It may be an off-the-radar game, but TCU has a lot to gain from Alamo Bowl
Less than two weeks until Christmas and even less before it’s time to hit the road to San Antonio. Sounds like a great time to start a new weekly feature.
Calling it “Three Things I Think, Three Things I Know.”
Three things I think ...
1. TCU football has a chance to regain some prestige with a win in the Alamo Bowl. The brand lost some luster with the two not-close losses to OU. But if the Horned Frogs can beat Stanford and the best running back in the country, Bryce Love, they’ll go a long way to re-establishing their reputation, especially on defense.
2. The Alamo Bowl probably isn’t capturing imaginations nationwide. But maybe it ought to. It’s the Big 12 runner-up against the Pac 12 runner-up. It’s Stanford’s strength, a won’t-stop running game, against Gary Patterson, who thrives against head-up challenges. It’s Bryce Love and Travin Howard. Bowl matchups don’t always work out so symmetrically.
3. TCU basketball is going to set a school record for consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 in basketball. The record is seven, back in 1959. Right now, the 14th-ranked Frogs are spending their third week in the poll and are idle. Next week, they should get past the last of the tune-up games. That will take them to a fifth straight week in time for the start of Big 12 play against Oklahoma. If the Frogs are as good as they look, they will have a number in front of their name all year.
Three things I know ...
1. Kenrich Williams is on his way to topping his 19 double-doubles that led the Big 12 a year ago. That came in 39 games. This year, the senior guard has six in 10 games, so he’s slightly ahead of pace. He will have a chance at 10 and 10 in every game because of his talent and the number of minutes he plays. Double-doubles will come naturally to him.
2. There is a lot of offensive skill on Jamie Dixon’s team. A lot. The starting five all average double-figure points, and four of the five — Jaylen Fisher, Desmond Bane, Vladimir Brodziansky and Kenrich Williams — have had 20-point games. Three of those five have had two 20-point games. Off the bench, newcomers Kouat Noi and Ahmed Hamdy are a combined 55-for-93 (59.1 percent) shooting with 15.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. And Alex Robinson, working his way back to full health after an ankle roll, has put in 13 and 10 in his last two games.
3. Jeremiah Donati made a warm impression at his introductory press conference Monday. The new athletic director looked a little nervous addressing a roomful, but he came across as open and genuine. He addressed reporters by name. If people were afraid they were going to lose a human touch when Chris Del Conte left, Donati went a ways toward settling those fears.
This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 11:33 AM with the headline "It may be an off-the-radar game, but TCU has a lot to gain from Alamo Bowl."