2023-24 Roster

[EagleManiac]

1 hour ago, GoldenEagleFan said:

Competitive? This team has potentially two 1st team all conference players on it in McBride and Thompson. And a potential 2nd Teamer in Weaver. You only need 7 players to win a conference. 

McBride
Thompson
Weaver
Herron
Miller
Phipps
Need 1 more big to play heavy minutes. The rest of the players can develop without needing much out of them in actual game time. Develop for 2024-25 when we potentially could lose a lot from that top list. 

I agree with you, I think we've still got a talented roster. Doubt we're going to win the conference, but I do think we could be top-3 when it's all over. Herron will be 2nd team this year before DJ will, though (not a shot at DJ, he's one of my favorite guys on our roster).

[Dr. Cornelius]

1 hour ago, GoldenEagleFan said:

Competitive? This team has potentially two 1st team all conference players on it in McBride and Thompson. And a potential 2nd Teamer in Weaver. You only need 7 players to win a conference. 

Two guys (McBride and Thompson) are day one starters. DJ is a starter but not sure if he can give 25+ minutes every night.

So I agree with @eagle88 that development is going to be very important this summer with 2 starting positions up in the air.

[theeagleman5]

As long as some of these guys are good enough to keep Phipps on the bench with under 8 minutes of PT.....please.... 

[ORUSwagger]

55 minutes ago, theeagleman5 said:

As long as some of these guys are good enough to keep Phipps on the bench with under 8 minutes of PT.....please.... 

…………. I guess the numbers don’t lie

[eagle88]

Under Coach Mills player development was severely lacking. Mills eventually had in place an experienced team that was good regardless of how much players were developed or not. Players like Sir  Isaac, Cam, Demari, Josh Jones and most likely the transfers will  all need to be developed. Coach Springman will be good at this but it will take time. I personally believe Springman is a long term thinker and has selected players that will fit his system, will be hard workers and who will be developed properly. Like OT stated realistic expectations are important.  Could this year’s team win the Summit and make the tournament? I believe  it is possible because the Summit does not appear to be really strong but being something other than a 15 or 16 seed in the NCAA would be a long shot unless the young players learn quickly and step up in a big way. In the end I like having Springman at the helm and he very likely could find a way to exceed expectations.

[GoldenEagleFan]

13 minutes ago, eagle88 said:

Under Coach Mills player development was severely lacking. Mills eventually had in place an experienced team that was good regardless of how much players were developed or not.

I respectfully disagree. I think last year’s team was full of players who improved tremendously since the first day they stepped on campus. I think that’s a testament to player development. 

[Keenan Henderson]

The Eagles may struggle in non conference but hopefully by around mid January to early February, they will have figured things out and built some chemistry.  It just takes time with all these new faces and role players having to become starters/play more minutes.  

I would be very surprised if this team can continue to pour in the points like they did the last four years (try between 80-83 per game during that span).  With quite a bit of the offensive firepower having transferred or gone pro, then ORU will need to play some tough defensive games and grind out some wins next year.  

[theeagleman5]

It's late May and let's be honest....who really cares????...It's BASEBALL SEASON and ORU has won 17 in a row..... 

[GoldenEagleFan]

9 hours ago, theeagleman5 said:

It's late May and let's be honest....who really cares????...It's BASEBALL SEASON and ORU has won 17 in a row..... 

2022-23 is an incredible ride for ORU Athletics!

[Dr. Cornelius]

11 hours ago, GoldenEagleFan said:

I respectfully disagree. I think last year’s team was full of players who improved tremendously since the first day they stepped on campus. I think that’s a testament to player development. 

Carlos is a prime example of this. He made HUGE leaps in development in his time at ORU. I would say Max, Kareem, and others have as well.

There will be a greater need for development this summer because so many of the incoming players are brand new to D1 but I think it can be achieved.

[ORUSwagger]

10 hours ago, theeagleman5 said:

It's late May and let's be honest....who really cares????...It's BASEBALL SEASON and ORU has won 17 in a row..... 

Fun times and we are multi-faceted here.

[ORU40]

There is only so much coaches can do regarding player development. Like the old saying goes "players are made in the summer, teams are made in the fall". A coach can tell a player what they need to work on and show them how to improve in those areas through drills and set workout programs and weight room workouts, but it's up to the player. 

Some guys just don't think they need to improve- plenty of high school "stars" think it worked in high school so it will work in college, some guys think they know better than the coach and work on their strengths and not the areas that are holding them back from getting minutes. 

The guys that develop as players first of all are honest with themselves, every player at every level has things they can improve on, and the good players put the time in on the hard things- the things they really need to work on.

Player development is up to the player, who is up and, in the gym, when everyone else is still in bed, who is first to the workout and stays last, you can't coach that! All players want to be good and improve; but there aren't any shortcuts, the truly good players and players that actually improve, are willing to put in the extra time and hard work to make it happen!!

[oruvoice]

I get the cautiousness about next year, but the league was flat out awful last year and I haven't seen anything (yet) in the off-season that would indicate that anyone else in the league has gotten any better. Have I missed something where any of our conference foes have upgraded this off-season?

[eagle88]

8 minutes ago, ORU40 said:

There is only so much coaches can do regarding player development. Like the old saying goes "players are made in the summer, teams are made in the fall". A coach can tell a player what they need to work on and show them how to improve in those areas through drills and set workout programs and weight room workouts, but it's up to the player. 

Some guys just don't think they need to improve- plenty of high school "stars" think it worked in high school so it will work in college, some guys think they know better than the coach and work on their strengths and not the areas that are holding them back from getting minutes. 

The guys that develop as players first of all are honest with themselves, every player at every level has things they can improve on, and the good players put the time in on the hard things- the things they really need to work on.

Player development is up to the player, who is up and, in the gym, when everyone else is still in bed, who is first to the workout and stays last, you can't coach that! All players want to be good and improve; but there aren't any shortcuts, the truly good players and players that actually improve, are willing to put in the extra time and hard work to make it happen!!

So much truth to what ORU 40 is saying and he obviously knows because he played. Let me go into more detail and I will be very specific in my comments which are based upon many hours of personally watching the guys workout in the practice gym over the past 21/2 years. The head coach and key assistants only are able to spend so much time with the players. The vast majority of developing players and working them out comes from the player development coach and the graduate assistants. Some on the message board have mentioned players like Max, Kareem and Carlos vastly improving. This is true and all 3 of these players are self motivated and self disciplined and wanted to get better. But they also had a player development coach named Mike Herrington who spent hours with them helping them to improve in areas that they wouldn't be able to just on their own. Mike was a  guard in college and is skilled at training guards. Take Sir Isaac for example, I have witnessed him work as hard as Carlos, Kareem and Max but under Mills developing the bigs was not a priority and Mike's expertise was not in training bigs. Ian Layman was a player development coach but to be honest he was a jv player in high school and could do drills with the players but not develop them. His skill was breaking down film. This coming year Dave Nedbalak is the player development coach and I believe he knows how to develop the bigs and the guards. If anyone doubts what I am saying ask Troy Abmas how much Mike Herrington helped Max become a better player. Any athlete that wants to move to the next level has to have a coach that can help them get there. It is a given that the athlete must have the drive and desire. My wife and I recently hosted my former teammate Miguel Olvera who is currently a missionary in Ecuador. Miguel was the #1 tennis player at ORU when I arrived in 1985. Miguel told me  that when he was 29 years old he decided to play professional tennis. He played for 2 months and got as high as 711 in the world. He quickly realized without spending a lot of money on a coach he would only go so far. My conclusion is Springman will make player development a high priority and he will give the players every opportunity to be developed. I expect to see players like Sir Isaac, Demari, Cam etc to improve significantly , the wild card being their willingness to cooperate. Springman will demand a lot out of his players and those that refuse to put in the work probably will not be around real long.

[Old Titan]

I seem to recall Coach Mills mentioning in an interview that Max, Kareem and Issac were the leaders in putting in the extra work last season.

Here's hoping that Kareem and Issac continue that work ethic this season, setting a standard for everyone to follow.

[EagleManiac]

5 hours ago, oruvoice said:

I get the cautiousness about next year, but the league was flat out awful last year and I haven't seen anything (yet) in the off-season that would indicate that anyone else in the league has gotten any better. Have I missed something where any of our conference foes have upgraded this off-season?

Agreed. We lost some good pieces, but we were lightyears ahead of everyone last year. I'm really not scared of anybody in the league. 

[Old Titan]

SDSU with presumptive preseason POY Zeke Mayo, along with Luke Appel and a 7-foot Connor Vanover clone from Wyoming, are the prohibitive favorites at this stage, followed by NDSU with Boden Skunberg and Andrew Morgan. 

Not quite ready to slot ORU in at No. 3 until we see how the other schools fare in the portal, but don’t see any reason right now why the Golden Eagles won’t at least be competing for that spot, maybe even higher. 

[GoldenEagleFan]

I think 3rd to 4th preseason is reasonable depending on who they get with the last scholarship.