Projections for 26-27

[Keenan Henderson]

Now that we basically know the roster and schedule for the upcoming season, what are your projections for this next year?

I think it will basically be baby steps for the program, in that ORU will win around 13-15 games.  The X factor is all the new international players and how good they are.  I lean to more of an up and down play from these guys because like freshman they are new to D1 play and it just takes time to adjust.  

The Summit League has three solid teams: SDSU, NDSU, and St. Thomas (the usual suspects).  After that the league is pretty wide open.  I think the Eagles make a small jump up to 6th in the standings.  Any thoughts?

[eagle88]

25 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Now that we basically know the roster and schedule for the upcoming season, what are your projections for this next year?

I think it will basically be baby steps for the program, in that ORU will win around 13-15 games.  The X factor is all the new international players and how good they are.  I lean to more of an up and down play from these guys because like freshman they are new to D1 play and it just takes time to adjust.  

The Summit League has three solid teams: SDSU, NDSU, and St. Thomas (the usual suspects).  After that the league is pretty wide open.  I think the Eagles make a small jump up to 6th in the standings.  Any thoughts?

Faith Hope and Love and the greatest of these for ORU fans is Hope!!

[2014Grad]

Curious as to when the first open practices are? I think Cam is a HUGE pickup bringing an experienced D1 scorer…I say this season lies on how quick our bigs adjust to the D1 level .

[Bogus Smith]

8 hours ago, 2014Grad said:

Curious as to when the first open practices are? I think Cam is a HUGE pickup bringing an experienced D1 scorer…I say this season lies on how quick our bigs adjust to the D1 level .

Usually practices are in late afternoon once everyone gets back to school next week (late this week for freshmen) and class schedules are figured out.  I have not seen anyone excluded from watching practices as long as you can get in the Mike Carter Athletic Center.

[Keenan Henderson]

Has anyone seen any practices, yet?

I think the Eagles still have some the same concerns that they have for the last 3 years: where is the defense, do they have a solid point guard and can the bigs with little to no D1 experience step up and be a force inside?  Last year, Coach made some changes at the end of the season and the defense improved.  Will he be able to do that again this year, if things start to go south?

[ORUJason]

Are the “bigs” actually “bigs”?  Will they actually play big?

[2014Grad]

For those who have seen practices, which newcomer looks the most ready to contribute?

[Bogus Smith]

 

[theeagleman5]

TheEagleman likes it!! Now let's see how the Good Guys do vs. opposing teams....Expect A Miracle!! 

[Keenan Henderson]

This is the time of the year when he hear a lot of positives and that is to be expected.  Every coach thinks they can win 20 plus games and go to the Big Dance.  The surprise statement is that the Eagles are fast.  That was unexpected as I did not expect this team to have speed/athletes.  I get the high IQ and toughness but fast was not on the bingo card.  Also good to hear that all 15 players are suited up and hopefully that will not change between now and opening night.

 

[2014Grad]

Where there is smoke there is fire and there is absolutely NO positive smoke around this team: no positive reviews, observations, players ahead of the timeline etc. Feels like were in for a long season.

[theeagleman5]

We need more insider input and commentary. Old Titan...Where are Ye?? 

[eagle88]

The other day I ordered my basketball seasons tickets and I had a good conversation with an individual who is around the program every day. He told me the men’s team are so far very unified and like to be around each other. They practice with intensity and are athletic. He said this years squad look like men physically and he predicts there will be a big difference from last year. He also said the women’s team have height this year and look considerably better than last years team. Let’s hope this is accurate and the women compete for a summit league title and the men break at least 500 and give us something to cheer about!

[dbl78]

12 hours ago, 2014Grad said:

Where there is smoke there is fire and there is absolutely NO positive smoke around this team: no positive reviews, observations, players ahead of the timeline etc. Feels like were in for a long season.

So your logic is no news is bad news - I trust that other decisions you make in life are based upon better reasoning.  

Let me give you some positive smoke - not that it will change your conclusion, but it may serve to offset some negativity on the board.  I had breakfast a week or so ago with a highly placed individual in the program.  We have a very frank and open discusion.  Based upon that meeting, and barring key injuries, etc., I think that this team will do much better than what we have seen in the last couple of years.  I am not predicting a Summit League championship this year, but sincerely believe that after this season we will feel that the program is on an uptick and headed in the right direction.

[2014Grad]

21 minutes ago, dbl78 said:

So your logic is no news is bad news - I trust that other decisions you make in life are based upon better reasoning.  

Let me give you some positive smoke - not that it will change your conclusion, but it may serve to offset some negativity on the board.  I had breakfast a week or so ago with a highly placed individual in the program.  We have a very frank and open discusion.  Based upon that meeting, and barring key injuries, etc., I think that this team will do much better than what we have seen in the last couple of years.  I am not predicting a Summit League championship this year, but sincerely believe that after this season we will feel that the program is on an uptick and headed in the right direction.

Thank you! I'm just going off history. This time last year we had a 2 page thread in EARLY JULY with reports of the energy and what things were looking like in practice with potential impact players. Two years ago there was a lot of conversation around Springmann year two and hopes that were had.

As someone who lives far from Oklahoma the board is my only source of knowledge and since its been asked multiple times how things are going with no responses, that was my premature conclusion . I do appreciate you and Eagle88 sharing some insight however!!

[Bogus Smith]

Here is some other perspective on the team last year v. the team this year:

Last year's team was young and had not played together.  They came together early and had energy, won a game in a MTE, and was scrappy.  However there was little to no leadership on the floor and when times got tough with a long losing streak, the team fell apart and lost confidence.

This year's team is older, more mature, some natural leadership with new, young players that can make their own plays.  Players that have played in the European arena - some professionally - that want an opportunity to shine on the American scene.  There is motivation, leadership, energy, and a young coaching staff that is working hard.

I also believe that this year's team will exceed last year's team; however, a lot of this comes with the matchups that we have with various teams.  We will not matchup well with a P4 team because our tallest player is 6'9".  We won't win many rebounding contests when playing against taller teams.  However, our ability to play within the Summit League should be much better this year than the past three years.  The coaching staff going after international players may be a brilliant move on their part, but we won't know that until we get into February.

Patience is a good virtue.  Right now, we are undefeated (just like all the other D-1 teams) so everything is rosy.  Character is built when adversity hits.  Let's see what kind of character the team has in mid-December.

[Keenan Henderson]

After the last few seasons of 29-65, ORU can only go upward!  Coach made an improvement on defense last year that helped the team finish strong.  We have been saying it for years: defense wins championships.  This not a team that will score 85 a night on a consistent basis but the defense will set up the offense for victory.  I thought the change at the end of last year on D was that the Eagles stopped giving up so many open looks and made their opponent make contested shots.

When Coach Mills improved the defense, which was at the beginning of the Sweet 16 run, ORU had success for a few years.  

[eagle88]

Since we are in the speculation  mode here is an observation: ORU has a number of players on our current roster that have been paid professionally overseas. Not having a clue what they were paid I will make the assumption they will not be making a significant pay increase by attending ORU. If this is the case then we do not have certain players that are only chasing $ but rather the opportunity to play in the US on perhaps a bigger stage with greater opportunity. If HCKB pulls this off and we have a good season this will be seen as a brilliant move. If I were a big gambler I like the odds of what he is doing versus recruiting US players who are just chasing $ which is something ORU cannot do much less sustain. This is a bit like what Coach Duke did back in the 1960's when he brought in foreign players and built a powerhouse. Whether this whole thing works out or not one thing is for certain , we have players that look the part physically and have experience  playing overseas. Now the bigger question is can they perform in the NCAA?