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Off-Season 2023


ORUSwagger

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Look forward to see how the off-season goes for us. Believing Mills stays and a handful of seniors return.

We now have the task to build and continue to improve and take on the P5 more often.

The lost stings but we now are at a level that requires us to continue to play winning basketball all the way through Summit League post season play. Baylor went many years before turning the program around (AP Top 25 rankings & Consistent March Madness appearance.) 

This game as many agree will hopefully help us secure more P5 non-conference games.

”Consistency breeds Success” - George L.
 

 

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It should be an interesting off season.  It is hard to know what will happen.  ORU has five seniors that normally would be finished but with the extra Covid year they could legally return for a 5-6th season.  I am also hopeful the young guys will return and continue to improve such as: Cam, Williams, and Herron.  They could be solid bench players next year.  If the seniors do leave, then Mills will have plenty to choose from in the portal (over 500 players are already in the portal).  The future is still bright for the Eagles.

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Time to go shopping in the portal!:) Need to find a couple of guys that can step right in and play. Would think most of the new facilities will be ready to show off on visits and that should help. 

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I see that ORU offers 18 masters degrees programs and 8 doctoral programs.  Maybe some of those will interest our seniors.  Surely they can get some credit hours in one of the Sports and Leisure or Leadership programs from their time with the team and leave ORU with 2 degrees!

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The only thing that might draw Max back for a 5th year is the opportunity to break the school's scoring record.  As long as he was healthy then it would come down next year.  That is a special accomplishment at any school and very few players have a chance to do that in their careers.  Who knows right?

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Well...for sure Max isn't going to the NBA.....might as well hang around and get a Masters.....and Mills was exposed last night.....the CBS commentators kept pointing out flaws in ORU's offensive gameplan.....we need some big bodied guys underneath....bye bye to forwards like Thompson and Jurgens....gutsy guys but just not big time players...we need 6-7 and 6-8 guys who can run the floor and play D and have some muscle......Vanover was strong in the Summit League but exposed vs. good teams like last night....again Damari Williams looks like a player....should be a starter unless  he goes back in the portal......the cupboard is not bare.....:hc_mills:

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Agreed Eagleman. The only two guys that looked like they belonged on the floor with Duke were Isaac and Mwamba. 

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1 minute ago, oruvoice said:

Agreed Eagleman. The only two guys that looked like they belonged on the floor with Duke were Isaac and Mwamba. 

Agreed, but I would add DJ.  I do not understand why he did not get more minutes this year, last night 3-4 from the field, 1-2 from 3, 2 boards, 2 blocks, 1 assist in only 12 minutes! He was also the only guy that looked like he belonged on the court against Houston. 

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If ORU wants to be the Gonzaga of the Midwest....then we have to get those kind of physical players with size and speed.....TheEagleman loved this 2022-23 team but it was not built to play against the likes of Duke, Purdue and of course, Gonzaga......we were defeated by every top 50 team we played....and rightly so.....Coach Mills is a smart man and will look for the "right guys".....it won't be easy but it can be done.....ORU now has some cred even though we got blasted last night.....:tb-white:

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1 minute ago, ORU40 said:

Agreed, but I would add DJ.  I do not understand why he did not get more minutes this year, last night 3-4 from the field, 1-2 from 3, 2 boards, 2 blocks, 1 assist in only 12 minutes! He was also the only guy that looked like he belonged on the court against Houston. 

That's true. I should have included him, too. 

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5 minutes ago, oruvoice said:

That's true. I should have included him, too. 

I think they figured it out a little late that Vanover was a liability in this type of game and finally sat him late in 2nd half. Weaver and Mwamba were much better against the athletes that Duke had. 

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21 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said:

Well...for sure Max isn't going to the NBA.....might as well hang around and get a Masters.....and Mills was exposed last night.....the CBS commentators kept pointing out flaws in ORU's offensive gameplan.....we need some big bodied guys underneath....bye bye to forwards like Thompson and Jurgens....gutsy guys but just not big time players...we need 6-7 and 6-8 guys who can run the floor and play D and have some muscle......Vanover was strong in the Summit League but exposed vs. good teams like last night....again Damari Williams looks like a player....should be a starter unless  he goes back in the portal......the cupboard is not bare.....:hc_mills:

I think Max may be ready to make some $$ and head overseas for a few years. He is not an NBA guy and better to go overseas and make real $$ instead of G League making $50K a season. 

I understand what the announcers were talking about but very hard to execute what they were saying when Duke switched everything and there wasn't a single matchup to take advantage off. Very few easy buckets and not hitting open 3s. Bad combination. 

Every team wants the 6' 8" athletic big that can play D and get post points. Just have to hope there is an unhappy one in the portal that will come to ORU.:)

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Coach Mills has not typically gone after size in finding players besides Connor.  He likes that small ball 6'7 guy who can shoot the 3 and is athletic.  ORU is still a team that basically lives on the 3 point shot and guards who can drive and finish around the rim.  That has been his game plan for the last 3-4 years.  Maybe this off season Coach will rethink that game plan and go after some size but that would be surprising.

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This team was built to initially win our league. We did that with unusual excellence. At the same time, our league was clearly weaker than some(many?) of the others that are represented in the Dance. Winning our league and winning beyond are league are two different goals. We were exposed last night, but if we were watching carefully, we were also shown what needs to happen in order to reach that next level. I trust this team to get to the next level, but it will require some adjustments.

At the same time that we level up as a team, we have to level up as a league. As we level up as a league, we have to stay on top. Those things don't always happen simultaneously. Paul Mills, though, can do it.

Isaac's words during the post-game press conference were totally awesome. Any player or player-parent in the country listening to what Isaac said in a losing cause should be lining up at Paul Mills office begging to play for this team (I don't think I know how recruiting works 😊). This is/was an awesome team.

I still believe this Duke game was a great stepping-stone for this team. Any big watching this game would have seen what we were lacking to beat Duke. He would have known that all the pieces were there, but in the end we needed two bigs altogether that can defend the rim and shoot over 7-footers guarding the perimeter. Someone recognizing himself as part of that solution may make himself available.

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1 hour ago, theeagleman5 said:

Well...for sure Max isn't going to the NBA.....might as well hang around and get a Masters.....and Mills was exposed last night.....the CBS commentators kept pointing out flaws in ORU's offensive gameplan.....we need some big bodied guys underneath....bye bye to forwards like Thompson and Jurgens....gutsy guys but just not big time players...we need 6-7 and 6-8 guys who can run the floor and play D and have some muscle......Vanover was strong in the Summit League but exposed vs. good teams like last night....again Damari Williams looks like a player....should be a starter unless  he goes back in the portal......the cupboard is not bare.....:hc_mills:

My thoughts exactly!!

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54 minutes ago, ORU40 said:

Agreed, but I would add DJ.  I do not understand why he did not get more minutes this year, last night 3-4 from the field, 1-2 from 3, 2 boards, 2 blocks, 1 assist in only 12 minutes! He was also the only guy that looked like he belonged on the court against Houston. 

Truth! and puzzling to me also

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Without having a lot of direct insight, it is difficult to speak into how starters are chosen. Part of it is about athleticism and defensive and offensive prowess. So much for Coach Mills is about commitment to the team and the group though. Part of it is about who shows up at 6:00 in the morning. He is trying to instill the importance of that in players, ultimately making the ones that buy in much better. Some get that much faster than others. Some never get it, but for a truly successful program, every athlete needs to buy in. It's a longterm success picture. In the short term though, it is impossible to say that so-and-so didn't play because he didn't put in the time. I am not suggesting insight into a particular situation, but I am making a general observation.

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8 minutes ago, ron said:

Any big watching this game would have seen what we were lacking to beat Duke. He would have known that all the pieces were there, but in the end we needed two bigs altogether that can defend the rim and shoot over 7-footers guarding the perimeter. Someone recognizing himself as part of that solution may make himself available.

I have to respectfully disagree Ron. We don't need 7 footers that can shoot over 7-footers from the perimeter, the 2 Duke 7-footers had 1 three-point attempt between them, but they had 21 boards, 6 blocks and 4 steals and completely disrupted our offense by switching on the ball screens. 

We need bigs that play like bigs, like the Duke big guys do. We need big guys that play defense and rebound!! And ask yourself, why would a 7-footer want to play in an offense that is guard dominated and the only time you are going to get a shot is when the 2 or 3 6-foot guards can't jack up a 3 and you are the last option! 

We need to accept that if you are going to live by the 3, you are going to die by the 3 and it could be ugly when we do. 

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