TCU News: Frogs Open Season with Dramatic Baseball Win, Hoops Needs to Hold Serve at Home

Baseball:

Alvarado’s Adam Oviedo begins TCU career with high expectations | Cleburn Times Review

Oviedo delivered in his first game for the Frogs, picking up TCU’s first hit of the season. He seems like the kind of humble, hard-working kid that thrives in Fort Worth.

“It is for sure challenging but it is rewarding because I am not only acquiring an education, I’m also able to play and learn more from the sport I love,” he said. “The biggest adjustment coming into college was time management — being a D1 student-athlete requires a lot of focus and determination. Balancing your studies and trying to become the best you can be on and off the field.”

A couple of weeks into his first official practices with the Horned Frogs, Oviedo said he quickly realized there was a lot more he had to learn.

“My first taste of D1 ball with TCU was bittersweet,” Oviedo said. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about baseball but I was wrong. There is so much to learn from the game and so many aspects of the game that you can become better at. Playing for TCU is a privilege that I will always cherish.”

Basketball:

TCU’s March Madness résumé fluffing needs to start now | The Star-Telegram

Have to win the ones you should, starting with tonight. I love that Dixon doesn’t shy away from talking about it.

“Now we have enough, we have eight,” Dixon said, if reluctantly. “Eight is not what I’d normally [use], but we have the right guys, we have the rotation, we should be able to get the right amount rest for guys. I feel like we have the pieces going into these last five. We know where we’re at.”

TCU is still looking like a likely NCAA tournament team, but a strong finish could turn that maybe into a slam dunk, no matter how the Big 12 tournament goes in Kansas City, Mo., in early March. Most projections have seven Big 12 teams earning NCAA berths. The Frogs are currently still highly ranked in the latest ratings, including the BPI (Basketball Power Index) and RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), the leading indicators on who will make the tournament. TCU is No. 21 in the BPI and No. 26 in the RPI. TCU last earned an NCAA tournament berth in 1998. The Frogs won the National Invitational Tournament last year, Dixon’s first season at TCU.

Cowboy Basketball Heads To TCU Seeking Third Straight Road Win | OK State

This is a massive game for both teams.

Oklahoma State (15-11, 5-8 Big 12) fell behind early and could keep up with Kansas State in an 82-72 home loss on Wednesday night, but will draw on its recent weekend road success as it regroups to face TCU (17-9, 5-8 Big 12) on Saturday night in Fort Worth, Texas. On each of the last two Saturdays, the Cowboys have won at No. 7 Kansas and No. 19 West Virginia in sold-out venues. The Horned Frogs won the season’s first matchup against OSU, 79-66, in Stillwater, but have never swept the season series against the Cowboys, which has four players that hail from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Football:

TCU football schedule, roster, recruiting and what to watch in 2018 | Yahoo Sports

Don’t sleep on Ranthony Texada’s graduation and the effect it will have on TCU’s defense in 2018.

Next man up: Some really good players graduated off the defense: CB Ranthony Texada (30 career passes defensed), FS Nick Orr (205 career tackles, 9 INTs), LB Travin Howard (345 career tackles), DE Mat Boesen (19.5 career sacks) and DT Chris Bradley (16.5 tackles for loss, 4 career fumbles). Each of them represented exactly what Patterson puts into and gets out of his defenses: Under-sized players with high-rev motors and big hearts who just make plays. How does Patterson replace that kind of productivity? We don’t know, but he seems to pull it off every year.