titansforever Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Latest story: Paul Mills: ORU's 30-win season 'will fuel us moving forward' Kelly Hines March 17, 2023 ORLANDO, Fla. – Although the season ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Oral Roberts made more strides toward being a national player in the college basketball landscape. The Golden Eagles won a program-best 30 games, went undefeated in 21 meetings with Summit League teams and had the nation’s longest win streak of 17 games heading into the tournament. “I think there’s just a lot to be proud of from our players, from our staff, that we’ll take away and that will fuel us moving forward,” coach Paul Mills said. ORU’s five losses were to quality teams, with four on the road in the regular season before running into Duke as a No. 12 seed Thursday night, perhaps the most challenging matchup in the field. The Blue Devils, a heavyweight despite being a 5 seed, scored the first 15 points and rolled 74-51. “We’re all disappointed,” point guard Max Abmas said. “We didn’t come into the game expecting to lose. We’ll just take some time to reflect on the season and the good things that we did accomplish.” Abmas, the No. 3 scorer in program history and the catalyst for this year’s success along with the Sweet Sixteen run in 2021, said he will “look at the future later” when asked whether he will be back for a fifth and final season. “It would just be hard to put into words all that Max has done,” Mills said. “I’ll get around to it one day, but there’s no way in the world I could express just all he’s meant to everybody here.” In the minutes following the season-ending defeat, Mills found comfort in knowing a team already loaded with experience could again compete for a championship next season. “The good news for me right now is I can get them all back,” Mills said. “They all have eligibility to return. I’m not telling you that they will, but what I am telling you is that we have a group that is very invested in getting better as players.” The roster includes seniors Connor Vanover, Carlos Jürgens, Kareem Thompson and DeShang Weaver – key pieces who also could take advantage of the additional COVID season. Two other major contributors were Issac McBride and Patrick Mwamba, juniors whose careers started elsewhere. “Coach Mills, he gave me a chance obviously when my back was against the wall and I felt like I had nowhere to go two years ago,” McBride said. “It’s the first time in my life that I’ve actually felt a part of a brotherhood. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve actually felt proud to be part of a team, and I’ve played a lot of basketball.” For Mills, the Summit League coach of the year who undoubtedly will be pursued for higher-profile openings, the focus has been on creating sustained success as a non-football school in hopes of making deeper runs in the tournament. “I tell all these guys when you recruit them and bring them in, we’re trying to get a team that’s good enough to play in a Final Four,” he said. “You’ve seen it in Wichita State, VCU, Loyola Chicago just a few years ago; everybody is aware of George Mason. But you are trying to build a program that’s good enough to be in a Final Four. “Fortunately, we’ve got the caliber of players and we’re getting a huge facility upgrade (with the Mike Carter Athletic Center). I think that’ll not only help recruiting, but it’ll help the development of our guys. I do feel that we’re building something here that hopefully can get to a Final Four.” 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 https://goduke.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster This is Duke's roster. There are 4 7-footers on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 It also brings up the point would anyone from ORU be in Duke's top 8 rotation? Maybe Max would be their 8 guy but who knows? What is Duke's budget compared to ORU? Duke has been to 16 final fours and on and on. It is truly David vs Goliath. Max has had a stellar career at ORU but because he is 5'11, Max would be a role player at a Power 5 team. Size does matter in college basketball. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonofaLegend Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 You know how Conner has totally disoriented teams, while looming in the paint? It felt like that, but their bigs were quicker and more athletic. Even our "open" shots were rushed and out of rhythm. Even now, I'm not sure how to approach that team, playing them again. It was the toughest of tough draws, and the Cinderella press seemed to provide them with plenty to prove. I will always love this team, and these guys, and that game won't change that. They have all been a blessing to the program, and our best days are still before us. 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 1 minute ago, Keenan Henderson said: It also brings up the point would anyone from ORU be in Duke's top 8 rotation? Maybe Max would be their 8 guy but who knows? What is Duke's budget compared to ORU? Duke has been to 16 final fours and on and on. It is truly David vs Goliath. Max has had a stellar career at ORU but because he is 5'11, Max would be a role player at a Power 5 team. Size does matter in college basketball. This is a whole-team thing. If the players that Max distributed the ball to last night had hit their open shots, that might even have changed the coverage on Max. I respectfully disagree that Max would only be a role player on a Power 5 team. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 TheEagleman agrees that ORU had a TON of open shots and couldn't knock them down....Duke played well but not great....ORU played poorly and our worst effort since Houston.....not sure that the big crowd or TV audience had anything to do with it but that's what BIG TIME BASKETBALL is all about and our guys just were not up for the moment....I saw things I haven't seen all year including Max get flustered.....still.....30-5 is a marvelous season and TheEagleman has to accept that we are what we are for now....a very good mid major team that ran up against a very good Power 5 team who played better basketball.....maybe Duke will give us a rematch in Cameron next November???...would be fun.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 1 minute ago, theeagleman5 said: TheEagleman agrees that ORU had a TON of open shots and couldn't knock them down....Duke played well but not great....ORU played poorly and our worst effort since Houston.....not sure that the big crowd or TV audience had anything to do with it but that's what BIG TIME BASKETBALL is all about and our guys just were not up for the moment....I saw things I haven't seen all year including Max get flustered.....still.....30-5 is a marvelous season and TheEagleman has to accept that we are what we are for now....a very good mid major team that ran up against a very good Power 5 team who played better basketball.....maybe Duke will give us a rematch in Cameron next November???...would be fun.... Eagleman, you've been known to be a betting man, what are the odds of a rematch ? If that is the outcome, it's the best thing that could have happened to us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 I am sure that AD Tim Johnson would gladly accept about $150K from Duke to play a rematch next November....those are the kinds of games ORU must play to get prepared for the tournament experience as pointed out by Darren and/or ORU40.....at least cut down the non D-1 games to one or two and let's be road warriors.....Good Guys were just not ready for that whole atmosphere last night and we all thought that they would be....at least most of us.....but reality is starting to set in......hey, Kinnesaw State played hard today....they almost beat mighty Xavier.....go figure...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle88 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 For whatever it is worth I predict Duke will be a final four team and possibly the 2023 National Champ. As poorly as we played 7 more 3 pointers and we were right there with them. My biggest regret is that America did not get to see the excellent ORU team we witnessed most of the year. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 4 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said: I am sure that AD Tim Johnson would gladly accept about $150K from Duke to play a rematch next November....those are the kinds of games ORU must play to get prepared for the tournament experience as pointed out by Darren and/or ORU40.....at least cut down the non D-1 games to one or two and let's be road warriors.....Good Guys were just not ready for that whole atmosphere last night and we all thought that they would be....at least most of us.....but reality is starting to set in......hey, Kinnesaw State played hard today....they almost beat mighty Xavier.....go figure...... That's the future, Eagleman, but I don't think we're there yet. Maybe they beat us so badly that they're not threatened though. Maybe this helps us with scheduling next year. Here's hoping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 10 minutes ago, ron said: That's the future, Eagleman, but I don't think we're there yet. Maybe they beat us so badly that they're not threatened though. Maybe this helps us with scheduling next year. Here's hoping! Nobody is refusing to play us because they are afraid/threatened. Not yesterday or today. For the love of Pete, we gotta stop with that narrative. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 ORU needs to schedule Quad 1 games in OOC.....Duke is a school that routinely schedules teams like Army, Harvard, Elon, Canisius, etc at home in November....they are looking for D-1 wins to pad the record.....one would think that they would welcome ORU and we can use the $$$ and the experience of playing a Top 20 team on the road....we need games to pad our NET rating....Bring it on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum11 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Would love for it to be mandatory that the loser of the first round matchups have to play AT the winner’s home gym the following season. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 6 minutes ago, oruvoice said: Nobody is refusing to play us because they are afraid/threatened. Not yesterday or today. For the love of Pete, we gotta stop with that narrative. How do you figure, @oruvoice? I think we heard that again in some press conference with Paul Mills just the other day. What is bogus about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Just now, ron said: How do you figure, @oruvoice? I think we heard that again in some press conference with Paul Mills just the other day. What is bogus about it? It's simply not true. Not sure how else to say it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Just now, oruvoice said: It's simply not true. Not sure how else to say it. Are you saying that if ORU wants to, they can play all the big teams that they want in the non-con part of the season? If yes, why don't we? If no, what is stopping teams from playing ORU then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Well, so I was the main idiot chirping 'We Want Duke!' 'We Want Duke', and we got Duke alright. We got the *bleep* outta Duke. You guys were right, terrible matchup for ORU. I don't know if I ever really believed we could actually win, but I just didn't expect ORU to be so thoroughly overmatched. It didn't even look like we belonged on the same floor as those guys. Just getting shots off was an ordeal. Reminded me of when I was a wide eyed 9th grader trying to move the ball in practice against the varsity. Sheesh. Also, I might be bitter about ORU getting obliterated on national TV, but I just need to complain about the average 'sports themed restaurant/bar'. 15 years ago(!) on this very board I complained about the same thing while I was still living in OKC. I now live in Houston and the local establishments here are just as bad. Yesterday, I went out early in my finest ORU gear ready to spread the gospel of Golden Eagle hoops only to find, like, half the big screens not on the tourney games. Keep in mind there are 7 Texas teams in the field and the Final Four is here. When I asked for a tv to be turned from spring training baseball or Cowherd, the manager asked me "what sporting event?" These places have one job! Otherwise I can just get a six pack at the gas station and organize a combo of tvs, laptops and tablets to see all the games at my house. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 7 minutes ago, ron said: Are you saying that if ORU wants to, they can play all the big teams that they want in the non-con part of the season? If yes, why don't we? If no, what is stopping teams from playing ORU then? No. We can't just call up ANY team that we want to play. There are some teams, due to scheduling philosophy or budget that aren't interested. However, there are PLENTY of teams that will play us. We have chosen a scheduling philosophy that maximizes our NET and other computer rankings. Now, some may agree or disagree with that philosophy. That's up for debate. But, this narrative that "nobody will schedule us" is simply not true. There are over 350 D-1 teams and we have about 12 or so non-conference dates to fill each year. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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