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FOX 23: Paul Mills overhauls ORU basketball with eight new players


Dr. Cornelius

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Who on this current roster is 6’9 with handles?  Kerwin Smith is the only player listed at 6’9 and I’ve watched him since he was at Dallas ISD. He has never been known for his ball handling or maybe he drank some of the KOOL-AID and he has handles now. 

 

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Eman is 6'9" with handle. (i.e. just his right hand :-)

I don't think there is any doubt the overall athleticism will be improved but I feel that it is over-rated by many.  I'm just hoping the skill level of the new guys is up to par.  Running fast and jumping high is great but you need to be able to dribble, pass and shoot.  Basketball IQ, coach-ability, work ethic, etc... those are the things that get me excited.  The best coach in the world can't win if his guys can't execute.  Ideally you have all of this.

I know the returning guys have been put through the ringer all ready this summer.  The workouts are brutal and the new coaches seem to be VERY skilled technicians.  Most of the new guys get here the 18th of June and hell week will follow for them as well. 

 

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Above post is correct about skill and basketball IO being important.What I’m saying is this ORU team will have what those teams at the top of Summit league have as far as shooting, passing and B-ball IQ. But with more athleticism. Maybe you don’t give to much to athleticism because it’s been possible to win the Summit without it. Look at the All Summit League selection and show me the athleticism. These guys are not super athletic but can play ball without a doubt. But give me a guy with a first step that is unusually quick who can get in the lane and above the rim and I will take him. Or a guy like Coach Mills said Of one recruit that he could get anywhere he wants on the floor with the ball. It’s easy to find shooters, passers, dribblers. That’s basically everybody who’s been playin competitive  b-ball since childhood. I don’t care if you can shoot if your not athletic enough to create your own shot. Don’t care if you can dribble if your not fast enough to get by anyone. When he said better talent he meant better athletes. He already had dribblers passers and shooters when he arrived.This is D1 college basketball right?  

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I’m also hopeful but with good reason. The facts are there. Coach Mills came on campus last year, took players he did not recruit goes into SDSU and loses by only 3 in his first outing against them. Goes into Florida Gulf Coast and smacks them so bad that the coach and his star players were in the post game interview  questioning there identity as a team. (Go to you tube and look it up) Both these teams went to the Dance.. And the better talent hasn’t even arrived on campus yet. 

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Gonna have to call BS on the last post.  Without Javan White we lose that game at FGCU.  The kid had 25 and 11.  Sometimes you gotta leave well enough alone.  Check the stats below and also I have it recorded just in case you didn't see it.  I'm just saying!

 

PLAYER MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
STARTERS  
23 - Emmanuel Nzekwesi - f 39 9-13 0-2 6-6 4 7 11 4 3 0 4 2 24
25 - Javan White - f 38 11-14 0-1 3-5 5 6 11 0 0 0 2 0 25
52 - Chris Miller - f 19 2-5 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 1 3 0 3 4 4
10 - Sam Kearns - g 37 2-8 1-6 2-2 0 1 1 7 0 0 4 1 7
24 - R.J. Fuqua - g 22 4-7 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 4 0 1 0 5 10
RESERVES  
03 - Jontray Harris 22 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 2 0 1 1 2
20 - Spencer Sutton 3 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
44 - Albert Owens 20 4-12 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 2 1 0 0 8
TM - TEAM         5 1 6       0 0  
TOTALS   34-63 4-14 11-13 17 23 40 18 10 2 14 13 83
    54.0% 28.6% 84.6%

ORU Races Past Florida Gulf Coast, 83-64

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On 6/8/2018 at 2:09 PM, ORUFam said:

Above post is correct about skill and basketball IO being important.What I’m saying is this ORU team will have what those teams at the top of Summit league have as far as shooting, passing and B-ball IQ. But with more athleticism. Maybe you don’t give to much to athleticism because it’s been possible to win the Summit without it. Look at the All Summit League selection and show me the athleticism. These guys are not super athletic but can play ball without a doubt. But give me a guy with a first step that is unusually quick who can get in the lane and above the rim and I will take him. Or a guy like Coach Mills said Of one recruit that he could get anywhere he wants on the floor with the ball. It’s easy to find shooters, passers, dribblers. That’s basically everybody who’s been playin competitive  b-ball since childhood. I don’t care if you can shoot if your not athletic enough to create your own shot. Don’t care if you can dribble if your not fast enough to get by anyone. When he said better talent he meant better athletes. He already had dribblers passers and shooters when he arrived.This is D1 college basketball right?  

You need highly skilled guys who are also good athletes.  I'm not disputing that and I think Mills has clearly increased the athletic ability.   However, I like to see kids play first to see if that will translate.  At the end of the day you need it all to some extent.  

Supposedly the euro freshman are both good shooters.  And most of our new guys seem to have the physical tools to play defense.  But shooting under the lights and displaying the mental ability to play college level defense is often a different story.  9 times out of 10 a coach will play the guy who is less likely to make a mistake over the kid who jumps higher.

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The sum of talent remains to be seen.  What you have right now is a lot of unproven talent.  Let's say this team wins a bunch of games playing D2 and NAIA schools does that make them better than last year.  Heck no because the team last year played one of the toughest schedules in the NCAA.

Yes the two euro kids can shoot, but can they defend?  Athleticism doesn't translate to better.  

  

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Agree with you guys on all of that. It remains to be seen who can do it under the lights is the real question.  I assume good things will take place  because I am speaking as a fan of Coach Mills and the work he has done over the last decade plus. 

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TheEagleman will be interested to see our schedule for 2018-19...last seasons' was absurd....too many road games and too many games against teams we had no chance of competing against....I understand that a school like ORU has to play 2 or 3 guarantee games to earn some cash but I am hoping to see mostly games against similar opposition and at least an equal number of home/road games so our boys aren't bouncing from time zone to time zone and pushing the limits of exhaustion during Nov/Dec....I am supportive of Coach Mills and his bringing in a lot of new players but hopefully this season we will be much more competitive especially in the Summit League....this will be a real test of the abilities of Coach Mills' and his staff....:tb-white:

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I think playing a tough non league schedule especially before Summitt League games start is essential to being competitive in The Summit.  Record doesn’t matter if your Conference only sends it’s tournament winner. We need to be clicking on all cylinders come  late Feb early March..

Road games in tough environments have to happen if you want to go to the dance. We are not going to dance without winning in a hostile South Dakota environment 7hrs from home with the opponent most likely to be from the Dakotas. Might as well get used to that.. 

Those teams we play that we gave no chance against bring in recruits.. 

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Sorry Fam but TheEagleman can't agree with that philosophy...OK to play a couple guarantee games but not 12 road games in Nov-Dec in which you are non competitive in the majority...a team learns nothing from getting beat by 25 or more every night....now if they wanna go play some mid majors and mediocre Power 5 teams again...that's fine...but getting hammered every night just beats a team down....I know that they say "losing builds character" but it's good to win a few here and there....last year we were just not competitive in too many of the non league games and the travel schedule was crazy.....more home cookin' please!!!... :!:

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12 hours ago, ORUFam said:

I think playing a tough non league schedule especially before Summitt League games start is essential to being competitive in The Summit.  Record doesn’t matter if your Conference only sends it’s tournament winner. We need to be clicking on all cylinders come  late Feb early March..

Road games in tough environments have to happen if you want to go to the dance. We are not going to dance without winning in a hostile South Dakota environment 7hrs from home with the opponent most likely to be from the Dakotas. Might as well get used to that.. 

Those teams we play that we gave no chance against bring in recruits.. 

ORU Men's basketball has tried that for multiple years in a row now with that exact same mindset. In all honesty I partially believe that is why the team Obi Emagano's senior year did not do as well as they should have. Started off the season extremely strong and then played 7 games against spectacular competition including, LSU w/ Ben Simmons, OU Final Four squad, NM State (NCAA tourney), U of New Mexico at the Pit, and then we started conference off against Ft. Wayne, the best team in the conference that year. It did not go well at all. ORU needs to do like the Eagleman has been suggesting for years, play a schedule where we can keep our guys home more, and play more D1 schools like Mo. St. that are willing to do home and homes. 

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All previous points aside, I frankly see nothing new on this roster or staff that will preclude ORU from being picked in or near the basement when the Summit League preseason polls start coming out in a few weeks.

Got a long row to hoe, gentlemen...a long row.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOQr6g5PUYSjs6CP9VmTU

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1 minute ago, Old Titan said:

All previous points aside, I frankly see nothing new on this roster or staff that will preclude ORU from being picked in or near the basement when the preseason polls start coming out in a few weeks.

Agreed 

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