2010-1011 Men's Basketball Schedule

[LarryL]

The schedule looks sufficiently challenging, without making us a sacrificial lamb to anyone. Mildly disappointed we did not continue with the excursion into the ACC this year (with exception of Miami in tournament), namely Clemson, Ga Tech, etc., but that is OK. Looks like the biggest home game is Indiana State, with TBA Bracket-Buster game not-withstanding.

[theeagleman5]

While the OOC schedule is definitely very good and a lot of winnable road games for ORU....TheEagleman is disappointed with only 3 non-conference home games and being on the road for most all of Nov-Dec won't be a picnic....but I understand the financial issues involved....I guess we have to go out and earn some money and we will get return games from OU, Texas Tech, Akron, Missouri State, etc.....there are some games where ORU can definitely sneak up and win....Missouri State, TU, Akron, Miami, RIce, UALR are all games we can win and are going to need to win a few of them to be respectable on Jan 1....who knows, we could even steal a game at Utah, Texas Tech, Akron and perhaps OU......who would have thought ORU would win vs. Stanford, New Mexico and Missouri last year at this time?....not many of us.....we have a shot to be around the .500 mark at the turn of 2011 and if that happens....ORU could win 20 even before post season play....TheEagleman expects our team to be improved and healthier....things can't be worse than the disaster we had last season and we still won 20......I think adding McClintock, having Pearson back and a more experienced DBH and Niles will be worth several wins alone.....Morrison and Craion are givens and we are going to have a good year if we get even minor production from Morton, Nasarre or Roundtree.... it may not even take one but Expect a Miracle!....

[ORU Eli]

After the sloppiness I was forced to watch last season vs UALR, I will accept nothing less than a double digit win in that one.

[theeagleman5]

TheEagleman agrees, ELI....ORU should beat UALR twice....if we don't, our record at Christmas time might not be pretty....

[Old Titan]

Very disappointed in the home non-conference schedule.

Look, I get that we are in the down swell of the dreaded "at-TU-and-the-first-two-league-games-on-the-road" cycle that bites us every other year in November and December. And, I understand that when we are at best getting "1-at-home-for-2-on-the-road" deals with the big boys, it means 66.6% of the time we are playing that non-conference foe at their place.

But all "spin" aside, it flat-out stinks that we couldn't manage more than TWO NIGHTS at home to play even a non-D1 opponent in November or December.

The two non-conference home games that we do have scheduled in 2010 are just four days apart, the latter on (yet another) Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve, when the students are gone and a large percentage of everyone else is either involved with church/choir/adult learning/youth groups, on their way to Grandma's, or tending to cooking/grocery shopping/cleaning/etc. for Thursday.

Maybe we should just charge admission to the public for a weekend practice or scrimmage in November or December - or better yet, include it in the season ticket package. As it stands, season tix can sure be a tough sell when you aren't playing many home games.

On a brighter note, I do see a date or two on weekends and within driving range that might make for excellent bus trips - more details later as the schools in mind finalize their single-game group rates.

Here's hoping that once we get into conference play (where I do think we can make some noise with a favorable February slate) we aren't staring at something like a 4-10 record - just kills any chance of getting an NIT/CBI/CI.com tournament bid should we falter in Sioux Falls.

[oruvoice]

Quit your whining old man.

Name another school in our 'boat', that has been able to get the teams in the Mabee Center that we have over the past decade or so? The answer is....no one.

And, the year after next add OU, Texas Tech, etc.

[ORUTerry]

The lack of home games in the non-conference schedule will make it hard for this team to gain a following outside of the dedicated fans. It will not help attendance - with the casual fan or with students. Couldn't we at least have gotten a non D-1 team to come play?

In marketing, it's "out of sight - out of mind".

[Old Titan]

Quit your whining old man.

Name another school in our 'boat', that has been able to get the teams in the Mabee Center that we have over the past decade or so? The answer is....no one.

And, the year after next add OU, Texas Tech, etc.

Listen, Voice-For-Brains: you're telling me we can't even get somebody like NSU, or OBU, or UCO, or ANYONE on Arkansas' annual "Bum-of-the-Week" non-con schedule to visit the Mabee Center?

Just ONE of 'em?

Does EVERYONE cost +50K a game?

Cold hard facts: over three years, we will with this season's schedule have played a grand total of seven non-conference home games in November and December, with two of those being non D-1's.

I'm sorry, but that's Chicago State territory.

We're better than that, in my opinion - and if that's "whining", then so be it.

DARE TO BE GREAT - AND SCHEDULE ACCORDINGLY.

[theeagleman5]

Geez....TheEagleman has to agree with OT again....he's totally right on...it's sad that we can only get TWO home games before Christmas....I agree that we should bring in a few patsies and schedule some wins....everybody else does it...do we have to play 90% of the games on the road where winning is so much harder?....doesn't seem right for the players or the fans.....would love to hear the real explanation....agree that every team can't want $50K to show up.....maybe Chicago St. or New Jersey Tech will come down...

[SOLO_Gold]

Very disappointed in the home non-conference schedule.

Look, I get that we are in the down swell of the dreaded "at-TU-and-the-first-two-league-games-on-the-road" cycle that bites us every other year in November and December. And, I understand that when we are at best getting "1-at-home-for-2-on-the-road" deals with the big boys, it means 66.6% of the time we are playing that non-conference foe at their place.

But all "spin" aside, it flat-out stinks that we couldn't manage more than TWO NIGHTS at home to play even a non-D1 opponent in November or December.

The two non-conference home games that we do have scheduled in 2010 are just four days apart, the latter on (yet another) Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve, when the students are gone and a large percentage of everyone else is either involved with church/choir/adult learning/youth groups, on their way to Grandma's, or tending to cooking/grocery shopping/cleaning/etc. for Thursday.

Maybe we should just charge admission to the public for a weekend practice or scrimmage in November or December - or better yet, include it in the season ticket package. As it stands, season tix can sure be a tough sell when you aren't playing many home games.

On a brighter note, I do see a date or two on weekends and within driving range that might make for excellent bus trips - more details later as the schools in mind finalize their single-game group rates.

Here's hoping that once we get into conference play (where I do think we can make some noise with a favorable February slate) we aren't staring at something like a 4-10 record - just kills any chance of getting an NIT/CBI/CI.com tournament bid should we falter in Sioux Falls.

And the reality of being a small major with a limited budget strikes again!

[theeagleman5]

So there is no hope, then?.....again, it's hard to believe that we can't get a few sub-200 RPI schools with a few hundred miles of Tulsa to come in and play us....TheEagleman understands that getting Mizzou and New Mexico to come in like last year was a rarity....most top 50 schools won't do that for a team like ORU....and look what happened....both lost.....but next year will be better so we have that to look forward to....OU, Texas Tech, Akron and TU will be at Mabee..... ...and we will have a veteran team with a lot of guys back for this season....

[Bogus Smith]

Good to see that OU has a game on the Thursday before meeting us in Norman. I hope that we're ready to surprise them in mid-December (we'll be past finals and they will be going into their finals) and to show CJ Washington that he made a mistake!!

OU unveils 2010-11 non-conference basketball schedule

by: JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

In trying to put 2009-10 behind them, Oklahoma basketball fans can rejoice in a quality non-conference schedule for 2010-11.

In what coach Jeff Capel calls “an ambitious non-conference schedule for us in any year,” the Sooners visit Arkansas and Arizona, try out the Maui Invitational and take on Cincinnati in the All-College Classic.

“The fact we have eight new players makes it even more of a challenge,” Capel said in an OU press release Sunday evening. “But it’s also very exciting. We view it as a great opportunity.”

OU’s non-Big 12 schedule consists of 14 games, including eight at Lloyd Noble Center.

After opening Nov. 12 at home against Coppin State, the Sooners host North Carolina Central (Nov. 15) and Texas Southern (Nov. 18) before visiting the Maui Invitational (Nov. 22-24). The Maui bracket isn’t finalized, but the field also includes Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan State, Virginia, Washington, Wichita State and host Chaminade.

Capel said the Maui field is “as strong as I remember it in quite some time. The tournament will allow us to see how we stack up against some of the better teams in the country and will give us an opportunity to grow up quickly.”

OU visits the Razorbacks on Dec. 1 and Wildcats on Dec. 5 (part of the Big 12 Pac-10 Hardwood Series) before finishing the rest of the non-conference schedule with six consecutive games at or near home. That stretch includes a Dec. 11 home game against Oral Roberts and a visit to the Ford Center in Oklahoma City to play the Bearcats on Dec. 18.

The Big 12 Conference is expected to announce its 2010-11 league schedule in the coming weeks.

2010-11 OU basketball non-conference schedule

Nov. 2 Northern State (exhibition)

Nov. 12 Coppin State

Nov. 15 North Carolina Central

Nov. 18 Texas Southern

Nov. 22-24 Maui Invitational (Lahaina, Hawaii)

Dec. 1 at Arkansas

Dec. 5 at Arizona (Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series)

Dec. 9 Gardner-Webb

Dec. 11 Oral Roberts

Dec. 18 vs. Cincinnati (All-College Classic, Oklahoma City)

Dec. 21 Sacramento State

Dec. 30 Central Arkansas

Jan. 3 Maryland Eastern Shore

[theeagleman5]

Any reason why ORU can't get Gardner-Webb, Central Arkansas, Texas Southern, etc to come to Mabee Center?....how much could they cost?....heck, I would even do a home and home with those guys....why not?....all winnable games for us...

[Old Titan]

Any reason why ORU can't get Gardner-Webb, Central Arkansas, Texas Southern, etc to come to Mabee Center?....how much could they cost?....heck, I would even do a home and home with those guys....why not?....all winnable games for us...

Those guys DO cost money - because they're D-1 schools.

What puzzles me is our inability to schedule at least one non D-1 school for a home game this year - that's fairly unprecedented.

[theeagleman5]

TheEagleman agrees that we can't be paying out money for home games vs. D-1 stiffs....the answer is more home and home series vs. similar mid-majors like Akron, Indiana State, UALR, Missouri State, etc....not saying we should play a bunch of patsies with RPI under 250 like OU is doing....that's pathetic for a BCS school.... ....but i guess they need the wins.....

[LarryL]

We all know that teams like Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian, etc. have a symbiotic relationship with teams from the Big 12, Big10, ACC, etc. The power conference schools get a warm-up game, usually a win, a chance to run through all their plays unimpeded, and clear their benches. The small-mid majors get big-time road experience and split the gate receipts with the host school.

So what would a Gardner-Webb get out of a home/home with ORU? It would be a washout financially, a CHANCE for a win, and experience. Gardner-Webb U is just over the border in NC, I drive by the campus all the time. They have 2646 undergraduate students, and have only been D-1 for a few years. There are at least 12-14 small-mid majors within a 100 mile radius that they could play for the same benefit as playing ORU. Not that I wouldn't mind seeing them play. I would love to see some rivalries develop between the Christian-based schools - GW, Liberty, etc.

I guess ORU is in a unique situation - large, beautiful arena for the size of school, good team, but does not draw the large crowds consistently.

[bballmangc]

How many Roger State schools do you want on the schedule? We schedule two or three, and people are complaining that no one will attend home games with a bunch of low tier schools.

[ORUJason]

A game like Rogers State allows some of the guys further down the bench a chance to shine. But since it doesn't count for anything it is almost a waste from a scheduling standpoint. Yes it is a home game but it only draws the season ticket holders (and maybe not all of them)and 100-150+ RSU fans. I would rather see us go on the road every other year in a home-and-home arrangement and play a D-1 team than to play RSU 2 years in a row.