TCU Basketball Preview Series: Washington

The Frogs' first true road test of the season will come in the upper Northwest, as TCU travels to the Evergreen State to face the Washington Huskies. Let's take a look at what to expect from this year's Washington squad.

Game 8: Washington Huskies

Game Information

Date: Tuesday, December 8
Time: 10:00 PM
Location: Alaska Airlines Arena - Seattle, WA
TV: Pac-12 Network

Know the Foe

SB Nation: UW Dawg Pound
Conference: Pac-12
Location: Seattle, WA
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar

2014-2015 Record: 16-15 (5-13)
Postseason: None
Key Losses: G Nigel Williams-Goss, C Robert Upshaw, F Shawn Kemp, Jr.
Key Returners: G Andrew Andrews, F Donaven Dorsey, G Dan Kingma
New Additions: G Malik Dime, G Dejounte Murray, F Marquese Chriss

Summary

The 2015-2016 edition of the Washington Huskies will look drastically different from the 2014-2015 edition. Lorenzo Romar will have a difficult rebuilding project on his hands in his 13^th season at the helm following the departure of nine players from a year ago. The five returning players that remain combined to average just 22.0 points per game last season, with 15.0 of those coming from senior guard Andrew Andrews. There's no question that Andrews enters the 2015-2016 season as the prohibitive leader of this Huskies team.

In total, Washington will carry 11 players that did not see playing time at the Division I level last season, including seven freshmen. Four of those freshmen - Marquese Chriss, David Crisp, Dejounte Murray, and Matisse Thybulle - averaged about 20 points per game at their respective high schools and help make up the 16^th best recruiting class in the country, according to 247 Sports. That quartet will have to emerge as scoring threats at the collegiate level for Washington to find success this year. Back-to-back seasons with no tournament play coming after six consecutive seasons with a trip to the postseason has placed Romar on the hot seat and needing a quick fix in Seattle.

Prediction

Washington 75, TCU 72

This is a difficult game to predict in that the performance of freshman is usually hard to foresee. If the Huskies' recruiting class is able to live up to its preseason hype, Washington could be back on the winning track sooner rather than later. However, if the young guns can't get things going early in the season, the Frogs will have a chance to grab a huge road win against a power conference opponent. A slight edge goes to Washington because of their recruiting class hype, and because they're the home team in this one.

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Opponent Team Previews:
Game 1: Southeastern Louisiana
Game 2: Houston Baptist
Game 3: South Dakota State
Game 4: Rhode Island
Game 5: Maryland /Illinois State
Game 6: SMU
Game 7: Colgate
Game 8: Washington
Game 9: Prairie View A&M (10/22)
Game 10: Abilene Christian (10/23)
Game 11: Bradley (10/24)
Game 12: Delaware State (10/25)
Games 13 & 24: Oklahoma State (10/26)
Games 14 & 25: West Virginia (10/27)
Games 15 & 20: Texas (10/28)
Games 16 & 29: Baylor (10/30)
Games 17 & 23: Kansas (10/31)
Games 18 & 28: Texas Tech (11/1)
Games 19 & 27: Iowa State (11/2)
Game 21: Tennessee (11/3)
Games 22 & 31: Oklahoma (11/4)
Games 26 & 30: Kansas State (11/5)