. Redshirt sophomore guard Christian Hammond (16.4 ppg) is one of three double-figure scorers, along with 6-7 senior Elijah Mahi (14 ppg) and 6-9 redshirt freshman Allen Graves (11.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg). The Broncos have won eight in a row and 12 of 13, their only loss a respectable effort against the Zags. 

Reasons to believe: Depth, quality, shooting ability, unselfishness. Nine players average between five and 16 points per game and between 12 and 30 minutes per game. They have seven capable 3-point shooters and five players with at least 60 assists. They shoot 47.6 percent as a team and are outscoring opponents by 12 points per game. They beat St. Mary’s in their first meeting, and they get another crack at both the Gaels and Zags in coming weeks. A solid 7-4 record against Quad 1 and 2 competition. 

Reasons to fade them: Here’s where we get into the effects of one’s neighborhood. The West Coast Conference is a middlin’ 11th in league RPI ratings. Gonzaga is near the top of the heap in many metrics, and St. Mary’s is actually several spots ahead of Santa Clara despite the head-to-head loss. This has led to hoopologists wondering if the WCC is worthy of a third team getting into the field, i.e., a second at-large bid. The Big Ten is projected to get nine and perhaps ten at-large bids, the SEC eight and the ACC and Big 12 seven. The eighth- or ninth-place team in a conference no more deserves a spot in the NCAAs, unless it wins the automatic bid, than you or me (Dead Horse and Club alert). 

Shouldn’t matter if the league is deep and difficult, but in an era of consolidation and mega-conferences, it does because the power conferences dictate terms. Selectors use metrics and available statistical tools to justify inclusion among the Power 4 conferences and the swells, and to exclude mid-majors who did everything asked of them, but whose numbers "just didn’t add up." That’s why we’re in a season where Miami of Ohio is still undefeated and could win 30 games, but if the RedHawks lose in the MAC Tournament, there’s a very real chance they’ll be denied because of their strength of schedule or predictive metrics or league ranking or whatever. In a just and fair world, teams such as Miami-O and Santa Clara should be locks for the field if they get to 26 or 28 wins. Alas, boys and girls, we do not live in such a world.

Superb Owl Open Post

Getting you ready for the Big Game with a mini playlist and open comment thread. 

Happy International Clash Day

In terms of their commentary on the times, the only band that matters was both of their time and prescient. It's impossible to narrow down their protest tunes to find just one that resonates today, so consider this an assignment - listen to this one and go find some more.