Last Year: 22-13; Fifth (9-9), lost in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament
Head Coach: Jamie Dixon (Eighth Year; 139-97 at TCU, with three NCAA Tournament appearances)
Projected Starting Lineup
| PG Jameer Nelson, Jr – 6’2″, 205 – Senior (5th) |
| SG Trevian ‘Trey’ Tennyson – 6’3″, 180 – Senior (5th) |
| SF Chuck O’Bannon – 6’7″, 220 – Senior (5th) |
| PF Emanuel Miller – 6’7″, 215 – Senior (5th) |
| C Essam Mostafa – 6’9″, 250 – Senior |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Jameer Nelson: 20.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.6 apg, 2.0 spg, 44.5% FG @ Delaware
Trey Tennyson: 15.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.7 spg – 40.2% 3FG @ Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Chuck O’Bannon: 7.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.0 bpg, 0.8 spg
Emanuel Miller: 12.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.7 spg, 0.9 spg, 0.9 bpg
Essam Mostafa: 12.4 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 0.9 apg, 0.7 bpg – 55.2% FG @ Coastal Carolina
Experienced Reserves
| F JaKobe Coles – 6’8″, 215 – Senior |
| G Avery Anderson III – 6’2″, 170 – Senior (5th) |
| C Ernest Udeh – 6’11”, 255 – Sophomore |
| F/C Xavier Cork – 6’9″, 235 – Senior (5th) |
| W Micah Peavy – 6’8″, 215 – Senior |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
JaKobe Coles: 8.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.6 bpg – 47.6% FG
Avery Anderson: 11.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.5 spg – 39.9% FG
Ernest Udeh: 2.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.7 spg, 0.6 bpg – 75.6% FG @ Kansas
Xavier Cork: 4.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg – 57.7% FG
Micah Peavy: 7.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.8 bpg
Freshmen
| W Jace Posey – 6’5″, 206 , Freshman – Consensus Top 100 recruit |
| F Isaiah Manning – 6’7″, 220 – Freshman |
Remember back when Jamie Dixon wasn’t quite good enough for a lot of the folks in Pittsburgh? He probably does. Could be, though, that he’s having so much fun back where they love him at TCU, that he doesn’t much care about all that anymore. Since returning to take over as head coach at his alma mater eight years ago, Dixon has swiftly assumed third place in school history in victories.
Despite taking over one of the Big 12 Conference’s less-heralded programs, Dixon has amassed 21 or more wins in five of his seven seasons. He’s changed the culture and reputation of TCU hoops, and set a course to go down as the greatest coach in school history.
All that, and more. This fall, Dixon is welcoming his best roster yet to Fort Worth. It’s a good time to be a Horned Frog.
Coming off of two consecutive impressive appearances in the NCAA Tournament which saw TCU knocked out by heavyweight programs in close-fought, entertaining games, these Frogs have been built to stay awhile. Dixon’s roster is every bit of two-deep with quality players at each position on the floor; and though this group must replace two of the program’s all-time winners in departed guards Mike Miles and Damion Baugh, TCU has the size, talent and depth to measure up with just about any program they’ll meet in March. The key for this team will be figuring out who to rely upon most when the lights are brightest – but that’s a fun problem for any coach to have.
TCU’s leading returning scorer and a top contender for the team’s go-to guy is versatile forward Emanuel Miller, a 103-game starter and contender for a spot on the All-Big 12 team who’s seen it all. Like so many pioneers of yore, Miller wasn’t born in Texas, but he got there as fast as he could. The Scarborough, Ontario, product debuted for Buzz Williams and Texas A&M during that coach’s tough-but-promising first year. After two up-and-down seasons in College Station, Miller has found a real home in the Metroplex. Not one of the biggest names in the league, Miller has become known and made his reputation because he does so many things in winning ways. “This guy just keeps getting better because he works hard,” Dixon told reporters late last season of Miller. “He takes to coaching…and he gets better for it.”
A steady scorer both inside and, increasingly, further from the paint, Miller carries a 12.3 scoring average both over the past three years, and from last season. He hit a career-high 39.2% on his 20 made triples a year ago, and Miller shot a solid 42.6% on 115 mid-range attempts, per Bart Torvik. Miller will look to continue those improvements while doing his usual good work near the rim, where he’s a 64% shooter the past three seasons and converted 73.3% of his 20 putback stabs over TCU’s last campaign, per Hoop-Math. Miller scored in double figures in 21 of 32 games played, and he posted a trio of double-doubles. He played the 3 spot frequently last year, and that versatility, given Miller’s relentlessness on the glass, has helped the Horned Frogs to average more than a dozen offensive rebounds per game as a team over the past two seasons. Miller figures to see a bit more time inside this year, where he’s effective due to his quick feet and agility mixed with strength. Miller ranked second on the team in both blocked shots and offensive boards last year, and Dixon relies upon him as a leader who does whatever his team needs.
Nelson has shown that he can absolutely carry his team offensively
The backcourt will be led by new faces without Baugh and Miles, and one of those faces belongs to a name hoops fans recognize well. Though his 14 year NBA veteran, consensus All-American and Wooden Award-winning father is world-famous, the second Jameer Nelson of his name is a fantastic player in his own right. TCU’s Jameer Nelson is a transfer from Delaware, and carries a 14.2 point career scoring average from his time there and at George Washington. Nelson arrives in Fort Worth on the wings of an All-Colonial Athletic Conference season which saw him post career bests virtually across the board and lead the league in points per game. A volume scorer who also shares the ball well, Nelson is a lead guard in the truest sense, and Dixon can’t wait to see all that he can do.
Nelson has shown that he can absolutely carry his team offensively; he scored in double figures in each of his 29 games played last year, and scored 23 or more in a game eight times. He averaged 27 points over Delaware’s final five games last year, with a pair of 30-point performances which included Nelson exploding for 39 in a win over UNC-Wilmington. “He may lack height but he is strong and highly athletic with an explosive first step and burst of speed,” 247 Sports says of Nelson. He knocked down 56 triples at a 36.4% rate two years ago, but sank his 50 last winter at just 30.7%. If he finds the form on his outside jumper, Nelson will post prodigious numbers. He carries a 17.7% assist rate over four years, and that figure rose to 23.8% last year. Playing with his most talented supporting cast yet, Nelson should be flinging out setups all over the court this year. Nelson was further named to the CAA All-Defensive team last season, and has pilfered the opposition 128 times in his last 64 games played – leading the CAA over that span. “Really good finisher. May have led the league in steals. Real good knack for that on the defensive end,” William & Mary head coach Dane Fisher said of Nelson this summer. “He’s a guy that I would anticipate…going and making a big impact.”
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| +6.8 – Average Score Margin (46th) |
| .551 – Opponent Assists Per FG Made (284th) |
| .585 – Team Assists Per FG Made (21st) |
| 30.8% – Opponent 3FG Percentage (27th) |
| 31.0% – Team 3FG Percentage (330th) |
Joining Nelson on the perimeter will be a pair of guards who grew up around the Metroplex, and are returning with high hopes to show out for the home fans. Avery Anderson III knows the Big 12 well; he’s been at Oklahoma State for the past four years. Another experienced, playmaking guard, Anderson has also finished first or second on the ‘Pokes in scoring average each of the past three years, and provides Dixon with a tremendous 1-B at the point. Though Anderson has set up his buddies 239 career times, he has also suffered from OK State’s endemic turnover bug the last few seasons. For his career, Anderson has 278 turnovers, and he must tighten things up for TCU, a team which struggled with turnovers quite a bit two years ago and would really like to maintain last year’s 11.9 miscues per game. That was still only good enough to rank 118th, but constituted a marked improvement from TCU’s rank in the 300’s two years back. A talented two-way player, Anderson can score from all three levels when his jumper is falling. Unfortunately, during a campaign last year which was hamperedby a eecurring wrist injury, the three ball left Anderson almost completely. Though he played 22 games through the pain, Anderson made just one triple all year, and is excited to show off his healthy range of skills this season. “I wanted to be back home for my last year, play in front of family more,” Anderson told TCU Athletics this summer. “I want to accomplish it, ending up my last year winning a championship.”
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| N – Clemson – December 9 |
| vs Arizona State – December 16 |
| @ Georgetown – December 2 |
| N – TBD, Diamond Head Classic – November 24 |
| N – Old Dominion – November 21 |
Trevian ‘Trey’ Tennyson can, as the name suggests, tickle the twine. He started at Central Connecticut State, then spent a year in junior college. The last two seasons, though, Tennyson has been at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – and he’s been ripping off triples like few other players in America. Tennyson has hit 174 three-point shots since the start of last year, at a 38.7% rate. He’s been chosen to the All-Southland third and then second team in the process, and was named to the Southland All-Tournament team for his role in leading Corpus Christi to the conference title in March. Over the team’s final 18 games last season, Tennyson went on a tear – and the Islanders won their 16 vs 16 play-in matchup in the Big Dance in part as a result. He averaged 18.8 points on 45.0% shooting from distance, and it all added up to a 63.2% true shooting mark for Tennyson from the second week of 2023 onward. If he can provide that sort of deadeye marksmanship to the Horned Frogs, their attack will gain a new level of danger to opposing defenses. Tennyson is not a big-time rebounder or playmaker – he’s a shooter, so he shoots. If he can knock down triples and provide a semblance of perimeter defense, Dixon will be pleased.
With Miller leading the way, there is tremendous versatility overall for the Horned Frogs at forward. Chuck O’Bannon and JaKobe Coles return as well, and they’ve played a combined 181 career college basketball games at the high major level. Older, experienced rosters full of guys who have run the gauntlets before are all the rage across college basketball’s leading contenders these days. Just call what Dixon is building in Fort Worth Mureybet. Coles has already given Frogs fans one of their most exhilarating moments in years. His floater with the final seconds ticking down last March proved to be a game-winner over a game Arizona State side in TCU’s first round victory. “I’m so happy for him,” Miles proclaimed as the team celebrated post-game. “We played two years of AAU together. He’s like my brother, and I recruited him last year. He didn’t have the role he wanted, but this year he’s getting the minutes he wanted. He’s stepping up…in the biggest game of his life, he made the game-winning shot. I can’t say how much I’m proud of him.” Coles also won a game for the Frogs in late February against Texas Tech at the free throw line.
Having established himself as a clutch option a great floor-spacing support scorer, Coles wants to take his game to the next level this season. The Denton, TX, product started his college career at Butler, before missing most of his freshman year following knee surgery, and then occupying a deep reserve role in his first season back home. His breakout came last winter, as Coles earned nearly 17 minutes per game off of Dixon’s bench and proved highly efficient. Coles has range out to the three point arc, and can operate smoothly in the mid-range. His best production, though, has come when Coles goes assertively towards the rim. Last year he emerged a key and crafty scorer in and around the lane, making 73 shots at an excellent 68.9% near the rim, per Bart Torvik. With his 8 feet-and-in game as the backbone of his offensive approach now, Coles will be able to build off of it with his jumper. He was also one of five Horned Frogs who got in at least 13 putback tries a season ago, and cashed in his 18 opportunities at 85.7%, per Hoop-Math – the team’s best rate. “Jakobe I thought played really well,” Dixon told reporters late last year. “Really good defensively, and he has a knack for rebounding. I think he is just getting better and better.” Cole has come a good ways defensively over the last year, and now offers Dixon some useful versatility next to Miller.
It’s possible that O’Bannon was already receiving his pension when Perry Ellis was young, as the former Southern Cal transfer is about to embark upon his seventh college season. O’Bannon was once a 170-pound freshman whose talent was so impressive that he was chosen to participate in the McDonald’s All-American game. Unfortunately, a series of injuries – mostly to his hand – conspired to make O’Bannon’s time at USC far less successful than he’d have preferred. Since transferring to TCU, though, O’Bannon has found a home. He’s added some strength since his freshman year, and now helps out defensively in a variety of ways. O’Bannon can guard all the way up to physical wing players, down to lightning-quick 5’8″ from former K-State star Markquis Nowell. While he hasn’t had as famous a game-winning moment as Coles just yet, O’Bannon has come up huge in some big moments for the Frogs. His 22 points against Kansas State helped TCU to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals last year, and he was even better two years back when the Frogs came maddeningly close to knocking off Arizona. Dixon has even called O’Bannon ‘Mr. Postseason’. Chuck loves the three-ball, even if it doesn’t always love him back. After hitting 36.8% of his treys in his first season at TCU, O’Bannon has taken more than half of his shots from distance each of the last two years, but has made 33.8% and then 31.1% of those heaves. When he’s on, though, O’Bannon can be a real weapon; and he’ll keep on earning his opportunities with his reliable overall play.
Speaking of, Micah Peavy is back to keep on earning his 20+ minutes, too. A lively defender who can make life a problem for lots of different kinds of opponents, Peavy is a former Top 50 national recruit who has found his niche. A tremendous athlete with the size and length to nearly suffocate smaller ballhandlers defensively, Peavy grew as a shot-blocker last year. He also finished second on the Horned Frogs with 14 dunks, and is a helpful passer and supporting ballhandler who’s maintained an 11% career assist rate. It’s just that Peavy isn’t much of a shooter. He’s made strides; last season’s 16 made triples and 26.7% were career-highs, and he was a 53.5% career foul shooter coming into last year, making his 64.4% rate last winter seem actually quite palatable. Unfortunately, after posting a solid 61.7% mark around the rim two years ago, Peavy was down to 49.0% last year, per Bart Torvik. Peavy is going to keep on playing important minutes for the Frogs, and if he can keep getting better as a shooter, his role could expand.
The 5 spot will feature two very prominent new faces this fall, as Dixon has reworked the painted area with a pair of highly sought-after transfers. Essam Mostafa arrives from Coastal Carolina, where he’s been one of the nation’s most productive rebounders over the last three years. A sturdily-built and tenacious glass artist, Mostafa is the proud owner of a whopping 38 career double-doubles already, and he departs Conway ranked second all-time in total rebounds for the Chanticleers. Last season, he averaged 10.0 rebounds; that was good enough for 14th place in the nation, and Mostafa’s career average of 9.4 rebounds per game ranks fourth in Sun Belt history. He’s doesn’t play the perimeter game which so many bigs do these days, and Mostafa is in fact a bit limited once he ventures much outside of the lane. He’s under 30% for his career on mid-range attempts, and has never made a triple. Mostafa earns plenty of trips to the line – he’s attempted 4.4 freebies per game so far – but he could really benefit from making more than his 62.3% career rate. At least Mostafa won’t demand that plays be run specifically for him in order to create hos points. He’s harvested an outstanding 292 offensive boards over his three seasons, generating 107 putback tries for himself along the way. Though he doesn’t finish many of his buckets above the rim, Mostafa has a great feel near the cup, and he knows how to get the peach into its basket. He’s a steady positional defender who will block some shots, and he cut both his turnovers and fouls last year despite shouldering the same workload of minutes. If he can continue to keep the boards squeaky-clean, set the same immovable picks as he’s done before, and finish good looks up close, Mostafa should be a great addition.
He hasn’t played nearly as many minutes or been a fraction as productive as Mostafa, but Frog fans are hoping that former Kansas center Ernest Udeh elbows the veteran out of the way for prime minutes by the new year. That’s because Udeh – a consensus Top 50 recruit just one year ago – is bigger, more athletic, and has shown flashes of evolving into a dominant post player. With exciting quickness, athleticism, and a 7’3″ wingspan, Udeh is the type of guy who could become an unholy terror defensively. He blocked 18 shots despite averaging just 8.3 minutes last season in Lawrence, and snagged 20 steals as well. Once develops his defensive footwork and positioning to avoid fouls, Udeh will be a significant deterrent to any opposing ballhandlers who would like to drive the lane. He’s an unrefined offense player at this point, mostly finishing lobs and quick post-up’s. When you can do that and knock down 75.6% of your shots while flushing 26 dunks on 45 total shot attempts, though, why complicate things? As Udeh grows in refinement, he’s got all of the potential and talent to emerge as one of the most intimidating centers in the country.
He’s been with the Horned Frogs for two years and is entering his final season of eligibility, but Xavier Cork will have to fight like never before for his role. A former Western Carolina transfer, Cork has been a solid reserve so far, averaging 3.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.6 blocks through two years. He’s been a highly efficient scorer for the Horned Frogs, hitting 66.7% of his shots near the goal. “I feel like my athleticism really adds to our roster. The ability to change it up and switch at the one through five really adds to our defense. I feel like it makes us a lot better, makes us harder to score on. So I think that really adds to us,” Cork told reporters at the NCAA Tournament last year. If he’s able to continue using his athleticism to get on the offensive boards and disrupt his opponents near the paint, Cork has established his value off the bench.
Two local freshmen are coming aboard, and though they won’t be asked to play immediately vital roles, each offers some tantalizing prospects for the future. Jace Posey is the son of 12 year NBA veteran and two-time NBA Champion James Posey, and he arrives at TCU heralded as a 4-star prospect. It’s not because Jace Posey is the sweetest of shooters or most composed of floor generals. Rather, Posey is an extraordinary multi-sport athlete whose gifts project his potential somewhere on the high end of Peavy’s two-way trajectory. With his long and electric 6’5″ frame, Posey is a dynamic open-floor player and dunk artist. He’s an impact defender and can both play the stopper and make momentum-changing plays, then get out in transition and throw down. A high-jump star off the hardwood, Posey is an elite leaper, and he’s going to fit Dixon’s ideal of having hard-working rebounders at each position. “What could be scary is that if he is able to add the long-range jumper to his arsenal, we could be talking about a prospect who many will question why he was so underrated during his time in the high school ranks,” says Brandon Jenkins of 247 Sports, analyzing Posey.
While he isn’t as hyped a prospect currently, Isaiah Manning is another long and versatile forward soon to be added to Dixon’s rotation. Manning turned down Xavier, Kansas State and Oklahoma State to stay close to home. He’s been rated as a Top 200 recruit by some services, and looks like another very useful defender going forward.
There was controversy this past March as former big man and well-liked Texas native Eddie Lampkin, Jr left the program after, in part, alleging that Dixon had used racially insensitive language in a series of text messages. Other Horned Frogs players and their families spoke out in support of Dixon, and he has remained both as coach and a well-liked figure in his own right.
TCU has become a steady, winning program under Dixon, and the Horned Frogs’ rise looks to still be gaining momentum with the current team very much behind its coach. “Yeah, it means something more, (it’s my) alma mater, and kind of taking on a program that needed to step it up,” Dixon told reporters at the NCAA Tournament last year.
The Big 12 is going to be a hellacious fight for supremacy yet again, but TCU has assembled a proven and varied group of players who don’t back down. TCU has been terrific on the glass – especially in corralling their own misses – the last couple of years. With a deep cast of solid defenders who work the boards as well as do these Horned Frogs, this team will earn its victories in old-school ways. And if the perimeter shooting has been shored up, TCU should be capable of holding their own when scoring is needed, too. Expectations are changing for these Frogs, and this may be the team to break through to a whole new level.
Leave a Reply