Burning Question: Will inexperience and injuries wreck TCU’s season?

TCU is not your typical power five conference job. In fact, it only became such a job three years ago. When Jim Christian sensed his seat was starting to warm at TCU, he left for Ohio, a less stressful and more comfortable mid-major gig. In came Trent Johnson, a coach who has had a modicum of success at every place he’s been, but who, like Christian, had sensed the pitchforks coming toward the end of his four-year run at LSU.

Head coach Trent Johnson is trying to build some momentum for a TCU program that won 18 games in 2014-15. (Paul Abell/US Presswire)

Johnson’s first two years in Fort Worth were rough for a couple of reasons. First, the leftovers from Christian’s tenure had to adjust to the transition of both coaches and to a much more competitive basketball conference (from the Mountain West to the Big 12). The Horned Frogs under Christian certainly weren’t slayers out west (18-44 in his four years), but they did finish 7-7 in league play the year before Christian hit the road. Secondly, injuries bit them pretty good. In 2012-13, starting guard Jarvis Ray injured his left foot in late December and was lost for the year. Amric Fields, the 2011-12 Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year, suffered a season-ending injury to his knee 12 seconds into TCU’s game against SMU. Conference play hadn’t even begun and the Horned Frogs’ season was all but done.

After an 0-18 Big 12 cratering in 2013-14, last season was Johnson’s first step in the right direction. TCU returned plenty of experience in the backcourt, with two-time all-Big 12 Honorable Mention point guard Kyan Anderson wrapping up a career that finished first in career steals and among the school’s top 10 in nearly every offensive category. Trey Zeigler, a transfer from Pittsburgh, was second on the team in scoring behind Anderson. A 13-0 start was built largely on fluff but winning is winning, and the team did collect a true road win against an Ole Miss team that eventually made the Big Dance. In conference play, the Horned Frogs were also a minute away from beating Baylor at home and a mere 1.8 seconds away from upsetting West Virginia in Morgantown. True to Trent Johnson’s style, last year’s team hit the boards and played stingy defense — TCU finished second in the Big 12 in blocked shots, third in offensive rebounds and ranked 53rd nationally in KenPom’s adjusted defense rating, the program’s highest finish since in nearly a decade. Read the rest of this entry »

Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting guru. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. We also encourage you to check out his contributions dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Double Dip for Coach Cal

In what is being referred to as the best package deal in high school recruiting by a number of national recruiting analysts, twin brothers Andrew and Aaron Harrison of Fort Bend Travis High School (Texas) verbally committed to the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday, October 4. Andrew, the top rated point guard and No. 2 overall prospect in the ESPN 100 and Aaron, the top rated shooting guard and No. 4 overall prospect, chose the Wildcats over the Maryland Terrapins and SMU Mustangs. The addition of the Harrisons will automatically vault the Wildcats as the No. 1 overall class in 2013 over SEC rival Florida.

The Harrison Twins are the latest dynamic duo to commit to Kentucky (maxpreps)

“Coach Calipari presented a challenge for us. He would push us every day,” Andrew said. “We just want to be better players.” Aaron added: “Also, coach Calipari did not guarantee anything and we liked that.” The announcement comes after an intense summer of recruiting for the twin brothers. Throughout the AAU evaluation period, coaching staffs from the final three schools were spotted at almost every event that the Harrisons participated in with their AAU club, Houston Defenders.

In the end, it was a neck-and-neck race between Kentucky and Maryland with SMU a distant third in the running. Kentucky head coach John Calipari and Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon battled for the services for the Harrisons up until the very last minute. Turgeon even made a visit on Wednesday in an attempt to make one final impression on the Harrison family. A Maryland commitment would have clearly brought the Terrapins back to national relevance.

Speculation ran rampant throughout the week leading up to the announcement that the decision may have been swinging in Maryland’s favor, mainly because the mainstream gear brand Under Armour was playing a huge role in the recruitment. Under Armour outfits both the Terrapins and the Harrison’s AAU club coached by their father, Aaron Harrison Sr.

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