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That's why all this "bubble talk" is so great: whether we get in to the Field of 68 or not, we're getting talked about a LOT on a national stage. Terrific publicity for the program and the school, especially in the "David and Goliath" context in which we are being represented. Good stuff!

This truly has been a magical season, and hopefully it is not over. Whether it is the NIT or we are blessed with an invite to the "Big Dance", either way is good for our alma mater. Just think of all the free national exposure we have been receiving these past few weeks. The Akron game was fantastic to watch and attracted a lot of attention to ORU. Since then we have been mentioned numerous times on nationally televised sports shows and apparently that is not letting up. In either tourney, we will continue to receive national exposure. Every time we are on national tv, whether the "Big Dance" or the NIT, the University receives the equivalent of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of free advertising for at least two hours each time. Without these tournament appearences, we could not afford to advertise that way on a national scale. I have had numerous people come up to me and start talking about ORU in general and our team in particular, who are not evangelical or charismatic christians. Therefore, I just want to thank the team/coaches/cheerleaders/students/administration for supporting our beloved institution and representing all we stand for in a very positive way! GO GOLDEN EAGLES!

Agreed, didn't our 3 bigs have 12 points combined? Need some more production there. I would love to see them run specific plays for them like they use to for Caleb specifically the double pick play where Caleb would run under the goal as the ball was swung around putting him in perfect position on the block for a quick turnaround layup.

I agree that we could make some noise in the NIT - especially if we get a home game or two and are matched up with the right teams. I hope our guys can shake off the hard loss and get focused/motivated for the game(s). We need everyone to bring their "A" game.

In the interest of bringing this thread back on topic, I would add this: We might have a chance to make some real noise in the NIT - maybe even make it all the way to New York - but only if we can get more production in the #4 and #5 spots than we had in Sioux Falls. Can I get an "Amen"?

Western Illinois is a pretty good defensive team - look at what they did to SDSU last night. It was difficult to get open on the perimeter and Parks was a beast inside. We did grab a lot of offensive rebounds but could not score down low. They were physcial and denied/deflected the ball into the post. That said, if Parks doesn't make the (improbable) turn around jumper with one second left on the shot clock - we probably eek out a victory.

Well, I do think that a coach can be criticized, as long as it doesn't become 'personal'. Criticizing a grown man, that makes a very nice living, is a different animal. That said, I really don't have a lot of criticism of our coaches. I really think the way we switched up man/zone/press, gave us a good chance to win against WIU.

Thanks for reminding me of my job as moderator, voice. We've always had a policy of avoiding criticism of players and coaches, and I think we should stick with that. orumom made that point in another thread. Let's keep it positive about our players and coaches. As voice says, they do an exemplary job of representing the team, the university, and us. When you look at the total package, you gotta love these guys. We all make mistakes - let's not focus on thiers. They've also done a lot RIGHT this season to get to 27-6!

Good points. But I think, WITHIN REASON, it's not too far out of bounds to comment on why a guy is used (or not used) in particular situations, such as why we don't have a particular guy shooting threes, or bringing the ball up, or defending the post. It's part of analyzing the game and the strategy therein. I don't know why DBH did not play the last 10 minutes of the game, but it was my guess that it was due to a couple of defensive breakdowns and turnovers about midway through the second half. Which, if truth be told, was just part of a bigger picture involving bad nights by ALL of our front court players: I can't think of game where DBH, Craion and Roundtree all three combined for such a rough outing. Parks appeared to totally disrupt everything we wanted to do inside, especially in crunch time.

I know that almost every other college message board criticizes players, but I'm not a big fan of it. Let's try to remember that these are 18-22 year old, kids. Try to remember yourself at that age, before being overly critical. DBH (and all our guys) seem to be REALLY good young men, that try very hard to represent OUR alma mater. Just my $0.02.

Tough loss. I suspect I'm in the minority, but I think we are missing some fundemental skills. We don't rebound, we're quick to shoot the 3 ball (although a 50% shooting percentage today is strong), we don't look for any indside opportunities and we can't defend in the paint. When the season started, there was talk about top 25 votes. Now that reality has settled, we better worry if we can win consistently in the RPI challenged Summit conference.