There’s No Place Like Home? Frogs sent to Wichita in latest Bracketology

In the latest ESPN Bracketology, Joe Lunardi has TCU Basketball landing in Wichita as a six seed for the first round of NCAA Tournament play. The Frogs would face the winner of the play in game between UCLA and Alabama, who would enter the field of 64 as an 11 seed.

TCU, who has been projected everywhere from Detroit to Nashville, Pittsburg to Dallas, could very likely end up in this scenario after a loss in their regular season finale at Texas Tech. The committee likes to slot teams close to home to maximize fan support, but giving a six seed what amounts to basically a home game (in Dallas) doesn’t seem all that likely. For TCU to play six hours from home makes a whole lot of sense, and certainly plenty of Frog fans would make the trip up I-35 during what is spring break for a lot of schools in Texas.

The Frogs would be in the same bracket as the red-hot Michigan Wolverines, fresh off of a Big 10 Championship and riding an eight game win streak, and 14 seed Bucknell. Arkansas, Providence, Duke, and Wagner are waiting on the other side. The one seed in the East Region is currently slated for Villanova, and #4 West Virginia also makes an appearance.

Other Big 12 teams in the latest projections are Kanas, the one seed in the West (also playing in Wichita), Texas Tech, a four seed in the South - which is, of course, playing in Boise - along with #10 Kansas State (Pittsburg), and #11 Baylor (Dallas). I, for one, would be upset if the Bears get to play as an 11 in Dallas while the Frogs would have to travel as a six, but we know how TCU and committees go. Texas makes the field in the last four in, as a participant in the play-in game against USC. Oklahoma also makes the cut, as a 10 in the Midwest, with a date against Texas A&M in round one. Oklahoma State is currently on the last four out bubble, and likely needs to win at least one game in the Big 12 tourney to have a shot. In all, a staggering eight Big 12 teams are in, with nine still a possibility.

You can see the projections in their entirety here. TCU faces Kansas State in the semifinals on the Big 12 Conference Tournament on Thursday, with tip-off scheduled for 11:30am. Selection Sunday follows this coming weekend, when we will officially find out where the Frogs will make their March Madness debut for the first time in two decades.