By Joel Anderson staff reporter TCU's play on the football field catapulted the Frogs into a three-way tie for the conference championship, but they finished the season lacking representation on the coaches' all-Western Athletic Conference teams that were announced Tuesday. The Horned Frogs placed three players on the 26-member all-conference first team, behind the other WAC tri-champions Fresno State and Hawaii, who each placed six. Texas-El Paso and Southern Methodist also finished ahead of TCU, with four players each on the all-WAC team. The Frogs defeated UTEP and SMU in the final two games of the season by an average of 25 points. "You always feel for the guys on your team who didn't make it," said TCU head coach Dennis Franchione, "but it's nice for some of the individuals on the team to be acknowledged for their accomplishments." Junior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson headlined the Frogs' all-conference selections, earning WAC Offensive Player of the Year honors. Tomlinson finished the season as the nation's leading rusher with 168.2 yards a game and set school single-season records of 1,850 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. David Bobo, a junior offensive tackle, and Aaron Schobel, a junior defensive end, were the other Frogs named to the first team. Bobo helped pave the way for Tomlinson's record-setting season, and Schobel broke the school career sack record, tallying 25.5 sacks and a team-high 11 this season. But noticeably absent from the first team were junior defensive tackle Shawn Worthen, junior offensive tackle Michael Keathley and preseason WAC Defensive Player of the Year senior safety Reggie Hunt. All three, in addition to junior offensive guard Jeff Millican, senior defensive end London Dunlap, junior linebacker Shannon Brazzell and junior safety Curtis Fuller were on the WAC's second team. Franchione said he was also miffed at the selection of Tulsa quarterback Josh Blankenship for Freshman of the Year, instead of TCU quarterback Casey Printers. Printers finished third in the conference in pass efficiency, led TCU to a 7-2 record as a starter and was named one of the top 10 freshmen in the country by Sports Illustrated. Blankenship was eighth in the WAC's pass efficiency rankings and tossed 15 interceptions against just seven touchdowns. "I thought Casey Printers should have been Freshman of the Year, and I also saw that Hawaii and Fresno State had six players on the first team and we only had three," said Franchione. "I guess that means we just did a great job of coaching this year." First-year Hawaii head coach June Jones won Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Rainbow Warriors from an 18-game losing streak to a eight-win season, a share of the WAC title and a spot in the Oahu Bowl on Christmas Day. Fresno State head coach Pat Hill said he was surprised by TCU's lack of representation on the all-conference teams. "I voted for a lot of TCU players, because I personally thought that TCU was the best team we played all year," said Hill, who chose Tomlinson, Bobo, Brazzell, Hunt, Keathley, Schobel, Worthen for the first team. "I'm not into all that other stuff. My staff and I wanted to vote for the best players in the conference. "I've got nothing against TCU going to Conference USA. In fact, and I want to tell Dennis (Franchione) this, I definitely want to continue our home-and-home series. I have a lot of respect for the TCU program." TCU had two first-team members on last year's all-WAC team, which was comprised from the then 16 members which made up the conference. But Franchione said he isn't concerned with any perceived slights of his team. "The bottom line is that anytime someone is an all-conference selection then you're happy," he said. "As a coach, you always feel that sometimes there are players on your team that are overlooked."
Joel Anderson
By Rusty Simmons sports editor The Horned Frogs took the court for the opening tip off without leading scorer senior forward Marquise Gainous. Senior swingman Shannon Long is no longer with the team after head coach Billy Tubbs said the coaching staff and Long reached a "mutual agreement" that he should quit. The coaching staff would offer no further comment. Junior guard Vladimir Jaksic did not suit up for the game because of severely sprained left ankle. The team that Tubbs said is one of the deepest teams he has ever coached was lacking depth Tuesday night in its 97-61 victory over Northwestern State. "The depth is pretty much depleted right now," Tubbs said. Junior guard Ryan Carroll used the drained TCU line up to take the spotlight. He converted on 8-of-12 three-point shots to score a career-high 36 points.
Rusty Simmons
By Steven Baker staff reporter Junior Ryan Carroll scored a career-high 36 points as he led the men's basketball team to a 97-61 victory over the Northwestern State Demons Tuesday night. A crowd of 4,056 watched Carroll come one three-pointer short of the school record of nine. The team had to play in spite of injuries to senior forward Marquise Gainous, sprained ankle, and junior guard/forward Vladimir Jaksic, who did not play with a sprained left ankle. Carroll's points also helped easing the difficulty of losing senior guard/forward Shannon Long, who was released earlier in the week. "Carroll really shot the ball well, and he was the offensive key that really had us going," said head coach Billy Tubbs. "He is our most experienced player on the court right now." Through the initial nine minutes of the first half, TCU could only compile a one-point lead over Northwestern, until Tubbs switched from the man-to-man defense to a zone at the 11:30 mark. The men's team also added a full-court press at just over 10 minutes into the game to its defense, and expanded its lead to 10 points, 42-32, by half-time. Tubbs said the speed of Northwestern's team prevented the Frogs from doing what they wanted to offensively in the first half. Four minutes into the second half, TCU's two-guard set, junior Thomas McTyer and junior Larry Allaway, changed when Allaway went out with four fouls. After an official time-out at 15:57, Carroll came in for Allaway and he and McTyer led the team on a 14-0 run over the next three minutes. During that time, McTyer and Carroll combined for 10 points. "I thought we played with more spark in the second half," Tubbs said. "It was a little guys game tonight." Carroll said the full-court press wore down Northwestern in the second half. "There wasn't a lot of communication in the first half," he said. "Now that communication has improved and we are playing better ball."
Steven Baker |
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