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There was about 50+ people in attendance last night. Paul started out by introducing himself, his family, and his staff. By the way he talked about his staff, it sounds like we will be hitting the Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas market hard. A few questions were asked about recruiting, style of play, focus, and future. I will try to summarize to the best of my knowledge. When Paul was hired, a majority of the core (Bradley, Young, Anderson, Martin) had departed along with some other transfers from the program. He talked about how no player had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. So he went out and signed two players with a 4 to 1 and 2 to 1 ratio. Talked about how the front court was stacked and decided to focus heavily on back court and ball handling. Doesn't expect to sign any more players for this upcoming season. Didn't really touch much about what he looks for in players, but did reaffirm that he is looking for kids who are dedicated to the program. Mills wants to play an up-temp style of offense and press nearly the entire game. (Think Brad Underwood, Bob Huggins, Frank Martin, Shaka Smart {at VCU}) Said they will focus on an "inside-out" offense. He made reference that the Omaha Head Coach jokingly told him on a recruiting venture that he would know if Paul was a good coach by how many touches Albert Owens got during a game. He went on to talk about how the front court of Javan, Albert, Chris Miller, and Emmanuel is going to be big for this season, but they have some guards that can really shoot the ball. The ideal offense for the future would be something similar to the Spurs and Warriors system. Talked about Jontray having a larger role than last season, the Missouri St transfer, and the freshmen potential. Said his email signature is "Press On" referencing Philippians and how he wants to play. Fan/Student support was brought up (rightfully so). Was asked how involved he would be with the students and try to win their support. He answered by saying they will go to the students. Go have lunch with them, bring pizza to the dorms, etc. Mentioned that homecoming will be the first home game of the year against Avila. He mentioned that he spoke with Bill Self about the job and Bill said "promise them no chapel and they will come". A few other things he mentioned were wanting to be the best mid-major program in the country. Talked about how Butler, Gonzaga, George Mason, VCU all are programs ORU can be like. He said it will take time to build the program, but believes ORU can do it, past history says it is possible. Talked briefly about the schedule. Games highlighted at home will be Oakland and Missouri State. Mentioned Valpo has reached out wanting to play a home-home series. Said he reach out to Lon Kruger and Lon laughed at the offer of OU coming up. Said it is tough to get major programs to travel to ORU due to risks of RPI, loss, etc, but mentioned he is wanting work with other big name mid-major programs. With day in age of money guarantees, travel, budgets, etc, it will be hard for ORU to get another major program in here unless we turn things around. Lastly, but I think the most important, Paul mentioned that taking this job wasn't about getting a D1 job. He said it was about the opportunity to build relationship with the players and transforming them to be Godly men. He talked about how he wants to make sure these players not only feel loved by the staff, but also wants to mature in their faith and their lives. He said everyone who is associated with ORU, loves ORU. He respects that and he wants to show that with his student-athletes both on and off the court.

Great recap - thanks!

With 2 less conference games, I sure hope ORU doesn't go out and add 2 games with NAIA schools....would be nice to see some more mid-major games