"Very practical recruiting": College hoops’ fans rejoice as TCU boosts injury-ravaged team with state title-holders already studying on campus

TCU women’s basketball started the 2023-24 season on a brilliant note. Led by new head coach Mark Campbell, the Horned Frogs posted a school-record 14-0, which positioned them firmly atop the AP Poll. The expectation immediately became high on the football team.

However, things fell apart for the team as it recorded multiple injuries as the season progressed. The situation became so bad that the program had to forfeit two games. This led the athletic department to conduct tryouts on campus to recruit new players for the team.

The rare tryout move looks to have brought a desired result for the TCU women's basketball team. The program found out that there were multiple state title-winning players on campus enrolled as normal students. They've now been added to the team as walk-ons.

A total of four walk-ons have been added to the roster: Piper Davis, Ella Hamlin, Mekhayla Moore, and Sarah Sylvester. Notably, Sylvester currently plays as a middle blocker on the TCU women's volleyball team, becoming the first athlete to play for the two teams in the Big 12 era.

There’s been a lot of reactions to the unusual move by the Horned Frog among college basketball fans. Let's take a look at some of them.

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Injured players on the TCU team

TCU's women's basketball has dealt with significant injuries since the start of the year. It was reduced to only six available scholarship players, and two of them were on limited minutes as they returned from injuries.

Sedona Prince suffered a broken ring finger on her right hand in the opening seconds of TCU's first game of 2023 against Baylor. Despite the injury, she played the entire game and posted an impressive performance with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the 71-50 loss. She’s been out of action ever since.

Jaden Owens endured a significant setback when she suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in her right knee during the first half of the game against Houston on January 13. This unfortunate incident occurred during the Horned Frogs' fourth consecutive loss, and the Baylor transfer has been sidelined since then.

The team's injury situation worsened after Arizona transfer Madison Conner also injured her MCL in practice. It didn’t get better for the Horned Frogs after DaiJa Turner disclosed that she had undergone season-ending ankle surgery.

The team now looks to be back on track after the win against UCF on Tuesday. While only Sarah Sylvester appeared against the Knights, the new walk-ons have given the Horned Frogs the needed depth to move on with the season.