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Watched the last 15 minutes of the Women's season opener on ESPN+ (don't get me started on Midco Minus...) at Central Arkansas. The Golden Eagles begin with a dominating performance on the road, earning a solid 4-1 victory. The new school year begins with a BANG!

Diehard ORU fans - we all know that there has been a great deal of lamenting on this board in recent weeks/months about the desperate state of ORU Athletics - and most of the frustration was based on the belief and/or fact that the ORU athletic programs were vastly underperforming. I know that it is VERY early in the school year, but I think we all should take a moment to celebrate the early-season successes of our fall season teams. Through ten combined games across three sports, ORU is still undefeated, sporting a sterling record of 7-0-3 (MSOC 1-0-2; WSOC 4-0-1; VB 2-0). For comparison, at the exact same point in time last season, the teams were a combined 3-6-1 (MSOC 0-2-1; WSOC 3-2; VB 0-2), a significant improvement for each sport. What a great August for ORU Athletics!

https://www.verbalcommits.com/players/xander-pruzinsky

ORU volleyball team defeated LSU New Orleans 17-25, 25-16, 10-25, 25-16, 15-10 to sweep the LSU-New Orleans/Nicholls Challenge. Last season, we won only 3 games, this year we are 3-0. As the scores indicate, the team plays in streaks, but when push comes to shove, they get the job done. I love their enthusiasm and team unity.

Figured he could use his own thread. Top 35 player in the state of Texas, chose ORU over a lot of mid majors(including North Texas, UNLV, and New Mexico State) We were his first offer. The annoucement tweet calls him a 4 star prospect, I haven't found that in any of the recruiting websites but a 3 star from Texas is still great in my book. We've had a lot of success with bigs from Texas before and I hope that continues. Welcome to ORU! Between this and the Cam Haffner signing yesterday, I feel a swell of hope after a (my perception only) disappointing offseason. A small write up about why he chose ORU. https://ballislife.com/news/high-school-news/xander-pruzinsky-commits-to-oral-roberts/

ORU WSOC just completed their Sunday evening match against Friends University, a Kansas NAIA school. Interestingly, the game was played on the Friends campus football field in Wichita. It is not often that a D1 school will travel to the home field of an NAIA school, but this was the return game of a home-and-home series started last season in Tulsa. The outcome was exactly the same as last year, a 4-0 Golden Eagle victory. As expected, ORU dominated the action tonight with 21 shots to 3 for the home team, and 11 shots on goal to 1. Surprisingly, Friends did not earn a corner kick all night. I'm very impressed with this team so far. They play fast and aggressive, and thread the opponent's defense with very effective short touch passes. It's obvious that they have bought into the strategy of the coaching staff, and flow well as a team. With two home and two away games so far (and two D1 and two NAIA opponents), the Golden Eagles have earned a perfect 4-0-0 record and have given up ONE goal while scoring 12. The remaining five non-conference games are quite interesting, with two road games at North Texas and at Little Rock and three HUGE home opponents with Oklahoma, Tulsa and sixth-ranked Baylor all coming to Case Soccer Complex over the next three weeks (kudos to the ORU scheduling team!). The Golden Eagles have a great opportunity to make some serious noise this season.

ORU's 4-1 win at Central Arkansas looks even better tonight. UCA played at Tulsa Sunday night, and were tied with the Golden Hurricane for most of the game before giving up a goal in the 85th minute to lose 2-1. Even with the Bears' loss, this shows that ORU dominated a pretty decent team on their own home field. Hoping for great things from ORUWSOC as the season progresses!

Jonah goes 1-for-4 with a triple (the boy has wheels). Video of it is below. Jonah will either stick with the team or be trade bait for a position player that some team needs. He will not be going back down unless he gets hurt (IMHO). He was killing AAA ball this month by going .547 on 20+ at bats. He has all the tools to play the game. Jonah Cox Triple on 8/14/2026

As the basketball season schedule(s) have been released, it's time to open up the topic for the 2027 ORU baseball schedule, as information will begin to trickle out over the next few months. We'll start this one off with a bang - as ORU has announced a few "premier" home games for the 2027 season - and the list is TRULY premier! In addition to a continuation of regional rivalries: Oklahoma Oklahoma State Missouri State Returning to Tulsa after a rare year off of the schedule: Wichita State ORU adds two power-conference opponents and a solid mid-major to the home schedule: Central Florida Michigan State Abilene Christian It looks like it's going to be an excellent home schedule this season at Chapman Park!

As I mentioned in a previous post, this will almost surely be the least traveled ORU MBB team in the D1 era. After looking at it more closely, here's an amazing statistic - the farthest west that ORU will travel to play in the regular season is Fort Worth, Texas and the easternmost travel will be to the season opener in Conway, Arkansas. That is a ridiculously narrow geographic window, which comprises about 270 miles wide east-west. And, to make this even more surreal, with Denver now out of the conference, ALL of the Summit League games are within that same geographic window! The USA is approximately 2,800 miles wide, and ORU will play all of its games in a zone of less than 10% of that width. For comparison, last season ORU's travel schedule went from Ogden, Utah to Fort Myers, Florida. If nothing else, this will certainly reduce travel costs this season.

According to Jeff Goodman: Cascia Hall (Tulsa, OK) 6-3 senior @MemphisDuffie has committed to Oral Roberts, he told @TheFieldOf68. Duffie, the Tulsa World Player of the Year, selected ORU over Drake and Missouri State. He averaged 19.3 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.3 steals en route to a state championship while shooting 41% from three. Duffie is coached by former Arkansas star Lee Mayberry.

Women’s VB with a HUGE win tonight in Spokane, defeating tournament host PAC-12 Gonzaga 3-2. ORU won the first two sets, then dropped two straight forcing a final winner-takes-all set. Gonzaga led 12-10 before ORU closed out the match on a 5-0 scoring run to stun the Zags 15-12. ORU will complete the tourney tomorrow against Cal State Fullerton. Interestingly, all four tourney participants are 1-1 for the weekend. Gonzaga swept CSF 3-0 on Thursday, but CSF recovered to beat Eastern Washington 3-2 today. Should be a very evenly matched game against the Titans.

While playing against his buddy, Jose Trevino. There was a time in the game (second inning) when Jose knocked in the first run of the game with a single for the Reds and in the bottom of the second Jonah hit his two-run HR for a 2-1 lead - all knocked in by @orubaseball alums. Your fun fact for the day…..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Rhett Brooks/OT!!!!......we miss that guy.....is he 65 yet?? TheEagleman has one coming up on Monday but not giving out any numbers.....I will just say that I am older than Old Titan but not as old as Dolly Parton or Bogus Smith.....

So your logic is no news is bad news - I trust that other decisions you make in life are based upon better reasoning. Let me give you some positive smoke - not that it will change your conclusion, but it may serve to offset some negativity on the board. I had breakfast a week or so ago with a highly placed individual in the program. We have a very frank and open discusion. Based upon that meeting, and barring key injuries, etc., I think that this team will do much better than what we have seen in the last couple of years. I am not predicting a Summit League championship this year, but sincerely believe that after this season we will feel that the program is on an uptick and headed in the right direction.

Jonah tames the Green Monster!!! Second HR on the season for the rookie.

Bogus gets his wish, with the Eagles earning a 1-0 victory. ORU totally dominated the match, but UCR almost tied it with seven minutes left on a shot that hit the crossbar and bounced (thankfully) over the net.

I noticed that, he must have a good connection with our coaching staff. I've watched a few videos of Colt and he is a true PG, great passer, very quick, and sets up his teammates for open three's. He's small but if he adds some weight I think he would be a nice addition. He was the MaxPreps player of the year in South Carolina, averaged 24 PPG and 11 Assists.

TheEagleman remembers that WVU game and was hoping to go to Morgantown but it just did not work out.....recall ORU did come up a little short with a late rally being far behind most of that contest.....It's time for a road opener win after 45 years.....we are overdue....somebody needs to get to Kory Barnett and remind him how long it's been and how we Alums has suffered over the years.....Let's Do It!!

ORU volleyball (5-1) takes on TU (6-0) today at 4 PM in the Mabee Center. We have lost to TU 17 times in a row. It's time to break that losing streak. I hope to see you there.

I’ll throw out an invitation to OT for he and I to attend a practice in the near future and we then both give you our take on this year’s team. Come on OT I’m ready when you are!! I’ll make the trek from Oologah!

He batted cleanup and had a great bunt for an RBI along with the HR. The video and commentary are worth a watch: https://www.mlb.com/video/bryce-elder-in-play-run-s-to-jonah-cox https://www.mlb.com/video/jonah-cox-homers-4-on-a-fly-ball-to-left-field Edit: sorry about the ads. Wish I knew of a link without them.

Cox 2-5 with his 4th HR tonite in SFG win at Atlanta....Jonah is now hitting .286....

I was concerned about the hot weather, but as I enjoyed this match in the bleachers I was surprised that it did not feel unpleasantly hot. The bleachers were in the shade for the entire match and there was a pleasant breeze blowing. Before coming to this game, I was not a big soccer fan, but these ladies have converted me. If you live in the Tulsa area, I encourage you to come watch this team that is making ORU proud.

It looks like Dolly was at the Mabee Center for a couple of concerts (78 and 05), according to the internet. I wonder if she had a friendship or even knew Oral Roberts? Always wanted to go to Dollywood as a kid but it never worked out. She was a light in a dark world and a real sweetheart.

Since we are in the speculation mode here is an observation: ORU has a number of players on our current roster that have been paid professionally overseas. Not having a clue what they were paid I will make the assumption they will not be making a significant pay increase by attending ORU. If this is the case then we do not have certain players that are only chasing $ but rather the opportunity to play in the US on perhaps a bigger stage with greater opportunity. If HCKB pulls this off and we have a good season this will be seen as a brilliant move. If I were a big gambler I like the odds of what he is doing versus recruiting US players who are just chasing $ which is something ORU cannot do much less sustain. This is a bit like what Coach Duke did back in the 1960's when he brought in foreign players and built a powerhouse. Whether this whole thing works out or not one thing is for certain , we have players that look the part physically and have experience playing overseas. Now the bigger question is can they perform in the NCAA?

Here is some other perspective on the team last year v. the team this year: Last year's team was young and had not played together. They came together early and had energy, won a game in a MTE, and was scrappy. However there was little to no leadership on the floor and when times got tough with a long losing streak, the team fell apart and lost confidence. This year's team is older, more mature, some natural leadership with new, young players that can make their own plays. Players that have played in the European arena - some professionally - that want an opportunity to shine on the American scene. There is motivation, leadership, energy, and a young coaching staff that is working hard. I also believe that this year's team will exceed last year's team; however, a lot of this comes with the matchups that we have with various teams. We will not matchup well with a P4 team because our tallest player is 6'9". We won't win many rebounding contests when playing against taller teams. However, our ability to play within the Summit League should be much better this year than the past three years. The coaching staff going after international players may be a brilliant move on their part, but we won't know that until we get into February. Patience is a good virtue. Right now, we are undefeated (just like all the other D-1 teams) so everything is rosy. Character is built when adversity hits. Let's see what kind of character the team has in mid-December.

The other day I ordered my basketball seasons tickets and I had a good conversation with an individual who is around the program every day. He told me the men’s team are so far very unified and like to be around each other. They practice with intensity and are athletic. He said this years squad look like men physically and he predicts there will be a big difference from last year. He also said the women’s team have height this year and look considerably better than last years team. Let’s hope this is accurate and the women compete for a summit league title and the men break at least 500 and give us something to cheer about!

Really hope Cam can be eligible he may be the difference between last and a few places up? ORUMBB posted Zorbas attending classes and on campus so maybe seems likely to work out

I was at our opening game that season which was against WVU in Morgantown against a Bob Huggins team that went on to lose in the 2nd round of the Big Dance to Gonzaga. Our fans filled the section of the WVU Coliseum behind our bench and we were loud/vocal. We were down and staged a comeback towards the end of the game, but came up a little short. It was an enjoyable game and the WVU fans were very respectful towards us. I wish we would schedule more games in the region in the future.

The Xavier game counts. Injuries happen.

Cam is a "Class of 2022" pickup. He was recruited by Huntington University, but decided to go to Eastern Illinois where he was the freshman of the year in the Ohio Valley Conference. The next year he went to Evansville and, as @Keenan Henderson noted, averaged double digits in the Missouri Valley. He went to Western Kentucky last year, but saw limited action. When things changed last Friday, we were there to make the offer for Cam to join ORU. How's that for a storyline??

He was due - he had 10 k's in the prior three games. Hopefully he is seeing the ball again.

The good guys play to a draw, 1-1, today with the University of Illinois at Chicago. However, a draw is a great outcome for the good guys. ORU was outshot by the Flames (16-5) and shots on goal (7-3). Fortunately, our goalie thwarted a PK with 2:30 left in the game by guessing correctly on which direction to go to keep the game as a draw. In the 91-degree heat this afternoon, both teams left it all out on the field. Next up is a west coast trip to Cal-State Fullerton and Cal-State Northridge next weekend, taking a 1-0-1 record to California.

I hope the ORU leaders give Coach some time to build and we are just now starting to see the progress of him building relationships with the Oklahoma and Texas high school basketball coaches and players. We have to remember he is not from the area, unlike Mills and Springmann. Barnett did not get hired until around April 1st, 2025. So the 2025 recuriting cycle was a wash. It is encouraging that he is looking at local talent and brought in the 6'8 big man from Texas (Xander P. not getting to try and spell his last name).

C/O 2027 #3 player in Oklahoma

Jonah is back in SF and is in the lead off spot tonight!

I guess we should give ORU Athletics media staff a little grace on the errors and typos that we find in their work. Even the World Wide leader in Sports can't spell Xander's last name correctly.

Sorry boys but the Xavier game counts and that huge 64-42 win was on National TV.....sure the Muskateers had a bunch of suspensions but ORU cleared the bench in the final ten minutes and what could have been a 40 point win was whittled to ONLY 22.....it was complete domination from the opening minutes....we had a good team that season and frankly might have beaten Xavier even with all their starters on the court.....let's just say that it would have been competitive.....and yeah IT COUNTS!!!

Keenan makes some very valid points....if ORU wants to get back to being competitive in the Summit then not only do we have to hold serve at Mabee Center and win the majority of our home games....we also must get back to at least being a .500 road team which we are not close under Springmann/Barnett.....sadly it's not likely to be changed in 26-27 short of a miracle....but TheEagleman remains somewhat hopeful.....it is true that ORU may have a shot to end 45 years of opening game road losses at Central Arkansas....no saying we are going to win but we should have a chance vs a low mid major.....1981 at Jadwin Gym in Princeton NJ was our last opening game road victory and TheEagleman was there.....I think it was a 61-55 win for the Titans vs. the slow down offense of Pete Carill.....

I asked the question to show that it is very challenging to win on the road versus tough competition and it has been about 15 years since the Eagles have accomplished this. I don't expect them to beat TCU or Arkansas on the road but can ORU start to win some road games versus mid major teams. The transition is also can the Eagles win on the road in the Summit League? That is where the rubber meets the road for ORU. Since Mills left 3 seasons ago they are 2-22 on the road in conference play (Mills final 3 seasons the Eagles were 21-4 on the road). This is the elephant in the room that should be addressed by the coaching staff. The road record should never be that bad. How do they turn that around and begin to win a few away from the Mabee Center?

D1Baseball is reporting that UIC (Missouri Valley) pitcher, Aiden Pavoris, is transferring to Oral Roberts. He is a 6’1” 205 RHP Grad Transfer with limited use at UIC. Competed one season at Oakton College in Des Plaines, Ill. in 2022. Made 17 appearances for the Owls, collecting a dozen starts, pitching 70.1 innings, tallying 71 strikeouts with a 4.35 ERA. He throws 90-93, while touching 94; Slider at 85-87; Slider 80-83. Career Stats 77 IP 77 K 32 BB 4.09 ERA. Rehabbing from successful CECS forearm surgery. Recovery is progressing well, and is expected to be fully healthy by early November (i.e., no fall ball exposure, but probably bullpen activity and use of the pitching lab).

I'm not so convinced it wouldn't have been a game or doesn't count. It's not like Xavier lost to the AO/Jalen Bradley Eagles, this was arguably the best ORU team in a 13 year span probably from 2009-2021. They beat Tech, SMU, FIU amongst others and ran through conference except a blips to SDSU and getting upset by Obi and WIU. They lost to Oklahoma, Gonzaga, UTSA, West Virginia by a combined 27 points. Before losing to us, Xavier had beat Bellarmine by 3, and Miami (Ohio) by 6, they were not some unstoppable force . Also, we didnt just beat them, we spanked em . Who knows what would have happened full strength, the odds would be against us, BUT that ORU team as VERY good and that Xavier team was a bit overrated and vulnerable IMHO....

They must have had to offer some NIL money to bring Cam to Tulsa. He is a streaky 3 point shooter, that has made 156 in his career, which is about 50 more than Connor Dow. I think Cam has a good chance to start at the shooting guard position. At least on paper, he has better scoring stats then any of the other newcomers. We shall see about D/rebounding and how he can improve in those areas. Cam gives ORU a lot of depth at shooting guard.

Faith Hope and Love and the greatest of these for ORU fans is Hope!!

Another 2027 C/UTL commitment from Faith Academy in Mobile, AL.