Preseason Clues Point To Oakland Again (Mike Brown's blog)

[ManiacAlum]

After the last 2 seasons, I'm excited to see what this team can do playing with an actual backcourt, even with inexperience in the post. We suddenly go from zero to three PGs...

Rountree intrigues me also, and I'm ready to see what DBH's game looks like after the summer. All we really need is for a couple of these guys to play the "ORU way" and defend, rebound, be physical, etc. for a few minutes per game... that would seem like a luxury after a year of basically having just 5 guys play multiple roles for 40 minutes every game.

[theeagleman5]

McClintock will be the real deal once we get into the meat of the season and he shakes off the rust....he's gonna do well in the Summit League....trust TheEagleman on that one....you can also trust me when I say that Angsomwine can't play.....

[ORUTerry]

The interesting thing to contemplate about the comng year is how much we will change given the loss of Kevin Ford and the addition of new/improvement of old players. Specifically, how will we fare in the following categories:

1. shooting: the loss of Ford could affect our team shooting percentage if we don't find a replacement for his shot in the paint. From a jump shot perspective, we should be a better shooting team with the addition of McClintock & Lilteras - and the improvement of Niles & Holdman (?)

2. ball handling/passing: Ford ran the court well, had pretty good hands and was a decent passer for a big man. It appears the DBH can match Ford in the passing department and has good hands. Our new guys (Pearson and MClintock) will add substantially to our overall team ball handling & passing.

3. defense: Ford provided bulk and presence in the low post - as well as a shot blocking threat. Let's hope Angsomwine and Nassare can work to replace that for us. Pearson showed that he could play some defense in his limited play last year - and we are told McClintock can also play some defense.

4. rebounding: we will miss Ford's bulk and athleticism down low in fighting for rebounds. The new guys (Morton, Nassare and Angsomwine) will have to step up and be productive. Maybe Roundtree will be able to provide some help down low.

5. athleticism: Ford was arguably the most athletic player on last year's squad. It does not appear that any of the returning/new post players can match his athletic ability. Roundtree might be an addition to the team's overall athelticism - we shall see.

6. experience: hard to replace Ford's place as an inspirational leader - but someone will need to step up. It appears that Pearson could step into this role.

[TrueBlue82]

Bringing this back to a Summit perspective, I don't think there will be much argument that Oakland will have the best front court in the league (with Benson) and ORU will have the best back court. ORU has been the premier Summit program in recent years, and Sutton calls this back court his "best ever", so it should also rank as the league's best. The obvious question to ask is - which team will best offset the losses in the other's strength? ORU's front court is significantly depleted with the loss of Ford - and Oakland's title defense will be hampered without Johnathon Jones. The team which best covers for these deficiencies will be the likely conference champion.

The other question is whether another team will "step up" to challenge OU/ORU. The likely candidates are IUPUI and SDSU, but I believe the gap between the top two "contenders" and the rest of the "pretenders" will be quite significant. ORU and OU have won four of the last five NCAA bids - and I don't see anyone stopping that from becoming five of six. As defending champion, it's Oakland's title until someone takes it away - and ORU's the only one with a real chance to do so - and it will require a huge effort from Craion, DBH, and Morton. If DBH matures as a sophomore, and learns how to stay out of foul trouble, it could be VERY interesting.

[Old Titan]

Bringing this back to a Summit perspective, I don't think there will be much argument that Oakland will have the best front court in the league (with Benson) and ORU will have the best back court. ORU has been the premier Summit program in recent years, and Sutton calls this back court his "best ever", so it should also rank as the league's best. The obvious question to ask is - which team will best offset the losses in the other's strength? ORU's front court is significantly depleted with the loss of Ford - and Oakland's title defense will be hampered without Johnathon Jones. The team which best covers for these deficiencies will be the likely conference champion.

The other question is whether another team will "step up" to challenge OU/ORU. The likely candidates are IUPUI and SDSU, but I believe the gap between the top two "contenders" and the rest of the "pretenders" will be quite significant. ORU and OU have won four of the last five NCAA bids - and I don't see anyone stopping that from becoming five of six. As defending champion, it's Oakland's title until someone takes it away - and ORU's the only one with a real chance to do so - and it will require a huge effort from Craion, DBH, and Morton. If DBH matures as a sophomore, and learns how to stay out of foul trouble, it could be VERY interesting.

Western Illinois' and IPFW's backcourts will be pretty good this year.

[ORUTerry]

I agree that they will be pretty good - but I don't think they can match our depth.

[Grizz]

Let's hold on for a second here....first of all Oakland and ORU have won 5 of the last 6, next I think your coach is reaching for something with that best ever statement. Tutt and anyone he played with are way better then a transfer from a bad team who might have made a great shot to beat Stanford but go look at his stat line. I mean really look at the numbers he put up last year.....are you kidding. Come on, best ever, along with a freshman who has never played a game, really the best in the league.(I like Niles) but better then Young and Nobles and Ashworth. Not even close. Young, Nobles and Ashworth vs Pearson, Morrison and someone who has not played a minute of D-1 basketball. Also many of you have forgotten that Reggie Hamilton will be wearing a grizzly uniform this year. A proven all league level Summit league player, along with Larry Wrght and Lee Eackles. Remember, your team had a great front court last year, but you could not shoot, you turned it over at will. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, a new season, what hopes we all have.

[ORUTerry]

Good points.... not sure about the turnover observation though. Tutt was a great shooter but not a great all around guard (weak ball handling, slow footwork on defense). Of course, if you can shoot great what else matters? We may be looking at thing through blue-colored glasses a bit, but we also saw what we accomplished with a depleted/banged up squad - and also saw some flashed (in squad games) of what could be. Gotta agree that Pearson's shooting numbers are not great - but we are not looking for him to score. his role is to set the other players up. Holdman showed good progress and no one in the Summit can keep up with his speed. It will be interesting to see if Nile can improve his accuracy this year without a fractured wrist.

Sutton has said that he thinks McClintock will be special. We shall see... especially coming off a major injury. But I trust Sutton's judgement.

Holdman, Niles, Morrison, Pearson, McClintock and Lilteras.... lots of potential but it's unproven.

[theeagleman5]

Maybe TheEagleman is in the minority here but sorry, after watching Kevin Ford for at least a dozen games over the past two years....he was a mediocre player at best...yeah, he had some heart but he didn't have the best touch around the basket and was only a fair rebounder....had some defensive skills but hard to believe that after a year of experience, DBH won't be just as good and perhaps a lot better once he gets some experience....sure, DBH needs to fine tune his game and avoid silly fouls but this kid clearly demonstrates better skills with the ball and a nice touch around the basket....Ford missed a lot of easy shots and couldn't dribble a lick.....if Nasarre can give ORU at least 10-12 solid minutes a game...we should be OK at the 5 position this year....Javier showed that he does have offensive skills in limited play last year.......sure, neither DBH or Nasarre are equal to Benson but TheEagleman sees us not missing Kevin Ford THAT much in 2010-11...as for McClintock?....if healthy, he's a future Summit League MVP.......

[SOLO_Gold]

I think you are the minority Eagleman. Grizz made a lot of good points. It's HIGHLY questionable of Nasarre can give ORU more than 5 minutes a game! While I, like you, have high hopes for Hunter, we have no idea what he's like in a game. He could be a P.E. all-star version of Jason Williams -- you never know. All we can do is hope that DBH has put in a lot of work this summer and that Morrison has worked on his conditioning; there were too many games that he completed faded in the 4th quarter.

My prediction:

1. Oakland

2. IUPUI

3. ORU

Everyone else...

Niles is a playmaker. Let's hope he put some weight on over the summer.

[ORUTerry]

IUPUI in 2nd place? After the loss of Pettiford, Avery and Glenn and 49% of its scoring and 48% of its rebounding? That is a head scratcher to me.

[SOLO_Gold]

Glenn may be gone, but so is Ford.

Nobles (Sr.), Young (Jr.), and Ashworth (Sr.) are all coming back -- tough group. While I think IUPUI plays the ugliest basketball in the entire Summit League, the bottom line is, the biggest advantage they had over our guys last year wasn't Glenn, it was the fearless nature they played with.

[ORUTerry]

Not a well coached team though.... we were short handed in the semi-final game and they folded like a cheap suit. We just ran out of gas.

They will be good - but not good enough. They lost too much and have an anchor on the bench.

[Old Titan]

Let's hold on for a second here....first of all Oakland and ORU have won 5 of the last 6, next I think your coach is reaching for something with that best ever statement. Tutt and anyone he played with are way better then a transfer from a bad team who might have made a great shot to beat Stanford but go look at his stat line. I mean really look at the numbers he put up last year.....are you kidding. Come on, best ever, along with a freshman who has never played a game, really the best in the league.(I like Niles) but better then Young and Nobles and Ashworth. Not even close. Young, Nobles and Ashworth vs Pearson, Morrison and someone who has not played a minute of D-1 basketball. Also many of you have forgotten that Reggie Hamilton will be wearing a grizzly uniform this year. A proven all league level Summit league player, along with Larry Wrght and Lee Eackles. Remember, your team had a great front court last year, but you could not shoot, you turned it over at will. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, a new season, what hopes we all have.

OK, first off: we drink Reggie Hamilton's milk shake. Period.

It's like your favorite team signing a player from the Cubs. Sure, they may look good on paper before the trade, but when the chips are down, you discover to your horror they're still.....Cubs.

Secondly, the only person mentioned in the previous post who has actually seen the backcourt of Mclintock, Pearson, Niles, Holdman, et al, to any extent is Coach Sutton.

He is on record as saying that this year's backcourt could be "his best ever".

I trust his judgement - he usually calls it like he sees it, as he did when he predicted the unheralded group of Ehambe/Ogunoye/Lewis/Jarvis/etc. would win the conference title three years ago, which they did.

Now, to say that ORU's backcourt is the best in the conference is simply ORUBlue82's take.

But, based on his track record, Blue has certainly earned the right to an opinion - he hits the nail on the head a lot (or, "alot", for our South Dakota one-room schoolhouse graduates).

So, I'm inclined to respect Blue's assessment - much more, let's say, than an opposition fan who has never seen Mclintock play a single second (most of us have, in the preseason Blue/White game last year), and is basing Pearson's ability on last year's paltry November stats coming off a redshirt season.

[ManiacAlum]

"Greatness" aside, all we really need from Pearson, McClintock and Holdman this year is to get the ball up the floor and run the offense. As for scoring, I would put Morrison, Niles and Craion up against the best 3 players of any other team in the league.

IUPUI's guards were great last year, but I wonder how good they will be without Glenn? Young will still be tough, but I think they take a couple of steps back.

As for Oakland, if Rod Pearson is a transfer from a bad team, then what is Reggie Hamilton?? I think Eackles is a nice guard, but wasn't at all impressed with Larry Wright.

I agree with the Eagleman, while Ford will definitely be missed, I hope the 4 or 5 guys filling in that space can at least account for 12 pts and 7 rbs a game.

Last year's team that "could not shoot" and "turned it over at will" only lost 5 Summit games by a total of 12 pts... I wonder what basically the same team could do with a couple PG's?

[Old Titan]

Last year's team that "could not shoot" and "turned it over at will" only lost 5 Summit games by a total of 12 pts... I wonder what basically the same team could do with a couple PG's?

Fantastic stat/observation.

[theeagleman5]

I agree with OT.... ....haven't seen McClintock other than youtube but reading between the lines from things Coach Sutton has said.....our backcourt is going to be VERY good this year....we won 20 games last year with Holdman at PG for cryin' out loud....no knock on Holdman because the kid played his guts out but he isn't McClintock and not even Pearson....and TheEagleman thinks Pearson is another Adam Liberty....a decent mid major PG....but Hunter is going to be something special....just a hunch but if healthy, he's the difference for ORU over the next couple years.....IUPUI won't beat us out this year...they have no heart and their coach is a bonehead....it will be us and Oakland....Benson is good but not great....still, he's a big force in our conference and the Grizz have to be the favorites...Coach Kampe is a good motivator and game day coach....but I think ORU can go about 14-4.....Oakland may win 16 or 17 if healthy....but I look forward to see how DBH plays vs. Benson.....

[Grizz]

Larry Wright scored 43 points in the Tournament last year, 16, 11 and 16 in the championship game, the biggest stage. Think that is pretty good. He will be one of the best 3 or 4 guards in the league this year. He avereged 10 points a game in the big east. He can play. OT, your right, never seen him play, your right, your coach knows what he is doing, saying.............but on this..your wrong and he's wrong,,,,,,better then Tutt, Spencer-Gardner and Bluit. No Chance, no way.. Come Feburary save this post and if you believe I'm wrong I will buy you and any of your buddies lunch at next years tournament. As for ORU Blue the only people buying that you have the best backcourt in the league is you people on this board,(which is ok, after all it is YOUR board)....... your right that reggie came from a bad UMKC team. butttttttttttttt he didn't change leagues, all he needs to do at Oakland is make open shots when 3 guys triple Benson. and lastly, From our standpoint Ford was really, really good....he could really guard and boy could he rebound and make athletic plays. 5 losses by 12 points when your chasing a team that has won 24 of their last 25 confrence games is a gap so big you could build a Home Depot in it. (Do you have those in Tulsa), how boring is baseball.....this is fun