TCU spent approximately $1.4 gazillion to make a night like Sunday not likely, but possible.
Even if the basketball team had its heart extracted from its body and stomped on in an overtime loss to top-seed Arizona in the NCAA Tournament, the school won.
At 8:30 p.m. under slightly windy conditions, there were about 100 TCU students outside its campus commons area gathered in front of a giant TV screen to watch a basketball game in March.
That had never happened before.
Not too far away from the middle of TCU’s campus, inside the popular Buffalo Bros sports bar, the entire place was packed to watch a TCU basketball game.
By 9:30 p.m. in Fort Worth, prime time all over the United States, millions of people were watching a TCU basketball game during March Madness.
By 10:30 p.m. in Fort Worth, every TV, computer, phone and tablet in America that cared about sports was captivated by a TCU basketball game in March.
Again, none of this had happened before.
By 11:36 p.m., the game was over and TCU could celebrate exactly zero of these significant accomplishments. They will later, but not right now.
After watching center Eddie Lampkin push, pounce and fearlessly rebound his way to the basket, ninth-seeded TCU led top-seeded Arizona 75-72 with 15 seconds remaining in the game.
Fifteen seconds from TCU’s first ever Sweet 16 appearance.
Arizona hit a 3-pointer to tie it, and made the necessary plays in the final minute of overtime to win, 85-80.
TCU fans, and a lot of other observers, including West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, thought TCU guard Mike Miles was fouled on the team’s final possession in regulation.
He probably was. And, the referees are never going to call that foul at that point in that game, especially in an arena that sounded like it was in Tucson rather than San Diego.
TCU played with arguably the best team in the nation, and just got beat.
Arizona is the better team, and TCU could have beaten the Wildcats. That’s why this one is going to hurt for months.
They could have beat them due largely to the play of Lampkin, a young man who nearly ate away his chance at college basketball before he got into shape.
He couldn’t really guard 7-foot-1 Arizona center Christian Koloko, because few players on the college level can. But Lampkin could play with him.
Koloko finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds; Lampkin scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds.
Lampkin was full of theatrics that the national cameras, and announcers, devoured during the telecast.
“I told them they made millions of fans from watching this game,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said in the press conference after the game.
TCU is the only school in a Power 5 conference that could celebrate this type of devastating loss.
This is TCU basketball, a team that before Friday night had not won an NCAA Tournament game since 1987.
The last time TCU came close to the Sweet 16, it was painful, too. And Dixon was a part of that as well.
Dixon was a starter on that TCU team that lost to Notre Dame, 58-57, in the second round of the 1987 NCAA Tournament.
This entire 2021-22 season is the culmination of a sometimes painfully slow build that has included several coaching staffs, a new arena, and millions of dollars invested.
For people familiar with TCU basketball, what happened on Sunday night in San Diego was unfathomable 20 years ago.
TCU was playing with the top team in the nation in prime time in March Madness, and had them beat.
No, TCU didn’t defeat Arizona. But guys like Jamie Dixon, Eddie Lampkin and Mike Miles all proved what was possible.
