TCU Basketball: TCU captures NIT title in Jamie Dixon’s first year

In year one of the Jamie Dixon era, TCU basketball captured the 2017 NIT after defeating Georgia Tech in the final at Madison Square Garden.

In a battle of first-year head coaches, Jamie Dixon and the TCU Horned Frogs won the 2017 NIT Championship, blowing out Josh Pastner and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 88 to 56, at Madison Square Garden on Thursday evening.

The Horned Frogs jumped out to a 20-3 lead to open the game and they never surrendered. They played elite defense, made consistent plays in transition and used their size and overwhelming athleticism to run Tech out of the building.

Thanks to a spark of energy off the bench from Tadric Jackson and renewed toughness defensively, Georgia Tech actually cut TCU’s lead down to 11 at the break. They had to feel good about themselves given the fact that Dixon’s team basically dominated the opening 20 minutes.

The wheels fell off in the second half, though. Kenrich Williams (25 points and 12 rebounds) took over the game and Vladimir Brodziansky (18 points and six rebounds) was off the charts good in the paint. The Horned Frogs packed in the paint and forced the Yellow Jackets to either take threes or attack a crowded lane filled with athletic shot blockers.

While the Horned Frogs put forth a perfect game on Thursday night, this is more about the status of the TCU program than anything. TCU has been to seven total NCAA tournaments in the program’s history and has always been a school focused more on their football program than anything else.

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That was until they decide to commit the money and resources to the basketball program. They began to use charter planes, upgraded their facilities and showed that the gridiron wasn’t their only priority.

That commitment to the sport attracted alumnus Dixon, who had a fractured relationship with the Pittsburgh Panthers fan base. Despite making nine NCAA tournaments in 10 years (including an Elite Eight in 2008-09), the Oakland Zoo’s expectations grew to unrealistic proportions, basically pushing the head coach out the door.

And in a matter of one year, Dixon showed just how good of a head coach he is and just how lucky the Panthers were.

TCU wasn’t supposed to be in the mix for the NCAA tournament. But they were.

TCU wasn’t supposed to beat Kansas in the Big 12 tournament. But they did.

TCU wasn’t supposed to run through the NIT without their freshman point guard (Jaylen Fisher). But they sure did.

And just think about it this way, this is just year one. Dixon is losing Brandon Parrish, Chris Washburn, Karviar Shepherd, and Michael Williams to graduation, but they still have a great core group of players. Fisher is only going to get better in year two. Desmond Bane had a terrific freshman season. Brodziansky is a stud in the paint. JD Miller is long, athletic, physical and tough. Alex Robinson is a calming presence at point guard. And most importantly, the versatile Kenrich Williams is returning with the rest of the players who were just listed.

In addition to the returnees, TCU has a five-man recruiting class coming in that includes four-star center Kevin Samuel, four-star point guard R.J. Nembhard, and three-star power forward Andre Rafus, among others.

Next: Five reasons why Gonzaga will win it all

This is not going to be the last time we are going to hear about TCU. But it should be the last time we hear the Horned Frogs and the NIT in the same sentence for a while.