Toughness

[Old Titan]

 

Truth be told, when I see clips like this from Coach Mills, I wonder how we ever lose a single game...

 

I don't know about you, but it makes me want to run through a freaking wall.

[theeagleman5]

That's a great speech.....but hey, guys......can we see just A LITTLE tough Defense????.....Please?!?!?!.....

[eagle88]

I talked with Cam Amboree recently and asked him how practices are going. He gave me a nice rundown on the players. When I asked him about toughness he mentioned 2 players, Demari Williams and Patrick Mwamba. He said Demari is tough and Patrick even tougher. So adding 2 tough good defenders to the likes of Kareem and Carlos should really help us this year. He said Connor is a really good rim protector and also is pretty tough. He also said Max’s defense has improved.Cam said this past summer he played against many of the University of Houston and Texas Southern players, many of whom he grew up playing against. I asked him what will it take to beat or play competitively against Houston and he said toughness. He said Houston is a really good defense team and they are tough. 

[Keenan Henderson]

Thanks for the insight eagle 88.  Always good to hear a report on how the team is doing.  Without Lufile, ORU needs 2 or 3 guys to step up and bring some toughness to the team.  They should be a better defensive team this year, even if it is just a 10-15 percent improvement.

Watched Houston play about 3-4 times last year on ESPN and they are so physical.  Not the biggest team in the country but they pound the boards, especially the offensive end, like very few teams in college basketball.  Without looking at any stats, I would guess that the Cougars are a top 5-10 team in the nation in offensive rebounds.  Their bigs are not great scorers but they have a knack for finding the ball on a teammate's missed shot.  Houston led the nation in offensive rebounds in 2021.

[Keenan Henderson]

A big part of the toughness that ORU will need to show this year is on the boards.  Who is going to rebound for this team?  The Eagles are going to need a team effort because they really do not have a great rebounder, who can average 8-10 a game (like K.O. or Lufile).  Patrick is a glue guy that will need to step up and rebound, say five per game.  Connor has never been a great rebounder and needs to improve in that area.  He only averaged about 3 rebounds per game at Arkansas.

[eagle88]

I agree Keenan. I heard first hand that Connor has put on some weight and has been doing a lot of strength training so hopefully his rebounding really improves. No doubt we will have a potent offense but right now defense needs to prove itself in order to make noise in the Summit League Tournament and March Madness!

[Keenan Henderson]

ORU, like most teams, is at its best when forcing turnovers.  They really struggled in that area last year but hoping that Patrick and Demari give us some length that can deflect passes and come up with some steals.  That would really make a difference on the defensive end for the Eagles. 

Even SLIM (Herron) has the ability to use his length to disrupt opponent's offense.  He is not the biggest or toughest guy but can still use his length to defend in the post and altar some shots.  It was surprising that Herron only had around 5 blocks all of last season.  Look for him to improve on that in 22-23.