ORU82 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Thanks to the seniors and Darian Harris for being a part of our family these past few years. I wish you all the luck and hope you do well in all that you set out to accomplish. As for this season, I am glad that it is over. As for next year, right now I honestly have very little hope for a turn around. I do believe we have talented players. We were able to hang with about everyone we played. However, I have no confidence in the staff to change this thing around. We have been in a downward spiral as a program the last several years and we really took a nose dive this year. Unforetunately, I did not see anything this year to convince me that things will chance or get better through the efforts of this staff next year. Right now it is probably better I just shut up and leave it at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTex Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Looking at the schedule preseason, I certainly did not expect that we'd have a better non-conference record (4-10) than conference (4-12). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 You are right Tex. How do you take Ole Miss into OT, lose by 4 to Michigan State, lose by 1 to 10th ranked Creighton and give a very good Baylor team a decent game and then tank in a very mediocre Summit League? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 6 hours ago, ORU82 said: How do you take Ole Miss into OT, lose by 4 to Michigan State, lose by 1 to 10th ranked Creighton and give a very good Baylor team a decent game and then tank in a very mediocre Summit League? Easy: none of those teams probably had much of a scouting report on ORU, or spent much time on ORU in practice. Conference play is different; a lot of your success hinges on scouting, preparation, familiarity, and mixing things up the second or third time you meet. Conference play exposes teams that are not prepared, and as "exposed" as ORU was in league play this year, I'm surprised they didn't all get frostbite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 13 hours ago, Old Titan said: PARTING SHOT: only the Mabee Center could manage a 10-minute line in the lobby to admit a 2000-soul crowd. You think there were 2,000 in the building last night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Parting Shot....another brutal close/late loss but TheEagleman finishes with a big win by teasing ORU and the OVER.....I decided not to bet NDSU and it was a very good decision....I expected the game to be tight and it was.....ORU is probably the best 8-22 team in the country.... This is really depressing....not sure how much better ORU will be next season....we will have some new faces but appears to be same old same old.....I feel for the season ticket holders.....at least TheEagleman can change the channel.....this is painful..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 1 hour ago, oruvoice said: You think there were 2,000 in the building last night? Maybe more - not a bad crowd, relatively speaking. Not as bad as I had feared, with the record being what is, and the game being on a church night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 38 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said: Parting Shot....another brutal close/late loss but TheEagleman finishes with a big win by teasing ORU and the OVER.....I decided not to bet NDSU and it was a very good decision....I expected the game to be tight and it was.....ORU is probably the best 8-22 team in the country.... This is really depressing....not sure how much better ORU will be next season....we will have some new faces but appears to be same old same old.....I feel for the season ticket holders.....at least TheEagleman can change the channel.....this is painful..... I know a guy who loaded up on NDSU, giving two. He thought it would be a cakewalk. That last-second prayer made it a "push" - talk about your bad beats. But, I guess it would have been a LOT worse if he had been at 2.5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 TheEagleman was "this close" to placing a hedge bet on NDSU at -2.5....it would have been a loss....but I just strongly felt that ORU would play hard on Senior Night and for the most part we have played tough at home except for the Denver game....so I had ORU +8.5 which was an easy win...and the game went well OVER....despite ORU's putrid season, I finished several hundred dollars in the black....not as good as some previous years but at least a decent profit....I hate betting against my alma mater but was successful on those bets most of the time in 2017.....now it's on to ORU baseball....no bets there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I thought the team played with a lot of heart last night. When we got down by 15 I thought that might deflate them. But we reached down and started paying defense and getting stops. The ending was symptomatic of the whole season - close but not good enough. Observations: 1. I am tired of getting outrebounded. They grabbed 45 boards to our 35. To me, that was the ball game. If I was on the coaching staff, I would have our post players work on rebounding every day during the off season. The guys don't block out or work hard to get rebounds. It's mostly about effort. I think Javan White will really help with this next year. 2. E-Man is a talented player but still rough around the edges. I know he has not been playing basketball for a long time and therefore is still learning. I hope he and the coaches spend the off season working/learning. He has a lot of up side and we need him to contribute next year. 3. We only had six turnovers - that is good. And we shot well from the free throw line (13 of 15). Both teams made 29 field goals (NDSU took one more shot than we did). They made one more 3-pointer and one more free throw. 4. We lost five conference games by 4 points or less. This team just had trouble winning close games. The funny thing is that if this team had been able to make it into the conference tournament, I think they could have won a game - or two. Don't think they could have done more than that - but I think they showed the talent to hold their own against the teams in the league. 5. It was curious that Dez McDaniel did not see any playing time. I suspect that means he is either hurt or does not figure into the team's future plans. Wish we could have seen more him to better evaluate his talent level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Coach Sutton look/sounds like he needs a cocktail.....tough season....he seems beaten down....but he is right that the difference between first and last in the Summit is not THAT big...sometimes it's a shot/rebound/hustle defensive play here or there that makes the difference in a close game....great stat....we lost 13 home games in 14 seasons then 9 in the past 2....that can't happen and that's why we will be sitting home next weekend instead of being in Sioux Falls.....hoping we can turn things around in 2017-18 but not sure we have the horses.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingMaaaan Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 40 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said: Coach Sutton look/sounds like he needs a cocktail.....tough season....he seems beaten down....but he is right that the difference between first and last in the Summit is not THAT big...sometimes it's a shot/rebound/hustle defensive play here or there that makes the difference in a close game....great stat....we lost 13 home games in 14 seasons then 9 in the past 2....that can't happen and that's why we will be sitting home next weekend instead of being in Sioux Falls.....hoping we can turn things around in 2017-18 but not sure we have the horses.... He looks and sounds like he always does. That ho-hum attitude is infuriating. While the reporter's question was about what HE can do to ensure the future success of the team, he immediately goes to needing better players. Yeah of course we need better talent but don't tell me that's a new discovery. Every coach in America wants to upgrade their talent. That was his chance to be honest and transparent but it was more victim mentality than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 He commented about: 1) getting a certain type of player; 2) our guards being a "little small"; 3) not being as "athletic"; and, 4) the loss/departure of Javan, Chris Crawford and Jeffries. I would have loved to see a healthy Javan and to have had Crawford and Jeffries on the team this year. However, that did not happen and as a staff you have to be prepared to go with what you have, not what you hoped for. Sorry in advance if this sounds cruel, but who recruited not only Javan, Crawford and Jeffries but the entire team as well? You have been our HC for 18/19 years and with the program for I believe 22 years. That means the entire team, its chemistry, athleticism, ability or whatever is a direct result of and reflection of what you are doing with the program. Further, this is not a one or two year anomaly, it has been happening for several years. The comment about losing only 13 home games in 14 seasons while losing 9 in the last 2 years speaks volumes about where the staff is taking this program. It is not like you inherited this "train wreck", you created it. That is why I hold little hope for next year. Even while we were continually losing this year, it did not appear that much was being done to groom/teach/coach other players on the team by putting them on the floor to gain real time experience which you could then work with them on in practice. Will new kids make mistakes? Absolutely! That is why I advocated getting other players on the floor to obtain real game time experience. So what if we lose. Now we just finished a 22 loss season and next year have to replace 4 people/starters/major players who will not be back or put differently, we will be no farther along in November, 2017 then we were in November, 2016. As it appears now, we will be "rebuilding" all over again. That is pathetic and I hope and pray that I am wrong! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Coach Sutton mentions the loss of Jeffries, Crawford and White (injury) and the fact that they would have been the most athletic players on the court - notwithstanding EMan. He also talks about the fact that our small guards presented a defensive challenge for the team. I think he is correct, but we needed to work with the players we have. Coaches can help players develop & advance their talents and place them in a position to fully utilize their skills. I have to think we could run different offensive sets and defenses that put us in a better position to compete & win. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingMaaaan Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I also think he has to take responsibility for some of the issues related to transfers. As a business owner you understand that there's some level of turnover you cannot control but your goal is to sell the vision of the company in a way that inspires your employees to commit to you for the long term (at least the good ones). Sounds like Crawford and Jeffries didn't not buy into Sutton's vision. In a recent interview Kevin Garnett said that AAU has ruined the pro game by being the source of the entitlement young players have. That's a reality we have to deal. It's not going to go away. Have to stop complaining about it and figure out a way to work around it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Does this mean we can go ahead and start a "Fire Scott Sutton and staff" thread, or just continue talking around the obvious? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Not sure what Sutton could have done about Crawford. It appears that Crawford's family/friends talked him into going another way. His departure so early in the season was strange and not well thought out. I don't know why Jeffries left. Have heard it was playing time/losing team/problem with ORU's culture. Could also have tampering. Probably all four - or neither. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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