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nice profile....FULL ARTICLE

This is just great - ORU will finally get the front page of the Tulsa World on Tuesday, but for nothing at all attributable to the school. Former ORU President Richard Roberts Arrested on DUI Compaint (Tulsa World) I'm sorry if I sound insensitive, but for crying out loud: with all the positive stuff going on right now around the school in general, and the athletic program specifically, now we have to deal with this? The groundbreaking for the new Student Center is this week - how is that going to play in the media, fighting for airtime with Richard's stupid mug shot? Can we fire him again??

LINK Connors State announced Wednesday that two of its players had signed letters of intent with Division I programs and one of them - 6-foot-7 forward Denell Henderson - signed with Oral Roberts University. ... Henderson, who is from Twin Groves, Ark., picked ORU over Central Arkansas. "My mother (Denise Tyus) had a big impact in me selecting ORU," said Henderson, who averaged 10.2 points in two years at Connors State. "It was close to home and I have family members that could come watch me play." Henderson said he "fell in love" with ORU and the surroundings and the coaching staff. "It's just a nice place," he said. Stats

This is one game we wish we could have driven up from Dallas to watch, but we are thankful for ESPN3's and as always, Geoff's coverage of our games. Mark, thank you for your four years at ORU. You provided so many memories both in and outside the Mabee Center. We always knew that with you and your brother Jeff playing, we would be competitive, and our record showed it. You were a workman-warrior who battled every game and didn't give up. I remember taking pride in the fact that you outplayed every big-name center you faced, Michael Cage of San Diego State, Joe Kleine of Arkansas and Keith Lee of Memphis, for example, all NBA players who though surrounded by a better cast, could not out-work or out-perform you. One of my favorite memories was your father's first game as head coach of ORU. It was a difficult challenge with the loss of beloved Coach Ken Hayes coupled with the University of Kansas coming to town. You led us to victory and brought a measure of revenge for our team's overtime loss to KU in the Elite Eight in 1974. Your father lost his voice that night and I learned that this would be a routine thing with him. He left his heart on the floor, and so did you. Thank you for choosing ORU, for four years of excellence here, and for all those entertaining nights at the Mabee Center, helping make our years at ORU to be filled with life-long memories.

The fact that Oral Roberts was disappointed on Selection Sunday says much about the Golden Eagles. Just a few years ago it would have been unthinkable for ORU to even be watching the Selection Sunday show other than to see where Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were going to play. Where Oral Roberts basketball was 17 years ago, when current coach Scott Sutton joined Bill Self's coaching staff, and where it is now are two entirely different worlds. "I do think it is entirely different," said Sutton. "We've come so far. It is a long ways from where we were to where we are. "But I love the fact that it was a disappointment for our players, coaches and fans. We've progressed to the point where the NCAA Tournament matters at our school. And, that is a good thing." (full story at the TW)

You're gonna love this.... Tweeting ORU fans lift perception of Golden Eagles 3/9/2012 10:15:00 PM As Selection Sunday approaches, ORU is coming up in the world, at least in one bracketologist’s estimation. And it’s apparently all because of the efforts of Golden Eagles fans savvy in the use of social media tools, such as Twitter. Mike Minyard, ORU director of marketing/ticket sales, has been driving an all-out Twitter blitz that finally came to the attention of Eamonn Brennan, who writes the Bubble Watch for ESPN.com. After excluding the Eagles from his consideration for days, Brennan added them in Friday afternoon, along with an admission that ORU fans "have a point." "Oral Roberts fans have been incessantly pinging the Watch on Twitter over the past week, asking exactly why the Golden Eagles haven't been getting the same at-large bubble "love" as, say, Drexel," Brennan wrote. "The Watch tries to avoid peer pressure at all costs, of course, but the more it looked at ORU's resume, the more it had to just come out and admit it: Those fans have a point. That’s not to say the Eagles have a totally strong case. The top-50 RPI and the (17-1) Summit League mark are about the best things going. . . . "But when you compare and contrast this profile with, say, Drexel’s – a team most believe to be worthy of a bid – ORU’s has similar marks in road-neutral record, top-50 (1-2), top-100 and its quantity of wins against teams outside the top 200 (both went 15-0). . . . (And), if we’re talking about Drexel as an at-large, it’s hard to ignore the fightin’ Oral Bobs in that calculus, too.†ORU posted a school-record 27 regular-season wins at the Division I level and won the Summit League title outright, but lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Eagles are now hoping against long odds that they will hear their name called Sunday when the 68-team field is unveiled. Minyard and other ORU fans have been using cyberspace to lobby the experts to take a closer look at the Eagles. “It was pretty cool to see (Friday) that ESPN has put us on the bubble watch,†Minyard said. “A lot of people who didn’t know that much about us, it’s opened their eyes.†ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb has been in ORU’s corner all week, and endorsements have also come from Dick Vitale, ESPN’s Dana O’Neil and CBS’s Greg Anthony, who long ago said the Eagles could be the next Butler or Virginia Commonwealth, a mid-major team capable of making a run to the Final Four. Earlier this year, Minyard used Twitter to help boost Damen Bell-Holter’s game-winning shot at Arkansas-Little Rock into a media sensation. He said the potential of the social media tool is “monstrous. People thought the Internet made the world a smaller place. Twitter has made it a tiny place.†-- Mike Brown Here's a link to the ESPN "Bubble Watch" article mentioned in Brown's blog. Have to admit, I was one of the skeptics earlier this week about whether or not social media could have ANY meaningful impact "inside the room" with the NCAA Selection Committee, but this incredible admission by the ESPN writer has totally changed my perspective: I think what HE says MIGHT have an impact "in the room", and if what we say to HIM is getting through via social media, then by all means, we should be TWEETING LIKE CRAZY!! Talk about a grassroots campaign: a couple of goof-ball fans with cell phones within 72 hours get nationally published by "The Worldwide Leader In Sports". Twenty years ago, you could only hope for that kind of result with a 1000-piece direct mail campaign by a PR firm, followed by a LOT of wining, dining, and Fed-Ex envelopes to media members, and culminating in a $50,000 invoice to the ORU Athletic Deprtment for services rendered. Minyard would probably just be grateful if someone picked up the tab for going over his data plan on his AT&T bill this month.

"You gotta believe!" ORU Fans Seeing Hope For NCAA Berth (Mike Brown blog)

Summit League Tournament Odds & Ends (Mike Brown blog)

Lots of good stuff in this morning's Tulsa World: ORU Will Have To Work For Tournament Title (Mike Brown) ORU Can End Any NCAA Debate By Winning Summit League Tourney (John Klein) Monday Morning Profile: Oral Roberts (Mike Brown)

Mike's weekly Summit League Insider...LINK For his blog, he did an informal poll for POY and COY...LINK Candidates and their point totals, with first-place votes in parentheses: Player of Year 1, Nate Wolters (4) 36. 2, Reggie Hamilton (3) 27. 3, Dominique Morrison (3) 25. 4, Alex Young 2. Coach of Year 1, Scott Nagy (3) 22. 2, Scott Sutton (3) 20. 3, Jim Molinari (1) 14. 4, Roger Reid 4. 5, Saul Phillips 3.

I hope the Tulsa World will forgive me for copying one of their articles in its entirety, but this is just too good for those of you who don't have access to miss out on. From Mike Brown's blog: Golden Eagles get help from Summit coaching rival in CollegeInsider poll 2/21/2012 10:11:23 PM ORU has Oakland head coach Greg Kampe to thank for the first-place vote it received in this week’s CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 poll. “Of course it was me,†Kampe said when reached by phone. “I did it because they deserve it based on what they’ve done this year. Their resume is as good as anyone else's. They went into (then-No. 8 ) Xavier and won. Tell me another team (in the CollegeInsider poll) who has beaten a Top-10 team." Kampe was reminded that Xavier had three of its main players suspended when ORU won 64-42 on the Musketeers' floor on Dec. 18. "I don't care," he said. "They beat the fire out of them. Everybody knows what they did." The Golden Eagles wrapped up the regular-season Summit League title last week and take a 25-5 overall record into Saturday’s regular-season final game at Southern Utah. ORU has tied a school record for regular-season wins and has four wins over teams rated in the Top 100 of the Ratings Percentage Index. Kampe is one of 41 mid-major coaches who vote in the CollegeInsider poll and the only one from the Summit League. The Eagles are 11th in the poll, up three spots from last week and matching their highest advance, which came on Jan. 30. ORU was the only team other than No. 1 Murray State and No. 2 Wichita State to receive a first-place vote in this week's poll. Murray State had 23 and Wichita State had seven. Kampe said he’s been voting the Eagles progressively higher on his ballot each week, and felt justified in voting them No. 1 after the Summit’s top three teams swept opponents from the Mid-American Conference in nationally televised BracketBusters games last weekend. ORU downed MAC-leading Akron 67-61, South Dakota State bombed Buffalo 86-65 and North Dakota State downed Western Michigan 86-73. “It's not the kind of thing you want to do randomly, but because of all those (Saturday) wins, I felt justified in voting ORU No. 1,†Kampe said. “I also voted (South Dakota State) 10th and I think it helped them get back in the Top 25 (at No. 23)." “I think it was great for the league that all those teams won. If the top four had won, it would be have been unbelievable. But we screwed up,†Kampe said. Kampe’s Grizzlies, battling NDSU for third place in the league, played at Illinois State, the Missouri Valley's fourth-place team. Oakland led most of the way behind Reggie Hamilton's 34 points, but Illinois State rallied to win in the closing seconds, 79-75. -- Mike Brown --- You gotta love Kampe - you know he means what he's saying, but don't think for a minute he's not also trying to give us the "big head", and to make Oakland look better if they beat either us or South Dakota State in Sioux Falls. Here's a link to the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 Poll

Tom Hankins didn't know what he was getting when he recruited Dominique Morrison to play basketball at Oral Roberts University. The Golden Eagles assistant got three players for the price of one. Morrison grew up with Rod Pearson in the Kansas City (Mo.) suburbs, and both knew Michael Craion from playing high school basketball against him... (read more at the Tulsa World)

Not sure how many of you might have seen these most recent blog entries from Mike Brown: the first two address the end Mike Craion's and Dominique Morrison's college careers, the last one involves Akron - all good reads: Craion Overlooked By Many, But Not By ORU Coach Morrison Doesn't Like To Think About Senior Day Akron Coach: Zips May Be Even Better Than They Seem

Great stories - and fun front-page layout - on ORU basketball in this morning's Tulsa World: On The Bubble: Odds Against ORU For At-Large Bid Mike Brown's Summit League Insider 2/9/12) Like I said starting back in December: it's just fun to be having the discussion regarding an at-large bid. Whoda thunk it for the li'l ol' Summit League - or for ORU? We seem to have reached a new level of respectability as a basketball program and a conference this year. (If you haven't seen the front page of today's Tulsa World, check out these files - good stuff!) pages.pdf

Well, at least we got a couple of paragraphs on the front page. ...right next to the massive color picture of Doug Wojcik. Morrison Leads ORU Past North Dakota State (Tulsa World 2/5/12)

Read the rest at the Tulsa World

By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist (excerpt) Oral Roberts will leave for a five-day, two-game Summit League road swing to the Dakotas this week. Heading to the Dakotas during the first few days of February is not exactly a vacation. A year from now, every conference road game will be a trip headed south. "ORU is going to love the Southland Conference," said former Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs, who coached and was athletic director at Lamar. "It is certainly going to be quite a change for our teams when it comes to travel," said ORU athletic director Mike Carter. The Summit League has been a terrific home for Oral Roberts as the Golden Eagles shifted back into the NCAA in the 1990s. FULL ARTICLE

Front page, with a color picture - not too shabby, although ORUTerry is right: they sure do use a lot of goofy pictures for ORU stories: ORU Wary Of Last-Place South Dakota Mike Brown's Summit League Insider (1/26)

Lliteras On Big Shot: Don't Think, Just Let It Fly (Mike Brown blog)

ORU Pulls Away From IPFW (Tulsa World 1/20/12) ORU Notebook: Good Crowd For Oakland? (Tulsa World 1/20/12)

Good stuff from Mike Brown in the Tulsa World, with a couple of sidebars. We DOMINATED Page 4 this morning! Golden Eagles Know Free Throws Are Worth A Lot (Tulsa World 1/19/12) Summit League Notes (Tulsa World 1/19/12)

Couple of new blog entries from Mike Brown at the Tulsa World, touching on topics including Domo's thoughts on MLK Day, Rod Pearson's game-saving defensive play at WIU, and ORU fans (hey - that's US!) wondering why ORU is not getting any Top 25 love yet. Dominique and MLK Pearson's Saving Play; Eagles Fans & The Rankings

(excerpt) Injured guard Ken Holdman is no longer a part of the Oral Roberts basketball program, due to academic issues, ORU head coach Scott Sutton said Monday. The athletic, cat-quick, 6-foot senior from East Central High School was sitting out the 2011-12 season after undergoing surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, sustained in a Nov. 5 exhibition game. Holdman said last week he expected to return next season to play one final year with the Golden Eagles. Now, there are indications that he will enroll at another four-year school within the region, although Holdman could not be reached Monday for comment. “I love Ken Holdman, and I’ll do anything I can for him in the future,†Sutton said. “He was a big part of this program. He helped us win a lot of games, and it saddens me that it came to this. I wish him the best.†FULL ARTICLE

Page 7. Below the fold. With the smallest possible headline. Satisfied? Me neither: Michael Peters Sports Editor Tulsa World michael.peters@tulsaworld.com

ORU Edges Western Illinois In Double Overtime (Tulsa World 1/13/12)