2021-2022 Preseason Rankings/Polls/Accolades/etc.

[jmg1984]

55 minutes ago, ORU40 said:

You're so right Keenan, every era is different. Our 70's teams were amazing, they put ORU on the map! Richard Fuqua set the table, Anthony Roberts kicked the door in and Calvin Garrett was an outstanding player and in the 80's Mark Acres earned his jersey being placed in the rafters and Haywood Workman was a beast. In the 90's when we were down, Sean Sutton was un-stoppable and in the 2000's Caleb Green was absolutely the real deal and probably a top 5 ORU player all time.

Max has a unique opportunity to improve upon his position as an all time great at a school with an impressive history and tradition. If he can come close to repeating last year and we all hope he does, he will definitely move up on the all time great list which he has already earned a spot on!!   

Go Eagles an go get it Max!!!

   

Greg SuttonMax will def have a target on his back but will do well Go EAGLES!

[ORUFan2009]

Some good points, and I appreciate the expanded explanations. I feel nudged to agree with the train of thought he's competing against far inferior talent...or is he? 

 I could argue that athletes today are almost superhuman with the amount of data and player specific diets and regiments that go into their training. Would a freshman star like Max in 2020 drive circles around his equal in the 70s? Is a freshman athlete today equivalent to a senior, junior or sophomore athlete from the 70s? Or same skill level just different era? 

This is very anecdotal but an interesting thought experiment. Compare very similar players like zion and Barkley as freshman and notice the difference in appearance. Is a freshman Zion equivalent in skill and athleticism to a Barkley freshman, or is zion closer in skill and athleticism because of modern training to a senior or 1st year draft Barkley? 

[Keenan Henderson]

Checking out some hoop mags at Barnes and Nobles today.  They both had Kareem Thompson listed on the second team all Summit League category.  They said that he should fill in for K.O. his season.  I really liked Kareem's improvement throughout the season last year and he developed a very effective mid range game as the year wore on.

Lindy's magazine had Max on their first team All-American list and also ranked him as #3 in their top 150 players.  Only two Gonzoga players (Timme and Holmgren) were listed ahead of him.  

[Old Titan]

...and Kevin Obanor makes the list at #18 as well.

[Old Titan]

 

It's nice to once again be referred to as a "mid" major, don't you think?

 

 

[TrueBlue82]

Mid-major... and "appointment TV"!  Oral would be proud...

[Old Titan]

No Summit League schools represented in this "mid-major-plus" list (with the likes of Gonzaga and BYU along with A-10 and Missouri Valley schools), but ORU included among those just outside their top 25...

 

[Old Titan]

Once you get past the picture of Deondre Burns instead of Max Abmas, and the "English-not-first-language-maybe-even-a-bot" syntax, this is actually a pretty accurate assessment of ORU's team this year, ranking the Golden Eagles 47th in their preseason Top 100...

 

[Keenan Henderson]

Yes OT that was a good article on ORU.  The only thing that was surprising is that they listed Jonathon Alexandre as a solid bench player who could average six points a game.  We know he is a walk-on and will only play in blow out games versus the non D1 teams.  It is just based on the fact that Jonathon averaged around 3.5 points last year in a few games.  The author probaly does not know he is a walk on.

[Old Titan]

 

[Old Titan]

It requires a couple of clicks to get to it, but here is Andy Katz with a way-too-early bracketology prediction.

I was surprised to see ORU instead of one of the XDSU's as the Summit League representative in March Madness, as a #13 Seed facing #4 Houston:

 

[ORUTerry]

I agree. SDSU and NDSU both return all of their starters from very talented squads - that finished ahead of us in the conference standings last year.  We have the nation’s leading scorer returning along with skilled role players and promising recruits/transfers…. but without a major piece of last year’s team - Kevin Obanor. 

[TrueBlue82]

Most of the “bracketologist” predictions that I have seen project the Jackrabbits as the Summit champion for 21-22.  I agree that this is a reasonable assessment, and don’t mind sharing the proverbial “target on the back” with a few of the other teams in the conference.  

[Old Titan]

I was one of the 13 fan voters in this poll.  We were asked to rate the top 15 players in the league from top-to-bottom; here was my ballot:

POY:  Max Abmas/ORU

FIRST TEAM:
Max Abmas/ORU
Rocky Krueser/NDSU
Baylor Scheierman/SDSU
Josiah Allick/KC
Will Carius/WIU
Douglas Wilson/SDSU

SECOND TEAM:
Kareem Thompson/ORU
Sam Griesel/NDSU
Caleb Nero/UND
Anders Nelson/UST
Noah Freidel/SDSU

HONORABLE MENTION:
Issac McBride/ORU
Tyree Eady/NDSU
Xavier Fuller/USD
DeShang Weaver/ORU

[eagle88]

Nice to see ORU making a lot of noise in the Summit League! Only a little over a month until it all begins!

[Keenan Henderson]

Interesting that you put McBride as a honorable mention pick.  He is a very talented player but how will he and Max work out together on the court?  They are both small maybe under 6'0.  Of course they can score together but defense is a real question mark.  As we all know, over the years ORU has played a lot of small guards and really struggled with those lineups.  Max and RJ (each under six feet) last year were just around 50/50 in the win column when they played together.

[ORUTerry]

It appeared to me that McBride was over 6’ when I saw him at a practice. He is really talented and can shoot the ball. It will be hard to keep him off the court. 

[Keenan Henderson]

McBride and Max are both listed at 6 feet but of course we know that could be off.  Eagles had a lot of sucess with Max and Jurgens last year in the backcourt.  Every year is different so hopefully it works with McBride and Max, only time will tell.