Know Your Foe: Q&A With Frogs O' War

Oklahoma State is riding a three-game win streak as they head into the high school gym Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center on Saturday evening to take on a TCU squad that has lost seven straight games and hasn't knocked off the Pokes since 1986.

Make sure you read what I said for TCU's Q&A right here.

Just for fun I decided to look up a few things about 1986 to give that some context.

In 1986....

• Gas was .89 cents per gallon
• The Chernobyl Explosion
• Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history
• A brand new two-piece suit cost $90
• Top Gun and the Karate Kid, Part II were released
• The Bangles released "Walk Like an Egyptian"

As much as many of you don't want to believe it, 1986 was a long time ago and to be frank, gas will drop down to .89 cents a gallon before TCU will beat the Pokes again, right? Probably, but not so fast my friend. We sat down with Andrew Felts of Frogs O' War and asked him four #hottake questions before Saturday night's contest. Enjoy!

CRFF: This is OSU and TCU's first meeting, who should Cowboy fans be paying attention to on the Horned Frog squad?

Kyan Anderson is the undisputed leader of this TCU team. He has led the Frogs in scoring in 13 of TCU’s 24 games. The TCU offense usually follows the pace set by Kyan. More often than not, as Kyan goes, so does the TCU offense. Anderson is the leading scorer on the team, averaging 13.0 points per game. His production has dropped off somewhat this season as he finally has a supporting cast that can help to score the ball.

A trio of transfers have added a significant amount of production for the Frogs this season. Trey Zeigler (Pitt), Kenrich Williams (New Mexico Junior College), and Chris Washburn (UTEP) have all made their way into the starting lineup in their first full seasons at TCU. These three each average between six and nine points a game, but their main contributions come on the defensive end. Washburn and Williams lead the Frogs in rebounds and blocks with Zeigler not far behind. These three will have to provide Anderson with some support this evening if the Frogs want to pull the upset.

At 1 - 10, Big 12 play hasn't been kind to the Horned Frogs. What would a successful season be for TCU at this point?

At this point, coming away with two or three more Big 12 wins would be an achievement. Head Coach Trent Johnson has alluded to this, but the team appears to be struggling with confidence issues. The Frogs lost heartbreakers to West Virginia and Kansas by a total of four points in back-to-back games in late January and they haven’t really looked the same since. TCU’s four contests since then have been blowouts, most recently a 66-43 defeat at Texas in which the Frogs shot just 28.8% from the field. Based on what we’ve seen out of this TCU squad, they should be able to compete with Kansas State and Texas Tech at home. I have been saying all season that I think this team is capable of an upset, but they’re running out of chances, and their confidence, especially on the offensive end, seems to suggest otherwise.

CRFF: In order to pull off an upset, the Horned Frogs would need some help from the bench, who would you look to provide additional scoring?

Brandon Parrish and Amric Fields are two guys that come off the bench that would really need to contribute for TCU to pull off the upset today. Parrish was a starter for the first 16 games of the season before being replaced by Kenrich Williams due to a lack of scoring presence. Parrish is averaging just 5.6 points per game, a reduction of nearly two points per game from his freshman season a year ago. Fields is another player that has seen a significant reduction in offensive production as of late. He is averaging 7.0 points per game, about half of what he averaged last season as a regular starter. These two would definitely have to increase their contributions off the bench if the Frogs want to defeat the Cowboys.

CRFF: Since joining the Big 12, TCU has finished last in the conference. Is there any pressure from the fan base to get better in basketball, and even though it may not be translating to the standings just yet, have you noticed improvement?

With the men’s basketball program, TCU fans have been pretty patient. I think that for the most part, our fans realize that this is a long process that will take several seasons to get to where it needs to be. Like in any fan base, there are those who want instant success and get frustrated with the lack of winning. But for the most part, TCU fans are giving Trent Johnson and his coaching staff the time and patience that they require to build this program from pretty much the ground up. Recruiting is steadily getting better, and the addition of the newly renovated Daniel-Meyer Coliseum next season will be a big step forward in terms of getting facilities up to a Big 12 level. This program has a high ceiling, but it is certainly experiencing a fair amount of growing pains.

To answer the second part of your question, there is no doubt that this year’s team is significantly better than last year’s team. I think that anybody who has followed the Frogs for the last two seasons would make that argument. This year’s squad has a much higher level of aggressiveness and physicality. The team defense has been outstanding and has kept the Frogs close in numerous games that would likely have been blowouts last season. There is certainly a foundation in place for this program to improve in the future.

CRFF: And you know it's coming, Have you ever done a Q&A without this question.... What is your prediction for the game?

Like I mentioned before, I think that this particular TCU team has the components necessary to pull off an upset at some point in the season. I originally liked this particular matchup for the Frogs. I thought that TCU could disrupt Oklahoma State’s offense enough to let the Frogs squeak this one out. However, these have become two teams trending in opposite directions over the last two weeks. The Cowboys are playing like they’re on a mission, while the Frogs are putting up historically bad performances on the offensive end as of late. As much as I don’t like picking against TCU, I just don’t see the Frogs disrupting this OSU run. I’ll take the Cowboys 74-60.

I will say one quick thing about Andrew's answers. We both agree that TCU is heading in the right direction, this is a team that went 0-18 in conference play last year and despite being 1-10 this season they are leaps and bounds better than they were a year ago. Johnson has this team heading in the right direction and in two or three more years they'll win seven or eight conference games.

That's all we have for this week's Q&A but make sure you tune-in to CRFF for our postgame coverage of the OSU-TCU game when it all wraps up from Ft. Worth.

Once again, big thanks to Frogs O' War for taking the time to sit down with us and make sure you head over there and read their stuff!