Bittersweet end to Green's ORU career - Tulsa World (3-16-2007)

[ORUTerry]

Bittersweet end to Green's ORU career

Tulsa World Link

by DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

3/16/2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Two turnovers. Back to back.

That's how Caleb Green's basketball career ended at Oral Roberts University.

But that isn't the way it should be remembered.

The last two times Green touched the ball in ORU's first-round loss Thursday against Washington State in the NCAA Tournament, the Golden Eagles' senior forward lost the ball out of bounds and had it stripped by the Cougars.

It wasn't an appropriate way for one of the greatest players in ORU history to go out.

But those two sequences said a lot about why the 14th-seeded Eagles' upset bid over the third-seeded Cougars fell short at Arco Arena, 70-54.

Washington State's junkyard approach to defense frustrated Green the entire game.

And when ORU failed to adjust, or just find a player to fill in for Green offensively, too much responsibility was placed on guard Ken Tutt.

Tutt tried valiantly to extend the storybook career he's shared with Green the past four seasons.

But his 19 points simply weren't enough against a balanced and methodical Cougars' team that was hardened by playing in the rugged Pac-10 Conference.

Green's final statistics -- 13 points, eight rebounds, four assists -- would be a good day's work for your normal player.

But the 6-foot-8 Green has been anything but normal from the moment he arrived on campus and instantly became a school and hometown hero.

The Tulsa World's 2003 player of the year at Tulsa's Memorial High School, Green was his own harshest critic after he failed to reach a goal he set when he signed with ORU.

"I really wanted to send the program out on a right note by winning a game in the NCAA Tournament," Green said.

"But the best player on our team had one of his worst performances this season."

Green's season ended like it started.

His lowest offensive output came in the season-opener when he had 12 points in a loss to Loyola Marymount.

When he topped that by a single point against Washington State (26-7), it was obvious the Eagles were in trouble.

But to remember Green for his final game would be as wrong as Cougars' forward Ivory Clark was about Green during the game.

"I was getting . . . not frustrated, but mad, because Caleb kept smiling like everything was sweet," Ivory said.

"So I wanted to wipe that smile off his face."

Clark, who didn't start, played a terrific game.

In addition to 19 points, he blocked five of Green's shots as he constantly provided weak-side help defensively whenever Green attempted to go to the basket.

What Clark misunderstood was that Green's smile wasn't one of arrogance or an attempt at a personal putdown.

That happy expression is as much a part of Caleb Green's makeup as was his scoring in double figures in 118 of his 128 games at ORU.

It's the body of work and not one game that should be a player's legacy.

And it's that sustained excellence produced by Tutt and Green that will long be remembered after this loss is a small part of the school's hoops history.

As disappointed as he was in failing to give ORU its first NCAA Tournament win since 1974, Green still had that signature smile on his face in the postgame press conference.

"I wouldn't say my career ended the wrong way," Green said.

"You have to understand that we're Oral Roberts, and everybody has counted us out from Day One.

"But we were back in the NCAA Tournament."

That single word, "back," sums up the careers of both Green and Tutt.

The dynamic duo brought ORU back to prominence when the Eagles returned to the Big Dance last season for the first time since 1983.

"Caleb and Ken are going to go down as two of the best and most important players we've had in our program," said Sutton, whose eighth season at ORU ended with the loss.

"They helped us win a bunch of games and helped us tremendously in recruiting. They put ORU basketball back on the map."

About an hour after the loss, Green wasn't ready to deal with the fact that his marvelous ORU career was really over.

"It's a bittersweet end," Green said. "It's all a blur right now, and I don't think it's going to hit me until after I've been home a couple days.

"I just wish it didn't have to end this way for those guys (teammates), the coaching staff and all the fans who drove up here for the tournament."

Now that's how Green's final game at ORU should be remembered.

In one of his darkest personal moments, he was more concerned about the well-being of all those people he had brought enormous joy, excitement and pride the past four seasons.

Two turnovers? No.

For me, Thursday will be the day when the realization set in that Caleb Green's legendary stay at ORU had gone by far too fast and ended much too quickly.

[tmh8286]

That is one of the best articles I've seen by Dave Sittler.  This time, I really think he got it.  He stated a lot of the things that have made Ken and Caleb two of the most beloved players to fans that have come to ORU in a generation.

Truly, ". . . Caleb Green's [and Ken Tutt's] legendary stay at ORU had gone by far too fast and ended much too quickly."