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Be careful what you wish for Eagleman; without Isaac, Kareem and DJ next year, we may soon be calling an 11-19 season "the good old days"!

Max is going off in a 10-point Texas lead at Baylor with 15:00 to go tonight: 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting. I gotta say again: he has really surprised me this season in the Big 12; I thought he was too small.

How come no one ever wants Trey to come back for his extra covid year? Just a little humor to lighten up a tough year. Seriously, I thought Trey played with heart in the mop up minutes vs KC. He was flying around the court and hitting a few 3s, which he ended up with 10 points. Trey is not the most talented player but he always gives 100 percent.

Not gonna lie, it was a tough series. The weather was great in Waco this weekend and the Bears do have a beautiful ballpark. Over the outfield fence is the soccer field. It looked like the Lady Bears were playing Sunday afternoon. Past the soccer field is a small lake. I think it is the same lake where I took gal from Lake Charles to ride paddle boats during debate camp in 1978...but that's another story that no one wants to hear. I got to meet some parents of our players. There was a lot of family representation in the stands. So much that everyone I talked to other than Tim Johnson and Matt Moore asked me if I had a player on the team. Thankfully no one asked if I was a grandfather of a player. Baylor fans couldn't have been nicer save this jerk who was wearing a bearskin version of a Davy Crockett hat on Saturday. I was decked out in ORU gear every game so my affiliation was obvious. One of their fans gave my party menu suggestions at the outfield grill. An usher came over Friday night to tell us where we could meet our players at the bus (back to that parent assumption). Folks saying welcome, goodbye, come back tomorrow. I thanked several of them for making me feel so welcome. One lady said "we do have some jerks you just haven't met them yet." It was fun to hear the Baptists get irritated with the strike zone on Sunday. I can appreciate some non-profane anger. Back to baseball, there were some good things over the course of three games. Starting pitching looked good...until it didn't. Guys got on base...but couldn't get home often enough. On the other side of the ledger...HBP and fielding errors continue to be a problem. Let it be known that I have utmost faith in Coach Fulmer but I do feel in all three games he left a pitcher out on the bump a little too long. On Friday and Saturday it was the starting pitcher. Yesterday it was Connor Floyd. Floyd relieves Isaacs in the 7th with ORU up 7-6 with runners on 2nd and 3rd, thanks to a fielding error. First batter he gives up a ground out to second that scores a run. When a reliever inherits two runners in scoring position stuff like that happens. Runner on second advances to third on the same play. Next batter, a WP scores a run. ORU down 8-7 now. Then he gives up a single and another runner is on 3rd. He gets out of the inning with a caught stealing at second. For the inning 7 balls and 4 strikes. So I'm thinking, we're not going to see Floyd come out for the 8th. He wasn't sharp and only got one out. Bottom of the 8th rolls around and it is 8-7 and a winnable ball game. I'm thinking that Dalton Patton is coming out to keep this a one run game and give us a chance. Floyd is back out and we get: HBP (after 3 balls) Ground out to second Double RBI Pop out Homer 2 RBI Single Ure comes in for the last out but the damage has been done, ORU down 11-7. I promise you I am not bagging on Connor Floyd. What I mumbled under my breath was "That isn't fair to this kid." What a called out to the field was "It's a little late Coach....a little late." I get it. It is early in the season. I'm not hitting the panic button. Perhaps Coach Fulmer is still figuring out his staff and perhaps he's letting the starters run to find their stride. Clearly we didn't have another run in us in the top of the 9th on Sunday but I would have liked a chance. Pretty sure the approach at the plate is different down 1 than down 4. Here's hoping the pitching settles down and Coach Fulmer gets a handle on what he has and how he needs to manage the pitchers. And for crying out loud we need to quit stranding so many baserunners!

Max is going off on Baylor tonight. At the first media timeout of the second half, Max already has 24 points and four assists with no turnovers. I sure do miss Max!! I can't believe that @Old Titan and I are thinking the same things and saying the same terms at the same time. Must be my brother from another mother.

Absolutely correct Doc, Mills inherited a train wreck when he came to ORU whereas HCRS did not come into a new place/team, he only had to step up. He knew the players, their talents and their personalities when he stepped into the HC position. Further, I think over the course of this year we did not get better but instead it looked more like a disaster happening in slow motion. IMHO we regressed if anything and we got worse as the season progressed.

They played "Sweet Caroline" all three games at Baylor Ballpark. The PA announcer did not sing along fwiw.

Digging deep here friends but no one else started a thread Admittedly, these first two notes come straight from the ORU game notes. The Chippewas are currently on a 6 game losing streak compared to ORU's 4 game losing streak. I work with a lot of folks that are in Michigan so I understand Central Michigan has been on the road for the entire season so far. They've been spending a lot of time in Texas and Oklahoma having dropped 4 to DBU and 2 to OSU. Both series looked a lot like our trip to Waco. As a team the Chippewas have a slash line of .243/.355/.337. They average 1.6 HBP per game but that will likely go up over the next two game (sorry). Not sure who we will face on the mound but their team ERA is 8.82 and they've given up 1.75 HR per game. Between HBP and BB they average 7 free passes a game so patience at the plate should yield base runners. Getting them in may be a different matter but it is hard to do one without first doing the other. Not sure who we will have on the bump tonight but I have been told that Josh Caravalho has been cleared to pitch so maybe we will see him today or tomorrow. This somewhat poorly written sentence from the game notes has to apply to home games for my man Connor. I would have added at home after "scoreless relief" Conner Floyd looks to continue his dominance at JL Johnson Stadium. The right-handed reliever has thrown 8.2 innings of scoreless relief dating back to last season. This doesn't seem to be a very threatening squad coming into JLJ but I just checked their RPI and at 209 they are above us on the chart, 278. They appear to be a Summit caliber team so if we can't take two from these guys at home that could be a sign of trouble brewing. Let's right the ship and go into the UMass Lowell series with some momentum!

@orubaseball just posted on Twitter that Josh Caravalho gets the start. I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch!

I don’t think the last place team will get much recognition lol. Maybe McBride 2nd team for his high scoring, and Bedford squeaks in to newcomer team, but I don’t see much else? I think if we won more games Kareem could MAYBE get pushed into the convo. Maybe just me.

I would be all for Trey returning. He always plays hard and this year his decision making has been improved.

I agree--Trey did a great job.

Knowing that we won't be going to the Big Dance this year (unless we experience a string of miracles), which team are you rooting for? Max & Texas?

Unfortunately, I think Isaac will be getting many words of encouragement from places like Manhattan & Wichita KS., and others! He has to at least listen to other opportunities with the way this season went and the big questions for next season (a rebuilding year at best) as a kid with one year of eligibility left that will draw considerable interest. It probably didn't help the chances of him staying watching his old back court partner on ESPN a lot either.

This morning as I was perusing the ESPN basketball section I wandered upon the summit league standings and it was surreal to see ORU in dead last place! Now that we are at rock bottom there is no other way to go but up or stay in last place. From a fan’s perspective this should make for an interesting and fun off season as we won’t just see a change or 2 but many major changes. Hopefully our NIL $ will increase so we can get some dogs who know how to win. My gut tells me that HCRS is a winner in every way and he will get it figured out and be backed by the administration to make this happen.

Max is now #8 all-time on the points list with 3,068 career points. Proud of his accomplishments. Let's not forget who found this talented player.

Hook em Horns, Baby!!!

I think that's a great point ORob2, but I would guess Isaac sees himself at more of the Max level player than a Connor level player. IMHO someone doesn't usually become a successful D1 player without a very high amount of confidence in their own abilities.

He's also seen a good high school friend of his go from being our #2 guy to being nothing more than a practice squad member essentially

TheEagleman is really looking forward to this rubber game in the series....should be a monster crowd watching in Sioux Falls and if there are more than 1000 that would be shocking since so many other things to do on a Friday Night in that lovely town.....GO BLUE!!!

Isaac McBride's mom often sits at the top of our section, and Mrs. TMH often says a few words to her as we're leaving. Such was the case on Sunday. We told her how much we appreciated Isaac, and hopefully she will pass those words of encouragement on to him.

The same thing happened to me going to the women's game. Senior night was BEFORE the game. I was very disappointed to miss it. So I was prepared for the men to be before the game. They announced it at the dinner which helped some. I don't care when they have it if they would just let us know. I think there is a much bigger crowd AFTER the game though. There was a women's game earlier this season that was played 2 hours earlier than what was on the ticket. I met some people on the way up the escalator that were very surprised! I know of at least 4 regulars that missed that game. Communication has not been good. When they announce the recognition of the seniors just add some info about the time. And when a game time changes it should be blasted everywhere!! This staff seems good natured when you let them know these kind of things. (I didn't, unless they are listening).

We would get the "which player is your son?" all the time when we traveled to away games. We've met so many wonderful parents over the years. I hope you had fun even though the results weren't good.

It would be truly embarrassing to lose in the 8-9 play-in game. Hopefully there is enough strength in this team to at least win Friday night against a beatable opponent.

Patrick Mwamba is playing 11.5 minutes per game at Loyola contributing an average of 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

Mills came in to a much worse situation. The only reason there is a hole to dig out of now is due to the way this season was mismanaged.

88 makes a wonderful point...look at the ORU womens team and the amazing turnaround in just one year with a new coach who apparently just needed her own players....it often works that way in the business world as well....Springmann may just need to bring in some of his own guys and coach them up.....TheEagleman is hoping he can do it just like Coach Musick did....