vcboy2000 Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 This is a tag off of a previous thread about the Champions League this summer. Assuming the ORU players play, I think it will be a blast to watch the how certain players perform. Red-Shirts: Liberty is going to be the starting point guard for ORU next year. I haven't seen him in any action whatsoever, and while Champions is the worst venue to evaluate a player, I can't wait to see his stuff. Jordan and Spicer both played in Champions last year, and hopefully will both be a little more comfortable and assertive. **********************Now for the fun stuff********************** New Recruits: For me, Jeremy Hazel will be the most anticipated new recruit to see in Champions. He was a solid contributor on one of the best prep school basketball teams in the country (The Patterson School- NC). I know being surrounded by NBA talent and top national recruits can make anyone (including me) a better player, but some of that has to have rubbed off on him. I love the fact that he is from the Bronx, NY and plays with -how did Bob Gibbons say it?-"that tough NY City mentality". He will be freshman and will have to adjust, but I think he'll be the only true freshman to get some PT next year. I don't know of anyone on the board having reported seeing Shawn King play. I'm curious to find out 2 things about him: 1. He was advertised as a great defender and shot blocker, but is his offensive game non existent? 2. I don't think I've seen a juco player jump right in D-1 effortlessly. How long will it take him to adjust? Kelvin Sango has played in Champions before, and from the reports I have heard about him could be the "most-ready" of all our recruits (juco and high/prep school) to come in and contribute right away. I'm not expecting anything spectacular from Robinson and Gaines. Our coaches have proven to be great evaluators of talent, and these guys are probalby no exception. They'll be good for us. I could probably guess, but maybe one of the TU posters can list some of their players to watch in Champions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold* Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 This is a tag off of a previous thread about the Champions League this summer. Assuming the ORU players play, I think it will be a blast to watch the how certain players perform. Red-Shirts: Liberty is going to be the starting point guard for ORU next year. I haven't seen him in any action whatsoever, and while Champions is the worst venue to evaluate a player, I can't wait to see his stuff. Jordan and Spicer both played in Champions last year, and hopefully will both be a little more comfortable and assertive. **********************Now for the fun stuff********************** New Recruits: For me, Jeremy Hazel will be the most anticipated new recruit to see in Champions. He was a solid contributor on one of the best prep school basketball teams in the country (The Patterson School- NC). I know being surrounded by NBA talent and top national recruits can make anyone (including me) a better player, but some of that has to have rubbed off on him. I love the fact that he is from the Bronx, NY and plays with -how did Bob Gibbons say it?-"that tough NY City mentality". He will be freshman and will have to adjust, but I think he'll be the only true freshman to get some PT next year. I don't know of anyone on the board having reported seeing Shawn King play. I'm curious to find out 2 things about him: 1. He was advertised as a great defender and shot blocker, but is his offensive game non existent? 2. I don't think I've seen a juco player jump right in D-1 effortlessly. How long will it take him to adjust? Kelvin Sango has played in Champions before, and from the reports I have heard about him could be the "most-ready" of all our recruits (juco and high/prep school) to come in and contribute right away. I'm not expecting anything spectacular from Robinson and Gaines. Our coaches have proven to be great evaluators of talent, and these guys are probalby no exception. They'll be good for us. I could probably guess, but maybe one of the TU posters can list some of their players to watch in Champions. Champions tends to be guard dominated, so our guards are probably worth watching -- Ben Uzoh (out of San Antonio, biggest recruit we've had in years), Rod Earls (JUCO transfer who was injured last season and didn't participate in Champions because of academics), and potentially another new player who hasn't signed yet. Other new names include Sean Coleman (redshirted last year - 6'8 shooter), Jamel McLean (15 boards a game in high school on a nationally ranked team), Calvin Walls (JUCO transfer, played for Wichita State in the same class as Liberty), and Jerome Jordan (6'11 shot blocker out of Jamica by way of Florida -- completely under the radar). Champions was a nice deal when it began -- there were NBA caliber players, like Lee Mayberry, and other top notch college players at the time, like Ryan Humphrey. For a number of reasons, the competition has fallen off and the big time players, other than TU and ORU, have been replaced by D-II and NAIA players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest darrenjj Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 It is always a good time to watch the newly signed kids. Has anyone seen the kid from Edmond play? He is supposed to be a very good shooter and great leaper. They could definetly use another shooter. Liberty will really get after it on the defensive side and King will block a ton of shots. The Uzoh kid got 3 stars on rivals and must be a good young player, very good pickup for Tulsa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieoru Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Its not all about the guards, Caleb was fun to watch at Champions last summer. I don't think i've seen him smile as much last summer while playing, except maybe when we play Tulsa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted May 1, 2006 Author Share Posted May 1, 2006 Matchups for these games were fun to watch last year. Assuming that these players aren't placed on the same team, it would be cool to see these matchups *************************Fun Matchups*********************** Liberty vs Earls Limited knowledge of Tulsa hoops, but if Earls is the juco point guard, I really don't see the new freshman, Uzoh, starting right away over him. Liberty will start for ORU. Jordan vs King Not a whole lot known about either of these players. King has been playing longer, and had a solid season last year (only it was juco). McLean vs Green Only because TU fans can't wait to see the matchup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold* Posted May 1, 2006 Share Posted May 1, 2006 Matchups for these games were fun to watch last year. Assuming that these players aren't placed on the same team, it would be cool to see these matchups *************************Fun Matchups*********************** Liberty vs Earls Limited knowledge of Tulsa hoops, but if Earls is the juco point guard, I really don't see the new freshman, Uzoh, starting right away over him. Liberty will start for ORU. Jordan vs King Not a whole lot known about either of these players. King has been playing longer, and had a solid season last year (only it was juco). McLean vs Green Only because TU fans can't wait to see the matchup. Good analysis. Other interesting matchups may be: Walls vs. Green -- my prediction for the matchup in December McDade vs. Liberty -- McDade became a point guard end of last year -- he was also offered by TU instead of Liberty before Liberty chose WSU Ramsdell vs. King -- Am I right that they are roughly the same size? Reese or Crow vs. Vealy -- both these wings for TU play roughly the same role as Vealy Reese vs. Sango -- Reese plays good defense and Sango is a scoring machine, at least at Champions Mitchell vs. ??? -- Sam Mitchell has supposedly made rapid improvement since last summer; he looked awfully green at Champions last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EagleBackr Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 ...wouldn't get too anxious about getting to see ALL of the new guys at ORU and TU play at Champions this summer - many times, juco and prep school transfers require summer school credits in order to transfer to higher-standard private schools like ORU and TU, and those credits must be earned from the juco or some other source, NOT the school they're transfering to. Might not see everybody around town until the fall... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold* Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 ...wouldn't get too anxious about getting to see ALL of the new guys at ORU and TU play at Champions this summer - many times, juco and prep school transfers require summer school credits in order to transfer to higher-standard private schools like ORU and TU, and those credits must be earned from the juco or some other source, NOT the school they're transfering to. Might not see everybody around town until the fall... All of TU's players SHOULD be ready to go. Walls is in good standing and we have no other transfers/prep school players. That said, there might always be a player or two who want mom's home cookin' the rest of the summer. TU definitely makes every effort to get all the basketball and football players in town by June -- most schools get their players on campus just to avoid losing them later on. Do Sango, King, and/or the New York guard have work to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted May 2, 2006 Author Share Posted May 2, 2006 Hazel (NY guard by way of NC) has graduated allready. Not sure about the other two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 It will be interesting to see which new player makes the biggest impact. You could argue that we will need Sean King's size inside to collect rebounds and provide defensive help. But, Vealy and/or Ogunoye could step up and also provide the rebounds/defense we need - along with some additional firepower in Vealy's case. I think that Hazell or Sango might be a key to next year; not in replacing Owens - that would be difficult to ask because of Larry's unique skill set. But if they can shoot well from the perimeter (Hazell) and/or slash to the basket - and provide good defensive effort, we will be in good shape. As we have said before, it appears that three of the slots in the lineup are spoken for: PG: Adam Liberty SG: Ken Tutt PF: Caleb Green That essentially leaves the small foward/wing and center/foward positions open. The coaches have several options to go with and a lot will depend on match-ups. The competition will be tough - which is good because the guys will have to battle for playing time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted May 2, 2006 Author Share Posted May 2, 2006 I think Shaun King is essentially a lock down low right now also. The way you guys said Sango played at Champions last year, he would be my pick to make the biggest spash right away. I say that because it always takes a player a little time to adjust to D-1, especially a freshman. It will be a dog fight though. If the scouting reports that Darrenj heard were accurate, then we could possibly have another Riouse on our hands with this Robinson kid. Anybody think his record will be broken (10 3-pointers in 1 game)? Probably not, but you never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 It will be hard to repeat (or beat) Chris Riouse's performance against Oakland. I was at that game in Oakland and Chris was in a zone.... it also helped that Oakland left him open on several of his shots. Once he got going though, he couldn't miss. Funny thing is that he missed a wide open shot late in the game. A couple of his shots were several feet behind the 3-point arc. Chris basically shot only three-pointers.... I doubt that Robinson will be that limited in his shot selection given his relative athleticism. It would nice to have another sharpshooter though. That helps open the inside game for Caleb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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