Ten Frogs named to all-WAC first-team
Tomlinson, Schobel take top honors as best in conference
By Matt Stiver
skiff staff
The 2000 Horned Frogs scored more points, allowed fewer yards and won more games than any other team in the Western Athletic Conference. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Frogs had 10 players named first-team all-WAC.
“It’s a great tribute to our team,” head coach Dennis Franchione said. “We have a saying: if the team does well, then the individual honors will fall into place.”
After completing the first 10-win season since 1938 and coming within three points of an undefeated regular season, the Frogs placed the most players on an all-conference team in school history.
Senior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson repeated as WAC Offensive Player of the Year after a season in which he rushed for 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns. His 5,263 career rushing yards place him first in the WAC and sixth in the NCAA.
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David Dunai/SKIFF STAFF
Junior defensive end Chad McCarty puts the pressure on Southern Methodist sophomore quarterback David Page in the second half of the Horned Frogs’ 62-7 win. TCU had four offensive players, five defensive players and one special teams player named first-team all-Western Athletic Conference Tuesday. |
Senior defensive end Aaron Schobel, a first-team selection last year, won Defensive Player of the Year honors. He recorded 6.5 sacks and 54 tackles. Schobel ranks as TCU’s career sack leader with 31.
Senior offensive linemen David Bobo, Mike Keathley and Jeff Millican joined Tomlinson on the first-team offense. Bobo was a first-team selection last year, his fellow linemen are first-time nominees.
The nation’s No.1 defense was represented with five first-team selections.
Senior middle linebacker Shannon Brazzell said he was honored to be selected but thought the nation’s No. 1 defense deserved more overall.
“Being that we’ve sustained the nation’s top defense most of this season, I think we should have had more than five,” Brazzell said. “We are a complete defense. We don’t do with just a good front line. We’ve got everything working and that’s why I think we should have had more.”
Senior defensive tackle Shawn Worthen and Brazzell, key parts of a defense that allowed just 84.4 yards rushing a game, were each first-time selections. Senior defensive backs Curtis Fuller and Greg Walls were also named to their first all-WAC teams.
Senior placekicker Chris Kaylakie, a first-team selection in 1998, returned this season after making 16 of 18 field goals and scoring 98 points. Kaylakie ranks second all-time at TCU in field goals made.
“The fact that we had so many seniors recognized is a testament to what we’ve been able to do here,” Brazzell said. “In three years, this senior class has gone from 1-10 to 10-1. It’s been amazing to be a part of such an amazing turnaround.”
Texas-El Paso’s Gary Nord was named coach of the year, while Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang was tabbed freshman of the year.
Matt Stiver
m.r.stiver@student.tcu.edu
Lady Frogs bouncing back
N. Texas game more important than Tenn., coach says
By Danny Horne
sports editor
Life goes on.
Things have quieted down around Daniel-Meyer Coliseum, and it’s back
to business as usual for head coach Jeff Mittie and the TCU women’s
basketball team after a Monday night loss to No. 2 Tennessee.
The Lady Frogs had little time to think about the game against Tennessee before moving on to their next game. TCU plays North Texas at 7 p.m. today at Daniel-Meyer.
Mittie said the game against North Texas could prove to be even more important.
“It’s probably more important because it’s the next game,” Mittie said. “We have to see how we bounce back from that game.”
Fans packed Daniel-Meyer Monday night to the tune of 7,262, setting a record for the biggest crowd to ever see a basketball game on the TCU campus. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that a similar atmosphere probably won’t exist with North Texas driving down from Denton, but Mittie said the crowd shouldn’t be the only motivation.
“We have to learn to create our own energy,” he said. “Everyone knows you get hyped up for that type of game. We need to be more reliant on ourselves and the people within the program.”
Mittie said the women’s basketball program proved something to itself and the community.
“A lot of people saw us play who had never seen us play,” he said. “We showed that we can have that atmosphere at Daniel-Meyer and in Fort Worth.”
TCU will have at least one more opportunity to attract a raucous atmosphere when the men’s and women’s teams play Dec. 28 at the Fort Worth Convention Center. The Lady Frogs are scheduled to play Texas.
“We’d like to think that game can carry that type of atmosphere
with it as well,” Mittie said.
But for now, the Lady Frogs have to look at what has been learned.
Mittie said his team is still trying to form an identity in women’s college basketball, and how they bounce back from a game like that against Tennessee will go a long way toward building that identity.
“We have to find out what kind of team we are,” Mittie said. “We will find out whether we’re a team that bounces up and down or a team that plays at a high level all the time.”
That’s what makes the game against North Texas all the more important.
“I was proud of our effort (against Tennessee), but I told the team that we can never be satisfied with a loss,” he said. “We can’t afford to have a let down against (North Texas). They are a good rebounding team that likes to run the ball up the court in transition.”
Rebounding was one aspect that was missing for the Lady Frogs against a taller Tennessee squad. An advantage in second chance points and offensive rebounds helped the Lady Volunteers pull away in the second half. After the Lady Frogs were outrebounded 55-42 on Monday night, Mittie said getting on the boards was something the team needed to work on.
“North Texas doesn’t have the size inside that Tennessee does, but we know they have a good rebounding club,” Mittie said.
Freshman forward Tiffany Evans was one of the few players able to get inside for some rebounds against Tennessee. She pulled down nine boards and added seven points in just her second collegiate game.
Mittie said the first-year forward did a lot of growing up in the game. Evans said she didn’t really see it as growing up.
“We all said before the game that we were going to play with a high intensity level,” Evans said. “I’ve played with some of those (Tennessee players) in high school so I knew I could compete with them. The coaches expect certain things out of me even though I’m a freshman. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it and not being intimidated.”
TCU didn’t show any signs of being intimidated against Tennessee, but the next test becomes being able to sustain that against North Texas without the record-setting crowd.
Danny Horne
bravestcu3116@mindspring.com