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Midseason thoughts


Keenan Henderson

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We are 20 games in and about in the midseason of conference play. What are your thoughts on the overall team (record, defense, etc), individual players or coaches. Also, does the team have a chance to make a post-season tournament? Thanks for the input.

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Please note date below...if anything "somehow convinces" me, I'll chime back in.  Till then, road play hampered by spotty defense & over-reliance on 3-point shooting is still the same problem it's been all year.  First round exit in Sioux Falls if the opponent is a Dakota school or Omaha.

On 9/22/2019 at 4:49 PM, Old Titan said:

Until somehow convinced otherwise, I'm still thinking something along the lines of 9-7; maybe 10-6, and a 4th-to-6th-in-the-middle-of-the-pack type of finish.

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Teams in the Summit League are simply too skilled to outscore... you have to get stops. Harder said than done with how efficient and productive Summit offenses are but defense is the key.

The loss at USD wasn't all that bad considering how the Coyotes have beaten other teams at home this season. The game on Wed at home against SDSU may be the deciding factor on if ORU can finish in the top three.

Effort, movement, and ball security have all improved since that game at SDSU 🤮

 

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48 minutes ago, Old Titan said:

Please note date below...if anything "somehow convinces" me, I'll chime back in.  Till then, road play hampered by spotty defense & over-reliance on 3-point shooting is still the same problem it's been all year.  First round exit in Sioux Falls if the opponent is a Dakota school or Omaha.

With Hagedorn going for 31 points and 6 of 8 three pointers along with some bias refs, we will never win a game in South Dakota. However, that being said i believe that the small 4 guard lineup is to blame for the loss as much as anything. I am not sure why we did not play Lufile or Obanor more. Let them work through their poor  start especially Obanor. He usually comes back in  the second half with a better effort if he struggles in the first half. I still say play three bigs with a two guard lineup.That will stop some of that mismatch under the basket. Just my opinion. Also, Burns had 4-9 shooting  is not what he has been doing of late. The refs put this game out of reach at the 4 minute mark and we could not recover. If we don't win at home we are finished and you are right OT about Sioux Falls. 

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Lufile drew 3 fouls in his first 5-6 minutes of court time and I think that limited his overall minutes.  However, I do think he should get more minutes than he does.  Hopefully he can work on decreasing the number of fouls he commits.

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Elijah had 3 quick fouls in just 6 total minutes by halftime.....that pretty much finished him for the afternoon....ORU needs to be pounding the ball inside to E-Man, Obanor and Elijah.....TheEagleman would expect to see a lot of that on Wednesday night vs. SDSU.....this is a must win.....a payback game...and I believe ORU will get it.....👍:tb-blue:👍

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Max has also improved since the beginning of the season. He is a true freshman and not a red shirt.  The first few games he just fired at will from three and could not do much but score. Now he is mixing it up, drawing charges and getting a few rebounds. I thought the Eagles would redshirt him this year with all the guards on the roster. He could be the top freshman in the league, which ORU would now have won 3 out of 4 years.

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Dre Burns and Abmas are both great guards.  Too bad we only have Dre for one year.  With Kearns who also has a lot of experience and Fuqua whose game has improved, we have 4 solid guards that could carry us to an NCAA berth.  We honestly haven’t had quality guard play for many years and as a result had very little chance to make the tournament.

Nzekwesi has also played well.  We need Obanor and Lufile to step up and need to guard the 3 point line better.  If that happens and we stay healthy, this team could win the Summit League tournament.

We haven’t had the talent to say that realistically for the last 6 years or so.

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18 hours ago, ORUJason said:

Dre Burns and Abmas are both great guards.  Too bad we only have Dre for one year.  With Kearns who also has a lot of experience and Fuqua whose game has improved, we have 4 solid guards that could carry us to an NCAA berth.  We honestly haven’t had quality guard play for many years and as a result had very little chance to make the tournament.

Nzekwesi has also played well.  We need Obanor and Lufile to step up and need to guard the 3 point line better.  If that happens and we stay healthy, this team could win the Summit League tournament.

We haven’t had the talent to say that realistically for the last 6 years or so.

Agree. The guard play has been much better. Still think K.O. is figuring how his game, he shoots almost as many 3s as inside shots and still wants to play like a guard. The Summit League is solid this year and has five quality teams that could win the tournament.  The problem is ORU will most likely have to beat two or even three Dakota teams (basically on the road) to make the Big Dance.  That is tough no matter who is playing or coaching. If DJ was healthy this team would do it but he is the missing piece.

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