Old Titan Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 In case you've missed it, South Dakota has stormed from the gates in the early season, with a 5-0 start and a championship in the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii. and looks like the team to beat so far in the Summit League. Tyler Hagedorn, lunch-bucket forward for the Coyotes, is back from a season out due to a knee injury, and is leading the country in 3-point accuracy at 16-for-19 (which is 2 fewer made and 33 fewer missed than ORU's Max Abmas at 16-for-52). USD will face a stern test when they visit resurgent Arkansas (4-0) in Fayetteville on Friday night (SEC Network). Preseason favorite NDSU sits at 4-2, with a season opening loss at K-State and a puzzling setback Sunday vs. Stony Brook in the Islander Classic in Hawaii. South Dakota State also is 4-2, with a couple of blowout road losses at USC and Nebraska. I watched the first half of the Jackrabbits vs. the Huskers the other night; they looked talented but really wild under their new head coach. Everyone else in the league is at .500 or worse. So, in other words, things look pretty much how I thought they might a couple of months ago: the Dakota schools (sans UND) fighting for the top three spots, with ORU and everyone else in a big log jam beneath them. I really think this about how the league standings will look in February, as well: https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/49 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 In Arkansas's post game comments the other night, the coach and players were all talking about how good South Dakota is. It is surprising that South Dakota State is playing so well after losing almost all their star players and their coach from last season. They just have a winning culture. Omaha is still a solid team and they played Wichita State pretty close. You made some good points Old Titan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 2 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said: In Arkansas's post game comments the other night, the coach and players were all talking about how good South Dakota is. It is surprising that South Dakota State is playing so well after losing almost all their star players and their coach from last season. They just have a winning culture. Omaha is still a solid team and they played Wichita State pretty close. You made some good points Old Titan. SDSU is the only league team I've seen play, and they look really different from when Mike Daum was there. They played a frantic pace at Nebraska, and it didn't work out very well for them. But, they look like they have some players. Sound familiar? USD appears to be legit; curious to see how they handle the always-bizarre atmosphere at Barnhill Friday night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Omaha just beat Washington St. 85-77 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 13 hours ago, Dr. Cornelius said: Omaha just beat Washington St. 85-77 Yeah, I think rumors of the Summit League being down this year may have been a bit premature; it's shaping up more like a dogfight. ORU will need to bring their "A" game most nights, even at home, or my prediction of 3rd-to-5th in league play is potentially (and shockingly) wishful thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaglefan 21 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Watched the 2nd half of SDSU vs #14 Arizona and the rabbits gave Arizona all they could handle until the last 4 minutes. Their juco-transfer Wilson is a very athletic big man. Going to be tough sledding to be top 3 in the conference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU GRAD Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 50 minutes ago, Eaglefan 21 said: Watched the 2nd half of SDSU vs #14 Arizona and the rabbits gave Arizona all they could handle until the last 4 minutes. Their juco-transfer Wilson is a very athletic big man. Going to be tough sledding to be top 3 in the conference. I believe without D.J. Weaver we don't get to the 3 level. I was really counting on him being part of the lineup. We are improved from last year but we are still not where I thought we would be. Abmas played more under control the last game and Obanor seems to be back on track. I still would like to play Lufile at the 5 and Eman at the four with Obanor at the 3 position. Utilize Lacis or Weaver as a sub for any of them that get in foul trouble. This along with Burns and Abmas or Fuqua. Allow Lufile to replace Smith's position at the 5. I am wondering is Weaver is going to be a redshirt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 55 minutes ago, ORU GRAD said: I believe without D.J. Weaver we don't get to the 3 level. I was really counting on him being part of the lineup. We are improved from last year but we are still not where I thought we would be. Abmas played more under control the last game and Obanor seems to be back on track. I still would like to play Lufile at the 5 and Eman at the four with Obanor at the 3 position. Utilize Lacis or Weaver as a sub for any of them that get in foul trouble. This along with Burns and Abmas or Fuqua. Allow Lufile to replace Smith's position at the 5. I am wondering is Weaver is going to be a redshirt? I'm hearing a redshirt for Weaver is more likely than him playing this year, but that no decision has been made either way yet. Unless something changes drastically, I'm afraid foul trouble is going to plague this ORU team all season long. Th big men just won't get enough minutes to make the difference against better teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 The following cracks me up: for those who insist this little ol' fan forum is frequented by just we few fanatics, I offer this little nugget as "Exhibit A" of THE POWER OF THE ORUSPORTS.COM MESSAGE BOARD (lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 27, 2019 Author Share Posted November 27, 2019 Western Illinois upsets Ball State on the road Tuesday night; BSU was 4-2 with a #114 power ranking heading into the game. It was part of a 4-0 night for the Summit League, which is enjoying one of its better non-conference seasons this year, ranking 19th nationally on Bart Torvik's "Pomeroy-like" website, despite the fact traditional giant-killers ORU, SDSU and NDSU have yet to notch signature victories. Here are the other winners Tuesday night: NDSU by 17 at Idaho Omaha by 15 over Loyola (MD) in a neutral site game North Dakota in a 65-point laugher over North Central (MN) But of course, all that pales in comparison to what the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin did in Cameron Indoor Stadium last night, knocking off No. 1 Duke in overtime with a coast-to-coast buzzer-beating lay-up for the win. It was amazing to watch SFA, coached by former OSU assistant Kyle Keller, out-work the Blue Demons. Duke played like talented kids; SFA in contrast played like crazed men. They simply willed themselves to the victory; it wasn't pretty, but it was a glorious sight to behold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 30, 2019 Author Share Posted November 30, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Old Titan said: I don't know if we are far enough into the season to really understand what each Summit team has "under the hood", but with these rankings it would appear to be a very competitive conference race. The biggest gap is 44 places between SDSU and PFW, which breaks the league into the contenders and the spoilers. Assuming that a gap of 50 (an arbitrary selection) covers home court advantage, the projected records for all teams would be: USD 14-2 UNO 12-4 ORU 12-4 NDSU 11-5 SDSU 10-6 PFW 6-10 UND 3-13 WIU 2-14 DU 2-14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 ORU at 12-4 in the summit league. We would all take that. Only if Eman and DJ are healthy. Looks like a top heavy league and the Golden Eagles start off with tough games: at SDSU, at Omaha, and NDSU at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 I'm still sticking with 8-8 or 9-7 and a 4th or 5th place finish; only 2-3 road wins with 2-3 home losses. Based on the first few games, the only way I'm wrong is if they can somehow shoot 40% or better from three on the road; and play better defense without fouling so much at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted December 9, 2019 Author Share Posted December 9, 2019 Summit League up to #18 (of 32 conferences) nationally: http://www.barttorvik.com/trank.php?year=2020&conyes=1# NDSU moves past ORU to second-strongest power ranking in the conference, on the strength of their win against #98 East Tennessee State in Fargo: http://www.barttorvik.com/conf.php?conf=Sum ORU still "The Belt Buckle of College Basketball" at #177 out of 353 teams, as cleverly noted in a previous post by TrueBlue82: http://barttorvik.com/team.php?team=Oral+Roberts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 If you look at the Summit League Team Stats so far, the good guys are first in rebounding (by 5 rebounds a game) but last in Field Goal %. They miss a lot but are able to rebound those misses and get some second chance points. ORU is also second in the league in scoring. Amazing that they have eight guards and only three forwards and they still dominate the glass but cannot shoot the ball. Sounds like last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 8 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said: They miss a lot but are able to rebound those misses and get some second chance points.... ....against undersized non-D1 opponents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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