Alex Robinson admitted it. He wasn’t too fired up about playing in the NIT. Nobody was.
That first practice Sunday night after the bracket reveal said it all. Body language spoke volumes.
“Really difficult,” the TCU senior guard said. “We felt pretty defeated.”
What was the point of going on? Well, as the Frogs learned in getting off the mat to rally and beat Sam Houston State in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday, plenty.
A scoreboard is on. TV is there. Real refs calling real fouls. Paying customers.
And minutes. Not practice minutes. Live minutes.
Forty minutes times five players on the court means 200 to distribute, at least, in one game alone.
Two seasons ago, the Frogs turned their NIT bid into a thousand extra minutes by playing five games and winning the whole thing. (A thousand and five minutes, to be exact, considering an overtime win at Iowa).
Think those minutes didn’t matter in gaining an NCAA Tournament bid the next year? In turning Robinson into a fire-tested point guard?
Think these minutes won’t matter in TCU resetting for an invite to the dance a year from now?
They will if a bid has anything to do with the progress of redshirt freshman guard R.J. Nembhard, true freshman guard Kendric Davis and redshirt freshman center Kevin Samuel.
Seeing their first postseason action at TCU, the three combined for 36 points, 14 rebounds and five steals. They played 63 minutes.
Samuel dominated the game inside. The biggest player on the court scored 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting with six rebounds and three blocks. With every block (he’s up to 70), the 6-foot-11 athlete keeps adding to his school freshman record. In the last six games, he’s averaged 12 points and seven rebounds. Those are a veteran’s numbers.
Davis played like his fearless self, setting up drives to the basket like a seasoned Big 12 guard and finishing like a scorer as advertised. His 4-for-6 shooting proved critical in keeping the Frogs’ cushion in the second half, and his ball-handling continues to take pressure off school assists king Robinson.
Nembhard scored 12 points. Notable, but he’s done that before. It was the way he scored his dozen on Wednesday night that made the arena buzz. The four-star signee from Keller dunked twice, confidently worked his shot and operated smoothly in the offense. Anybody even remember he used to have a knee problem?
They are the building blocks for next year. Robinson will be gone. Frontcourt man JD Miller, who’s played more games than anyone in TCU history, will be gone.
These minutes matter for Samuel, Davis and Nembhard. They’ve mattered for weeks now, since the Frogs have played with a seven-man rotation for nine games. With a game against a Power 5 opponent, Nebraska, on Sunday in the second round, they will continue to matter.
“It’s just getting better,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “That’s what you hope out of freshmen. We tell them we’re going to get them in early. The rotation is a little strange. We only have seven, so it’s strange to begin with. It’s somewhat challenging to get the right guys, but we’re going to get them in quick. We’re going to rotate as we go. They’ve handled it well.”
They’ve had to. TCU wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t handled it well. This is a third consecutive year with postseason play for the Frogs. Despite the NCAA disappointment, that’s still an accomplishment. It hadn’t happened for TCU since 1999.
The last time with four straight postseasons? Keep looking.
“It’s playing confidently,” Davis said, asked how he and Nembhard manage as a two-man bench. “At the beginning of the year, we had a limited role. But with everyone leaving, we had to adjust quicker than we thought.”
It’s long past the beginning of the year. It’s late in a year. At this point, the freshman have basically started their sophomore seasons.
They’re getting extra practice and playing critical minutes. Sophomore minutes.
“You just hope they continue to get better,” Dixon said. “And they will.”
That’s the point. TCU is an emerging program, and they are emerging players. That’s what matters. That’s the point of going on.
