NY Times Article - March 17, 2006

[ORUTerry]

I missed this last week, but found it tonight as I was cruising the internet..... It might be the most interesting. It was certainly seen by the most people.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/sports/ncaabasketball/17oru.html

Oakland Regional

One 16th-Seeded Team May Truly Have a Prayer

By THAYER EVANS

Published: March 17, 2006

DALLAS, March 16 ? The loudest cheer to reverberate through Oral Roberts University's golden-themed campus this year may have occurred during an announcement at student chapel in January.

Never mind that the men's basketball team is back in the N.C.A.A. tournament for the first time in 22 years or that the 16th-seeded Golden Eagles play top-seeded Memphis on Friday. Students at the evangelical Christian university in Tulsa, Okla., are still celebrating the announcement that they would be allowed to wear jeans to class.

"When it was announced, it was unbelievable," said the 6-foot-11 senior center Mickey Michalec, a transfer from Texas Tech. "The place went nuts. Everyone went nuts."

Led by the bruising junior forward Caleb Green, the Mid-Continent Conference's player of the year the last two seasons, Oral Roberts (21-11) earned its berth by winning the conference tournament.

The Golden Eagles are coached by Scott Sutton, son of Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton. They have won 11 of their last 13 games.

"They are a very good team and they are not a normal 16-seed team," Memphis Coach John Calipari said. "Everybody knows that and everybody is talking about that."

Although no team seeded 16th has ever defeated a No. 1, and though Oral Roberts went 1-5 against teams in this year's tournament, fanfare for the Golden Eagles has abounded in Tulsa, site of the 5,200-student private university whose academic focus is liberal arts. It was founded in 1963 by its evangelist namesake.

"We all have one thing in common," Michalec said. "We love Jesus and we want to go to heaven and we want to play basketball, too."

All students attending Oral Roberts are required to sign a contract with the university that requires them to abide by its exacting, faith-based honor code, said the university president, Richard Roberts, the son of Oral Roberts. Among other things, it does not permit the consumption of alcohol, homosexuality, gossiping, gambling, profanity or sexual relations outside of marriage, he said.

The senior point guard Jonathan Bluitt was fined $50 his freshman year for not shaving, and Michalec was put on warning for violating for the university's 1:30 a.m. weekend curfew. The senior wing Andrew Meloy said he had to cut his brown locks five times this season to abide by a rule that does not allow hair to flow over the ears.

"I've gotten used to it," said Meloy, 23, who has attended O.R.U. for six years. "I came to Jesus my third year there. I fought it hard core, but I'm still pretty rebellious about it now. I'm not as charismatic as most people who go there."

Richard Roberts said the university viewed its athletic programs as a means to convey its Christian identity. If not for that opportunity, he said, the university would not have sports.

"We are demonstrating our faith through athletics," Roberts said in a telephone interview. "Yes, we want to win, but we want to win for a different reason: not just for accolades, but for an opportunity to be a witness for Christ. That's the whole reason for athletics at O.R.U."

The Golden Eagles are 2-2 in N.C.A.A. tournament games. They will rely heavily on Green, a Tulsa native who is averaging 21 points and 8.9 rebounds this season and leads the nation in free throws attempted (301) and made (228), shooting 75.7 percent.

"It doesn't matter if you're playing Memphis or Rhodes College, he's going to get anywhere from 12 to 15 free throws," Southern California Coach Tim Floyd, whose team lost to Oral Roberts by 20 points in November, said in a telephone interview. "I think Caleb could start for maybe 9 of the 10 teams in our league."

But Green and Oral Roberts are not in the Pac-10. They are in the N.C.A.A. tournament, with a chance to make history against a top-seeded team. The west baseline at Oral Roberts's Mabee Center court bears the words "Expect A Miracle," which may be the Golden Eagles' mind-set against Memphis.

[tmh8286]

Excellent . . .

[praetorfenix86]

I enjoyed the "we all have one thing in common", and then Mickey listed three things.

[oru86alum]

That's a great article!

[EasyTELGuy]

It'd be great if we got an "On-Fire Christian Mama" whose son in the Bronx, NY is 3 years behind LeBron James and sends her boy to ORU to run-and-gun with our Eagles! He helps take us to the Final Four and goes to the NBA where he's an incredible witness for Jesus!

Wait a minute...that could be Jeremy Hazell!

[tmh8286]

It definitely could happen, ETG. Everyone remembers the bold testimony of A.C. Green throughout his NBA years, and the rock solid Christian life he's led. I enjoyed following his career because he was a standout freshman on the Oregon State basketball team my last year of grad school there. Those were the Ralph Miller years, when OSU had a great team.

Maybe we will get a guy of that caliber!

[Sterns78]

We're HUGE fans of AC Green after he took our son Tyler (member of Maniacs ... go Maniacs!) under his wing. Tyler entered an essay contest sponsored by the Mavericks and won resulting in a trip to Phoenix with the team on their team jet. Of course, Dad had to go as a chaperone.