Record Prediction as of Dec. 5

[Mike Minyard]

I'm curious as to what everyone thinks our record will be heading into the conference tournament.

Believe it or not, but I think we will go 17-12 in the regular season with the chance to have 20 wins heading into the NCAA Tournament.

That's assuming we go 15-3 in conference (a bold prediction) with OOC wins over UALR and Wright State.  You could probably change out a conference win for another win in San Juan.  A 14-4 conference mark is very doable.

I don't have any idea what our RPI would be at 20-12.  The strength of our non-conference schedule will help despite a low number of wins.  We would also be considered one of the hottest teams in the country if we make it to the NCAA Tournament.  I would think our RPI would be sitting around 115.

My optimism isn't coming because Kevin Ford is going to be some overwhelming force in the Summit League.  Ford is going to help us tremendously with presence on the floor alone.  Marcus Lewis has been getting double teamed with no other help under the basket.  Ford is going to help keep defenses honest, and should help get better spacing on the floor for the offense to operate.  So I'm not going to say that Ford is going to put up 15+ points and 8+ rebounds a game.  I don't know if he is that type of player.  It's just that he is going to allow us to actually have two true post players on the floor so that Marcus doesn't get double teamed as often.

[theeagleman5]

TheEagleman has only seen snippits of games so far this season but expects this to be a much better ORU squad when we ring in the new year 2009....yes, we will take our lumps at UNC but i expect wins against SDSU, UALR, Murray State and Wright State....TheEagleman thinks we will be competitive at New Mexico and USC and also against So. Florida....we might even pull an upset in one of those games....i think 6-8 on Jan. 1 is doable but most likely 5-9.....I expect ORU to go 12-4 and possibly 13-3 in the new year to finish the regular season at 17-13 maybe 18-12....i think the finals at the tourney will end up being ORU vs. NDSU....too early to predict what happens there...but i think this team will improve with the addition of Ford and maturation of Morrison, Stokes, Guyton, etc....yeah, we might be in for some difficulty still in December....but better days are ahead....EXPECT A MIRACLE!.....