Hold The Bacon(e)

[Bogus Smith]

57 minutes ago, oruvoice said:

Beats me. Maybe someone can ask the coach in the next postgame interview or coaches show? 

Just hoping we get an honest response and not "nobody wants to play the ORU juggernaut", "money" and/or "region". 

 

1 hour ago, jmg1984 said:

Why is it they don't play in these numerous Thanksgiving tournaments like on the past?

It costs money to play in the holiday tournaments.  Not only is there the travel costs to get to the destination, but the tournament host is in it to make money and the schools pay to play.  The all-in costs are in the high-five digits to low-six digits to be a part of the tournament.  Much more than bringing in Liberty for our one "pay game".  It takes a lot of guarantee games to cover those costs - assuming you can get a big dog to pay you to play them.

[oruvoice]

15 hours ago, Bogus Smith said:

 

It costs money to play in the holiday tournaments.  Not only is there the travel costs to get to the destination, but the tournament host is in it to make money and the schools pay to play.  The all-in costs are in the high-five digits to low-six digits to be a part of the tournament.  Much more than bringing in Liberty for our one "pay game".  It takes a lot of guarantee games to cover those costs - assuming you can get a big dog to pay you to play them.

If that's what you've been told, it's a half-truth, at best. Not knocking you, as I respect you, but it sounds like someone is not being completely honest with you.

That said, I'll throw out a few questions to consider and be respectful. If these holiday tournaments cost so much money, with no return for the schools, then why would the P5 teams want to play in them, when they can schedule a home "buy" game and keep all of the ticket, concession, parking, advertising revenue? Conversely, why would a small school want to play in them, when they could take the $100,000 check for a buy game? Yet, so many schools of all sizes play in them over and over again. If what you were told is accurate, that makes no sense for anyone. A bunch of schools (of all sizes) are purposely giving away stacks of cash to play in these events? 

Once again, my reply isn't meant to put you down. Just take a grain of salt with anything you are told, by someone who is trying to get you to give them your hard earned money.

[Dr. BB]

I think ORUVoice is posting extremely good comments.  He truly is the voice of reason here, and he is spot-on with his thoughts.  I too am underwhelmed by all the ORU coaches for men's basketball.  Just compare the women's tough scheduling to the joke of the men's scheduling.  No Division 1 team in their right mind should fear coming to the Mabee Center and playing ORU.  We basically suck, and the Paul Mills regime has little credibility.  Yes, we made a splash 2 years ago, but it has been mostly downhill from there.  As everyone has reiterated, playing these 4 patsy team is an embarrassment.   Seeing us play decent Division 1 teams usually winds up as an embarrassment as well, at least as far as final scores go.  I think there are 2 major issues here.  One is the scheduling joke that includes Paul Mills and his staff.  The second issue is actually  watching our team go down in flames against decent Division 1 teams, which speaks again to Paul Mills and his staff.

Questions to ponder with our current team:  Why is Max Abmas playing so poorly?  Why do we have a 7'5" player who takes more shots from behind the arc than the rest of our team?  Why does Trey Phipps play more minutes than Deshang Weaver?  If we are such a hot-shot 3-point shooting team, why does every team we play shoot 3-pointers better than us?  Why does the coaching staff put in small players to guard tall players?  The questions are endless, but the coaching staff should be held responsible in trying to answer them.  

As part of our donor financial package, we were invited so see our men's basketball team conduct a practice session a few weeks ago.  Paul Mills became more aware that  people were filling the seats in order to observe.  All of a sudden Mills began yelling at the team and quoting philosophical verses at inopportune times.  People around me began looking at each other, wondering whether the little guy was off his meds or just trying to unsuccessfully impress the audience.  It was a ridiculous display (much like his coaching), as people knew that he generally speaks in a girlish tone as his "normal" affect.

Anyway I debated spending hard-earned money again this year to be a Golden Eagle donor.  Yes, we have wonderful seats and enjoy the meals before the games.  I was a student at ORU from 1970-1974.  I have given way too much money to this school for over 50 years.  Hell, I even moved to Tulsa 2 years ago after my retirement just to be close to ORU and its athletic programs.  Maybe I am living too much in the early 70's when our basketball teams, baseball teams, and even tennis teams were truly great.  I am done, and the regular season hasn't even started.

 

[Bogus Smith]

1 hour ago, oruvoice said:

If that's what you've been told, it's a half-truth, at best. Not knocking you, as I respect you, but it sounds like someone is not being completely honest with you.

That said, I'll throw out a few questions to consider and be respectful. If these holiday tournaments cost so much money, with no return for the schools, then why would the P5 teams want to play in them, when they can schedule a home "buy" game and keep all of the ticket, concession, parking, advertising revenue? Conversely, why would a small school want to play in them, when they could take the $100,000 check for a buy game? Yet, so many schools of all sizes play in them over and over again. If what you were told is accurate, that makes no sense for anyone. A bunch of schools (of all sizes) are purposely giving away stacks of cash to play in these events? 

Once again, my reply isn't meant to put you down. Just take a grain of salt with anything you are told, by someone who is trying to get you to give them your hard earned money.

Most schools will play the holiday tournaments as a means of recruiting kids that want to go to Maui, Nassau, or Cancun.  It also provides the fanbase a destination to travel with the team and build some camaraderie.  It provides smaller teams with games with bigger programs on a neutral court that could get a surprise win of an unsuspecting (or unfocused) team.  ORU paid a lot of money to go to the Cancun tournament in 2009.  Some of the lesser known destinations (i.e., Myrtle Beach tournament, other school-sponsored tournaments, etc.) probably cost a lot less but usually doesn't attract the bigger P5 teams due to the reasons you stated above about the bigger schools being able to buy games and sell seats.  There are a sundry of reasons why a program would want to do a holiday tournament that costs them money to go.

Just remember that the money that is being pumped into ORU is for capital expenditures and not operating needs (although there is some of that too).  These $$$ don't go to augment the athletic department's budget (or any academic department as well), but is intended to show growth and updating of a campus. The current athletic administration is doing a good job to raise funds to augment and support the athletic department to raise its stature and provide us competitive teams and coaching.  They have brought in new donors that we have not had before and creating a younger base to replace our aging base. 

Those of us who have been around the university like you and me have been offended in one way or another.  We need to let it go and understand that this is bigger than any of us.  I know we miss your voice at the games, but I also know that we are growing a brand that may not always be how we want it.  We should support the process and help to make the program the best it can be.  The more that this program succeeds in its mission and impact the world around us, the more that the Kingdom is exalted.

[Old Titan]

All I know is that South Dakota must be dipping DEEP into the coffers right now to be playing in that (small conference) championship game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off Classic!

Along with those bastions of old-world wealth Sam Houston State, Long Island University, and Northern Illinois!

How can ORU EVER hope to compete with these financial juggernauts??? (I kid, I kid...sort of...)

[ORob1]

Funny.  Not Funny.  Totally agree with you, OT.

[oruvoice]

2 hours ago, Bogus Smith said:

Most schools will play the holiday tournaments as a means of recruiting kids that want to go to Maui, Nassau, or Cancun.  It also provides the fanbase a destination to travel with the team and build some camaraderie.  It provides smaller teams with games with bigger programs on a neutral court that could get a surprise win of an unsuspecting (or unfocused) team.  ORU paid a lot of money to go to the Cancun tournament in 2009.  Some of the lesser known destinations (i.e., Myrtle Beach tournament, other school-sponsored tournaments, etc.) probably cost a lot less but usually doesn't attract the bigger P5 teams due to the reasons you stated above about the bigger schools being able to buy games and sell seats.  There are a sundry of reasons why a program would want to do a holiday tournament that costs them money to go.

Just remember that the money that is being pumped into ORU is for capital expenditures and not operating needs (although there is some of that too).  These $$$ don't go to augment the athletic department's budget (or any academic department as well), but is intended to show growth and updating of a campus. The current athletic administration is doing a good job to raise funds to augment and support the athletic department to raise its stature and provide us competitive teams and coaching.  They have brought in new donors that we have not had before and creating a younger base to replace our aging base. 

Those of us who have been around the university like you and me have been offended in one way or another.  We need to let it go and understand that this is bigger than any of us.  I know we miss your voice at the games, but I also know that we are growing a brand that may not always be how we want it.  We should support the process and help to make the program the best it can be.  The more that this program succeeds in its mission and impact the world around us, the more that the Kingdom is exalted.

I think we agree on most things, but differ on this one. It's ok. You can't be right all the time! 

[Bogus Smith]

4 hours ago, Old Titan said:

All I know is that South Dakota must be dipping DEEP into the coffers right now to be playing in that (small conference) championship game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off Classic!

Along with those bastions of old-world wealth Sam Houston State, Long Island University, and Northern Illinois!

How can ORU EVER hope to compete with these financial juggernauts??? (I kid, I kid...sort of...)

One word......football.  Football pays for a lot of things in an athletic department, but it costs an arm-and-a-leg to get it started.