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The Jim Christian era begins its second year tonight at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
The TCU men’s basketball coach, who finished 14-17 his first season, wasn’t exactly relaxed as his team prepared this week for its season opener at 7 tonight against Mid-America Christian (2-0), but he is commanding a team much more his own than the depleted squad he inherited when he took the job in March 2008. The familiarity with his returning players the second time around gives Christian an edge compared to last season. When the Frogs face their first test tonight, six returning players from last season will already be accustomed with what Christian demands. That’s half the battle he fought his first season. The other half of the team, which includes six recruits, has been involved in summer workouts, giving the team more time to jell."Overall, we’ve had a really good preseason," Christian said. "We’ve played harder, the young guys are really learning and we’ve thrown so much at them. We’re just getting ready to play now. This time of year it’s about us. We need to try to do the things that we need to do to get better."Returning starters such as Zvonko Buljan, Edvinas Ruzgas and Ronnie Moss give the Horned Frogs experience they lacked last season, when they finished seventh in the Mountain West Conference with a 5-11 record. Buljan, who was named to the preseason first-team All-MWC team this season after averaging 12.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game in 2008-09, will be asked to take a leadership role, along with Ruzgas and Moss."I expect that from all the veteran players now," Christian said. "We now have players who have been through this — been through our system, played a year here, been through our league — so the newness is over. So now it’s a matter of going out and competing."Being a leader for the team won’t be awkward for either Buljan or Ruzgas, two junior college transfers who grew up in Croatia (Buljan) and Lithuania (Ruzgas)."He’s saying that we have to be a lot more vocal, get involved with the team a lot more, like in practice we’ve got to talk to the guys," said Ruzgas, a 6-foot-6 forward. "If something goes wrong, we’ve got to bring the team together and just be leaders. In the locker room and out on the court, too. I feel comfortable. It’s not a big deal for me."Packing DMCJim Christian would love nothing more than to see Daniel-Meyer Coliseum packed to the gills tonight, especially considering the football team’s sellout for Saturday’s game against Utah. But attendance figures are not at the top of his agenda. "Of course I want people to come out — who doesn’t?" Christian said. "My job is to put the team on the floor and play as hard as we can. It’s not my job to fill that arena every night."Christian knows it will take some time (and winning seasons) to build up a loyal following for a Frogs team looking for its first winning season in five years.
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