The 2017–18 TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball team represented

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, led by head coach Jamie Dixon in his second season at TCU. The Horned Frogs competed as members of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

and played their home games at Schollmaier Arena in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. They finished the season 21–12, 9–9 in Big 12 play to finish in fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament to Kansas State. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, their first appearance in 20 years. Seeded No. 6 in the Midwest region, TCU lost in the first round to

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

Previous season

In 2016, the Horned Frogs introduced Jamie Dixon, a former TCU letterman, as the new head men's basketball coach. In his first season after leaving Pitt for his alma mater, Dixon led the Frogs to a 24–15, 6–12

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

record. The Frogs' 6–12 record and eighth-place finish was their best league mark since joining the Big 12 in 2012. In the postseason, TCU defeated

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and No. 1

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in the Big 12 tournament before losing in their first-ever Big 12 semifinal berth to Iowa State. They received an invitation to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

where they defeated Fresno State,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

to advance to the semifinals at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. At MSG, they defeated UCF to advance to the NIT finals where they routed

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

to claim the 2017 NIT championship.

Preseason

Departures

Recruiting

Exhibition games in Australia

The Frogs traveled to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, from August 5–16, 2017, and played five exhibition games under International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules. TCU's starting sophomore guard Jaylen Fisher missed the trip due to a knee injury, and incoming freshmen Lat Mayen, an Australia native, and Kevin Samuel were unable to travel pending NCAA eligibility clearance. All three players were expected to be healthy and cleared prior to the season opener on November 10; however, the Frogs ultimately elected to redshirt Mayen and Samuel. The Horned Frogs defeated the Savannah Pride 108–54, Australia's Centre of Excellence 105–71, the Melbourne All-Stars 96–70, the Australia Longhorns 107–81, and the Knox Raiders 107–63.

Season projections

The

coaches picked the Horned Frogs to finish third in regular season league play in the preseason coaches' poll, the highest-ever projection for the Frogs since joining the league in 2012 and being picked to finish ninth or tenth in each of their first five seasons. At Big 12 Media Day in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

head coach

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...

suggested TCU would compete with the Jayhawks for the regular season crown. Senior Vladimir Brodziansky was one of five Big 12 players selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team, and represents TCU's first selection since joining the league. TCU received votes in the preseason Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll, equivalent to 29th and 30th place, respectively.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big 12 Tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament , - Schedule Source: GoFrogs.com

Rankings

TCU received votes in the preseason polls after their 2017 NIT Championship season. On December 25, 2017, the Horned Frogs received the program's first top-10 ranking from the Associated Press poll, surpassed the following day by a top-8 ranking from the USA Today Coaches Poll. ^Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll at the same time AP did.
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings.

Future players

Signing class entering 2018-19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 TCU Horned Frogs Basketball Team

Tcu TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball seasons