Wednesday Night vs. Missouri State is Huge!

[orumom]

We were all really excited about the Tulsa game, but the upcoming game with Missouri State is going to be another great game.

I hope that we can get a big crowd again. The casual Tulsa person should take some interest in this game since TU and SMS were in the Valley together.

Plus, it is the return of Barry Hinson.

And one more thing... Missouri State is really good. Maybe the best team on our schedule as of right now.

Last home game until January 7!!!

Do you need another reason to get excited about this game???

[Guest Rob Marshall]

Mom, I agree; this one has the makings of THE best home date on the schedule. Barry doesn't get near the credit he deserves for the nice job he does, and he has a team that if they can avoid injuries to key players (like Chaney last year) will have a lot to say about who wins the Valley.

Again, this is a tough one for me personally because I truly don't want either team/coaching staff to lose because I really like them both, so may the better team prevail! Here's to a fantastically entertaining game!

[ORob1]

Marshall:

It's OK to pull for ORU! I'm sure Barry would understand. You can like him and still hope ORU spanks his team....How could you go to ORU, work for ORU and have the "may the best team win attitude?" I don't understand-that's weak.

Rob C.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

As the saying goes, "when one stands on the moon and looks back at the earth, he only sees one side."

You're entitled to your judgement of what's "weak" and what's not, but frankly I think it's really weak to judge other people when you've not walked in his/her moccasins for at least a mile. Barry is a personal friend whom I worked with for six years and have maintained friendship with since he left ORU. Beyond winning 149 Division-I games in seven-plus years as a head coach, he's an exceptional person who never forgets anyone along the way and for that I admire and appreciate him greatly.

I've been to several games each season to watch his teams play in Springfield and as long as he's there I will continue to do so. I want "B" to win every game he plays. Additionally, I want ORU to win all of their games too, so when the two meet, I'm divided.

[darrenj]

Missouri St is supposed to be very good this year. Is Coach Henson under any pressure there? Slightly spoiled fans with what Alford did there before leaving. Met Coach Henson a couple of times and always very nice guy. I was up there for the Texas game a few years ago and he really was a nice and polite person. Wish him well against everyone except ORU.

[ORob1]

Whoa Rob... I wasn't judging you, just thought "B" would understand and appreciate your loyalty to ORU, that's all. I think he's a great guy too and hope he wins MOST OF THE TIME-but not at ORU's expense. Different strokes for different folks. No offense.

If my own Dad coached, I'd want him to win every game EXCEPT the ORU game and he knows that.

GO BIG BLUE (All the time, no matter what)

Rob

[ORob1]

One more thing...and to your credit, Rob, I have been known to take ORU basketball way too serious and personal.

God bless ya!

Rob

[ORU Eli]

Missouri State is averaging 95.0 points a game while going 4-0 against Northern Illinois, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, and Texas A&M-CC...not exactly premier national programs but 95 points a game is pretty impressive...we could definitely have our hands full. Any type of win on Wednesday will make me happy.

[ReallyBigORUFan]

Again, this is a tough one for me personally because I truly don't want either team/coaching staff to lose because I really like them both, so may the better team prevail! Here's to a fantastically entertaining game!

Rob, Barry has many personal friends from ORU and with ORU ties (besides yourself), however, he was the one that actively sought his current home after Buzz Petersen decided he was better off at that big basketball powerhouse Appalachian State of the Southern Conference! Barry rejected YOUR university instead of trying to make it better and moved on to another situation that he thought had more potential. Barry did get himself into a better financial situation, but not a better professional situation with less pressure. He could have arguably done what he has done at MSU at ORU, but I don't like him any less for his decision.

Although I think that many of us (if not all of us) are grateful for Barry's contributions to ORU in the years that he was here, he did not do ORU any justice in the recruits/players that he left upon his departure which required us to rebuild for a couple of years with a young coach. Barry couldn't even get us back into the NIT with the talent he recruited during and after Bill's tenure.

There should not be any question of your allegiance to the team you're rooting for Wednesday (just like there isn't with Scott Sutton or most of us on this board). I realize that there may be other things that play into this feeling; however, the betterment of ORU basketball will not be served with giving Barry a high five at the end of the game on Wednesday night for a job well done.

I hope that Barry has a great season and wins the MVC this year, but I also will be rooting for one loss on his schedule come December 8. I hope that you will join the majority of us in that sentiment.

[Dr. Cornelius]

he did not do ORU any justice in the recruits/players that he left upon his departure which required us to rebuild for a couple of years with a young coach.

Boy is that the truth!

[orumom]

I for one would like to see that young coach beat him soundly for the second year in a row.

Then he can visit our Steak & Shake.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

Okay now, here we go again ...

Scott Sutton (#1) and Tom Hankins (#3, non-external recruiting coach at the time) were assistant coaches on Barry's ORU staff and so Scott had a part in ORU having (or not having) whatever they had on the roster.

Barry left ORU FIVE (5) returning starters from the defending Mid Con regular season champions (Eric Perry, Derek Taylor, Nate Binam, Reggie Tate, and Leon Irving). If you want to say Barry left ORU with nothing, then you have to say the same about what Steve Alford left at SMS when he bolted for Iowa and the Big Ten Conference. "B" inherited seven (7) returning players (including the starting back-court and a couple of top reserves from SMS's 1999 NCAA team).

What did Barry do with what he inherited? He won 23 games, posted SMS's best ever Valley record (13-5), attained a mid-30's RPI and still ranks as the highest RPI team ever to be left out of the NCAA's field of 64, and made it to the 2nd round of the NIT (losing at Ole Miss). Those kids graduated and he was left with an empty roster to rebuild which he has done, after suffering one losing season (13-16) in his second year.

First of all, I think Scott and his staff have done an exceptional job recruiting and getting ORU basketball moving in an exciting direction in the last three years, but not without taking their lumps in large part due to their own inexperience in their respective roles and therefore under-achieving in at least their first year (Perry, Taylor, Binam, Tate, and Irving were good enough to win more than 13 games!). They struggled around for a couple more years until they all matured as coaches and got into a rhythm (ironically about the same time Caleb Green and Ken Tutt arrived on campus).

It's irresponsible to blame Barry Hinson for ORU's struggles in Scott's first four years as ORU's head coach. To do that, is to drink the Kool-Aid served by those who for whatever reason had a personal bias against "B" or are looking for any excuse for a fall off in ORU's program. It's one of those, the more you hear a story eventually you believe it to be true type things rather than evaluating facts for what they are. Again, I really like what Scott and his staff have done with the program and I am really proud of the way they continue to mature as coaches.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

Other than last season, when was the last time ORU played in the Mid-Con tournament championship game?

[ORUIsbig]

Our 75 seats will be there about half time. Thanks alot Athletic Dept.

of course you know my oppinion about that.

[praetorfenix86]

The only other time ORU has ever played in the Mid-Con tourney final in 1999. We lost to Valpo 73-69.

[tbone77]

I understand Rob M's difficulty having mixed feelings. It is called friendship. I can't doubt his passion for ORU... he has done too many good things for the program and the GEC. (Rob, next time we happen to be on an airplane together we will sing the ORU fight song together or something to prove the point...in first class!)

Now back to Mom's point: Mo State is a BIG game. I am sure Sutton and Co. are working very hard to get in our guys heads that we cannot let up or come in too cocky on Wednesday night. Not only have they won all their games, they remember what we did to them last year.

I bet they bring some fans that didn't like us raising their roof with our chants of "ORU" "ORU" "ORU" as we took a nice win at Springfield. A great road memory for sure.

There is a quality win at stake Wednesday. If we take care of business like we did in the first half of the TU game, it can be ORU's.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

Thanks for throwing me the bone "T"! It would be my honor to have such an opportunity and I'd gladly accept your invitation anytime!

[Dr. Cornelius]

I don't blame Hinson for Sutton's early struggles just like MSU fans shouldn't blame Hinson after Alford bolted (and we both know which fanbase has been worse). I don't have a personal bias or any hard feelings against Hinson. I'm not one of those fans that thinks a coach's loyalties to some job should come before the loyalty to his family (or the drive to coach at the highest level). Its just hard to look back at Hinson's recruits and see any real contributors. They were mostly Self's players. I don't have an rabid animus towards him like some TU fans have towards Self or Buzz... I actually still root for Self and Hinson EVERY SINGLE game they play... Except when they play us of course.