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I've been going back and forth on this topic quite a bit. Is the lack of recruiting news cause for concern or not? Below is the breakdown of what is going on in the Summit League and how ORU stacks up to our conference foes. ORU- We have 9 open offers with no commitments. 2 Juco and 1 high school SR for 2024, 6 offers for the class of 2025. We know for sure we are losing Kareem and DJ. Mcbride and Phipps are seniors but I think they can technically play one more Covid year. Omaha- Also 9 offers with no commitments. 3 juco, 1 HS class of 24, 5 offers to class of 2025. 1 senior (Nick Davis). Denver- 1 offer to a HS senior, 3 high school commitments for 2024 (all guards). They have 3 seniors ( Brenchly, Bruner, Addo-Ankrah). No known offers for the class of 2025 and beyond. Kansas City- 3 HS senior signings and 2 juco guards signed for next year. Somewhere around 25 existing offers for a mix of juco, 24, 25, and 2026 recruits. (they have 4 senior players) Who knows what they are doing there.... St Thomas- 4 signings, all HS seniors. No other offers for any other years. They have 7 seniors. South Dakota- 2 signings both HS seniors. 2 graduating seniors on the team. 1 other offer for a recruit in 2026. South Dakota state- They have 4 high school senior signings. 6 or 7 offers for players in 2025 and 3 seniors on the roster. (Mims, Easly, and Appel) I think those guys have been playing since 2014... North Dakota- No signings for next year, 6 or 7 offers for 2024 and 2025. 3 seniors but I believe Ihenacho will be back on a Covid year. North Dakota state- 3 high school SR signings for next year, no other offers at all. Only 1 Sr on the roster (Skunberg) So, what does this tell us about the state of ORU basketball? Are we gambling on the transfer portal instead of signing high schoolers? Will we work the JUCO angle harder as our first signing (Bedford) has been a success? Our Summit League foes still seem to be keeping things the same and signing HS's during the early signing period. Are they behind the times or are they doing it the right way? Technically ORU is in the bottom third of signings for the future along with North Dakota and Omaha. I don't have answers to any of those questions but I have some thoughts. I think ORU is uniquely situated geographically, institutionally, and maybe even spiritually for transfers from other schools. The Dakota schools probably aren't a popular option for transfers outside of those kids who grew up in that region. Almost all of the transfers that did go to the Dakota schools were originally from cold weather states. ORU's 3 transfers from last year were from Texas, Tennessee, and Maryland, geography doesn't appear to play into it at all. Another consideration, does Springmann find it more valuable to sign players who redshirted or played sparingly as freshman on Power 5 teams to be further ahead in their development than a high school senior? Are JUCO players more interested in just having a shot to show that they can play then chasing high NIL deals? I'd be interested to hear all of your thoughts. Ultimately, wherever we are recruiting from, the coaches need to develop them into whole players or none of it really matters.

I would also add that McBride and Thompson play too many minutes and therefore get fatigued (mentally and physically) at the end of games.

ORU is very low in college basketball stats in three main areas: defense, rebounds, and assists. If they were low in say one area then you could live with it but 3 is very hard to overcome. The Eagles are at their best when they get steals and hit 3s but that is hard to do on a continuous basis, night in and night out.

Every time the good guys get a sizable lead in a game (usually the first half), the Mrs. & I say, "no lead is too big to blow!" Every time this season we have been proven correct.

UPDATE: Spring Signing Period for men's basketball starts in about 60 days (April 17th to May 15th). Seriously, where do things currently stand for ORU? Is ANYONE committed yet? When might fans expect to hear about any commitments? (realizing commitment news can't come from the school, but still...) Or, will the first that anyone hears about any new players occur only once these mystery men are signed? (if then) Officially the strangest - and scariest - recruiting season I can recall in recent ORU Basketball history. WORST CASE SCENARIO: not a word until after the season ends, then a handful of ORU bench players entering the portal in March and early April (and/or going later to NAIA schools), followed by STILL no news on new players even into mid-April, concluding in May (and mid-summer) with signings of one or two or three of what's left of the recruiting scraps. If so, hardly a textbook approach to building a winning program...