It was not a good weekend for the basketball programs at TCU. The men lost to a better New Mexico team in front of a healthy crowd. The crowd did have a fair share of Lobo fans, but it was still a fun crowd. For all of my criticism of Ronnie Moss, he had a tremendous game. 30 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 37 minutes is exactly what you expect from your best player. Still, it was not enough as the Lobos proved why they are ranked in the top 25.

We do not mention them enough, but the TCU women have had a great season. As always seems the case, the Frogs have visited the top 25 and currently reside at #20/21 respectively. We will see if they remain there as the Frogs dropped a tough one on the road to New Mexico. The Frogs were stone cold from the field as they did not shoot above 30% for the game. Even with the loss, the Frogs are in a three-way tie for 1st place and look to be in great shape for a berth to the NCAA tournament.

But what I really want to talk about is something I tend to stray away from, the football recruiting class. Bruce Feldman of ESPN mentioned the Frogs as the lead on his blog this week, and definitely lauded praise in our direction. And heck, why not? The Frogs are acting like a big boy at the recruiting table as recruits keep de-committing from prior promises in order to be a part of the TCU program. Of the recruits who de-committed, 5 came from BCS schools while 2 of them stood up rival Utah to come to Fort Worth. Will it stand? We will find out this week as National Signing Day arrives on Wednesday. Add to those 7 players a class that consists of 19 players in total and it looks very impressive.

Feldman had a great quote that he attributed to Gary Patterson in his write up. While many programs are starting the recruiting process earlier and earlier, the Frogs seem comfortable being patient. Here is what he wrote:

TCU likes to wait and observe how a prospect develops and see what a kid does as a senior if possible. (Patterson) said they are not going to panic and rush into things, saying that it is often the ones who you rushed to get who get you beat, and that you do not lose games on the guys you did not move fast enough on to land.

A major reason I avoid discussion about recruiting is the volatile nature of it. Until they actually sign a letter of intent, so many things can change. This year, most of the change has gone in the Frogs favor, but it could very easily change in the next three days. Furthermore, rating kids out of high school can be very difficult. Year after year we see a school recruit a more highly rated recruiting class than TCU, yet TCU outperforms them on the field. This is a byproduct of the outstanding coaches we have leading our program. And finally, I find recruiting hard to follow because Patterson has a tendency to keep these guys on the sideline for at least one season, and sometimes more. So expectations require a lot of patience.

But I will brush on the subject because this is by far the best recruiting class TCU has ever assembled. What makes it so interesting is I uttered those same words last year. For two years in a row, the Frogs have gotten top tier talent with the same coaching staff. And if last year was any indication, these more talented players are capable of getting on the field faster and faster. What it means is recruiting is taking on a new life never seen in the past 10 years and boy is it exciting. Because we know the system works and we know the coaches can develop talent, we are getting even better players at the start, and it seems as if the sky is the limit.

The other reason why I stay away from recruiting is the group over at PurpleMenace.com does an outstanding job of covering recruiting. With the Frogs about to officially sign their class, I would recommend all of you go visit them. No matter what happens, the Frogs appear to be in greater shape than they have been in a very long time.

We will have more later this week and we hope to do a podcast with the guys from Purple Menace when all is said and done.