Guest Rob Marshall Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Has anyone in the Mid Con accomplished more with less than Ron Hunter and IUPUI? They play in a small Indiana HS gym, have no "campus-life" to recruit to (Indiana-Purdue is almost exclusively a commuter school), have a minimal recruiting budget, and have to compete against Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, Ball State, Indiana State, Evansville, Valpo and now IPFW for in-state Division-I talent on that bare-bones budget. To have the kind of success they are having with no facilities, no tradition and no budget is tantamount to walking on water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Please, no positive comments about Hunter on this board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU Eli Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I agree. Nice use of the word 'tantamount.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Marshall Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Please, no positive comments about Hunter on this board! Tim, I don't know Ron Hunter personally (so there isn't a friendship factor here for me whatsoever), but we have to give credit where, when, and to whom it is due. Hats off to RH for what he's done (and is doing) at Indiana-Purdue@I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orumom Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 RB - you are right, we do have to give credit where credit is due & Coach Hunter has truely done a lot with limited resources and a theatrical personality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlh Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I think Ron Hunter is a superior coach...and has done wonders with his team too....BUT, remember that IUPUI is a state supported school and he can get athletes admitted that do not qualify for schools like Valparaiso and ORU. I know of at least 3 kids on this years team that we were interested in, but couldn't get in school because of admission requirement. I think that is a tremendous advantage over private academic institutions....You still have to coach them and get them ready, and for that I give him credit, but he does have some advantages too.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUBlue Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 OH..............this is the same coach we beat 3 TIMES last year! I will only wonder if we could have beat them 3 times this year. Vealy 1 min of playing time Rouise 14 min of playing time 3 shots Moses 4 min of playing time 2 shots I thought these guys have been a big part of our recent success.......... but where were they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Ron Hunter is an above average coach but it doesn't help our cause any when Sutton won't ever call a time out to break up a run by the opposition. Outside of some missed foul shots I thought we played pretty well but without proper coaching our guys weren't put in a position to win. There's no excuse for letting a team rattle off 12 points without calling a timeout or changing up defense! If Hunter has done the most with the least in the Mid-Con it's easy to see that Sutton has done the LEAST with the most talent. I thought we were on the right track after the technical foul at the last home game but I guess not. I realize that players set picks, grab boards, and make shots but the lack of input from the sideline isn't helping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EagleBackr Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 ...I have to admit, I like Ron Hunter. Always have. Never have understood why he bothers so many fans, especially Valpo fans. Guys like he and Oakland's Greg Kampe make every game they coach interesting - not just for their antics, but for their coaching ability. I think the conference is lucky to have them. One of these days, one or both of them may get a better gig at a larger school, and then maybe we'll all appreciate them a little more. Especially Hunter - if were to win the Mid-Con tourney this year and/or next and pull off an NCAA upset or two, don't think some larger school wouldn't want to take a chance on him, theatrics and all. P.S. Don't you know it's just KILLING Valpo that there are two pretty decent teams fighting it out for conference supremecy this year, and the Crusaders aren't one of them? With all the players they lose at the end of the year, this season was supposed to be THE ONE for Valpo. Didn't Homer Drew tell a civic club back in October they were on track for a FINAL FOUR appearance?!? Of course, you never know - they might regroup and win the Mid-Con tournament, but this year it appears IUPUI and ORU are a notch above the rest (as last year ORU and UMKC were the cream of the regular season crop). Valpo fans are, however, VERY proud of their 20-point win over ORU last month - it is mentioned quite often on their message board as an indication of what they might still achieve this year. Time will tell whether that win was merely a singular highlight of an otherwise very disappointing season for them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Marshall Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 RB - you are right, we do have to give credit where credit is due & Coach Hunter has truely done a lot with limited resources and a theatrical personality. mom, did you mean "RM" (not RB)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Marshall Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I think Ron Hunter is a superior coach...and has done wonders with his team too....BUT, remember that IUPUI is a state supported school and he can get athletes admitted that do not qualify for schools like Valparaiso and ORU. I know of at least 3 kids on this years team that we were interested in, but couldn't get in school because of admission requirement. I think that is a tremendous advantage over private academic institutions....You still have to coach them and get them ready, and for that I give him credit, but he does have some advantages too.... rlh, while VU and ORU are private schools, that actually can have its advantages too when it comes to admission standards and granting exceptions. ORU and even TU have track records of "finding a way" for talented student-athletes to be admitted if the coach is determined to find a way to make it happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orumom Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I did mean RM, look at the time I posted Thank you, silly me. it's easy to see that Sutton has done the LEAST with the most talent. I thought we were on the right track after the technical foul at the last home game but I guess not. I realize that players set picks, grab boards, and make shots but the lack of input from the sideline isn't helping. Dr. C. I disagree with your post. We were even commenting while we listened to the game on the strategic time outs Coach Sutton called last night. Remember we did have a regular season championship in 2005, so our coaches do a lot right! We've been tied for the regular season championship in 2006 & it isn't over yet. I would suggest you read your own post and try again. Perhaps it was the emotion of a dissappointing loss, taken too personally. (Would you have coached so well if your father had been in an accident the night before and his picture was all over the media? I thought Coach Sutton showed he could focus on the game at hand, no matter what was going on around him.) As fans we don't always understand the pressure of using your timeouts too early & needing them worse later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I don't think it's a news flash to anyone around the league that Sutton and ORU have vastly under-achieved for the past several years. Our facilities and budgets are larger than other schools in the league but we still can't seem to beat teams like the Hoosier-Makers. It's not a stretch to say that Sutton has done the least with the most talent it's simply a fact. Just as it's a fact that Ron Hunter has done a miracle of a job at IUPUI! If Hunter had the advantage and was bungling it year after year I'd call him on it too... being a Sutton shouldn't place you above reproach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUIsbig Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I don't know about last nights game but i have to agree with the DR. Seemed last night there could have been something to do to slow them down. 70% is outrageous. We had that game with 10 minutes left. If we cant put this team away, we are not a lock for any game in the tourney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadAdder Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Hate to say it, but I've gotta agree with Dr. C. as well. I've been following ORU b-ball since I got on campus in 2001, and every season has ended the same way - a loss in the Mid-Con tourney to a lower-seeded team (a 6, a 5, a 5, and a 7) (granted, we did go to the NIT last year, but it's not the same as winning the Mid-Con tourney). If that's not underachieving, I don't know what is. Granted, I hope this year is going to be different, but the Dr. makes a very valid point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieoru Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 One thing I for sure agree with Dr. C about is the time out calling. The other team can get on a 15-0 run and he will not call a time out to try to stop their momentum. The other teams crowd can be going wild and he will just make our boys play through it. His time out callings have always gotten under my skin. Just call a time out and disrupt their rythem thats all we ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EagleBackr Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 You know, I don't see where everyone assumes we have the most talent year in and year out. Name one ORU player who has played at the next level during Sutton's tenure? Meanwhile, guys like Bryce Drew and Rawle Marshall have both played in the NBA. Plus, the type of player that we seem to NEVER get at ORU is just the sort that we have trouble dealing with - the mean, tough, lunch bucket kind of guy like Cortney Scott, Mike English, or Odell Bradley that IUPUI seems to have ABOUT EIGHT OF EACH YEAR!! Look, we have ALWAYS had problems with physical teams. For whatever reason, ORU has ALWAYS been a finesse team, predicated on speed, quickness, and outside shooting (with Caleb Green, a Sutton signee, the glaring exception). And it's been that way for YEARS before Scott Sutton got here. Talented? Sure. The most talent in the conference year in and year out during Sutton's seven years? Arguable, at best... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaguar_Fan Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 I'm amazed at what Hunter has been able to do for the IUPUI program. He just has a certain charisma and is really able to sell the program to high school players. I really feel there's a lot of guys who play for IUPUI that could easily have gone elsewhere to play their college ball, yet he was able to convince them to stay. He's winning, and he's doing it with players from Indianapolis, and Indiana. George Hill, David Barlow, Brandon Cole, and Angelo Smith are all Indianapolis natives and Barlow and Smith come from two of Indianapolis' prep powerhouse programs. Hill, Barlow, and Cole also all signed to IUPUI out of high school where Smith was a transfer from Xavier. In our article in The Indianapolis Star last week, I didn't realize that since the 2002-2003 season that IUPUI has the most DI victories in the state of Indiana. Yes, the state of Indiana. We've won more games than Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, Ball State, Valpo, Evansville, Indiana State, and IPFW. On the academics side he can sell the fact that IUPUI offers the widest variety of majors in the state, and that prospective students will either receive a degree from Indiana University or Purdue University. The on campus housing for the athletes is also quite impressive. Still, to build a program the way he has, in a city as large as Indianapolis in a basketball crazy state is impressive as all get out to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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