Frog Family: TCU reached far and wide to put together perfect 2022 team

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Led by guard Damion Baugh (10), TCU basketball celebrates its win over No. 19 LSU at Schollmaier Arena on Jan. 29, 2022. (Esau Rodriguez Olvera/Head Staff Photographer)

A nearly-total overhaul for the TCU basketball roster last offseason had many doubting if the Frogs would be able to find success in the 2021-2022 season.

Because of that, TCU was picked to finish 8th in the Big 12 preseason poll, and few believed they had a shot at making the NCAA tournament.

On Friday, the Frogs will play their first NCAA tournament game since 2018, looking for their first win in the Big Dance since 1987.

“We’ve been talking about that since the day we got here. We were picked eighth. We were not picked to be in the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “That’s what it is at the start of the year. If you looked at all the things that were put out, and no one here has been in the NCAA Tournament. We’re young. We’ve got 10 new players, but we proved a lot of people wrong.”

While proving people wrong, the Frogs pride themselves on togetherness, which is rare for a team with as much personnel turnovers as TCU.

“The transition was easier than I expected because, collectively, as a group, like Micah [Peavy] said, we just sync very well together,” Texas A&M-transfer Emanuel Miller said earlier this season.

To put together the team that would gel quickly and get TCU back to March Madness, Dixon and the Frogs had to look far and wide.

Here’s a look at where each member of TCU’s rotation came from, how they impact the team, and what making the NCAA tournament means to them in their personal journey:

Nine seed TCU takes on eight seed Seton Hall in the First Round of the NCAA tournament on Friday at 8:57 p.m. in San Diego, Calif.