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I agree with most of what you say, @theeagleman5, but I take one exception that is bolded above. With the exception of a few P4 schools, athletics is a drain on a university's budget. Athletics is a "cost center" - plain and simple. It is usually not a "profit center" that is throwing off dollars for academics, operations, and endowment. It brings an intangible of school pride for the university community and alumni, but there is nothing that you can buy at the grocery store with "school pride". Student athletes should be able to monetize their name, image, and likeness, just like any other person that is recognized for their skills and talents in all industries; however, to sell these kids a bill of goods that their promotion of goods or services is going to substantially drive an economic gain for a large segment of the population because they are sitting the bench on a P4 school's athletic team or scoring 10 points per game for the Bryant Bears in the northeast is a far cry from how the world works to make a living. Student-athletes should be investing themselves in the classroom and in their field of play rather than on social media (in my humble opinion, of course!).

Funny, I’ve never thought of losing in the first round as a “NCAA tournament run.” I think of that as a NCAA tournament appearance. Maybe it’s just me.

We've been hit hard this year by the transfer portal. However, our team did not live up to their potential so starting over may not be a bad thing. The remaining players who haven't transferred yet are as follows: Sir Issac Herron, Josh Jones, Braedon Moore, Pablo Navarro, and Jalen Miller. The "bigs" struggled last year and so far it seems like we are bringing them back. The good news is that they were all pretty much freshman and Herron and Jones gained a lot of valuable minutes. I expect them to improve. I'm hopeful that one or two who entered the portal will return. Mcbride, of course, and Demari Williams would be great. Demari doesn't have a lot of tape for other coaches to look at and I think he would be our starting 3 man next year, depending on who else we bring in. I read in another post that the coaches are heavily recruiting the class of 2025 so maybe we bring in a couple of 5th year transfers to fill in some holes (there is a lot of them). There have been 20 to 30 separate posts on twitter from some of the recruiting websites that show us contacting players. It seems like we are active so far. The Summit League, with the exception of Denver, UMKC, and South Dakota, have lost impact players. Denver has not lost a single player to the portal yet and UMKC and South Dakota lost mostly role players; however, they had some seniors that were top players who graduated. Depending on how things shake out during the offseason, our team might be right back into contention. I think we have the right coach, now we need to find the right players who fit his system. I don't love this new direction for college sports. However, ORU is unique and I believe we will find a way to make an impact on young people's lives on and off the court.

SDSU wishes they had a NCAA run….

TheEagleman also wearing his ORU CWS Tshirt today.....last year was a one off....a year to treasure and I have no expectations for a return trip any time soon...it was truly what EXPECT A MIRACLE is all about along with the 2021 ORU Men's Sweet Sixteen run.....but come on.....to drop off to LAST in the Summit which is a league that we should win EVERY SINGLE SEASON.....i know some teams are improved and ORU has a target on our backs....but this squad has just been terrible so far....yeah 2 more months to play ball but improvement is needed and fast.....like this this weekend in Omaha....gotta win 2 of 3 or our chances are sinking faster than that bridge in Baltimore.....which was likely no accident by the way but i digress......GO BLUE!!!

On the scale of remote, possible, or probable, I would say Mackey's return is "possible". McBride is going to get a lot of attention and a lot will be determined on what his graduate studies can be and what the $$$ look like between the suitors. ORU doesn't have to be the high bidder, but you can't pass up six-digits easily. I would put McBride's decision at 50/50 right now, with the longer he takes to make this decision the lower the decision for ORU becomes.

Although it is expected and sad that Isaac is leaving, we should all be proud of how he represented himself, our Lord, and the University in his time here. AND...he walks away with a diploma! Isaac coming to ORU was a divine move in his life. He was meant to be here at this stage in his life and he will go and do great things - overseas and in his ultimate profession. We all should be grateful for what he did for our University as he should be grateful for what the University has done for him, too. God speed, Mackey! You'll always have a place here at ORU.

Good Guys heading to Omaha for a weekend series starting today.....this is a battle of the bottom of the Summit League so it's imperative that ORU get 2 of 3 here....if not, well.... TheEagleman doesn't have to say anything more.....time to start hitting the ball and we need some better pitching also.....GO BLUE!!!

Well said Bogus. First of all, I do still relish the CWS and I will to my last day on this planet. I proudly wear the t-shirt I bought in Omaha. Wore it in Waco as a matter of fact. I admit to having some delusions of grandeur that we would be back this year. Mostly just because it was so awesome and I wanted to experience it again. But it is hard to maintain that high level year in year out for the powerhouse schools let alone our scrappy mid-major program. I still hold some optimism for this year. I haven't run any numbers yet but I feel pretty certain that the ship needs to be righted starting this weekend. Go Eags!

Bob Stoops won one national championship in 2001. He never won another one even though he made it to the playoffs a couple of times. It is very difficult to string two seasons of high performance - especially for a mid-major school. We should continue to relish the successes of our team from 2023. However, to feel that we can maintain that level of competition each and every year is unrealistic. Yes, we should win the Summit League each and every year. There is no reason to expect one of the northern-tier schools to match our resources and coaching. THAT is where the rub is. If we fail to win the Summit League - regular season and post-season - we should be highly offended at the effort of a group of players that can perform better if they have each others' backs.

Coaches can affect a few games per season with strategy and substitutions and maybe a stirring pre game speech or two......but in baseball players have to run, throw, hit and pitch.....that's what wins games....time for our guys to step up and play better....or maybe since we lost most of our 2023 CWS team this is what we got and they just ain't very good....geez how the mighty have fallen.....TheEagleman never thought the drop off would be this drastic......

Seems like 2/3 of basketball players all over the country are in the Portal.....its ruining CBB and they need to reinstate the one year sit out rule in all cases except for graduate transfers and situations where a coach leaves or is fired.....i think in those cases players should be able to move without penalty.....otherwise it just becomes a fiasco.....NIL is understandable as players should be compensated for NIL....it's only fair based on the money that the universities are raking in....but honestly the entire situation is making the game unenjoyable to watch.....Football not much better.......small schools like ORU can be hit hard.....but TheEagleman has no answers.....it's frustrating....

They've had a couple, but nobody of note (see below). But, if previous history is any indication (and why wouldn't it be?) a lot of players wait till the last minute to declare, perhaps to minimize the stigma within the program of entertaining other suitors. It's like the old cliche goes: never start the "We need to talk" conversation enroute on vacation; you break the news on the way back...

They are not finished fundraising, but it is my understanding that they are going to start the renovations upon the end of the Summit League tournament in May.

I will NEVER disparage a player with remaining eligibilty that transfers AFTER getting his diploma, ala Kevin Obanor, Max, Connor and now Issac (if he actually leaves). Let's face it: most males playing a revenue sport at major colleges these days are merely giving lip-service to the term "student athlete". They live off-campus, they take all their classes online with tutors for every assignment, they can bounce from school-to-school without any (apparant) academic consequences and with no loss of eligibilty when they do so, and they're getting paid to perform. They could theoretically play multiple seasons for multiple suitors without ever stepping on a college campus, much less earning a degree. The fact that some (most?) revenue-sport guys at low-to-mid-majors are actually still GRADUATING (with COVID eligibility to spare in this case) is yet another selling point to Mom and Dad when trying to get Junior to sign at ORU: "Look, we're a different kind of NCAA school: we actually care about your son GETTING AN EDUCATION while he's here."

That was a huge announcement - getting Ruthie back - some interior presence, makes a big difference and she can mentor all the youth bigs we have coming in. Ruthie will have some fun rebounding with a 6'6'' Mary on the other side next year.