TCU went from a near-winless Big 12 season and forfeiting games to the Elite 8 against Texas
AUSTIN (KXAN) — TCU is a year removed from forfeiting two Big 12 Conference games due to a lack of players, facilitating a need to hold open tryouts. Two seasons ago, the Horned Frogs were 1-17 in conference play, and the program looked in disarray.
That's the past, however, and now the program is in its first Elite Eight on Monday with a familiar foe ahead — the Texas Longhorns.
The programs faced each other for years in the Big 12 Conference, with the Longhorns dominating the matchup, going 43-4 in conference play. Texas has won the last nine meetings, with the last TCU victory on Jan. 3, 2020, a 65-63 win in Austin. However, that's the past.
This year's Horned Frogs, led by second-year coach Mark Campbell, are for real. With an Olympic bronze medalist playing point guard in LSU transfer Hailey Van Lith, alongside 6-foot-7 Liberty Hill native Sedona Prince in her seventh year of college basketball and senior guard Madison Conner, the turnaround the Horned Frogs have made is astonishing. This is clearly not the same program that limped through last season and nearly went winless in Big 12 play two years ago.
"They have players that can make plays," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer said. "We're going to have to be really, really good defensively."
The Longhorns "can't get punked," as senior post and Miami transfer Kyla Oldacre put it.
"That's what we've been carrying on our chest," she said. "TCU is a great squad. They got here, so you know they're good."
Texas and TCU haven't met in the NCAA Tournament, but the Longhorns have faced Van Lith, and it didn't go well for them. Van Lith played for Louisville when the Cardinals went into Moody Center and knocked off the favored Longhorns 73-51 in the second round of the 2023 tournament. Van Lith scored 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting, carrying the Cardinals to the Sweet 16. She transferred the next season to Louisiana State and is now in Fort Worth helping rebuild the program.
Madison Booker recognizes Van Lith as one of the best guards in college basketball, and she knows they'll have to find a way to slow her down Monday.
"She's a great 3-point shooter and playmaker," Booker said. "We need to focus on playing team defense."
Schaefer said Van Lith can "create for everybody." She was part of the United States' 3-on-3 basketball team that finished third in the 2024 Paris Olympics
"She can score at all three levels and enjoy the assist as much as the bucket," he said. "That's who she is, and she's the engine that makes them go."
Multiple bench players have emerged to play big roles for the Longhorns during the tournament. Bryanna Preston and Jordan Lee combined for 25 points to get Texas by Tennessee in the Sweet 16, and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda powered them by Illinois with 19 points in the second round. Preston, a freshman, knows what happened the last time Van Lith faced Texas.
"I'm excited to see Rori (Harmon) and Hailey go at it," she said. "I know it's coming. When Coach puts me in, I know I'll be ready."
Texas will set a school record for wins if they beat TCU, surpassing the 34 wins by the 1985-86 national championship team that went 34-0. TCU is on a 13-game winning streak, and they've also won 34 games this season.
The game tips off at 6 p.m. from Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The winner advances to the Final Four to play South Carolina on April 4 in Tampa, Florida.