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ORU is KILLING IT in Fall Recruiting


Old Titan

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When was the last time ORU signed THREE legit recruits in November?

Here's who's committed as of Oct. 2nd:

• Javan White (6'7" small forward, Ames, IA)

• Kristopher Martin (6'4" shooting guard, Dallas Kimball)

• Chris Crawford (6'1" point guard, Tulsa Victory Christian)

Time will tell, but this is certainly shaping into a class to watch over the next five years.

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I agree. I love that we are getting early commitments; that has usually worked out well for us.

 

We only have two seniors according to my calculations.....

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Anyone know anything about Chris Crawford?

from Barry Lewis of the TW (Feb 3, 2014):

 

 

Webster coach Scott Bowman turned to an assistant coach late in Thursday's game and commented about Victory Christian guard Chris Crawford, "He's never missed against us, I think."

 

Many coaches of Victory opponents share the same lament.

 

Although Crawford missed his next two shots before making a final basket, he had already done enough to ensure Victory would retain its No. 1 ranking in Class 4A. Crawford scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half to help Victory repel Webster's upset bid, 69-56, in a matchup of 2013 state tournament teams.

 

Webster changed up its defense to try to contain Crawford, who scored 45 against the Warriors in a Dec. 13 win. The strategy worked for a while until Crawford snapped a 41-41 tie with a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. That started a surge of 17 points in 10 minutes for Crawford.

 

"He just took over," Victory coach Ryan Wakley said.

 

Crawford, a 6-1 junior, is second behind Owasso's Shake Milton among Tulsa-area scorers with a 24.3 average.

 

"Chris has grown immensely this season," Wakley said. "He has such a great work ethic and it's not at all about points with him."

 

...

 

Crawford, the MVP of the Tournament of Champions and Port City Classic.....

 

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Crawford is listed at 6'1" and a point guard. His strengths are ball handling and passing.

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TW: Victory Christian's Chris Crawford commits to ORU

 

Highlights: 

 

 

 

"ORU is the best situation for me," Crawford said on Thursday. "I'll have a chance for playing time right away and they are in a good conference."

 

 

Crawford chose the Golden Eagles over Tulsa and Fresno State.

 

 


"I love playing at Mabee Center," Crawford said.
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According to Barry Lewis of the Tulsa World:  "Crawford chose the Golden Eagles over Tulsa and Fresno State".

 

Can someone please tell me the last time the words "chose the Golden Eagles over Tulsa" were EVER printed in the Tulsa World?

 

Or, ANYWHERE? :-o

 

P.S.  over/under on Golden Hurricane fans claiming Crawford was never offered a scholarship to TU:  under 4 hours.

The only thing TU fans may hate more than the thought of losing games to ORU is the thought of losing recruits to ORU...

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I have seen him play and his speed changes the game. He gets steals and pushes the fast break due to his speed. He is also a nice shooter. I am definitely excited about this commitment.

I agree that he is a decent passer, but I think speed and shooting ability are his best assets. It will be interesting to see if he will have a combo guard role in a year or if he could be a true D1 point guard. If he was the PG, the offense would be dangerous because he would still be a scoring threat.

You won't have to go far to watch him play a HS game this season.

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Sounds like a great get for ORU men's basketball...and this kid is used to playing at Mabee Center and says he loves it......take that, TU!....and TheEagleman has heard that tonight is a big 3A football matchup between Victory Christian and Checotah.....TheEagleman has a buddy whose son is a starting OT for Checotah..... :nerd:

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LOL - it took a little longer than I thought, but there's this from the TU message board this morning, from a life-long ORU hater named "mcane", under a topic thread he titled (wait for it...) "Is Barry Lewis Lying?":

 

Says Crawford chose ORU over Tulsa.
If TU did not offer we should demand
a retraction clarification.
ORU homer Lewis clearly crapping
on TU. lets call bS and let Hines and
Peters know we are unhappy.

 

The "Hines" and "Peters" he refers to are the Tulsa World beat writer for TU, and the Tulsa World sports editor, respectively.

 

If only the idiot realized Barry Lewis, the writer of the story, is a TU graduate with season tickets for Golden Hurricane basketball who has probably forgotten more about University of Tulsa lore than "mcane" will ever know.

 

Barry is far from an "ORU homer" - he's just a local sports junkie.

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Another post from the thread, this one from self-proclaimed TU "insider" Chris Harmon, who runs TU's Rivals.com website:

 

Crawford did not have a "commitable" offer from Tulsa after Taplin committed.  TU had given Crawford a verbal offer, but decided not to bring him in for a visit as I understand it and were going after Taplin and/or Ramey instead.  Once Taplin committed, there was no longer a scholarship open.

Basically, once TU was no longer an option for Crawford, he committed to ORU.

 

He had me until the last sentence:  no way of knowing if Crawford might have popped back up on TU's radar, now or in the spring signing period, if they lost a current player/recruit or two to academics, disciplinary action, etc.

 

Reading between the lines, at some point recently TU verbally offered Crawford - apparently, he didn't accept right then and there, so THEY moved on to the aforementioned "Taplin and/or Ramey".

 

Bottom line:  Lewis was not "lying" in his article by saying Crawford chose ORU over TU.  Crawford did not accept TU's verbal offer at the time it was made (for whatever reasons), then he committed to ORU.  Pretty cut and dried, if Harmon's post is accurate.

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Hope it becomes a Caleb Green situation. I will never forget the first game that Green had against TU. He went off on them and smiled the whole time.

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Hope it becomes a Caleb Green situation. I will never forget the first game that Green had against TU. He went off on them and smiled the whole time.

 

What I still remember is how the TU basketball staff, in defense of passing on Green in the first place, leaked rumors that the reason they did so was because of his grades and such. 

 

It wasn't until Caleb's father Larry went off about the rumors in a Tulsa World article that the truth actually came out:  TU didn't offer Caleb because they "didn't see much upside" in him. 

 

In other words, they couldn't evaluate talent, which ended up getting Head Coach John Phillips fired a few days after Caleb & Co. embarrassed them on their home floor his sophomore year.

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I like this signing for a few reasons.

  • It's difficult to teach offense. Players like DoMo who sign from high school averaging 20+ have a greater probability of scoring at the college level.
  • Crawford seems to have decent range. It's been a while since we have had multiple shooters on the floor. Maybe that will change soon.
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also a plus is Crawford knows the "unique" ORU culture by coming from Victory (no sticker shock when he arrives on campus). rather than a comparison to DoMo, i would compare him to the last high scoring guard signed by ORU from Victory: Tim Gill

 

1724339_1570043299891221_809892949_n.jpg

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also a plus is Crawford knows the "unique" ORU culture by coming from Victory (no sticker shock when he arrives on campus). rather than a comparison to DoMo, i would compare him to the last high scoring guard signed by ORU from Victory: Tim Gill

 

1724339_1570043299891221_809892949_n.jpg

 

This!  ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

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