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I sat right behind ORU's bench last night and here is my take on this year's team: This team seems to have fight in them and they seem to pull for one another so I believe they will continue to improve as long as their attitude stays positive. With that said my take is that we do not have an overly talented team so they will only get so good. Coach Mills has done a decent job of filling in some gaps with some graduate transfer players and juco players. However to reach the next level we need better talent. Like old John Wooden used to say "my players made me look good". I grew up in Spokane, WA where my high schools arch rival was Gonzaga Prep. John Stockton was a senior when I was a sophomore. John went on to the then NAIA Gonzaga University and put them on the map. Since that time the level of recruiting at Gonzaga steadily improved until now under Mark Few he has created a culture and pipeline of players that have the talent and expectation to compete at the top national level. By the way Gonzaga is roughly the size of ORU. Can ORU do what Gonzaga has done? I believe so with an administration and coach that has the desire and vision. Let's face it ORU has has great facilities, good location, and a unique brand that if used to it's advantage could rise to a much higher level. If Gonzaga can arise from a lowly NAIA school to where they are why can't ORU follow a similar pattern?

This is a young/new team with lots of new parts and without its two point guards. I think it will take time to find the right combinations and for them to get used to playing together. The key is to make progress and not get discouraged with setbacks.