The Texas Christian University Horned Frogs completed their final season in Conference USA with a record of 21-14 straight up, including a league record of 8-8, which was good for eighth place.
The Horned Frogs finished with a mark of 15-13 against the spread for 2004-05. The Horned Frogs had an erratic up and down season against the board in 2004-05 as they made it to the third round of the NIT tournament before losing to Maryland 73-85 as 11-point road dogs to close the year with a 3-2 mark both straight up and against the spread in post season play and on a solid note as they headed to the Mountain West Conference as that league’s newest members.
Texas Christian was far better known as a football school and had no real patter of success in basketball. The Mountain West Conference was a decent basketball league and the change would prove to be difficult for the Horned Frogs.
Disturbing start
TCU opened the 2005-06 season with a 59-68 unlined home loss to Tarleton. That was then followed by a 76-74 unlined home win over Jackson State.
In their lined opener against Oklahoma State as 15-point neutral court dogs, the Horned Frogs scored a 58-66 loss/cover. But from there, it would prove to be a most disturbing start for TCU.
Against Drake, also on a neutral court, TCU suffered a 79-86 defeat as 3.5-point dogs. That was then followed by a 54-81 loss at Texas Tech as 15.5-point dogs. The bleeding temporarily stopped with a 64-80 loss at Syracuse as whopping 18-point value-added dogs. But Texas Christian punted away a lot of good will with a 52-56 loss at Tulane as 1.5-point chalks for a third loss in five games ATS.
Texas Christian came home for a pair of unlined games, starting with a 71-63 win over Texas-Arlington. That was followed by a 70-53 home win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. After a 59-77 blowout loss to Colorado as 6.5-point home dogs, the Frogs then lost a 49-55 unlined home game to Texas A&M-CC. That was then followed by a 79-64 unlined home win over Grambling State. Non-conference action ended with a 49-52 loss to cross-town rival SMU as 8-point dogs and then a 57-65 loss to St. Mary’s as 1-point chalks.
Problems continued
TCU opened Mountain West Conference play with a 64-68 home loss to Wyoming as 3.5-point chalks. That was followed by a 54-56 loss at New Mexico as 9.5-point dogs. The Horned Frogs problems continued, however, starting with a 49-75 blowout loss at Air Force as 13.5-point dogs, and that was followed by a 57-76 debacle at home against San Diego State as 4-point dogs.
Brief bump
TCU took a break from the misery with an 85-72 home win over Colorado State as 3.5-point dogs, which was then followed by an 80-89 overtime loss at Brigham Young as 11-point dogs for a brief bump of two consecutive payoffs.
Struggles resumed
From that point on, however, TCU’s struggles resumed starting with a 45-80 disgrace at Utah as 8-point dogs. That was followed by a 60-73 home loss to UNLV as 4.5-point dogs.
After a 65-67 loss/cover at Wyoming as 8.5-point dogs, the Horned Frogs scored a 42-53 home loss to New Mexico as 1.5-point dogs. That was then followed by a 45-63 home loss to upstart Air Force as 6.5-point dogs for a fourth loss ATS in five games.
After a 71-83 loss/cover at San Diego State as 15.5-point dogs, the Horned Frogs went on to finish the regular season 1-3 straight up and 1-2-1 against the spread as they covered just three of their final ten games. They then got a loss/cover against Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference tournament.