Oklahoma Coach Says TCU Women Are NCAA Tournament Team
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Is TCU an NCAA Women’s Tournament team? Oklahoma head coach Jennie Baranczyk believes so.
She even said it after her team’s 69-53 win over the Horned Frogs in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
“I feel like they’re an NCAA Tournament team,” Baranczyk said. “Obviously they’ve had some injuries. And now that they’re back and have a few of their players back from significant injuries, they’re a really good team. It is hard to prepare in your conference tournament when you’re playing a nearly different team than you played a month ago.”
TCU finished the season 20-11 with the loss. Now, they have to wait to see where they end up in the postseason.
The Horned Frogs started the season with 14 straight wins, but as injuries mounted the numbers became so small that the Horned Frogs had to forfeit two games with Kansas State and Iowa State in mid-January and solicit walk-on tryouts.
Among the lost players were starters Sedona Prince and Madison Conner, who returned later in the season, and guard Jaden Owens, whose career ended with her injury.
First-year Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell believes there is a place for his team in the postseason and he believes some metrics back up his team being included in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think with Madison and Sedona healthy and we were 17-3,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, because of injuries — and I know committee takes injuries into account — but with them healthy I think we have one of the better teams in college basketball, definitely among the Top 64.”
TCU ended the regular season winning four of their final five games and outlasted Oklahoma State in the Big 12 second round. In NCAA NET rankings the Horned Frogs are No. 44, a ranking that ordinarily lead to a postseason berth.
But Campbell acknowledges this season has been anything but ordinary. If the NCAA Tournament doesn’t come calling, the Horned Frogs could end up in the WNIT — which Kansas won last season — or the newly-created WBIT, which falls under the NCAA umbrella.
He kept his rotation tight on Saturday, playing just six. But he said the Horned Frogs do have two more scholarship players available now, plus their walk-ons, if a postseason invitation emerges.
“Now we just get to sit and wait and figure out what lies ahead for the postseason,” Campbell said.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
