theeagleman5 Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 ORU travels to the Mile High City tomorrow night to take on the Pioneers.....Denver is 8-5 and riding a five game winning streak over the past two weeks...they have a few impressive road wins at Air Force, Weber State and South Alabama but have lost home games early in the season to Utah Valley and Jacksonville.....it's always tough to win on the road and the Good Guys have not done so this season....but this is a winnable game....we are overdue on the road and should have had our confidence boosted by impressive home wins last week over good mid major teams Little Rock and Richmond....TheEagleman expects ORU to come to play and give a good effort....I think we can win and really need to get this one because winning at IPFW on New Years' Eve will not be an enviable task....We will have to play good D inside because Denver has a 6-10 center and a 6-7 PF who can score....but I will go out on a limb and predict a 3rd win in a row for the Golden Eagles....it's won't be easy and probably a back and forth game but ORU prevails 78-75..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 HUGE game! If we can win 2 of our first 3 conference games (all on the road), then we have 7 of the next 9 at home. We could REALLY get on a roll and be a contender. I truly think the difference between 1st and 8th in this conference, is fairly small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 1 hour ago, oruvoice said: I truly think the difference between 1st and 8th in this conference, is fairly small. I agree. IPFW may be the best team in the conference... but are they really that much better than SDSU or even an underperforming ORU? I doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 It's never easy playing at altitude, but I think our bench can step in and take minutes off the starters. AY, Darian, Big Chris, and Jontray have all impressed me. Denver's SOS is 323 so they haven't had to run the non-conference gauntlet that we have (ours is currently 10), but they've picked up some decent wins along the way. This one is a toss up for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted December 27, 2016 Author Share Posted December 27, 2016 Good points, Maniac....playing a mile high is never easy so we will need the bench to step up tomorrow night....but Denver's schedule has been loaded with cupcakes....nothing close to the level of competition that ORU has faced....so that's one of the reasons why TheEagleman thinks we have a decent chance to steal a victory and fly to Fort Wayne at 1-0.....the game on Saturday will be difficult to say the least....so we really need to try beat the Pioneers....it's imperative that ORU get off to a good start...can't afford to fall behind by double digits early.....oh....on the ESPN.com RPI ratings...with our two wins last week....ORU has moved up to 193 with a SOS of 10th in the nation....we are only six spots behind Tulsa/187..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 Denver has gone from a 4.5 to a 3 point favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUIllini Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 This is a tough one...looking on ESPN.com these teams are evenly matched, despite the difference in records... Many have mentioned how important this game is with the way ORU's schedule is set up, and I agree...with a win ORU's confidence and chemistry continue to grow going into the IPFW and WIU games, followed by 4 home games in a row... With a loss, especially a close one, or even worse, a collapse at the end, would I be crazy to predict a repeat of two bad losses, similar to what happened after the Ole Miss meltdown? Looking back at last years game in Denver, ORU had 20 turnovers to Denver's 9.....Deuce had 6 turnovers and only scored 3 points with 3 assists.....I don't think he needs to be a big scorer, but if he takes care of the ball and dishes it around, ORU wins....I think he can be a catalyst to a nice run in conference play, starting with this game tonight.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 The Ole Miss meltdown included the loss of our starting point guard and "heart" of the team. I think we've seen how important Deuce's return has been. His first game back was poor, but since then we've seen three great games in a row. I still believe that our guards are great players. They were just forced to play out of position for that stretch which led to some embarrassing games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 On 12/27/2016 at 9:21 AM, oruvoice said: I truly think the difference between 1st and 8th in this conference, is fairly small. Rpiforecast currently projects IPFW to finish 12-4 in conference, WIU at 4-12, and the other seven teams to finish at 9-7, 8-8, or 7-9. In other words - it's WIDE open! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted December 28, 2016 Author Share Posted December 28, 2016 Yeah, tonight is a crucial game for ORU to win to set the tone for the Summit League schedule....we can't really expect to do any damage if we start 0-2 and we are not likely to win on Saturday at IPFW.....so gotta win at Denver and TheEagleman believes we can pull out a close one.....the line is now ORU +4 and I kind of like the Good Guys teased with the over which is 140.....If I tease I get ORU +10 and 134 on the over/under.....still thinking about it....betting on ORU on the road is never a lock but I see this game as very tight and down to the final minutes....but like last Friday vs. Richmond...one never knows what will happen when all the fouling starts....the final minute turned that game from a 6-7 point win to a 15 point win....it's just hard to predict...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted December 28, 2016 Share Posted December 28, 2016 he looks pretty healthy........suit 'em up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUIllini Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Thank goodness for K-Mart keeping ORU in the game.....getting nothing from the rest of the team! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Getting killed on the boards again. And, no audio stream on the ORU athletics website. Epic fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 13 minutes ago, TrueBlue82 said: Getting killed on the boards again. And, no audio stream on the ORU athletics website. Epic fail. 97.1 TuneIn app is working. ORU reverted to form in the first half. to quote Bill Parcells ---- "you are what your record says you are." for some good news, ORUWBB won a Lakota Beatty 3 with five seconds left Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUIllini Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 So disheartening....behind from the get go....scratching and clawing the whole game...another tough road one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU GRAD Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Quote We are in for a long season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUIllini Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 I didn't listen to the game, but what's up with Nzekwesi only playing 17 minutes? Is he still dealing with ankle injury? Only 17 minutes?? Need his scoring! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 ORU battled for 40 minutes but never could get over the hump....77-73 loss....kept falling behind by 10-12 then coming back to within 2-3....still had a chance in the final 2 minutes but couldn't hit the big shot and Anderson missed a couple FTs....TheEagleman cashed in but would rather have had an opening game win in Summit League play....I was out but following the stats on my phone.....Looks like Martin with 23 played well but Owens in foul trouble all night had only 11 and Bradley reverted to form....it's just gonna be a long season, my friends....at this point we might be fortunate to win 10 games at most because this Denver team really isn't very good.....if we can't win there not sure where we can win on the road except maybe WIU..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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