March 16, 2006
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NEXT UP ON THE TCU DOCKET
* On Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. (EST), the 11th-seeded TCU Lady Frogs will face the sixth-seeded Texas A&M Aggies for the first time since the breakup of the Southwest Conference in an NCAA Tournament first-round matchup in the Cleveland Regional. TCU is making its sixth straight appearance in the tournament, the longest streak by any school in the state of Texas. The game, played in Trenton, N.J., will be televised on ESPN2.
LAST TIME OUT FOR TCU AND TEXAS A&M
* The TCU Lady Frogs were knocked out of the Mountain West Conference Tournament by regular-season champion BYU in the MWC semifinals last Friday. BYU held TCU under 30 percent shooting from the field in the Cougars' 63-53 win.
* Texas A&M suffered a tough 53-52 loss to No. 10 Baylor in the semis of the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The game featured 11 lead changes and 11 ties and neither team had a lead larger than three over the final 10 minutes.
TCU vs. TEXAS A&M
* The Lady Frogs are just 2-27 in 29 previous meetings (dating to the 1981 season) with their former Southwest Conference rival, but the teams have not met since the league's breakup after the 1995-96 season.
* TCU's two wins came back-to-back, the second meeting of the 1989 SWC season by an 81-68 score (Feb. 4, 1989) and the first of the 1990 league slate by a 55-51 count (Jan. 6, 1990).
* TCU has lost 13 straight games to Texas A&M, with the last five by an average of 30.2 points per game.
TOUCHING ON TOURNEY HISTORY
* TCU is appearing in its sixth straight NCAA Tournament. The Lady Frogs had never appeared in the event until 2001.
* TCU has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in four of the previous five seasons. Last year, the seventh-seeded Lady Frogs were defeated 58-55 in the opening round by Oregon.
3/17/01: (11) TCU 77, (6) Penn State 75
3/19/01: (3) Louisiana Tech 80, (11) TCU 59
3/15/02: (8) TCU 55, (9) Indiana 45
3/17/02: (1) Duke 76, (8) TCU 66
3/23/03: (9) TCU 50, (8) Michigan State 47
3/25/03: (1) Connecticut 81, (9) TCU 66
3/20/04: (6) TCU 70, (11) Temple 57
3/22/04: (3) Georgia 85, (6) TCU 71
3/19/05: (10) Oregon 58, (7) TCU 55
MITTIE VS. BLAIR
* TCU's Jeff Mittie and Texas A&M's Gary Blair are good friends and golfing buddies. Prior to both coming to the Lone Star State, the two were coaches in the same state once previously (1995-96 through 1998-99), with Mittie at Arkansas State and Blair at Arkansas.
* Mittie owns a 1-2 all time record against Blair with all three meetings occuring between TCU and Arkansas. TCU's win over the Ladybacks was a 60-58 triumph on Dec. 29, 2001, in Ft. Worth. Mittie's Arkansas State team never faced Arkansas.
NCAA REGULARS
* TCU is one of just 14 NCAA Division I teams to be selected for the Women's Basketball Championship in each of the past six seasons. The other 13 are Connecticut, Duke, Georgia, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Purdue, Stanford, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
THE LONE STAR STATE
* TCU is the only school in the state of Texas to have appeared in each of the past six NCAA Tournaments.
* Making that statistic even more impressive is the fact that TCU has represented three different conferences over that time: Western Athletic Conference (2001), Conference USA (2002-05) and Mountain West Conference (2005).
THE ROAD MOST TRAVELED
* Since going to Ruston, La., in 2001 (which is just 289 miles from Fort Worth, Texas) for their first NCAA Championship appearance, the Lady Frogs have needed a plane for their other first-round destinations and have gone further than any other school over that time. In the past six years, TCU has traveled a total of 8,197 miles on its NCAA first-round trips, an average of 1,366.2 miles per year, the most of any school.
* In 2002, TCU headed to Durham, N.C., which is 1,201 miles away. The following year, the Lady Frogs went 1,734 miles to Storrs, Conn. In 2004, TCU traveled 1,520 miles to Philadelphia. TCU's 2005 destination of Seattle marked the farthest trip at 2,199 miles. This year's site of Trenton, N.J., is 1,543 miles from Cowtown.
CREME OF THE CROP
* ESPN.com's Charlie Creme tabbed the TCU-Texas A&M game as the best matchup of the tournament's 32 first-round games.
