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ORU @ Mizzou


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Mizzou bounced back from the loss to UMKC and beat Valpo...56-41.

 

i think OT posted an article awhile back about Kim Anderson running Bill Self's offense. i'd say Coach Sutton knows a thing or two about that offense.  advantage ORU???

 

i know it was just one game, but i was very encouraged by the play and intensity in the Mayor's Cup.  it's been a few years, but this might be a year where ORU can take down a big name school in the non-conference.  it also helps that Mizzou and Oregon St are breaking in new coaches and we are playing them early in the season.

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One thing this ORU team has that is truly unique is quality depth.

Gone are the days of The Magnificent Seven, when ORU had to use managers to be able to practice 5-on-5.

Should be fascinating to see how Coach Sutton utilizes all that depth in the coming weeks.

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One thing this ORU team has that is truly unique is quality depth.

Gone are the days of The Magnificent Seven, when ORU had to use managers to be able to practice 5-on-5.

Should be fascinating to see how Coach Sutton utilizes all that depth in the coming weeks.

 

i liked the interchangeable parts down low -- Henderson, Conley, Wilson, and Owens.  to my non-trained eyes there did not seem to be a drop off and Owens as a freshman might have the most upside of the four.

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i liked the interchangeable parts down low -- Henderson, Conley, Wilson, and Owens.  to my non-trained eyes there did not seem to be a drop off and Owens as a freshman might have the most upside of the four.

 

That sounds like a pretty accurate assessment, trained eyes or no!  :nerd:

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The depth will be helpful to keep players fresh and to weather the storm of a foul-fest game like last night.  Also, the depth will be helpful in case we have to deal with any injuries.

 

I see some offensive potential with both Henderson and Owens, and hope that the coaching staff will work to develop their offensive skills around the basket and increase the emphasis on getting the ball to the big men.

 

We cannot continue to be only a guard-oriented offense.  We will need a post scoring threat to be a more balanced team that can withstand tough opponents.  As much as we talk about the success of ORU in the win vs. TU, the most significant difference in the final outcome was our superior 3-point shooting.  If TU shoots better than 10% from 3-point range, for instance even 30%, that is a 12 point swing that would have lost us the game.

 

The encouraging sign is the quality of defense that was played out of the gate in the first real game of the year.  The defense was far superior to how we played in either of the first 2 exhibition games.  Which makes me wonder why TU only played one exhibition game.  It wasn't until the 2nd half of our 2nd exhibition game that the team started hitting its' offensive stride.

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Looking a little further down the schedule, I just watched Louisiana-Lafayette play Tulsa, and was encouraged that, despite looking every bit as bad tonight as they did Saturday night, TU still managed to win going away by double figures against the Ragin' Cajuns, 64-53.

 

ULL's guards were awful - something like 20 turnovers, mostly unforced.  They were completely out of control, and NBA hopeful Shawn Long looked wild and rusty himself underneath. 

 

The Cajuns may become a solid contender later in the year, but I like ORU's chances facing them early and on a neutral floor in Vegas before they can work out the kinks.

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I watched the TU game last night as well. I was a bit surprised to see all the empty seats in the Don Rey, especially since their team just came off a conference championship and trip to the NCAA tournament. I was impressed with Louisiana-Lafayette's big man, Shawn Long. His baby hook was solid. We'll need our depth to guard him if we're still foul prone.

 

On another note, the crew that commentated the ORU/TU game on ESPN kept saying that TU's guards were what made them so good last year. From what I've seen from them so far, I don't see it. They seemed out of control and super emotional, especially James Woodard. Maybe I just caught a bad 2 games. Just not that impressed. 

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vcboy....Here's the thing, TU fans have a WAY overblown view of this team (and last years), based SOLELY on the fact that they "went to the NCAA tournament". I think, because they went a decade without going to the NCAA, they automatically assumed that making it was an indicator that they are "back".

 

When, the REALITY of the situation is that they played in a substantially watered down C-USA last year. To their credit, they did improve near the end of last season, but they made the NCAA tournament ONLY because they won the conference tournament, against a VERY weak field.

 

All of that said, it's going to get REAL interesting to see what happens with their fan base, as this season goes along and they realize that they aren't (weren't last year either), that good...compared to their current conference mates, UCONN, Cincy, Memphis, SMU, & Houston, etc.

 

TU will finish below .500 this year.

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One thing this ORU team has that is truly unique is quality depth.

Gone are the days of The Magnificent Seven, when ORU had to use managers to be able to practice 5-on-5.

Should be fascinating to see how Coach Sutton utilizes all that depth in the coming weeks.

It was pleasing to see how he used it the past couple of weeks!

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vcboy....Here's the thing, TU fans have a WAY overblown view of this team (and last years), based SOLELY on the fact that they "went to the NCAA tournament". I think, because they went a decade without going to the NCAA, they automatically assumed that making it was an indicator that they are "back".

 

When, the REALITY of the situation is that they played in a substantially watered down C-USA last year. To their credit, they did improve near the end of last season, but they made the NCAA tournament ONLY because they won the conference tournament, against a VERY weak field.

 

All of that said, it's going to get REAL interesting to see what happens with their fan base, as this season goes along and they realize that they aren't (weren't last year either), that good...compared to their current conference mates, UCONN, Cincy, Memphis, SMU, & Houston, etc.

 

TU will finish below .500 this year.

Speaking of Memphis, the Shockers are cleaning their clock at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, SD today. Beautiful arena, but I've never seen so many lines painted on a parquet court in my life. I don't know how the refs tell what's what out there.

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Hard to get a good reading on a team after only one or two games. It appears that Mizzu is struggling somewhat offensively but plays good defense and rebounds the ball well. They shot 40.0% against Valpo - including 23.5% (4/17) from the 3-point line and 85.7% (12 of 14) from the free throw line. They outrebounded the Crusaders by nine, 37 to 28 and committed 12 turnovers to 9 assists.

 

The Tigers had nine players log 11 minutes or more. The four top players in that game were:

 

Clark (6'0") - 16 points (5 of 11; 2 of 3 from 3pt) with 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 turnovers

Williams (6'9") - 10 points (5 of 11; 0 of 2 from 3pt) with 6 rebounds, 0 assists and 1 turnover

Gill-Caesar (6'6") - 9 points (4 of 13; 1 of 6 from 3pt) with 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 turnover

Rosburg (6'10") - 4 points (1 of 3; 2 of 4 from FT line) with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks

 

They are bigger than we are - which will be true of most teams we play this year.

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anyone know the rest of the story that Anderson won't tell?  LINK

 

 

In an alternate universe, first-year Missouri coach Kim Anderson might be bringing his Oral Roberts team to Mizzou Arena.

 

...

 

“When I left Missouri in 1999, I actually interviewed for the Oral Roberts job,†said Anderson, who played for the Tigers in the 1970s and later served as an assistant coach under Norm Stewart. “Scott got it. There’s another story behind it, but I’m not going to tell it, but Scott got the job, which he’s done a great job there.â€

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TheEagleman isn't sure which direction this 2014-15 ORU squad is going to take but the next two games at Missouri and Oregon State will tell us a lot...both are road games against the big boys but both are games that a good mid major team can steal....are we good enough?.....hummmmm......we can't win at Columbia if we shoot under 40% like we did against TU....we have to rebound better and make our FT attempts....as mentioned above, the Tigers are bigger than we are....so the big guys ORU does have need to play smart and stay out of foul trouble....we can't afford to fall behind big early....we need to get ahead and take the crowd out of the game....it's likely that the home fans would turn against their own team if they play like they did vs. UMKC.....hard to believe that the Kangaroos beat Missouri but it happened....and ORU can't lose to a team that lost to UMKC a few short days ago.....can't we?.....TheEagleman doesn't think so.....I believe that Obi Emegano will have a big game along with Korey Billbury.....maybe a few threes from Bobby Word and some big defensive stops and rebounds by Conley.....the Golden Eagles find a way and get to 2-0 with a 71-66 victory over one of the bottom rung SEC teams.....still it would be a big win for a school like ORU.....EXPECT A MIRACLE!.....GO BLUE!!!!..... :nerd:

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After the win over TU last year expectations were high....and we all know the rest of the story......again maybe this year as well, but I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic.....kind of like in the NFL where you really don't know much about a team until after 4 games/ a quarter of a season.....so with a LONG road trip coming up I would be ok with a 2-3 record in those 5 games. I could see both the Mizzou and Oregon St. games being close, tough losses, similar to K-State and Wichita St. last year..although the Shockers did pull away late....after a lose to UMKC and a lackluster win over Valpo, we will see tonight if, as in the words of coach Dennis Green, the Tigers...."are who we thought they were"!......and if they are let's hope ORU doesn't let em off the hook!

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Good points, Illini.....maybe predicting a win tonight at Missouri is a pipedream by TheEagleman....we will have to bring a big effort to do it and yeah, we all got jacked up after a W over TU last season.....just hoping the balloon doesn't get burst again so quickly.....TheEagleman would love to get a split in the next two games....but as you point out it's not a likely result.....but I am hopefull and will stand by my prediction....probably gonna need 40+ points from Obi and Billbury combined....and some decent minutes by our big men.....otherwise the Tigers could kill us in the paint..... :sweat:

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BTW.....Missouri is a 7 point favorite tonight.......TheEagleman is tempted to take ORU plus those points....but it looks like a sucker bet..... :|

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The game will be shown online on SEC Network Plus (+), unless you're like me and have DirectTV.  Even though I get the SEC Network through my DirectTV satellite package I don't have access to SEC Network Plus online because they don't have an agreement for that yet.  Amazing.  Maybe I can find a friend that will let me log in online with their Time Warner Cable or other available account.  Otherwise I'll just be content listening to Hax.  Go Eagles, beat Mizzou!

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Yeah...the SEC network is televising Arkansas vs. somebody tonight....not ORU at Mizzou....so no TV available for TheEagleman unless somebody has other info....by the way....the Vegas line has dropped to 6 now.....must be a lot of money coming in on ORU..... :|

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