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I would never bet against Max! He's a winner.

Can you remind me of the bits that were up? I can remember the other stuff...

LOOK, CAN WE JUST AGREE THAT EVERY SINGLE PLAYER IN THE PORTAL HAS HEARD FROM EVERY SINGLE D-1 SCHOOL, INCLUDING ORU?? I hate this new normal...I absolutely hate it.

Took a good Kansas State team to OT….

And we did beat SDSU at home.

Sorry but TheEagleman is going with MAX and the Longhorns....I watched the CSU game last night and Virginia was just awful...a disgrace to the selection committee....will credit the Rams for the victory but they were just eh....a rested Texas team should beat them....GO LONGHORNS!!.....

This season was a bit up and down - and certainly disappointing for fans, players and coaches. Losing our playmaker (Abmas) and shot blocker/rebounder (Vanover) along with strong, tough defenders in Mwamba and Jurgens meant that we had to re-group and re-define ourselves. That meant a lot of changes in roles as guys tried to find their place. That obviously had to impact team chemistry. On top of that, we did not have a true point guard to run the offense and distribute the basketball. Our young/untried post players never seemed to figure how to grab rebounds. So far six players (plus two walk-ons) are leaving the program - which means the squad will definitely have a different look next year. This year's team was full of guys who have been at ORU for a while and I have to think that they were tough to coach in terms of what they expected and wanted to do. A fresh influx of players will give HCRS a chance to imprint his style and philosophy on the team.

Extremely well said. This is what Kelsi Musick did and her team elevated tremendously in 1 year with 10 new players who bought into her system! Let's state the obvious , HCRS is a first year head coach and is still learning. If ORU in 2-3 years is in the same boat then clearly it is on the coach. We won't know definitively until Springmann has a hand picked team that he has worked with for a year or 2. Owning a business works the same way. The people I hire make me look really good, average or mediocre. Over many years i am much more careful who I hire and put in certain positions. The fact is you can be a very capable business owner or head coach and without the right people around you and perhaps who buy into your philosophy and system mediocrity will thrive. It is interesting to see on the message board there are 2 different viewpoints which makes for interesting discourse. If you turn a team around in one year like Kelsi did that is amazing and no doubt she has some incredible mojo but in my life and I would say for most people it takes time to create a winning program. I am extremely optimistic that we have a head coach who has been around the block and is solid as can be ethically and morally. We can debate the entire off season as to whether we have the right coach or whether he needs different players or a combination of both. It will be much clearer one year from now what line of reasoning is correct.

I agree 2014Grad, I'm reading a lot of posts that are saying we need to bring in the right players, guys that will listen or want to play D. Who we bring in is important, but IMHO what we do with them once they are here is just as important. My concern is this season's roster is the most talented HCRS may have for several years, I don't see us bringing in a better on the ball defender than Kareem, or a better help side defender than DJ. Bedford was a really good pick up this year, really our only addition that contributed, so now we'll bring in 5 or 6 that are ready to play at a high level, hopefully but a very tall order. In the current college game, you don't build a team over years you have a very compressed period of time to get a bunch of new guys heading the same direction. Which is why coach is looking so heavily in the portal and at JUCO guys and not HS players. But we have to coach them once we get them here. The importance of team chemistry was mentioned, which I agree with but to me it's just different terminology for good coaching! You often hear it said a team has good chemistry when they make the extra pass for an open shot, or a guy gets beat on D and all of the other guys rotate to help and prevent an easy basket. IMHO that's not necessarily a team with chemistry, it's a well-coached team. HCRS is going into his 2nd year, and there is a learning curve for the job particularly things like clock management, timeout usage, in game adjustments, or substitution patterns. But coach has to do a better job this year of teaching the fundamentals. We have to play better D, rebound much tougher and get an offense that has the ball and the players moving and not just one guy playing one on one and 4 guys standing and watching. The players are 20-year-old kids, coach has to drive results, that's his job. Next year we are going to be as good as our coach. Hopefully, coach learned from this year and is ready to get us back on a positive track.

It is just life where anything goes: wild wild west, free for all, etc. Coaches have to start over every year and build a new team. I can see why the big name college coaches are leaving. You do not know from day to day who will be or not be on your team.

I was listening to a radio show yesterday where the guest was making a strong case for NIL - how these big, mean universities were making billions on the backs of the poor, hard working student/athletes. While there's a small element of truth to that, it's a very one sided view, not taking into account the benefits of education, development of skills and basically the in-game playing audition for opportunities on a larger stage - i.e. pro teams. Perhaps the system is unfair to some degree to the athlete - but it was a system that worked for decades. And now the whole thing seems on the verge of imploding. I'm sure that college sports will continue - but what will they look like ten years from now? P5 conferences forming their own organization, with NCAA the mid-major organization? Or the NCAA staying with the P5 leaving the mid-majors to form their own organization? Players' unions? Collective bargaining? Elimination of educational requirements for athletes? What else? Who knows at this point. It feels very much like we are experiencing the birth pains of a brave new world of athletics.

One year ago today..... A lot has changed in one year. Looking forward to what is ahead, but always cherish where we have been. We have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of upside still to anticipate.

It seems like what many (including myself) have been struggling with this year is the gap between expectation v.s. reality. The expectation was that following a 30 win season, we'd at least be competitive and a mid level Summit team at worst, despite the player changes. That wasn't the case. The expectation was that due to Springmann's 25+ years coaching at a pretty high college level, he wouldn't be a "TRUE" first year coach and the transition would be smooth. That wasn't the case. The expectation was that despite the loss of Max, Connor, Patrick and Carlos, three transfers from Power 5 schools in addition to increased roles of our beloved seniors would lead to on court success. That wasn't the case. I'm not really one to lower expectations, but the realistic side of me agrees with some of the more optimistic people here(Keenan etc), that we are more of a rebuilding team than a contender. It sucks to admit that, but for my personal sanity, I expected more of this season and thats okay. Transparently, I'm hopeful for the portal, but it does sound like we are minimum a few years away from being a conference contender. We are a gazillion miles from Gonzaga and it's unrealistic in the future, but if we can move our way towards being a Dayton, or South Dakota State, we are headed in the right direction.

The immediate nose dive of this past season has had quite the effect on expectations for the future of the program. Unfortunately, they are probably valid.

I do think that college sports is headed toward a Big Boys "professional: model where there are no restrictions or expectations on academics and universities just "hire" players to represent the school as PR. I know that is basically what they are doing now, but maybe they should just make it official. I think we see now that people will root for the uniform and throw down the money no matter who wears it or how much the players (not students) are being paid. The players will unionize across the board and schools like us will compete against other institutions that will be glad to be rid of the impossible task of competing with the GIANTS. I'm beginning to look forward to it. Let's just realize it is in the cards and there is no way to stop it. There will still be plenty of talented players left who want an education, who identify with schools like ORU, but were not offered the opportunity to play at Texas, Oklahoma, USC or Michigan. Maybe schools we compete with in the new classification can pass regulations that players sign scholarship offers that say they must play at least two years before transferring to a bigger school. Just thoughts.

I played a sport at ORU(not basketball) and while I was just average(and didn’t deserve anything to be honest), I had a teammate who got some national recognition, but he was BROKE. Like couldn’t travel home for Christmas and Thanksgiving broke. Saga was good and all, but he came from poverty and should have been able to get some compensation for how he contributed to ORU. ORU isn’t the best example, but with tv rights and deals, some of these schools, admin and coaches are making BANK! It’s absolutely crazy people like Bush, Tebow, Burrow or Zion made their school millions but couldn’t get certain jobs or make anything from the jerseys with their names on it they walked by in the bookstore every day. I do admit the transfer rules are a bit wild(I may have not stayed at ORU if things were how they are now), but not exactly sure what changes are needed…

Valentin Catt (Lamar) 6'10" center just came on the market and was offered by ORU before the pandemic in 2019. He works around the basket, but that may not be a bad thing for us.

Grip...you read my mind, brother. Glad you said it...TheEagleman just didn't have the stones to post it....guess the highlights of our season were TU and Montana State....and you saw what happened to them vs. Grambling tonight....

I agree that the only apparent alternative to Sioux Falls is Minneapolis. Fan attendance and the resulting money is the driver - and I’m not sure that the league office will ‘gamble’ on a championship in Minneapolis. It would certainly make it easier for outlying fans to attend.

Watch it here: https://oruathletics.com/watch/?Archive=559&type=Live

Which makes me believe that we will outdraw the TU game - even though they have a far more superior opponent.

A knowledgeable reply as always

Unrealistic, but this would be a dream scenario. Makes the regular season that much more important as teams fight for home court advantage. I'd also imagine you could drive higher attendance with every game being at a home court. If only.

I guarantee they are nearly all SDSU fans. There just aren't that many great alternatives. Omaha would make some sense, but UNO is hosting a hockey regional in a couple weeks and I bet you'll never guess what arena they are using to host... it's Sioux Falls in the same arena as the basketball tournament. I think if SDSU fans travel so well, it may be worth considering Minneapolis is a different location is desired. It's a great recruiting territory and a great media market, with probably the most SL alumni of any city. UNO cares way more about hockey and they still have conference games over the same weekend as the SL tournament. Nobody in KC cares about UMKC, and Tulsa and Denver are too far. I think the league should maybe consider home locations for the first round or two, with the semi finals and finals in Minneapolis on a Saturday and Sunday. Minneapolis is also a huge travel hub, so it's one of the easiest SL cities to fly into for anyone who needs a flight.

Chemistry is a huge part of the team. My hope is that they can find players that fit in. I'm sure it is HARD to know this. Players can say whatever to get recruited, but they may not be that person. Kind of like a job interview. We all need to be praying that the right players come to ORU!