Why Jamie Dixon isn't minimizing importance of WVU game, TCU's 'biggest' of the year

Forget life as a bubble team.

TCU is pretty much the bubble for the NCAA tournament, according to one projection. In his most recent bracket breakdown released Thursday, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has TCU as the last team in the NCAA field.

No one, least of all coach Jamie Dixon, is trying to minimize the importance of Saturday's home game with No. 12 West Virginia (22-6, 10-5 Big 12).

"At this point there is no question our biggest game of the year is this Saturday," Dixon said after a loss at Kansas earlier this week. "There's no other way to put it, let's not make it smaller than it is. It's the biggest game of the year.

"We're a bubble team and we lost four in a row. We played ourselves onto the bubble."

The Horned Frogs (17-11, 6-9) are the only ones who can play their way off it.

In Dixon's first season as his alma mater, TCU had developed into a nice story and for a while seemed headed to its first NCAA tournament since 1998. Four consecutive losses to Baylor, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Kansas -- all teams that are headed to the NCAA tournament -- changed the arc of the season.

What's gone wrong? The competition, for one. There are other factors, too. In the four-game skid, TCU has allowed opponents to shoot 49.5 percent. Leading scorer Vladimir Brodziansky, one of the most improved players in the Big 12, is averaging 9.3 points per game in the span while shooting 36.8 percent from the field.

At 31, West Virginia represents a chance for TCU's best RPI win this season. With an RPI of 53, the Horned Frogs are 2-9 against the RPI top 50.

After West Virginia, TCU hosts fellow bubble dweller Kansas State and travels to Oklahoma before the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, where it may need a win or two.

"Basically like coach Dixon said we have to stick together and work this thing through. Saturday is our biggest game," guard Alex Robinson said, "so that is our focus from here on."

Breaking down TCU's NCAA tournament resume going into Saturday's game with West Virginia:

Record: 17-11

Last 12: 4-8

RPI: 53

Strength of schedule: 26

Versus Top 50: 2-9

Versus 51-100: 3-2

Best win: Illinois State (RPI 35)

*Source: ESPN RPI