Arena Adventures: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum

Arena Adventures: Entry #11

Arena: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum
City: Fort Worth, TX
Date: January 5, 2011
Teams: TCU vs. #6 San Diego St.

Day 2 of my Texas basketball adventure took me to the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on the campus of Texas Christian University to watch the Horned Frogs take on the sixth-ranked and undefeated San Diego State University Aztecs. I picked this game from 3 options when planning my trip simply because I wanted to see SDSU play as I expected them to be a solid team this season having returned all 5 starters from last season’s NCAA Tournament squad. I did not anticipate them being undefeated and in the top 10 in the country at this point, however. The Aztecs, led by D.J. Gay, Kahwi Leonard, and Billy White have been impressive thus far, including recording wins at Gonzaga and over Missouri Valley Conference favorite, Wichita St. As such, they might have been a bit overrated, but based on their body of work thus far and their unblemished record, they deserve to be ranked sixth until proven otherwise in my opinion.

As for TCU, they entered the game with a 9-6 record, with a solid win over an ever-improving USC squad. The Horned Frogs are led by Fort Worth native, Ronnie Moss, who was the team’s leading scorer entering the game. Heading to Fort Worth, I expected the thrill of the TCU football team’s victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl to carry on through to campus and energize the fans to knock off another top 10 team, this time in a different sport. Well, apparently that isn’t the case as the DMC was quite empty at tip-off and the arena didn’t really fill up throughout the game either. The sparse crowd that was there was loud and proud, especially as the Horned Frogs jumped on the Aztecs early to lead by as many as 6 points at 25-19 late in the first half. San Diego St. was terribly inept on offense early on in the game; not sure if that was a result of overlooking the Frogs being that they are projected to be one of the lower-tier teams in the Mountain West, or if TCU’s defense was really shutting down the Aztecs. In any case, the Frogs looked extremely competitive throughout the first half and only a late 10-1 run by the Aztecs to end the first half turned the tide in SDSU’s favor and carried them to a 29-26 halftime lead.

In the first half, SDSU was not led by Gay, Leonard, or White, but rather Malcolm Thomas. This stat goes to show the sheer depth of the Aztecs and why I think they will be a different out of the NCAA Tournament come March. Unlike a Connecticut team for instance which is led mainly by a one-man band in Kemba Walker and some role players who contribute very inconsistently, SDSU has no shortage of players who can carry the team and put the ball in the basket on a given night. For instance, when the Aztecs travelled to Spokane to take on Gonzaga, Billy White was the leading scorer and carried the team to victory. In this game, it was Thomas, but he was also complemented nicely by the rest of his teammates in starting conference play on a positive note with a 66-53 Aztec win in Fort Worth. I commend TCU on playing hard throughout the game and not being intimidated by a team as experienced and highly-ranked as SDSU. Head Coach Jim Christian has the Horned Frogs going in the right direction, but with a move to the Big East Conference starting in the 2012-13 season, it’s going to be extremely difficult for TCU hoops to have anywhere near the success of TCU football.

In the end, I enjoyed watching a game at the DMC. You can definitely tell it is set up for basketball and basketball only as the sight lines appear to be great throughout. Additionally, the building is set at just about the right size, with a maximum capacity of approximately 8,000 people. Knowing that most of the students are on winter break and big alumni were still probably in California celebrating the Rose Bowl victory, the sparse crowd didn’t look quite as bad as it would have in a 15,000 seat arena. It would seem that this should have been the game Horned Frog nation circled on its calendars to attend and create an electric atmosphere to bring a huge home victory to fruition. Apparently, TCU basketball fans are not as prevalent and dedicated as its football fans are, and that’s ok, until the basketball team starts putting up results like Gary Patterson’s football team has been recently.