ORU vs. Tulsa

[TUPond]

I would have been happy with a 1 point win but I'll take the blowout.  I think both programs will have ups and downs this year but at least if TU tanks this year I have them Boyz from Dallas to look forward to.  Speaking of which, Eagleboy will have a hard time sleeping tonight with TU's win, Dallas on top, and those horrid Eagles stinking it up tonight!

[ORUalum]

Credit to the student newspaper reporter for her question at the end.

 

[ORU82]

I want to apologize for specifically calling out two players in posts last night.  I am sure they are great kids trying as hard as they can.  To those two and to the team I say, keep giving it 100%.  However, to the staff I say I am trying to believe but what I see on the floor during the game makes it hard.  You guys are paid to recruit, train, coach, manage, mentor, mold and/or teach young men and some of your decisions or lack there of makes me scratch my head.  I am not a coach and do not claim to be but should we have used more timeouts to slow down TU in their run late in the 2nd half?  Also, can we sub more players and if no, why?  I could go on by I will not.

[TrueBlue82]

6 minutes ago, ORU82 said:

I am not a coach and do not claim to be but should we have used more timeouts to slow down TU in their run late in the 2nd half?  Also, can we sub more players and if no, why? 

Having just watched the press conference video before reading your post, I'm pretty sure Coach Sutton's answer to your second question would be "we need to get healthy".  We simply don't have any healthy players to sub in that are better than the players (even when winded)  on the court.  Anderson, White, D. Harris were all out - and McDaniel played but was "not ready to go" due to his shoulder.

As to the answer to your first question, I have NO IDEA what he would say....  Because we are not healthy, you would think that we would be using all of our timeouts to give these guys a break, even if we were winning!  He did say that "this team does not handle adversity very well", but I would question whether the staff is doing everything to help them overcome that adversity (not using all of our timeouts is one example).  While I firmly believe that this team (especially when healthy) has the talent to win three games in Sioux Falls in March, the November and December schedule has the potential to crush their confidence to the point that they never recover.  It's up to the coaching staff and team leaders to make sure that this doesn't happen.

[theeagleman5]

Yeah....a tough night for TheEagleman.....big TU win over ORU and the Packers dominated the Eagles.....ouch!....

[oruvoice]

Just depressing, all the way around. I'm at a loss for words.

And to make it even worse...this isn't a very good TU team. They are likely around .500 this year and middle of the pack in the AAC, yet they beat us by 14. Ugh.

[EagleManiac]

- Last night is a glaring example of why SIZE MATTERS. It's a different game with Anderson on the floor. Or even Darian Harris for that matter. Those TU guards are not good, but the size advantage was just too significant for AY and Jalen to keep up with for 40 minutes. I'm still high on both those guys. They're just being used in roles that highlight their weaknesses. When Darian and Anderson are back and AY and Jalen slide back to their normal roles, we have a totally different team. 

- Even though the turnout was about what I expected coming into the game, it still shocked me to see just how much interest in the program has fallen. Nothing else going on in the entire city, and we all we can manage to fill is about 75% of the gold section. It hurts.

- I think the grey uniforms are the best I've seen on an ORU squad EVER. Far better than the ugly gold we have rolled out in the past. Now we just need to figure out how to get the flame back into the logo like baseball does. 

[Old Titan]

1 hour ago, TrueBlue82 said:

...I firmly believe that this team (especially when healthy) has the talent to win three games in Sioux Falls in March...

Wow - really??

I just don't see it.

That is the worst TU team since the John Phillips era in terms of talent, yet they physically abused ORU down the stretch when it mattered.

I fail to see that scenario not playing out again and again this season, bench or no bench.

[oruvoice]

Crowd size also falls on TU. To think these two schools can play in the city of Tulsa and only draw about 3,000, is pathetic. Not to mention, there was no energy from either fan base, as well. It was just sad...for both schools and the city.

[EagleManiac]

I agree with TrueBlue. A return of perimeter size will solve a lot of our problems.

If Anderson is not able to return, I'll jump on board with OT and say we're in for a long season. 

[oruvoice]

Anderson will help. But, we REALLY miss Javan. He has the athleticism to play a true PF position, which allows Albert to play C and Emmanuel to play the SF.

Once again, we've got guys playing out of position and out-sized. Our starting line-up last night went 5-9 (Young), 5-10 (Bradley), 6-3 (Martin), 6-6 (Emmanuel), and 6-8 (Albert). That's simply too small to compete at the high D-1 level.

[Dr. Cornelius]

16 minutes ago, EagleManiac said:

- Last night is a glaring example of why SIZE MATTERS. It's a different game with Anderson on the floor. Or even Darian Harris for that matter. Those TU guards are not good, but the size advantage was just too significant for AY and Jalen to keep up with for 40 minutes. I'm still high on both those guys. They're just being used in roles that highlight their weaknesses. When Darian and Anderson are back and AY and Jalen slide back to their normal roles, we have a totally different team. 

We have 13 roster spots. Probably should have more than a single guard who can play the position.

[Old Titan]

6 minutes ago, oruvoice said:

Our starting line-up last night went 5-9 (Young), 5-10 (Bradley), 6-3 (Martin), 6-6 (Emmanuel), and 6-8 (Albert). That's simply too small to compete at the  high  D-1 level.

Fixed ^^^^

[EagleManiac]

I agree Doc. There's no excuse for having three guards under 6' on the roster. It's a recipe for disaster if we're ever forced to play them together (which we saw last night). 

[Old Titan]

Considering the current injury situation, I wonder if Smith's redshirt should be reconsidered.

From what little I saw of him in the exhibition game, he looked long and physical - just what is needed right now on the perimeter in Anderson's absence.

[Gold*]

33 minutes ago, Old Titan said:

Wow - really??

I just don't see it.

That is the worst TU team since the John Phillips era in terms of talent, yet they physically abused ORU down the stretch when it mattered.

I fail to see that scenario not playing out again and again this season, bench or no bench.

I don't want to debate this further on your board, but really?  We have had worse teams.  Wojcik's first team was awful.  Manning's first team was not good.  I agree with your coach.  We have some players.  Magnay and Igbanu are going to be really good.  Etou already is really good.  Birt can be good.  Wheeler is a poor man's Juice Woodard.

And to Voice's point, if we finish middle of the AAC, that's pretty decent with all this turnover.  It's a hard league.

Good luck.  I really hope you get this turned around.  I don't know what the issues are with attendance, but think it's lame to blame us.

[oruvoice]

8 minutes ago, Gold* said:

I don't want to debate this further on your board, but really?  We have had worse teams.  Wojcik's first team was awful.  Manning's first team was not good.  I agree with your coach.  We have some players.  Magnay and Igbanu are going to be really good.  Etou already is really good.  Birt can be good.  Wheeler is a poor man's Juice Woodard.

And to Voice's point, if we finish middle of the AAC, that's pretty decent with all this turnover.  It's a hard league.

Good luck.  I really hope you get this turned around.  I don't know what the issues are with attendance, but think it's lame to blame us.

BOTH are to blame.

I didn't lay the blame all on TU. Neither school is drawing anywhere near what we should/could.

[theeagleman5]

ORU needs White and Anderson back from injury....those two guys are key.....but neither will be around for Oakland, Michigan State and OU.....those 3 games will be ugly.....we just didn't have enough healthy bodies last night....the guys competed hard for 30 minutes then it fell apart...heck, Nzekwesi had a double double and Owens almost did as well....we just ran out of gas.....it wasn't for lack of effort.....aside from that, TheEagleman likes the new uniforms a lot better than the white and even better than the gold....and 4200 announced attendance for the Mayors Cup game is a disgrace.....if the ORU men keep losing, we may see bigger attendance figures at the ORU ladies games by early 2017......