Old Titan Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Personally, I'd rather play the game in mid-November as the first game of the year than during Christmas break. It REALLY negates our home court advantage, not having 1,000 ORU students in the building... Agreed. No other way to paint this thing: we got played. TU got everything they wanted: they don't have to play us this season in the Mabee Center in a down year for them, they play us instead next year when WE will be rebuilding, then they get the next five games as early as possible in the schedule, where they hope for "ugly" contests in which their physicality wins out over our traditional finesse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Agreed. No other way to paint this thing: we got played. TU got everything they wanted: they don't have to play us this season in the Mabee Center in a down year for them, they play us instead next year when WE will be rebuilding, then they get the next five games as early as possible in the schedule, where they hope for "ugly" contests in which their physicality wins out over our traditional finesse. Very frustrating outcome to the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballmangc Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Traditional finesse? sutton seems to preach defense doesn't he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Traditional finesse? sutton seems to preach defense doesn't he? Team defense, sure - but our teams traditionally are not as physical or as deep as the TU's and OU's of the world, which is why we lost to them both last year despite having arguably more skilled players on our side. TU has good talent - they just have a mediocre coach. He's no dummy, though - he knows his best chance to beat us in any given year is early in the season, before we start to click on all cylinders. Or, as in this year's case, just not play us at all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cletus Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Team defense, sure - but our teams traditionally are not as physical or as deep as the TU's and OU's of the world, which is why we lost to them both last year despite having arguably more skilled players on our side. TU has good talent - they just have a mediocre coach. He's no dummy, though - he knows his best chance to beat us in any given year is early in the season, before we start to click on all cylinders. Or, as in this year's case, just not play us at all... Sounds like TU has a wimpy way of dealing with their hard situations. I thought struggle gave you backbone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Wojcik wants nothing to do with ORU this year. He sent signals (thru an assistant) that a later date would work and then pulled the rug out. Our early schedule is tied up because of the pre-season NIT and other obligations. Common courtesy is for the visiting team to agree to a reasonable date that the home team proposes. Wojcik had a 'take it or leave it' approach. Total lack of grace or class. Not a good way to go through life. I am not a fan of playing this game during the Christmas break next year (no students) or as the first game of the season (both teams are rusty). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 It's not right to play the game during Christmas break when there will be only a few local students in attendence....plus, TheEagleman was really looking forward to the TU home game being part of the FCS basketball package this season when ORU is going to have a strong team....this is all very disappointing....not happy at all..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmg1984 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 eagleman cletus i quess us northeners will have to go watch oru crush t u instead of students!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeFan Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Tulsa World reported this morning that TU will pay ORU $15,000 for breaking the contract to play in the Mabee Center this year. The Tulsa World says ORU took the high road by reducing the penalty from $75,000 to $15,000. I doubt $15,000 will make up for the lost revenue from this game that won't occur. Scheduling next year's TU game while the students are gone is a horrible idea. That effectively give TU homecourt advantage at the Mabee Center. Someone at ORU needs to take a class on how to negotiate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Blame TU and ORU's failure to communicate for Mayor's Cup hiatus by: DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist The classic line from the movie "Cool Hand Luke" came to mind with this week's news of the latest hoops tiff between Oral Roberts and Tulsa. "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate," said the prison gang's Captain after he smacked prisoner Paul Newman upside the head with a club. It's a crime that a communication failure is the apparent reason why the Mayor's Cup, the annual ORU-TU basketball game, won't be contested during the 2011-12 season. Blame TU and ORU's failure to communicate for Mayor's Cup hiatus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Unfortunately, ORU gave away the farm in the entire negotiations, apparently for the sake of "taking the high road." I suppose that there were reasons behind this. But at some point we also need to consider a LITTLE face-saving along the way. At this point it appears that TU can just do what they want, say what they want, and chalk it up to "a failure to communicate." Anyone else find it odd that the article in the world shows a smiling (read cat-that-ate-the-canary) Bubba Cunningham in a press conference announcing this deal, when it was an ORU home game that was being rescheduled? Someone needs to be watching out for ORU's reputation better than that. Can't wait for next year's TU game in an empty Mabee Center . . . I'm TRULY beginning to think that the ORU/TU matchup has lost it's relevance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted August 20, 2011 Author Share Posted August 20, 2011 I'm really tired of the whole deal - time to move on. I will say this: as far as I'm concerned, since their RPI no longer affects us, I hope TSTSNBN ("The School That Shall Not Be Named") loses every frickin' game they play this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 for 15K...TU does not have to play ORU this year, next years game is during Christmas break, and the following 5 years are season openers. it is plain to see that mike carter (a lawyer and former sports agent) got owned by cunningham and wojcik. someone please explain what ORU gained in this negotiation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 TU could have been threatening to just walk away from the game entirely. Maybe $15K and the game dates that we are stuck with is all we could get. You need 2 willing partners to negotiate. I wouldn't be too hard on Mike Carter. Since we don't know exactly what was happening in those discussions, it is difficult to gauge how well we fared in the discussions. I'm happy that we have a 6-year agreement even though the dates aren't that great. We will just have to be ready to play our best regardless of the amount of crowd support and/or the excuse that it will be the first game of the year. And at least getting $15K is something. Perhaps the $15K plus the value of whatever game we replace it with will be comparable to the $ we would have made on the TU game. The reality is that we weren't necessarily in a strong negotiating position so you take what you can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I'm really tired of the whole deal - time to move on. I will say this: as far as I'm concerned, since their RPI no longer affects us, I hope TSTSNBN ("The School That Shall Not Be Named") loses every frickin' game they play this year. Yeah, well, Sittler's article rubbed fresh salt in an old wound. You can hardly expect people not to respond. But I agree, at this point it's time to move on down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted August 20, 2011 Author Share Posted August 20, 2011 Yeah, well, Sittler's article rubbed fresh salt in an old wound. You can hardly expect people not to respond. But I agree, at this point it's time to move on down the road. Oh, don't get me wrong: feel free to vent! I'm just frustrated that what's done is done, and there's nothing any of us can do about it. And, it ticks me off that Doug Wojcik's selfishness and stubbornness is detracting attention away from what should be one of our better teams - and better schedules - in years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 I've pretty well just been reading posts all summer as opposed to contributing, but I have to say something at this juncture: I don't think that ORU needs the TU game any more each year. I think we were also hosed by the six year contract on less than agreeable terms. If TU only plays the games that they have a reasonable chance of winning, it takes the legitimate rivalry sense out of it. It's like playing a game at a traditional family gathering with a relative that you know is going to cheat to win (for the umpteenth time). The only two things good about these games, and maybe these reasons are enough in light of the difficulties of putting together a schedule, is that it is a confirmed date on the schedule and transportation costs are negligible. Although I don't live in the US, so I may be totally wrong on this one, but I think that ORU currently has a better basketball reputation than TU. Leave TU behind. We are already potentially playing all the truly good basketball schools in OK this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Mike Carter comes off looking like an idiot. Either cancel the entire series or don't take the deal... OSU cow math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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