Oct. 20, 2004

FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU men's basketball program will host its annual media day on Wednesday, Oct. 27 beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Varsity Club Room in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. Head coach Neil Dougherty and select TCU players will be on hand for interviews regarding the upcoming season at that time.

TCU returns four starters from last year's team, which finished the season with a 12-17 record, including a 7-9 Conference USA mark. The Horned Frogs blossomed late in the season, picking up a 25-point win over 10th-ranked Louisville and grabbing a pair of victories over Marquette. The Frogs' win over the Cardinals was the program's first over a top-10 team since 1990, and the Horned Frogs became just the third team in three years to leave Milwaukee with a triumph over the Golden Eagles.

In addition to having four starters back from last season (only guard Nucleus Smith, who averaged 8.6 points and 3.8 rebounds, is gone due to graduation), the 11 TCU returnees played 5,038 of the team's total of 5,825 minutes last year (86.5 percent). They also accounted for 86.9 percent of the team's offense and 88.9 percent of its rebounding. The top three scorers (Corey Santee, Marcus Shropshire and Chudi Chinweze) and top two rebounders (Chinweze and Femi Ibikunle) are back in Fort Worth.

The upcoming campaign will mark Dougherty's third season in charge of the Horned Frogs' program. He has five seniors on this year's squad: Santee, Shropshire, Aaron Curtis, Marcus Sloan and Corey Valsin.

Lunch will be followed by question and answer sessions with TCU coaches and players. Media members are invited and encouraged to attend the practice session, which will begin at 3:00 p.m. To arrange a special interview or photo, contact Drew Harris at (817) 257-5378 prior to the day of the event. As a reminder, TCU's team policy does not allow interviews with newcomers to take place until after the first game of the season. A schedule of events follows.

Media Day Schedule
12:30 p.m. - Lunch
1:00 p.m. - Q&A with Head Coach Neil Dougherty
1:30 p.m. - Q&A with selected TCU players
2:00 p.m. - Tour of Ed & Rae Schollmaier Basketball Complex for any interested media members
3:00 p.m. - Practice open to media

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