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TCU has been a pre-season darling in the early goings of the 2017-2018 campaign, and Thursday, two of their senior leaders were personally recognized with a big honor.
Senior forwards Kenrich Williams and Vladimir Brodziansky were both named All-Big 12 Conference players, with Vlad making the first team and Kenny Hustle being named an Honorable Mention, as voted by the conference’s head coaches.
Vlad finished his junior campaign as a second-team all-conference member after averaging 14.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game in a breakout year. He set the single-season record for blocks at TCU with 82, as he patrolled the paint for Jamie Dixon’s NIT Champion squad. He was also named to the Big 12 all-Defensive Team as well as being listed as an Honorable Mention All-Conference member by the AP.
Hustle starts this season where he finished the last, as an Honorable Mention. He went off for 11.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game coming off of a knee injury that cost him the previous year, and was a double-double machine for the surprising Horned Frogs. In fact, he posted double-digit points and boards in all five NIT Tournament games on his way to being named the Most Outstanding Player. According to GoFrogs.com:
It was the first time TCU had a player represented on the Big 12 preseason team and the first to earn any preseason conference honors since Hank Thorns was named Preseason All-Mountain West Conference during the 2011-12 season.
The rest of the first team is Mountaineer guard Jevon Carter, Jeffrey Carrol of Oklahoma State, Devonte Graham of Kansas, and Zach Smith of Texas Tech.
Brodziansky was joined on the preseason team by Jevon Carter (West Virginia), Jeffrey Carrol (Oklahoma State), Devonte’ Graham (Kansas) and Zach Smith (Texas Tech). Pre-season player of the year was awarded to Devante’ Graham, while his teammate Malik Newman was voted Newcomer of the Year. Preseason freshman honors went to Mohamed Bamba of Texas.
The Frogs tip-off their season less than a month from now, when they match up with Louisiana Monroe on their home floor on November 10th at 8:00pm.