ORUalum Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Oral Roberts joins Southland Conference By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer Published: 10/25/2011 2:53 PM Last Modified: 10/25/2011 5:59 PM An anonymous donor is helping Oral Roberts University’s athletic teams make a quicker transition to a new conference. The school announced Tuesday that it is leaving the Summit League to join the Southland Conference during an afternoon press conference at the Mabee Center. ... What about the $250,000 buyout required by the Summit League for the quick departure? And what about the $100,000 entry fee required by the Southland Conference? “That has actually been underwritten by an anonymous donor,” said Jeremy Burton, a university spokesman. FULL ARTICLE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Thank you anonymous donor for making this move possible! I hope you read the orusports.com message board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 good interviews w/the league commissioner, coach sutton, and coach walton from orugoldeneagles.com. it sounds like coach sutton is ready to start recruiting Houston and coach walton can't wait for the improved RPI that will follow for the baseball team. LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 good mileage break down from the tulsa world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 good interviews w/the league commissioner, coach sutton, and coach walton from orugoldeneagles.com. it sounds like coach sutton is ready to start recruiting Houston and coach walton can't wait for the improved RPI that will follow for the baseball team. LINK BIG kuddos to the Athletic Department for the Online Videos! These are great! Please keep this up! Fresh content drives traffic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeFan Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 McNeese St (RPI 159) and Sam Houston St (RPI 176) are the top Basketball competition in the Southland. The Southland level of competition looks similar to the middle and bottom of the Summit League. Oakland, IUPUI and ORU are well above the top in the Southland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 McNeese St (RPI 159) and Sam Houston St (RPI 176) are the top Basketball competition in the Southland. The Southland level of competition looks similar to the middle and bottom of the Summit League. Oakland, IUPUI and ORU are well above the top in the Southland. I'm afraid those who feel we are going to dominate the SC in basketball may be in for a rude awakening. I think we will see better better athletes in this league. Not necessarily better teams, but top-to-bottom better athletes. Couple that with playing in unfamiliar and somewhat more hostile environments (lets face it: Southern Utah and Western hardly strike fear into anyone's heart), and I think we will have a rough time the first couple of seasons through the league until we figure out what we're up against. Every game outside of Mabee Center will be a challenge, regardless of the opponent. That's why I would not be surprised if we dropped a considerable number of conference roadies next year. But on the other hand, I am VERY excited about our prospects of playing on a truly NEUTRAL court in Katy, TX in the conference tournament. Since those are the games that really make or break your season, I think we have as good a chance as anyone in 2013 to win the Southland championship in men's (or women's) basketball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Thank you anonymous donor for making this move possible! I hope you read the orusports.com message board. You're welcome! Anything I could do to prevent us from going to Sioux Falls one more year. Seriously, I wondered aloud why Jeremy Burton of all people would want that info about the anonymous donor out there for all to see - until it was pointed out to me (by someone outside the school who was just suggesting) that it might be in anticipation of (or actual reaction to) negative feelings on the part of faculty/staff/regents to the idea of ponying up that kind of money when everyone else on campus is being asked to tighten their belts financially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89rabbit Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Terry Vandrovec talks with Mike Brown of the Tulsa World http://terryvandrovec.tumblr.com/ podcast http://www.argusleader.com/podcasts/terryv/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Terry Vandrovec talks with Mike Brown of the Tulsa World http://terryvandrovec.tumblr.com/ podcast http://www.arguslead...odcasts/terryv/ Thanks, 89rabbit! As usual, Terry did a nice job on the interview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 thanks for the link 89rabbit. i think the comparison Mike made to Valpo leaving the conference is about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 sounds like the league is moving to 12 teams... Pat Knight talks scheduling, hints at SLC expansion (excerpt) And if our league wants to get more than one bid, everyone around the leagued has got to toughen up their schedule. I think it’s great to add Oral Roberts. That helps us from a basketball situation. I think this is a really good league. Our commissioner has been greatly proactive, going after teams. And, we’ve already, I can’t talk about teams we’re going to add two more teams after next year. This is a great league. We’ve got to get tougher schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Reminds me of what ORU was saying to the rest of the teams in the MidCon/Summit a few years back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Terry Vandrovec talks with Mike Brown of the Tulsa World http://terryvandrovec.tumblr.com/ podcast http://www.arguslead...odcasts/terryv/ Interesting that Mike Brown pointed out that Mike Carter likes the Summit League and really wasn't looking to leave it. That is absolutely in keeping with the attitude I've gotten from Mike myself. I have been in many meetings with Mike in recent years and have never heard him speak negatively about the conference. In fact, after South Dakota was chosen over Bixby to host the next two years of the Summit League tournament, Mike's response was that Sioux Falls does a really nice job of hosting the tournament, and that we would just need to try harder next time. Nothing negative or disparaging regarding the decision to send the tournament north again whatsoever. So when I saw statements on other message boards that actually said ORU was leaving because we couldn't get the tournament back, I knew that couldn't be further from the truth.. I think that MB's remarks in that regard go a lot further in driving the point home than I could have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.