The Frog Five: How TCU’s core of veterans established a bond that will last a lifetime

You could hear the laughter in the hallway as TCU’s core group of veterans strolled into the press conference room at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

It’s not that the group of Emanuel Miller, Xavier Cork, Micah Peavy, JaKobe Coles and Chuck O’Bannon were taking things lightly ahead of Friday’s NCAA Tournament matchup against No. 8 seed Utah State. It was just another sign of how this close this group is.

They arrived from different places and through their combined efforts they helped usher TCU into its best era of basketball. Whether the run ends Friday night or extends into the Sweet Sixteen and beyond, this group’s impact and legacy can’t be denied.

Most of them had to overcome adversity just to achieve the success they have in Fort Worth like Coles, who originally started at Butler, but suffered an injury to his meniscus in 2021. Coles had to build himself from a seldom used role player in his first season with TCU to playing a career-high 21 minutes this season.

Asked to reflect on what his favorite thing was about his teammates that sat beside him, Coles couldn’t help but smile as he went through countless memories.

“We spend a lot of time with each on and off the court,” Coles said. “There’s so many memories I can tell you about, but just to be around these guys each and everyday and see how we grew from year one to year three has just been amazing. I have so many memories I can’t just give you one.”

In terms of growth both Miller and Peavy transformed their games to be two of the top wings in the Big 12. Miller went from being an undersized center at Texas A&M to a legitimate small forward that voted All-Big 12 by multiple outlets.

Originally from Canada, Miller has been outspoken about his love for TCU and Fort Worth. The fact that he got to meet people like Peavy and Coles is a big reason why the city has become a second home to him.

“We came in as strangers and we’ll leave as brothers,” Miller said. “We built a relationship off and on the court that is going to last a lifetime. These guys I would trust with my life, hopefully in the future they can babysit my kids. This is how much this group means to me.”

Peavy started his career at Texas Tech before transferring to TCU in 2021. He was a strong defender with superb athleticism and size, but his offense had yet to to catch up with his defensive prowess until this season where he averaged a career-high 11.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He credits his teammates like Miller and Coles for building him up.

“I just feel like my confidence from last year to this year is a lot better,” Peavy said. “I think my teammates can say the same, it comes from my coaches and my teammates telling me to shoot the ball or just to be confident in myself.”

Cork is the soft spoken of the group, but his contributions are just as important to the story as everyone else’s. Cork started his career at Western Carolina and in 2020 Cork averaged 12.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He could’ve stayed and continued to rack up stats and individual honors, but Cork wanted to be apart of something bigger.

“TCU provided me an opportunity to be a part of something special,” Cork said. “Going to the tournament three seasons in a row isn’t easy. There aren’t many people that can say they’ve been a part of that.”

He’s never averaged more than five points per game in his three seasons with the Horned Frogs, but it was an easy trade-off to make after helping establish a new standard of success for TCU with this group.

“We’re basically like brothers,” Cork said. “It’s been three years of us going through hardships, trying to get the tournament every year and we accomplished that. I think that brought us together, almost like growing up together.”

Last, but certainly not least is O’Bannon, who arrived before the other four in 2020 after three seasons at USC. Even with his role changing throughout the years, there was never any animosity about his minutes or his touches.

He’s always been a model teammate, which is why O’Bannon was inserted into the starting lineup in the Big 12 tournament last week and will get the start against the Aggies on Friday.

But whether or not he starts doesn’t matter to O’Bannon as long as the Horned Frogs win. The fact that he was able to change the trajectory of TCU’s basketball program is enough for him.

“That’s forever going to keep us all together,” O’Bannon said. “TCU is forever going to be a part of us and we’re all tremendously blessed to be in this position.”

Just as it is a blessing for O’Bannon and his teammates to be together in Fort Worth, the same can be said for head coach Jamie Dixon, who is thankful to have spent so much time with this group.

Yes, it helps that this core allowed him to achieve some of his dreams of turning TCU into a legitimate basketball program, but it’s really about the character they showed Dixon outside of the games that will forever resonate with him.

“We’ve got a very outgoing group with a lot of personality,” Dixon said. “They laugh at everything ... those five they’re a very engaging group. On campus they’re involved with classes, other sports and just being around campus plus any events we do.

“They represent TCU well and I’m proud they’ll be playing and representing us tomorrow and throughout this year.”

For about 10 minutes the group of players talked basketball from their defensive strategy for Utah State’s Great Osobor to how they’re encouraging teammates like Trevian Tennyson to break out of shooting slumps.

It was clear that despite the loose energy that the Horned Frogs are taking the moment very seriously, but as they walked out the door the media workroom heard the group burst back into laughter.

The joy they have of being around each other is impossible not to see and their desire to keep playing together could be the difference against Utah State.

Win or lose, this group has established a new era of TCU basketball and their contributions won’t be forgotten anytime soon.