TCU Athletics
Chuck O'Bannon
From 541 feet above sea level, TCU basketball coach Jamie Dixon gave a dissertation on topography that likely would not pass muster among leading doctoral minds.
“You know, I'm a big topography guy,” Dixon said on Tuesday with his noted wry smile, employed in this instance to indicate he actually is not a topography guy. “I've never used the word topography in my life, but I felt that that was the right word.
“How high is Fort Worth, do you know? It’s 560 feet, unless you’re on top of the stadium. Then it gets to 600. What else do you guys want to know?
The topic was actually altitude and elevation in relation to the sea level. The coach was indeed pretty close. The subject matter was all relevant because of where the Frogs head for the first round of the men’s NCAA Tournament.
The site is Denver, the Mile High City, more than 5,200 feet above sea level. According to science, the higher altitude makes it more difficult for an athlete’s blood to deliver oxygen to working muscles and the brain.
It’s been an issue with athletes and anybody else working up there not accustomed to it for as long as … well, as long as athletes and anybody else working there have been playing and working there.
No. 22 TCU is in the weird position of not knowing who they will play. The Frogs, a No. 6 seed, will face the winner of the game between Arizona State and Nevada. Those two are playing in what is called a “First Four” game at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at Ball Arena in Denver. The winner will enter the Round of 64 as an 11 seed.
The team will probably watch the game together after arriving in Denver earlier on Wednesday.
TCU and its TBD will play at 9:05 p.m. on Friday.
Not knowing the opponent is a “very strange” situation, said Chuck O’Bannon, but, to borrow a popular turn of phrase, it is what it is.
The game will mark the first time since 1953 that TCU has played in consecutive NCAA Tournaments. That was a different time and place, 1953. Eisenhower inaugurated, Queen Elizabeth II crowned, and Josef Stalin gave up the ghost, no doubt being sent to the down escalator. This year’s team is the 10th in school history to play in the NCAAs, including three appearances in the past six seasons.
These Frogs are carrying a chip on their shoulders after a controversial ending in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. With the score tied at 75-all and seven seconds left against Arizona in the second round, Frogs star guard Mike Miles was dribbling near midcourt when he was bumped by an overzealous defender, Dalen Terry.
The game officials swallowed their whistles. Miles lost the ball, and the game went to overtime in an eventual TCU loss.
A bitter ending is better than an endless bitterness, according to someone on Pinterest. Let’s just say the Frogs haven’t forgotten the bad taste.
“It’s been motivation the entire year,” said O’Bannon, who scored a team-high 23 points against Arizona and has a hot hand heading into the tournament after scoring 22 in a Big 12 tournament victory over Kansas State and 12 on 4-of-7 shooting in a loss to Texas. “To this day, we talk about that last game. We just want to make another run in the tournament and go much deeper.”
O’Bannon says the inspiration was immediate. Dixon told the team amidst the blood, sweat, and tears in the locker room after the game that “what we did this year was special,” O’Bannon recalled. “Nobody expected it and next year, it can be even more special.”
The time for redemption has arrived.
The first order of business will be the altitude. You know what else happened in 1953? Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to successfully ascend Mount Everest's 29,000 feet. Luckily, the Frogs won't have to do that.
TCU played Utah earlier this season in Salt Lake City. The more than 4,220 feet above sea level didn’t seem to bother anybody in the purple. TCU won that game 75-70.
“I’ve played [high altitude] places before, so, I knew what to expect,” said O’Bannon. “And, actually, I do like these meditation breathing exercises before games and stuff like that just to calm my mind down and it actually helps with my cardio.
“But also one of the things they told us, we need to hydrate … to not feel feel [the effects] you have to basically overhydrate yourself. So that's what we're expecting to do.”
