Keenan Henderson Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Now that we are into October and about a month outside of the start of ORU's 22-23 season: what are your expectations for the upcoming year? Did it change some with Lufile leaving the team? Where is the excitement level? Will ORU still win the league and 20 plus games? What kind of season will Max have? Connor? etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 1 hour ago, Keenan Henderson said: Now that we are into October and about a month outside of the start of ORU's 22-23 season: what are your expectations for the upcoming year? Did it change some with Lufile leaving the team? Where is the excitement level? Will ORU still win the league and 20 plus games? What kind of season will Max have? Connor? etc. You go first. Then, I'll wait till the very end, where TrueBlue82 will tell us all what's really gonna happen. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 3, 2022 Author Share Posted October 3, 2022 For ORU to improve from last year and have a good season, they need the frontcourt transfers to be good from the beginning. Connor and Patrick before Lufile's absence had time to grow and get used to being on a new team. Now they need to be good from the start and help ORU's frontcourt from day one. Never want to place too much on one player but Plastic Man should be ORU's third best player, behind Max and McBride. Excited to see what Connor brings to the Eagles this year. ORU has not had a 7'5 guy in 40 years. He is the X factor. If stretchable can be a 12 point, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks kind of center, then the Eagles can win the league or tournament and go back to the big dance. If he is just average say 7 point, 4 rebounds, and 1 block kind of year, then ORU will probably be 18-12 again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 29 minutes ago, Old Titan said: You go first. Then, I'll wait till the very end, where TrueBlue82 will tell us all what's really gonna happen. A lot of truth here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 8 minutes ago, Dr. Cornelius said: A lot of truth here. Just my (typically) snarky way of saying: I have no clue. Though I am inclined to lead towards more-like-recent-history-than-some-folks-want-to-believe. See: "2022 Oklahoma Football predictions mid-summer vs. cold, harsh reality October 1st". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 21 minutes ago, Old Titan said: See: "2022 Oklahoma Football predictions mid-summer vs. cold, harsh reality October 1st". I have a friend who is a knowledgeable OU fan and he thought 7-4 would be a good season - if Gabriel could stay healthy. It’s hard to say how ORU will do given all the new players and with the loss of Lufile. Let’s hope we see more defensive intensity and no injuries. We will get an idea from the early games and hopefully the team will find its identity by conference play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 3, 2022 Author Share Posted October 3, 2022 We all know Max is a great scorer but hoping he can continue to grow in helping the guys around him to be better. That is what the best often do: learn to distribute to others in winning positions. In other words, be a point guard who can score 20 but also dish out 5 assists a night. That is when ORU is at its top form. Some games last year when the Eagles struggled, Max would take say 24 shots and have maybe 1 assist (at NDSU) and that was a rough night for the team. Also, hoping that Max will continue to improve on defense and use his smaller size to create some turnovers or steals. Excited to see if Max can become that complete player for his final year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Defense is the key. Everybody knows this team can score. Have to get stops to win. Vanover, Herron, and Clover will all need to show improvement if ORU wants to compete for a league title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 3, 2022 Author Share Posted October 3, 2022 Herron is a very athletic 6'9 forward, who is still kind of figuring out his role on the team. In a perfect world, I think he is a stretch four who can hit a three or drive on a slower big. Of course, at ORU he will most likely have to play the center spot. We know he is talented, but the biggest question mark is can he guard guys that outweigh him by 25-30 pounds? For him to get quality playing time, 15 minutes a game, he will have to prove that. We forget Clover was a three-star recruit and heralded as a defensive minded big. He has not played much but when he was on the court, Clover seemed slow on defense and just a step behind. He has good size, but his reaction time is somewhat slow. Also, he tends to miss too many 2–3-foot shots around the rim. Herron would seem to have a much higher ceiling then Clover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 1 hour ago, Dr. Cornelius said: Defense is the key. Everybody knows this team can score. Have to get stops to win. Vanover, Herron, and Clover will all need to show improvement if ORU wants to compete for a league title. I agree that defensive improvement will be the key to us winning the conf. tourney or ending like we did last year, But I disagree that it's our frontcourt D that is the primary problem. Our backcourt defense is very sub-par, and it puts a lot of pressure on the wings and bigs who have to constantly switch and help! Keenan basically says in his post above that Herron needs to prove he can play D to get more minutes, well hopefully coach holds the guards to that standard and not just give guys minutes that are playing horrible D because they are good 3-point shooters. Defense is a team concept, if you have one or 2 guys that are constantly getting beat off the dribble your entire team defense breaks down. Playing time should be earned on the defensive end of the court and minutes either increased or reduced based on defense, toughness and effort!!! 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 3, 2022 Author Share Posted October 3, 2022 Looking at last season, ORU had no answer for teams when they played bully ball. Meaning the post defense was basically a no show most nights. Weaver and Fracis were completely overmatched inside and Lufile was only slightly better. The concern is that teams will just continually pound the ball inside and ORU still really has no answer for that, expect for maybe Connor's height/length. But who else? Coach does not seem to want to give up threes, but he will allow teams to just dominate the paint. He rarely ever doubles the inside when teams play bully ball. So, ORU usually has a one-on-one matchup with some big that has 30 pounds on the Eagles's center. We know how that turns out. Frustrating style of defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Here are expectations for the Sooners! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Things That Most Likely “Are What They Are” Defense not being a true priority for this coaching staff, particularly in the post. Backcourt of Abmas/McBride/Phipps surrendering as many points as they score. Vanover averaging more shot attempts per game than rebounds. Max not being a true facilitator on offense. For the third season in a row, the difference between winning and losing big games coming down to Thompson, Jurgens and Weaver. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted October 3, 2022 Author Share Posted October 3, 2022 Good points OT, they pretty much sum up the Golden Eagles. So, would another 19-12 season and say third in the league be a bust? Expectations are always interesting: a few years ago, say before the Sweet 16 run, 19-12 would have sounded pretty good. Very few mid majors that have a breakout year are able to sustain it. Once you reach the mountain top, where do you go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted October 3, 2022 Share Posted October 3, 2022 Mwamba and Williams are wildcards and both are good defenders and could likely help quite a bit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU40 Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 2 hours ago, eagle88 said: Mwamba and Williams are wildcards and both are good defenders and could likely help quite a bit It doesn't do any good to have great athletes that are good tough defensive players if they don't get on the floor! Let's say Mwamba gets Lacis's minutes (approx 25 per game) and Conner get Eli's 15 minutes per game, that means Williams and Herron don't play! The bottom line is with the weakness of the none XDSU's in the Summit, it gives us 14 wins and with 4 NAIA games we have 18 gimme wins, but can we win the conference tourney or beat any good teams with Trey playing 25 minutes a game and Williams and Herron sitting on the bench??? I don't think we can. We aren't going to have a 9–10-man rotation, Max, Isaac, Trey will all play between 25-35 minutes per game, you still have Carlos, Kareem, DJ, Patrick and Conner- that makes 8, no room for Herron and Williams. My projection is we will win 18 or 19 games (hopefully we can maybe beat Central Ark, at our place) and lose in the tourney semi's again. I also fully expect Herron and Williams to be really good players, I just hope it's not in another uniform! We should play our best players! Unfortunately, based on last year and coach's comments, I don't think we will. The problem is, we will win 18 games no matter who plays and not be ready to beat the good teams we need to beat to get where we want (the true reason you play a difficult OOC schedule is to improve as a team,18 gimme games does not help you improve), but we can say we won 19 games!! Sadly, I guess that's what we want. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 conference championship and return trip to the dance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 TheEagleman will be disappointed if ORU doesn't win 25 and take the Summit League title in Sioux Falls.... end of story.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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