TCU Opens NCAA Tournament Saturday vs. Dayton
3/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 18, 2010
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2010 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS FIRST & SECOND ROUNDS
GAME #31 - FIRST ROUND
#9 TCU (22-8; 12-4 MWC) vs. #8 DAYTON (24-7; 11-3 A-10)
GAME DAY INFORMATION
Knoxville, Tenn. • Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678) • Saturday, March 20 • 2:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2 • Talent: Dave O'Brien (pxp), Doris Burke (analyst)
Radio: KTCU (88.7 FM), gofrogs.com • Talent: Jeff Williams (play-by-play), Jeff Lewis (analyst)
Internet (gofrogs.com): Free Live Radio, Live Stats
Series Record vs. Dayton: 0-0 • Last Meeting: First Meeting
TCU Head Coach: Jeff Mittie (Mo. West., '89) • Record: 238-114 in 11 years at TCU (389-173 overall)
UD Head Coach: Jim Jabir (Nazareth, '84) • Record: 114-102 in 7 years at Dayton (334-325 overall)
POSSIBLE SECOND-ROUND OPPONENTS
#1 TENNESSEE (30-2; 15-1 SEC) or #16 AUSTIN PEAY (15-17; 11-7 OVC)
Series Record vs. UT: 0-4 • Last Meeting: Dec. 19, 2004 (L, 55-82)
UT Head Coach: Pat Summitt (UT-Martin, '74) • Record: 1,035-195 in 36 years at UT
Series Record vs. APSU: No Prior Meetings
APSU Head Coach: Carrie Daniels (Austin Peay, '96) • Record: 48-76 in 4 years at AP
FORT WORTH--TCU begins its ninth NCAA Tournament run in the last 10 years as the No. 9 seed in the Memphis Regional on Saturday, March 20, when it takes on eighth-seeded Dayton at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. Tip-off for the contest, which will be televised by ESPN2, is set for 2:30 p.m. ET. The winner between the Frogs and Flyers will face the winner of No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 16 Austin Peay in Monday's NCAA second round.
The Frogs bring a 22-8 overall record into the NCAA Tournament after falling to Utah in the semifinals of last weekend's Mountain West Conference Championship. The squad, which earned an at-large bid to the tournament field, compiled a 12-4 record in the MWC this season while winning the league's regular-season championship. The squad is 5-8 in eight previous NCAA appearances, having reached second-round play in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
TCU's first-round opponent, Dayton, will be playing in its first NCAA Tournament after posting a 24-7 record and finishing second in the Atlantic 10 regular-season standings.
Saturday's contest marks TCU's first appearance on ESPN2 since its last NCAA Tournament game on March 22, 2009 against South Dakota State. Dave O'Brien (play-by-play) and Doris Burke (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 is one of only 14 schools with nine NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 10 years along with Baylor, Duke, Georgia, Liberty, LSU, Rutgers, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Stanford, Tennessee, UConn and Vanderbilt. TCU has reached the second round in five of its previous eight NCAA Tournament appearances.
- TCU ranked among the nation's top-50 teams in 11 categories Monday: turnover margin (20th), assist-turnover ratio (25th), assists (26th), FT shooting (27th), scoring offense (28th), 3FG defense (28th), scoring margin (29th), 3FG shooting (36th), 3FG made (38th), FG defense (43rd) and win-loss percentage (43rd).
- TCU is the only MWC team with at least 11 league wins and a top-3 finish in each of the last five seasons. The squad's 59-21 MWC record over the period is second only to Utah (61-19).
- TCU's regular-season MWC championship marks the third in school history, each of which have come in Jeff Mittie's tenure as head coach. The three titles have been in three different conferences (WAC in 2000-01, CUSA in 2001-02).
- TCU has now totaled 20 or more wins in nine of the last 10 seasons. The program had never reached the 20-win plateau prior to head coach Jeff Mittie's arrival in 1999-2000.
- TCU's bench has outscored the opponent bench in 24 of 30 games this season, by an average of 7.8 ppg.
- TCU is 17-0 when shooting 40.0% or better from the field, 18-1 when outshooting the opponent and 18-2 when committing fewer turnovers.
- Helena Sverrisdottir and Emily Carter give TCU two first-team all-conference selections in a single season for the first time in program history.
- Carter is ranked No. 17 nationally in FT shooting (87.1%). She is just short of the allowed minimum of 3FGs per game, but would be No. 29 nationally in 3FG shooting (42.1%). Sverrisdottir is No. 30 in assists (5.2 apg) and Starr Crawford is No. 63 in rebounding (8.8 rpg).
- Sverrisdottir is the only individual ranked among the MWC's top-15 players in assists (No. 2), steals (No. 3), rebounding (No. 8) and scoring (No. 9).
- Carter led TCU with a 15.7-point scoring average in MWC play, which ranked No. 5 in the league. She paces the conference in FT shooting for all games, while coming in at No. 3 in 3FG shooting and No. 6 in scoring (14.5 ppg).
- Carter's FT percentage would rank No. 2 in TCU single-season history behind only record-holder Amy Sutton (87.6% in 1998-99), while her 3FG rate would be No. 5 all-time.
- Eboni Mangum's 45.7% FG percentage in MWC play ranked tops among all league guards.
- TK LaFleur (10.6 ppg; nine starts) is the MWC's current scoring leader for players with 10 starts or fewer.
- TCU leads the MWC through all games this season for scoring offense (72.8 ppg), scoring margin (+12.0), steals (9.8 spg), turnovers forced (20.7 tpg) and turnover margin (+4.6 tpg).
TCU ALL-TIME IN THE NCAA TOURNEY
TCU owns a 5-8 record in the NCAA Tournament during its eight previous appearances. The squad advanced to the tournament seven straight seasons between 2001 and 2007 prior to a one-year absence and reached the second round in its first four NCAA appearances.
- 2009 - Raleigh Region, No. 10 Seed
Lubbock, Texas - American Spirit Arena
First Round: (7) South Dakota State 90, (10) TCU 55
- 2007 - Dayton Region, No. 10 Seed
Hartford, Conn. - Hartford Civic Center
First Round: (7) Ole Miss 88, (10) TCU 74
- 2006 - Cleveland Region, No. 11 Seed
Trenton, N.J. - Sovereign Bank Arena
First Round: (11) TCU 69, (6) Texas A&M 65
Second Round: (3) Rutgers 82, (11) TCU 48
- 2005 - Tempe Region, No. 7 Seed
Seattle, Wash. - Bank of America Arena
First Round: (10) Oregon 58, (7) TCU 55
- 2004 - West Region, No. 6 Seed
Philadelphia, Pa. - The Liacouras Center
First Round: (6) TCU 70, (11) Temple 57
Second Round: (3) Georgia 85, (6) TCU 71
- 2003 - East Region, No. 9 Seed
Storrs, Conn. - Gampel Pavilion
First Round: (9) TCU 50, (8) Michigan State 47
Second Round: (1) Connecticut 81, (9) TCU 66
- 2002 - East Region, No. 8 Seed
Durham, N.C. - Cameron Indoor Stadium
First Round: (8) TCU 55, (9) Indiana 45
Second Round: (1) Duke 76, (8) TCU 66
- 2001 - East Region, No. 11 Seed
Ruston, La. - Thomas Assembly Center
First Round: (11) TCU 77, (6) Penn State 75
Second Round: (3) Louisiana Tech 80, (11) TCU 59
FROGS IN THE NCAA TOURNEY
While seven of the players on the roster appeared in TCU's 2009 NCAA Tournament trip, four Frogs previously appeared in the tourney with former teams.
- Chantelle John: Leads all Frogs with four career games played in the NCAA Tournament, including two in 2007 for George Washington and one in 2006 for GW... scored nine points in TCU's 2009 loss to South Dakota State, going 3-for-3 from the field.
- Rachel Rentschler: Has three career games played in the NCAA Tournament, including two for Texas in 2008... averaging 1.0 points and 1.3 boards per game in NCAA play, with a high of three points vs. SDSU last season.
- TK LaFleur: Averaging 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in two games... scored 10 points in 34 minutes during last season's loss to SDSU... previously played 21 minutes during Nebraska's 2007 first-round loss to Temple, totaling two points and three boards.
- Eboni Mangum: Made her only NCAA appearance with Louisiana Tech in 2006, totaling four points and five assists in 18 minutes in a first-round loss to Florida State.
- Helena Sverrisdottir: Led TCU with 12 points, eight boards and five assists in last season's loss to SDSU.
- Emily Carter: Scored 11 points vs. SDSU.
- Micah Garoutte: Six points and five boards vs. SDSU.
- Antoinette Thompson: Two points, two boards and five assists vs. SDSU.
OTHER TOURNAMENT NOTABLES
- TCU is the No. 9 seed for the second time, and the first time since 2003. This season's seeding marks the squad's highest position since a No. 7 seed in 2005.
- TCU has been sent east for the NCAA First and Second Rounds all but twice, in 2005 (Seattle) and 2009 (Lubbock, Texas).
- TCU has made 10 consecutive trips to the postseason overall when including 2008, when the team reached the quarterfinals of the Women's NIT.
- Head coach Jeff Mittie has recorded 13 postseason bids, 11 in NCAA play, in his 17 seasons as a head coach (also one WNIT at Arkansas State and two NCAA Div. II bids at Missouri Western).
Players Mentioned
