Old Titan Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 Good points all. These preseason polls are for all intents and purposes merely beauty contests until the guys all take the floor. I basically picked the guys I thought would be stat-stuffers for their respective teams. My ORU picks were my projected top scorers, in order: Abmas, Thompson, McBride & Weaver. Something like a 24+15+12+10 split between the four of them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 If Carlos Jurgens plays the full 21-22 season with the same intensity and drive as he showed during the 20-21 postseason, he will find his way onto an all-Summit team. And ORU will have a very successful season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 11 hours ago, TrueBlue82 said: If Carlos Jurgens plays the full 21-22 season with the same intensity and drive as he showed during the 20-21 postseason, he will find his way onto an all-Summit team. And ORU will have a very successful season. I thought about including Jurgens, but his game will not fill the box score, or the thoughts of other league observers, unless ORU’s conference record leads the pack and he’s playing a significant role in that success. Hard for lunch-bucket, glue-guys to get their just desserts when it comes to all-star team recognition; as with previous ORU standouts-in-the-shadows Haywood Hill, Ricky Baskin, Clifford Crenshaw, Kelvin Sango, Adam Liberty, and Rod Pearson (to name a few). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 Good point OT. I too thought about Carlos not making the list. He is definitely worthy to make it but he does a lot of things behind the scenes. Kind of like QB's usually get selected for Heisman, not linemen. He is such a valuable part of our team and has an incredible attitude! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 We'll know who our key new players are going to be at the end of the OOC games, the guys who average double figures or close to it against Colo. State, TU, OSU and TCU will be our main scorers once we get into the conference schedule and tourney. The guys who can rebound and defend against those 4 teams will be our key role players. We'll also have guys that put up double figures or close to it against the NAIA teams, but wont be contributors against the good league teams like SDSU or NDSU or tough conf road games or tourney. I'm definitely not big on pre-season polls/All-whatever teams. But I would have probably put Carlos on the pre-season all-conference team somewhere just because of his level of play in the NCAA tourney, he's not a big scorer, but he put up points against Ark. when Max and KO hadn't gotten going yet, which shows he's capable of scoring against high level defenses. He's also a veteran guy that has improved every year and is now a mature confident leader on the team, very much like Kareem. We'll have good depth and I'm sure Weaver and McBride will both have good seasons, but I think Max, Kareem and Carlos will consistently be our main guys, particularly against the very good teams and in the post season! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 You all know that I was singing Carlos' praises just a week or two after he took over for the injured RJ Glaspar; his toughness was just what the doctor ordered for what had up to that point been a somewhat soft line-up physically on the perimeter. His offensive growth in the post-season was like icing on the cake. And I look forward to what he will bring to the table again this year; there are a LOT of tools in the "Estonian Army Knife"! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Every team can devote one spot to a "Yemi Ogunoye" type of player that is the lockdown defender on the opposing team's best shooter. The other four players can shoot and score. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 ORU picked third in preseason in the preseason conference poll released Tuesday by the Summit League, with voters including coaches, SID's, and media members. More than a little annoyed by the headline on the Summit League website: "JACKRABBITS PICKED TO REPEAT AS SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPIONS". How can you repeat something you didn't do in the first place? SDSU was NOT the 2021 league champion; that honor falls to ORU as the conference tournament champion. The Golden Eagles have the trophy to prove it, which says 2021 SUMMIT LEAGUE CHAMPION, pure and simple. You don't get any hardware for finishing at the top of the standings in the regular season and getting the No. 1 seed in Sioux Falls. You can print yourself a banner and call yourself "Regular Season Champion", but that's all, if you don't win the tournament. The fact is, SDSU hasn't been the league champion in years; that honor falls to ORU in 2021, and NDSU in 2019 and 2020. Perhaps a more fitting headline would have read "JACKRABBITS HOPE TO NOT LOSE AGAIN AS A ONE SEED IN SIOUX FALLS" 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Let the Rabbits have the bullseye on their back. I love it! This should give Coach Mills fuel to motivate. It usually is a better advantage to be the underdog. Especially in the case of our highly recruited and talented freshman and transfers make them hungry!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Wonderful post by Old Titan....thats why this man is a Hall of Famer and top poster on this board...his insights are priceless....God Bless OT!!... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 We all know the Summit League is run by the Dakota teams. Look at the preseason teams; 8 out of the 11 players picked are from the Dakota teams. The headquarters for the league are in South Dakota. They are going to push the Dakota teams. Remember when K.O. hit the buzzer beater tip in to beat SDSU? The announcers sounded disappointed. ORU and the other teams will always have to fight this bias. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said: We all know the Summit League is run by the Dakota teams. Look at the preseason teams; 8 out of the 11 players picked are from the Dakota teams. The headquarters for the league are in South Dakota. They are going to push the Dakota teams. Remember when K.O. hit the buzzer beater tip in to beat SDSU? The announcers sounded disappointed. ORU and the other teams will always have to fight this bias. Totally off-topic query: Keenan, do you have a relative named Kellan that works on campus? ‘cause I’m trying to get in touch with him - thx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said: We all know the Summit League is run by the Dakota teams. Look at the preseason teams; 8 out of the 11 players picked are from the Dakota teams. The headquarters for the league are in South Dakota. They are going to push the Dakota teams. Remember when K.O. hit the buzzer beater tip in to beat SDSU? The announcers sounded disappointed. ORU and the other teams will always have to fight this bias. Remember, the announcers for the Summit League tournament are employed by Midco, a regional production company that does all the games up in that area for the Dakota schools, Omaha, etc. Don’t get me wrong: those announcers are totally Dakota fan boys, but I think it springs innocently from calling so many of their games throughout the year, not anything malicious toward ORU. Like it or not, ORU is always going to be perceived by the Frost Belt schools - and their network - as the flashy, somewhat-odd uncle who lives in the big city, and shows up for Thanksgiving dinner on the farm with hummus instead of a green bean casserole. Let’s face it: they like our band, and they respect our talent, but we’re just never gonna be one of them. Which is fine: WE like who we are, and they’re all OK, too. ✌ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleManiac Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 What upsets me more is that Max is the only ORU player to make the two all league teams, while each of the XDSU's each has 3. After what Kareem, Carlos, DJ, Lacis showed in the Summit tourney last year and then the three NCAA tourney games, it seems pretty disrespectful to me to not have at least ONE of those guys make the second team. It's probably a blessing though. It takes a bit of the target off our backs, and can be used as bulletin board material to fuel the guys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 No relation to Kellan, OT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 SDSU #107 SDSU #118 ORU #143 Personally, I think they should all be tied at around No. 100, but we’ll see… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmg1984 Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-rankings-preseason-countdown-of-every-team-continues-with-nos-200-69-for-2021-22-season/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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