Every college basketball team starts each season dreaming of an invitation to the Big Dance in March. For 128 teams the NCAA Tournament eventually becomes reality.
For another 64 schools, instead of a great night’s sleep, it’s more like a good nap.
The Lady Frogs are living this slightly-lesser dream as competitors in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. They already demolished the women from Boise State by 29 points and take on Texas Tech today in the quarterfinals in Lubbock.
The WNIT may not be the ideal dream, but it certainly beats missing the postseason completely.
For the Lady Frogs their quarterfinal matchup against Texas Tech is a perfect example of the partial dream.
After seven straight years of NCAA Tournament invites, TCU’s extremely impressive run is over, but its postseason streak remains alive thanks to the WNIT.
It’s the consolation prize most schools are disappointed to win, but completely dedicated to winning.
TCU’s slow start to its season and loss in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament made it a team on the bubble, which it ended up on an unfamiliar side of.
Credit to the ladies, though, whose slow start to the season can be credited to their games against five teams who would eventually make the tournament.
TCU started its season with games against tournament No. 2 seeds LSU and Texas A&M, tournament three-seeds University of California at Berkley and Oklahoma State, and 14-seed Fresno State.
TCU’s absence from the NCAA Tournament does seem like a bit of a slight when considering two of the three Mountain West teams were selected.
The University of Utah, the University of New Mexico and Wyoming all represent the Mountain West in the NCAA Tournament, but New Mexico and Wyoming both finished behind TCU in the conference standings.
Not only did TCU finish ahead of the Lobos in conference, they also swept the season series and had a better overall record.
It’s peculiar and confusing, something unavoidable with March Madness selections, whether it be for the women’s or men’s tournaments.
Major tournament slight aside, the Lady Frogs are showcasing their quality, dominating their first game against Boise State and advancing to the quarterfinals of the WNIT.
The team is playing great basketball and proving the selectors wrong – not that there’s anything wrong with the WNIT.
