Review of 19-20 season

[Keenan Henderson 36]

Any thoughts on the past season? Maybe your favorite game, player or moment. What worked or did not work for the Golden Eagles? Keep the faith in tough times: Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

[ORU GRAD 45]

On 3/19/2020 at 10:27 PM, Keenan Henderson said:

Any thoughts on the past season? Maybe your favorite game, player or moment. What worked or did not work for the Golden Eagles? Keep the faith in tough times: Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Well, I guess I will start this discussion. This season has been full of surprises. Some positive and some negative. I will start with the negative to end on a positive note.

1. Loss of D.J at the beginning of the season. 2. Terrible non-conference home schedule with very little competition and cream puffs. 3.  Poor senior transfer from        Oklahoma (Wasted Scholarship) 4. Terrible loss to Denver with a few seconds on the clock and foul on three point shot to help lose that game that would have given us a 10-6 record for the conference. 5. On road win/loss record was 4-13. 

1.The great transfer point guard Dre Burns. 2. The unexpected addition of Freshman recruit Max Abmas  3. Addition of Elijah Lufile with big future upside  4. Nice game against Omaha in the Summit League Tournament especially the last half. 5 Eman had a great season overall.

Hopefully a good recruiting year for 20-21. 

[Keenan Henderson 36]

Would agree with you ORU grad. The only thing to maybe add is that RJ really came on strong at the end of the year. He had a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, which I think was first in the league. He may not be a great shooter or scorer but if RJ stays healthy he should be a leader next year.

[ORU GRAD 45]

11 hours ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Would agree with you ORU grad. The only thing to maybe add is that RJ really came on strong at the end of the year. He had a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, which I think was first in the league. He may not be a great shooter or scorer but if RJ stays healthy he should be a leader next year.

Yes, the last game of the season he showed up big for a small guard. He has the grit of a winner. 

[ORUJason 133]

RJ is quick and tenacious and he stayed healthy for most of last year.  He has grown in confidence, ability, and understanding how to use his speed to push the fast break and force opponent’s turnovers.  Hopefully he can stay healthy next year and continue to improve.

[theeagleman5 424]

TheEagleman loves RJ....he will be welcomed back.....also DJ Weaver will help to replace E-man.....Abmas was huge...gonna be a good one.....will Elijah start at Center???  or do we have someone coming in?....

[EagleManiac 104]

RJ is arguably the best guard on the court. He's got basketball IQ that nobody on the team even comes close to (Abmas will get there). I'll be interested to see if KO comes back next year. 

[Keenan Henderson 36]

32 minutes ago, EagleManiac said:

RJ is arguably the best guard on the court. He's got basketball IQ that nobody on the team even comes close to (Abmas will get there). I'll be interested to see if KO comes back next year. 

KO should be back because he already used his red shirt season, so if he transferred then he would lose a season. Thinking next year's starting five (unless they find a really good graduate transfer or someone gets injured): RJ, Max, DJ, K.O., and Lufile. Still unsure about recruiting: seems like the Eagles have commitments from Stevens and the high school center from Texas (6'8 Clover) but still no official signings. If they do sign those two then you would think that they would both be ready to help off the bench. Clover is rated highly in Texas high school basketball ( top 20-25), around where DJ was when he came to ORU.

[ORU GRAD 45]

1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said:

KO should be back because he already used his red shirt season, so if he transferred then he would lose a season. Thinking next year's starting five (unless they find a really good graduate transfer or someone gets injured): RJ, Max, DJ, K.O., and Lufile. Still unsure about recruiting: seems like the Eagles have commitments from Stevens and the high school center from Texas (6'8 Clover) but still no official signings. If they do sign those two then you would think that they would both be ready to help off the bench. Clover is rated highly in Texas high school basketball ( top 20-25), around where DJ was when he came to ORU.

Add Kereem Thompson From East Central. Looks to be a great shooter and good height at 6' 6". Would come in with 3 years of elgibility. Like what I saw on video.

[ORUTerry 306]

I heard from a good source that Stevens and Clover signed LOI’s in the Fall. 

[ORU GRAD 45]

11 minutes ago, ORUTerry said:

I heard from a good source that Stevens and Clover signed LOI’s in the Fall. 

With Thompson verbally committed we still have two more scholarships available.  Maybe a Dre replacement and big.

[Old Titan 721]

1 hour ago, ORUTerry said:

I heard from a good source that Stevens and Clover signed LOI’s in the Fall. 

Would love to hear from your good source why that news was, for all intents & purposes, buried at the time. 

[Old Titan 721]

6 hours ago, ORU GRAD said:

Add Kereem Thompson From East Central. Looks to be a great shooter and good height at 6' 6". Would come in with 3 years of elgibility. Like what I saw on video.

From what I saw, he’s Hunter McLintock 2.0...

[Dr. Cornelius 341]

1 hour ago, Old Titan said:

From what I saw, he’s Hunter McLintock 2.0...

McClintock's video did have superior music.

All these YouTube highlight videos should be taken with a boulder of salt... I do think Thompson will fare a little better though. He scores in a variety of ways and has size at 6'6" which is something we have lacked in a guard for a while.

[ORU GRAD 45]

13 minutes ago, Dr. Cornelius said:

McClintock's video did have superior music.

All these YouTube highlight videos should be taken with a boulder of salt... I do think Thompson will fare a little better though. He scores in a variety of ways and has size at 6'6" which is something we have lacked in a guard for a while.

Solo is a pretty good judge of talent. Dre was pretty decent talent.

[theeagleman5 424]

Hunter McLintock….LOL....any oldie but goodie.....I had forgotten about him.....probably a fine insurance salesman or HS Ass't coach right now.....

[Keenan Henderson 36]

Getting back to the year in review. The Eagles had talent, experience (5 seniors) and potential but never jelled together. We saw signs of it in three games: at IPFW (24 point blowout that was not even that close), South Dakota (15 point win agaisnt a 20 game winner), and the Omaha game in the tournament (27 point blowout). Not sure why the pieces just never seemed to come together but that is the difference between a good team and a great team.

[Old Titan 721]

1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Not sure why the pieces just never seemed to come together but that is the difference between a good team and a great team.

Actually, it’s the difference between a team whose identity is obsessed by 3-point shooting instead of consistent defense.
 

Maybe some day this coaching staff will simply amass enough offensive firepower to overcome their annual defensive shortcomings. 
 

But, don’t hold your breath...

[Old Titan 721]

15 hours ago, Old Titan said:

Actually, it’s the difference between a team whose identity is obsessed by 3-point shooting instead of consistent defense.
 

Maybe some day this coaching staff will simply amass enough offensive firepower to overcome their annual defensive shortcomings. 
 

But, don’t hold your breath...

Some times, I look back at stuff that I post late at night while I'm tired & cranky, and I just cringe.

For one thing, the grammar and sentence structure was pitiful.

Secondly, it's even more snarky than usual (which is saying something).

Look, here's the deal:  with all that "talent, experience (5 seniors) and potential", this should have been a breakout year defensively.

But, it wasn't. 

It just wasn't as awful as the previous year.

Out of 350 D1 teams, ORU ranked in the mid-200's in most defensive categories this year (and, never forget that four games were non-D1 runaways with skewed stats).

Now, ORU is looking at three returning starters in Fuqua, Abmas and Obanor who are not exactly known for their defense.

Add to that a handful of newcomers from the prep and juco ranks who do not yet realize what it takes to play defense at the D-1 level, and you have a combination for a step backward defensively.

Which is troubling, to say the least - unless they can REALLY score, I suppose.

 

[Keenan Henderson 36]

Plus they add Stevens (20 points a game at junior college) and Weaver (10 points a game). So yeah they will have some offense but like you said Old Titan, not sure where the defense will come from. Remember they averaged 80 last year so offense was not a problem then either.

[Old Titan 721]

1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Plus they add Stevens (20 points a game at junior college) and Weaver (10 points a game). So yeah they will have some offense but like you said Old Titan, not sure where the defense will come from. Remember they averaged 80 last year so offense was not a problem then either.

Averaging in the upper-70’s for both offense AND defense will get you a .500 record or worse vs. D1 competition every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Because what that actually translates to is a bunch of 85-70 wins and 70-85 losses, with very few actually close games in between that might have been won by great defense in the closing moments. 

[TrueBlue82 190]

In my opinion, during the three years of the Mills era, the coaching staff has proven to be above average in recruitment of talent, average in player development and below average in game management.  This may not be an accurate assessment as the three aspects are often intertwined.  The improvement in talent has continued to raise the level of success each season, but management of the Xs and Os has kept the ceiling lower than "what it could have been".  It is my hope that more maturity and experience in their roles will help the staff continue to improve in the latter two categories.  If they don't, they will soon find that it is much more challenging to recruit talent, who want to play early and often - and WIN...

[Old Titan 721]

JB, can you please elaborate on your definition of “average”?

• ”Average” as in “average for ORU’s more successful teams”?
• ”Average” as in “average for a successful program in a conference like the Summit League”?
• ”Average” as in “average for a successful D-1 school with post-season aspirations”?
• etc.

[theeagleman5 424]

All TheEagleman can say is....Next Coach please.....

[Old Titan 721]

On 3/25/2020 at 1:08 PM, ORUTerry said:

I heard from a good source that Stevens and Clover signed LOI’s in the Fall. 

But then there’s stuff like this, which makes me scratch my balding head.

It’s from a Tulsa World season wrap-up and “look ahead” story posted just this morning:

Key recruit coming next season: Nate Clover

Clover has not signed with ORU yet but has been committed to the Golden Eagles since last September. He’s a three-star center, according to Rivals.com, from Memorial High School in Port Arthur, Texas, and listed at 6-foot-8. Clover could make an immediate impact for ORU at a position the Golden Eagles are in need of depth.

What is the deal?  

If he hasn’t signed, what’s the hold-up?  

If he has, why did someone tell Dakota Gregory with the Tulsa World that he hasn’t?  

Strange deal; guessing we won’t hear anything official about this kid till school starts.