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Interview with Coach mills on Reaching the Summit Podcast


major_mid

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HI all, 

Had a great time in our interview with Coach Mills for this weeks podcast. You can find it on the website or wherever you find your podcasts. Coach Mills was great. Best of luck this season. Enjoy covering the Golden Eagles. 

 

http://reachingthesummitpodcast.com/2021/10/17/preseason-poll-and-chat-with-oral-roberts-head-coach-paul-mills/

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Fascinating interview; a few takeaways:

  • The forward-looking fact that ORU is nobody's pick for "winning the conference regular season" is MUCH more of a motivation than the rearview-mirror view of trying to prove last year's postseason run was a fluke.
  • No hard feelings toward Kevin Obanor, but politely wishes him best while VERY subtly implying that team harmony is better now.
  • Says Carlos Jurgens will have a breakout year due to teams focusing on Max; credits his summer playing with older players on Estonian National Team.
  • Taking the long view on ORU's ultimate success; it won't be overnight but should steadily improve through recruiting good people and smart scheduling.
  • Playing D1 teams ranked below 300 hurts your NET more than playing non-D1 teams that don't even count; that's why ORU plays (and counts) so many D2 and NAIA home games instead of buying low-major games.
  • Not a fan of MTE's (Multi-Team Events) where you play a couple of games on the home floor of Power 5 schools; instead following lead of successful Belmont and Wofford programs.
  • Every non-conference game that wasn't already contracted was scheduled after the Colorado State game was finalized; when teams found out in July that Max was returning, they quit returning calls.
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9 hours ago, Old Titan said:

 

  • No hard feelings toward Kevin Obanor, but politely wishes him best while VERY subtly implying that team harmony is better now.

he did seem a bit prickly when the Obanor topic came up, which was a bit surprising.

i hope KO is always welcomed back and will eventually be inducted in to ORU's hall of fame

despite his "73 possession" stat ; there is no conf tournament championship or sweet 16 w/out KO. PERIOD.  FULL STOP!

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I think part of the rise in blood pressure came when the interviewer foolishly asked (before revising his query) whether Coach Mills counseled Kevin into transfering to a bigger school to raise his draft profile.

Which is ridiculous.

The Office Reaction GIF

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Interesting to hear Mills’ perspective on various players (Phipps, Jurgens, McBride, Herron). I look for it to take time to find the right player combinations and for guys to get used to each other - as well as gain experience/maturity. Hopefully that will happen quickly, but it could take a while. 

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My big takeaways: 

 - Abmas has gained 12 pounds! That's a pretty significant number for a guy of his size. Should help out quite a bit, particularly on defense. 

- Sounded like they are really going to push for other guys to step into a bigger role on offense as teams focus defensively on Max. Wondering if Max is going to be much more even more of a facilitator and less of a scorer than we were expecting. 

- I am much more understanding of scheduling Non-D1 teams after hearing him discuss that. Still not a huge fan of spending my Saturday night watching our bench guys put it on a D3 squad, but it makes more sense to me now. 

- He tried a little too hard to push the "Kevin who?" angle in my opinion. He started out with "It's foolish to try to replace someone" and ended with "We didn't want him here anyways" (not his actual words, just the vibe he gave off)

- High praise for Herron. I'm excited to see this guy play. 

 

This podcast is worth the listen. Glad it's out there. 

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Just now, EagleManiac said:

My big takeaways: 

 - Abmas has gained 12 pounds! That's a pretty significant number for a guy of his size. Should help out quite a bit, particularly on defense. 

- Sounded like they are really going to push for other guys to step into a bigger role on offense as teams focus defensively on Max. Wondering if Max is going to be much more even more of a facilitator and less of a scorer than we were expecting. 

- I am much more understanding of scheduling Non-D1 teams after hearing him discuss that. Still not a huge fan of spending my Saturday night watching our bench guys put it on a D3 squad, but it makes more sense to me now. 

- He tried a little too hard to push the "Kevin who?" angle in my opinion. He started out with "It's foolish to try to replace someone" and ended with "We didn't want him here anyways" (not his actual words, just the vibe he gave off)

- High praise for Herron. I'm excited to see this guy play. 

- He also sounded higher on Phipps than on McBride. Maybe there's more of a battle for the 2 spot than expected?

 

This podcast is worth the listen. Glad it's out there. 

 

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56 minutes ago, EagleManiac said:

- He tried a little too hard to push the "Kevin who?" angle in my opinion. He started out with "It's foolish to try to replace someone" and ended with "We didn't want him here anyways" (not his actual words, just the vibe he gave off)

To me it just seemed like Mills is just concentrating on the team we have. I think for sure everyone would have loved KO to return but the focus now is on the current roster.

57 minutes ago, EagleManiac said:

- High praise for Herron. I'm excited to see this guy play. 

@Old Titan will have to help me out but I don't really have a comparison for Herron in terms of athleticism. He might be the most explosive guy ORU has had in a while.

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1 hour ago, Dr. Cornelius said:

@Old Titan will have to help me out but I don't really have a comparison for Herron in terms of athleticism. He might be the most explosive guy ORU has had in a while.

I have the perfect comparison for Herron; in fact I have two:  the Boone twins at OSU during their freshman years.

They are entering their third seasons (I think) this year; we will get a preview of what Sir Issac might become when the Cowboys visit the Mabee Center next month. 

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11 hours ago, Old Titan said:

I think part of the rise in blood pressure came when the interviewer foolishly asked (before revising his query) whether Coach Mills counseled Kevin into transfering to a bigger school to raise his draft profile.

Which is ridiculous.

The Office Reaction GIF

Fair criticism Titan, if I am being honest. Original question written down was "Kevin Obanor chose to transfer, what did that discussion look like when he was making that decision, or what does that conversation usually look like when someone is considering transferring" Then decided that was too direct and tried to work around it a bit, which didn't work, LOL. That being said, I did take away that there is a little salt in the wound still. Maybe understandably. 

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My two players that I am have even higher on my radar after this interview are Issac McBride and Herron. Predict big roles for both. 

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1 hour ago, major_mid said:

Fair criticism Titan, if I am being honest. Original question written down was "Kevin Obanor chose to transfer, what did that discussion look like when he was making that decision, or what does that conversation usually look like when someone is considering transferring" Then decided that was too direct and tried to work around it a bit, which didn't work, LOL. That being said, I did take away that there is a little salt in the wound still. Maybe understandably. 

It appears this staff is all about counseling players about the pros and cons of declaring for the draft, but I’m quite confident that transferring to another school is a completely different deal.

Can’t imagine they wouldn’t be opposed to it, unless maybe it was a bench player who doesn’t figure into their long-range plans any more.

It’s bad for recruiting and team chemistry if coming to ORU (or a similar school) was ever considered by prospects to be some sort of stepping stone to playing at a Power 5 program.

The ORU coaches told Kevin point-blank they thought he was making a mistake, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

As one of them reportedly said, “he’s just really stubborn, he always has been.”

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