TCU Opens NCAA Run Tonight vs. South Dakota State
3/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 22, 2009
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THE OPPONENT: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND - RALEIGH REGIONAL
#10 TCU (20-10; 12-4 MWC) vs.
#7 SOUTH DAKOTA ST. (31-2; 17-1 SUMMIT)
Lubbock, Texas. • United Spirit Arena (15,050) • Sunday, March 22 • 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN2 • Talent: Ron Franklin (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (color)
Radio: KTCU (88.7 FM), gofrogs.com • Talent: Jeff Williams (play-by-play); Jeff Lewis (color)
Internet (gofrogs.com): Free Live Radio, Live Stats
Series vs. South Dakota State: First Meeting
LUBBOCK, Texas--TCU begins its eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last nine years as the No. 10 seed tonight, when it takes on seventh-seeded South Dakota State at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock Texas. Tip-off for the contest, which will be televised by ESPN2, is set for 6 p.m.
Viewers in the DFW Metroplex and South Dakota areas will receive full coverage of Sunday night's game on ESPN2, while the rest of the country will be able to view the game in its entirety on ESPN Full Court and ESPN360.com. Those not in the two regional coverage areas will receive wraparound coverage of all of the NCAA women's tournament games in action at the time.
The winner between the Lady Frogs and Jackrabbits will face the winner of No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 15 UT San Antonio Tuesday in the second round.
The Frogs bring a 20-10 overall record into the NCAA Tournament after falling in their latest outing, an 84-75 loss to UNLV in the second round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament March 11 in Las Vegas. TCU compiled a 12-4 record in the MWC this season and enters the weekend with a 7-2 record over its last nine games. The squad is 5-7 in its seven previous NCAA appearances.
TCU's first-round opponent, South Dakota State, will be playing in its first NCAA Tournament at the Division I level after compiling a 31-2 record and winning both the Summit League regular-season and tournament titles. SDSU, in only its fifth season as a member of Division I, brings a 17-game winning streak into Sunday's matchup. The squad won the NCAA Division II title in 2002-03, its next-to-last season playing at that level.
Sunday's game marks TCU's first appearance on ESPN2 since its last NCAA Tournament appearance on March 18, 2007, against Ole Miss. Ron Franklin (play-by-play) and Fran Frashilla (analyst) will serve as the broadcast team. The matchup will also be carried live on the radio throughout the Metroplex on 88.7 KTCU-FM with Frog play-by-play man Jeff Williams and analyst Jeff Lewis calling the action. A link to a live stream of the radio broadcast can be found on GoFrogs.com, in addition to a live stats feed via Gametracker.
FROG QUICK NOTES
-TCU has reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in five of its previous seven appearances.
-Five TCU players own previous NCAA tourney experience, but only Micaela Younger in a Lady Frog uniform.
-TCU has won at least 20 games in eight of the last nine seasons.
-TCU is one of only four teams this season with two wins against teams that were ranked No. 3 or higher in at least one of the national polls at the time of the game (also Stanford, North Carolina and Texas A&M).
-TCU ranks among the top-11 teams nationally in FT percentage (No. 8), fewest turnovers (No. 9), 3FG defense (No. 10) and 3FG percentage (No. 11).
-TCU leads the Mountain West Conference in scoring (69.7 ppg), 3FG percentage (37.2%), 3FG defense (26.8%), 3FG made (6.80 3pg) and fewest turnovers (13.7 tpg).
-TCU is the only MWC team with at least 11 league wins in each of the Frogs' four seasons in the conference.
-TCU is 12-0 this season when holding the opponent to 59 points or fewer.
-Helena Sverrisdottir and TK LaFleur give the Frogs two players with at least 400 points in the same season for only the second time in program history (also 2006-07: Adrianne Ross-553, Ashley Davis-456).
-TCU has three of the top six players in the MWC in 3FG percentage in LaFleur (40.0%-1st), Sverrisdottir
(38.8%-3rd) and Emily Carter (37.8%-6th).
-Carter has made at least one trey in 17 consecutive outings, the longest current streak in the MWC.
-Sverrisdottir is the only player ranked among the MWC's top 7 in scoring (No. 3), rebounding (No. 6), assists
(No. 2) and steals (No. 7).
-Sverrisdottir is one of two MWC players with two games of 10 assists this season (Air Force's Anna Gault).
-TCU is on pace to shatter school records in FT percentage (78.1%) and fewest turnovers (13.7 tpg). The current records were set in 1999-2000 (72.6%) and 2006-07 (16.0 tpg), respectively.
-Despite having taken 112 fewer field-goal attempts this season than its opponents, TCU has made 19 more shots (a 40.4 to 37.0 advantage in percentage). The stat also holds true for 3-pointers, as the Frogs have eight more buckets despite 184 fewer attempts than the opponent (a 37.2 to 26.8 percent advantage).
TCU ALL-TIME IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
TCU owns a 5-7 record in the NCAA Tournament during its seven previous appearances. The squad advanced to the tournament seven straight seasons between 2001 and 2007 before playing last season in the WNIT. The Frogs reached the second round in their first four NCAA appearances.
2007 - Dayton Region, No. 10 Seed
(7) Ole Miss 88, (10) TCU 74 (Hartford Civic Center - Hartford, Conn.)
2006 - Cleveland Region, No. 11 Seed
(11) TCU 69, (6) Texas A&M 65 (Sovereign Bank Arena - Trenton, N.J.)
(3) Rutgers 82, (11) TCU 48 (Sovereign Bank Arena - Trenton, N.J.)
2005 - Tempe Region, No. 7 Seed
(10) Oregon 58, (7) TCU 55 (Bank of America Arena - Seattle, Wash.)
2004 - West Region, No. 6 Seed
(6) TCU 70, (11) Temple 57 (The Liacouras Center - Philadelphia, Pa.)
(3) Georgia 85, (6) TCU 71 (The Liacouras Center - Philadelphia, Pa.)
2003 - East Region, No. 9 Seed
(9) TCU 50, (8) Michigan State 47 (Gampel Pavilion - Storrs, Conn.)
(1) Connecticut 81, (9) TCU 66 (Gampel Pavilion - Storrs, Conn.)
2002 - East Region, No. 8 Seed
(8) TCU 55, (9) Indiana 45 (Cameron Indoor Stadium - Durham, N.C.)
(1) Duke 76, (8) TCU 66 (Cameron Indoor Stadium - Durham, N.C.)
2001 - East Region, No. 11 Seed
(11) TCU 77, (6) Penn State 75 (Thomas Assembly Center - Ruston, La.)
(3) Louisiana Tech 80, (11) TCU 59 (Thomas Assembly Center - Ruston, La.)
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
SDSU, winner of both the Summit League regular-season and tournament titles, posted a 31-2 record in only its fifth season as a member of Division I. The Jackrabbits trail only undefeated UConn in won-loss percentage (93.9%) and rank among the nation's leaders in scoring margin (+18.6, No. 3), 3-point field-goals per game (8.2 3pg, No. 5) and scoring defense (54.4 ppg, No. 16) and offense (73.0, No. 19). Summit League Player of the Year Jennifer Warkenthien leads the team in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.6 rpg), while guard Jill Young ranks third nationally in individual 3-point field-goal percentage (45.2%).
NO NCAA EXPERIENCE? THINK AGAIN
TCU may return only one player who has seen action in its previous NCAA Tournament appearances in Micaela Younger, but several other Lady Frogs also own experience from playing in the Big Dance.
4Micaela Younger appeared briefly in TCU's 2006 second-round loss to Rutgers and later scored five points in 10 minutes of action during a 2007 first-round setback to Ole Miss.
-TK LaFleur helped Nebraska earn its first NCAA bid in seven years as a sophomore in 2007. She played 21 minutes during a first-round loss to Temple, totaling two points and three rebounds.-
-Chantelle John appeared briefly in George Washington's 2006 first-round victory over Old Dominion, then played in two of GW's three games in 2007 during its run to the Sweet 16.
-Eboni Mangum played in the 2006 NCAA Tournament First Round with Louisiana Tech and scored four points with five assists in 18 minutes of action.
-Rachel Rentschler appeared in both of Texas' two NCAA games last March as a true freshman, averaging seven minutes. She played 11 minutes in UT's first-round win over Minnesota.
RETURNING TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
TCU returns to the site of one of the most memorable wins in recent program history this weekend at United Spirit Arena. Last season, the Frogs topped Texas Tech, 81-74, during the third round of the WNIT to steal their first win in 38 all-time meetings against the Lady Raiders. The win snapped the longest losing streak in team history against a single opponent. The game also marked the 500th contest in the career of Head Coach Jeff Mittie.
This week's trip to Lubbock marks the first NCAA Tournament game TCU will have ever played in Texas, and the second-closest NCAA destination in program history. The closest regional site was a trip to Ruston, La., during the 2001 tourney, the squad's first NCAA berth.
OTHER TOURNAMENT NOTEABLES
-TCU is the No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament for its second straight appearance (also 2007). The Frogs have earned each seed from Nos. 6 through 11 at least once.
-TCU has received nine consecutive postseason tournament bids when counting last season's WNIT appearance. The Frogs had never appeared in postseason play before Head Coach Jeff Mittie's arrival.
-Mittie has recorded 12 postseason bids, 10 in NCAA play, in his 17 seasons as a head coach (also one WNIT at Arkansas State; two NCAA Div. III bids at Missouri Southern).
-TCU's trip to Lubbock will be only 320 miles, the second-shortest among its all-time NCAA appearances. The average distance among its other seven tourney trips has been 1,475 miles.
-TCU has not played a neutral-site game in the state of Texas since March 6, 1996, when it dropped a 109-78 decision to Texas in the first round of the Southwest Conference Tournament in Dallas.
Players Mentioned
