Reality check: This is the best stretch of TCU basketball ever. Don’t take it for granted

On Selection Sunday, the TCU Horned Frogs expect to hear their name called for the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season, something that’s never been done in program history.

It’s another milestone for coach Jamie Dixon who continues to try to build TCU into a top-25 college basketball program.

Prior to Dixon’s arrival in 2016, the Horned Frogs made the expanded field just twice since the NCAA expanded its tournament to 64 teams in 1985.

It’s only taken eight seasons for Dixon to double that number to go along with a NIT championship in his first season. We’re in the midst of the best stretch of basketball in program history.

Yet ahead of Selection Sunday, why does there feel like there’s a certain restlessness among the fanbase?

Some of it has to do with how TCU closed the season. After rising to the top-20 after a strong January, the Horned Frogs’ play faltered over the last month. After Thursday’s 60-45 defeat to Houston in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals, the Horned Frogs lost five of their final eight games.

That frustration is understandable and warranted, but for some the angst comes from a belief that Dixon may have already hit his ceiling at his alma mater. For some TCU fans and alumni, making the NCAA Tournament is starting to get old. They envision Sweet Sixteens and Final Fours and things that TCU has not done since the field expanded.

In an ironic sense, the raising of expectations is something Dixon wanted and something he predicted when he first left Pittsburgh to return to Fort Worth.

“I told them they’re going to be (expletive) when we don’t win games in the tournament,” Dixon said. “They laughed at me when I said that. With what we’ve created, now every time we lose, we talk about the losses and not the history that’s being made for the first time in 50 years. But it’s good, we’re progressing.”

To be clear, the majority of the fanbase is more than happy with the run Dixon has been on. The Horned Frogs have beaten Kansas and Houston in back-to-back seasons, plus other notable wins over ranked competition.

Understanding the fanbase

When they’ve made the field, the Horned Frogs have come extremely close to making it to the second weekend with losses to Arizona and Gonzaga in the second round being by a combined eight points in the past two years. It’s a sign that TCU is close to another historic breakthrough, but it also requires patience and perspective.

Dixon and athletics director Jeremiah Donati both understand how success can make a fanbase hungrier for more.

“I was thinking about this the other day, I love after a tough loss like to Baylor or Texas Tech, reading some of our fans’ comments,” Donati said. “They were disappointed, some were angry and I can live with that. They care, it shows how far our program has come and if you think about the best times in TCU history, ironically they’re with Jamie Dixon as a player and Jamie Dixon as a coach.

“It’s been really fun to see him build this ... We took a ‘Field of Dreams’ approach which is if you build it they will come, meaning coaches, the right players will come, if the right players come you will attract more students. It’ll be a place to be and you can create a winning environment.”

Apathy is much worse than anger over a loss and it says a lot that TCU fans now expect the Horned Frogs to go on the road and win at a ranked Texas Tech or against a top-15 Baylor team.

The Field of Dreams approach has worked for the most part. With the right matchup, Schollmaier Arena is sold out; on the recruiting front, Dixon signed a top-10 transfer class last year. He followed that by signing the program’s highest-rated recruiting class in program history led by Oak Hill Academy star Micah Robinson, the third-highest recruit to ever sign with the Horned Frogs.

There’s progress everywhere you look, but at least one national college basketball analyst understands some of TCU’s fans desire for more, especially when you look at similar programs around the league.

“The standard has obviously gone up,” Stadium college basketball insider Jeff Goodman said at the Big 12 tournament. “I think people forget where it was. But you want more, you’ve gotten to the tournament and have been good, but not great. Can they take that next step? They haven’t been able to do that.

“Sometimes expectations, I don’t want to say unrealistic, but you don’t have the same clout that so many of these other programs have in the league. But I guess you watch Kansas State last year and as a fan you’re like why can’t that be us?”

Goodman, who has worked for ESPN, FOX and CBS, has covered Dixon since the coach’s time in Pittsburgh and the Big 12 itself for at least a decade. He’s seen teams like Iowa State and Baylor rise up over the last two decades and doesn’t blame TCU fans for having that ambition and thinks there’s one clear area that can help the program rise up a tier.

“I think Dixon has done a good job,” Goodman said. “But yeah, I think it’s fair to say it’s time to take the next step. My biggest criticism of Jamie has been the non-conference schedule, going back to Pittsburgh. I’ve had this thought every year. Could they have been better in the Big 12 if they were more tested? They were older, yeah they had some new guys, but they brought guys back.

“But it’s hard these days when you’re working on your schedule to know who you’re going to have on your team. So I understand it, but it’s been a staple of his. I’ve given him crap for it and he’s given me crap back, I get it, that’s how he’s done it to make the NCAA Tournament three straight years. Jamie’s got job security, I want coaches with job security to play those games.”

Dixon has pushed back against the criticism about TCU’s weak strength of schedule in the non-conference multiple times throughout the season. Even after the win over Oklahoma on Wednesday, Dixon said he knew it was likely that TCU would be on the bubble after they lost their only two games of consequence against Clemson and Nevada.

It’s a calculated gamble, hoping the team rises to form in such a tough league, but as Goodman pointed out it’s worked for Dixon and TCU. As big as those non-conference games are, none are bigger than the ones in the NCAA Tournament.

Dixon’s admirers

Regardless of scheduling preferences, there’s no denying how good of a coaching job Dixon has done at TCU. Despite Houston dominating the quarterfinal matchup, Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson couldn’t help but praise Dixon for the job he’s done and how physical his team is.

“I’ve always admired and respected Jamie Dixon,” Sampson said. “I really have. Jamie’s been an outstanding college coach for some time. I remember when he was at Pittsburgh and the job he did there and now coming home to his alma mater and the job he’s doing now. That’s a sign of an outstanding coach like Jamie is doing it every year, he always has his team in the hunt every single year.

“I think Jamie’s one of those guys, when you think about a really good coach you think about Jamie Dixon.”

Ultimately this is a situation Dixon isn’t unfamiliar with as he ran into it at Pittsburgh. From 2003-16 the Panthers had their best stretch in program history and only missed the tournament twice. Pitt had two Sweet Sixteen appearances, an Elite Eight appearance, two regular season Big East titles and the 2008 Big East tournament championship.

But despite the lofty top-25 rankings and high seeds in the tournament, Pittsburgh never broke through for the Final Four and eventually there was frustration about not breaking through.

He had a 328-123 record at Pittsburgh and owns a 160-109 mark at TCU. Combined, he has a 67.8% winning percentage.

Dixon knows he’s now competing with his own success in the eyes of some fans. While some of the criticism may be an unintended consequence of raising TCU’s floor, for Dixon the rise in wins and expectations was all a part of what he envisioned.

“It was my dream for TCU to be respected nationally and for people to see TCU on TV,” DIxon said. “I love to see them talk about TCU basketball.”

Whether it’s about appreciating how far he’s brought the program or what he needs to do next, Dixon is okay with it as long as the people care.

As for those that may be getting impatient with the process, just remember that comparison can be the thief of joy. TCU basketball isn’t Kansas or even Baylor, but neither of those programs became Final Four caliber overnight.

So if the best stretch of TCU basketball isn’t enough for you, just look at Pittsburgh which has more head coaches than NCAA Tournament appearances since Dixon left.

Maybe the program’s standing could be better, but we know for certainty it could be a whole lot worse. Whether TCU makes it to the Sweet Sixteen or goes one and done, don’t take this moment in history for granted.