ORUalum11 Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 33 minutes ago, eagle88 said: I think this is spot on. The past 3 years we had a highly experienced team along with a guy named Max Abmas and during the sweet 16 run Kevin Obanor. This year we have several guys with experience but many who are not which leaves gapping holes. Now with the NIL in full effect if/when we get a Max Abmas the likelihood of keeping him for 3-4 years is slim to none. College sports has become pay to play and I don’t know how ORU will find the funds to buy players who will help us consistently win our conference and go to the big dance. Bogus is 100% correct that donors will have to step up if we want a great product moving forward. There is increasingly little difference between professional and college sports. A good example is the OKC Thunder. Look at their pay scale vs other NBA teams. Theirs is much lower because they have a bunch of guys on their rookie contracts but they are a very talented team. Wait a couple of years and many players will leave to chase more $ . This is similar to what ORU is facing and it all boils down to $$$$. We got spanked by UMKC. Not sure that this is a $$ convo vs coaching/effort. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keenan Henderson Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 The NIL is important and a key to building future teams but this year's group has six guys that are Power 5 transfers/3 star players. The Eagles have not had that kind of talent (without NIL) in a long time but except for McBride they have struggled. The Juco players this year (Bedford and Kareem) look light years ahead of the big name guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 I am comforted today by the wise words of ORUTerry (paraphrased) that have been posted on this message board many times over the years. “Things are never as bad as they seem, nor as good as they seem.” 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaglefan 21 Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 That game was atrocious. Terrible passes, no rebounding, poor shot selection, suspect defense, and KC hit some tough 3 pointers. I don't think they (KC) have anyone as talented as their star duo of guards from last year but top to bottom they are solid. Their first 3 to 4 guys off the bench were starters last year. Jeff Ngandu, who was one of the best shot blockers and rebounders in the summit last year, didn't see the court at all. Maybe they just had a game where everything went right but I think KC is much better then I was expecting. Our bigs are so frustrating. I continually have to remind myself that there is something like 20 games of total D-1 Experience between the 3 centers. Their skill sets are all different from each other too, which makes Springmann have to continually shuffle to find the right combo. Herron is becoming a great shotblocker and is the quickest of foot to stay in front of guards on switches, Ashton Smith looks to be the best rebounder and seems to have good instincts on where to be on the pick and roll but his offensive skill set is still developing, and Jones has the best offensive skill set and post footwork but is weaker defensively. I think the future is bright if they all stay and get some reps under their belts. -We would not have won that game with DJ playing but his experience and defensive instincts cover some mistakes and were sorely missed. - Did it seem like the KC bigs traveled a lot without getting called? The camera angle for the game was odd so it may have just been that. Also, it seemed like the refs were not calling much on our drives to the lane. - Their length on Mcbride gave him trouble. - Would have liked to see Miller and Navarro get some more time with how big the KC guards were. - I liked that Cam Amboree got some minutes but I was hoping to see Mcbride work off the ball more and that didn't happen. Cam had 3 assists but I think he fouled out per the boxscore. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 2 hours ago, ORUalum11 said: We got spanked by UMKC. Not sure that this is a $$ convo vs coaching/effort. Completely agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 I wasn’t able to watch the game so my thoughts are based strictly on reviewing the statistics. Hard to win any games when you are outrebounded by 20(!) and gave up 15(!) offensive rebounds - versus only 2 for ORU. We have to find a way to do better. I realize that KC shot a lot of 3’s and we did too, but doesn’t explain the wide disparity. Our three big guys only grabbed 5 total rebounds (Herron - 1 in 19 min, Smith - 1 in 9 min and Jones - 3 in 12 min). Bedford grabbed 8 rebounds, shot only 2 for 11 and had 5 turnovers…brutal. We had 14 turnovers to their 7. Between turnovers and offensive rebounds, we had an insurmountable (20) possession differential. Maybe some guys on the bench could provide better effort in grabbing rebounds. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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