Leaderboard

I just saw on College Insider that the Lady Golden Eagles are beginning to receive votes for the top 25. This week they have 2. If they keep winning they will certainly climb up the leader board. Here's wishing Coach Kelsi Musick and the women much more success.

IS THERE ANYTHING this young man says or does that doesn't make you proud that he was a part of ORU for four years?? He may be wearing a Longhorns jersey, but I still feel like he's out there representing ORU!!

If you’re feeling despondent (like me) about ORU sitting in last place in the Summit standings at 2-4, it should be noted that ORU has played two home games and four road games in conference play. If you rank each team based on earning a point for a road win, and losing a point for a home loss, ORU sits in a tie (with UND) for fourth place at EVEN, behind SDSU (+2), and UST and Denver (+1). The other four teams are tied at -1. ORU needs to sweep at home this weekend to stay at EVEN, and to prevent SDSU from earning another road win and running away from the field. I know that a sweep seems highly unlikely given recent performances, but I also didn’t expect a win in Denver on New Year’s Eve. Hoping to see some significant improvement in effort from the Golden Eagles, or more playing time from the bench, this weekend.

OMAHA, OMAHA...HERE WE GOOOO!!!

Interesting ranking of the "Top 25 College Baseball Programs in the Super Regional Era" (1999-2023). ORU comes in at #24, which is very respectable considering this poll does not take into account any of the great Titan teams of the 70's, which included a College World Series appearance. Could be worse, though: some former national champions from the previous century (such as Southern Cal and Cal State Fullerton) didn't even make this list.

What bothers me about HCPM's departure is the information I received in January, 2022: in the middle of the season, he had hired a big-time agent whose marching orders were to find him the best gig possible for the coming year (which he did). There was apparently nothing special about it being Wichita State, though Mills tried to make it sound like it was a dream job for him. It was just the best possible landing spot for someone who, for whatever reason, wanted out. His actions in the immediate aftermath, flipping an early ORU signee (Joy Ighovodja) to the Shockers, then attempting the same thing with Kareem Thompson, was in direct conflict with what he promised President Billy Wilson he would not do. I don't really have a huge grudge against the guy, but for someone who spoke so much about being a different coach with a different philosophy about running a program, it was disappointing to learn from his actions that he was just another ambitious coach. Good luck to him...I guess.

Omaha is an average team at best....they have lost 2 in a row and ORU has lost 3 in a row.....we are a -4.5 and TheEagleman is thinking that a couple weeks ago the Good Guys would be 8 or 9 point favorites in a game like this.....it's time to wake up and play some ball.....do the basics correctly.....we will see tonight and Saturday if Coach Springmann's words are getting thru to these guys.....or maybe we just stink.....honestly, I don't think we stink....not ready to admit that just yet....TheEagleman expects ORU to come into Mabee Center tonight ready to play and get a win....it's time to end the streak and beat a team whom ORU should beat all day everyday.....so let's do it....expecting McBride and Thompson and maybe Bedford to lead the way......also expecting the home crowd to be loud and supportive....Grip needs to rock the house!!....ORU 79 Omaha 71.....GO BLUE!!!

Maybe I’m just too young to have deep rooted loyalty ideas, but if you offer to more than double my income, unless God tells me “NOOOOO” I’m taking it 100/100 times. He was a class act while here, and I wish I had gone to ORU ten years later to enjoy the success he led the team to. I hope he does well at Wichita State, and I’ll only cheer against him if he plays ORU.

I love being back home in Tulsa and enjoying all four seasons - but after these last ten days I’m ready for spring!

The list we made #24 was those WITHOUT a title. Thus the reason for some being left off. It was totally based on points and we barely made it (9 points for 2023). But a great list to be on. We are going to do this by ranking the Top 25 blue blood programs without a title (since 1999) using the following criteria: CWS Appearance: 5 points Super Regional Appearance: 3 points Regional Appearance: 1 point

Random side note - I know Omaha F Marquel Sutton, their second leading scorer and leading rebounder who is from Tulsa (Will Rogers). Coming out of highschool he had no D1 offers(partly due to growing from 6'3 to 6'8 between start of junior and end of senior year) and ended up at Connors State for a year then Omaha. He actually grew up a decent ORU fan and when they made the tournament run in 2021 (his senior year) he mentioned how he'd love to play for ORU and it was cool they were "putting Tulsa on the map". Ironically, he now gets the opportunity to play us twice a year (and once in his hometown).

TheEagleman not really wanting to jump into this but I will anyway....I could not agree with Otis more....i don't blame anyone for taking a bigger paying larger school job....BUT...all the commentary from Coach Mills was as Otis said.....he loved it here....he could talk about Jesus at ORU....he could mold mighty men of God....blah blah blah.....sorry but Mills was getting decent $$$ at ORU and we all bought his act.....we thought he was at 7777 So. Lewis for the duration and was going to make us the Gonzaga for the midwest....and Millsy blew us off for the first better money bigger school opportunity....i don't root against the Shockers but am not unhappy that it's not working out.....as pointed out....The grass isn't always greener.....Coach Mills had almost a job for life at ORU and he took the bait.....he's probably going to regret it but oh well.....we have moved on....may God Bless, Paul Mills.....but he may not like the road that the Lord takes him on.......

I speak only for myself. I don't blame Mills for taking an offer to more than double his income. I hold him accountable for lying to his recruits, our administration and this fanbase when he said "you can win national championships at ORU" and "I'm here to build the next Gonzaga" when it is clear by his actions that he didn't believe it himself. If he did, he would have said to Wichita State "Wow! That's a really great offer but I'm building something special at a place that is very special and when we have completed the journey the money will be there for me." That having been said, I'm just gonna say that I'm petty enough to find it interesting that he left a really good frying pan to jump into the fire and he may find the money is greener but the grass isn't...at least so far. (yes I did take a mixed metaphor class online taught by several famous board contributors).

Coach Springmann has not been on the show since last year (Dec. 2023) They had a really interesting interview with Francis Lacis and E-man the last couple of weeks in his place. Francis is trying to qualify for the Olympics this year in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament for his country. He also mentions that he and Carlos Jurgens still talk regularly.

Not really in my DNA but I'll take your suggestion under advisement. I thought my selfie was a complement...assuming they are a he!

Lady Eagles get it done at the Mabee today and now are 14-5 overall and 10-0 in the Mabee. This week will be interesting. On Thursday the Lady Eagles will be in Omaha to play the Lady Mavs, then next Saturday they will be the featured national game on CBS Sports playing SDSU in Brookings. Right now SDSU is the top team in the Summit and the Lady Eagles are 2nd. Tip off for that game is 3:00 pm CT. Go Lady Eagles and keep it up.

The SDSU game is on Sunday.

Context: Bob Lutz is the father of sports talk radio in Wichita; according to @ORUTerry he can make or break a coach's career with his opinions. He was not a fan of the HCPM hiring in the first place; appears even less so in this Twitter post from Wednesday night:

With the current transfer portal I'm sure ORU could make right any wrongs done in their recruiting efforts regarding Mr. Sutton.

He played really well against us last year. I’m sure he has a chip on his shoulder that we didn’t offer him. I’m guessing signing Patrick and Connor last year took him off our radar. ORU has missed on some good OK prospects that we could have signed. I can’t remember his name but about 10 years ago when we were in the Southland conference Steven F Austin had an undersized forward from OK that absolutely torched us every time we played them. Sutton said more than once that we missed an opportunity to sign him. I believe his last name may have been Parker? @Old Titan will probably remember.

You clearly excelled at it!! But you had excellent teachers!!

Probably some recency bias there. Still cool.

Takes thick skin to be a head coach. After skimming that thread I'm guessing HCPM doesn't spend much time reading their board . . .

It all comes down to the bigs: ORU has to get some production out of them. In the two conference wins the centers (Herron, Jones, and Smith) averaged 16 points and 9 rebounds combined and in the losses they struggled. If the frontcourt shows up then the Eagles can win but otherwise it will be another long night.

BREAKING NEWS: Remember how HCPM waxed so elequently right after the move about the Wichita State fanbase being so special? Well, midway through the season, he's finding out just how special they are: the game thread on the Shocker fan forum for tonight's loss to middling East Carolina is at NINETEEN PAGES...and counting! I'm just now getting into the gist of it, but suffice it to say most of the comments are NOT about how special HCPM is.... Wichita State vs. East Carolina Game Thread 1/24/24

Can't wait to see "The Battle For The Cellar" next week when the 0-and-6-in-conference-play Shockers visit the 1-and-5-and-counting Tulsa Golden Hurlicane. Can only imagine what words of inspiration might be scrawled on the Dri-Erase board in the pre-game locker room: "Hey, SOMEBODY Has To Win!"

The only reason I can think of as to why you post so often on our board on this topic is that you work for MidCo or you’re dating someone who works at MidCo.

TheEagleman respects the heck out of Max.....

I liked the play in the first half after a time out, when Max slipped behind the defense near the out of bounds line. His teammates drew the defense away and passed him the ball for a lay-up.

It is revival/awakening week on campus. Let it start with the basketball team vs Omaha!

It's funny, though, watching Max score 22 in what we all might have considered (and justifiably so) merely an average performance while at ORU. I keep waiting for when he REALLY explodes in a game, to which we'll all say matter-of-factly, "Yeah, well, that's just Max being Max."

My bad! FUN FACT: "facetious" is the only word in the English language with one of every vowel, all in order. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but that's just the kind of stuff that clutters my brain these days instead of things that might actually matter, like phone numbers and website passwords.