Looking for Redemption - Tulsa World (3-4-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Looking for Redemption

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

3/4/2006

Last year, the Golden Eagles were the No. 1 seed in the Mid-Con Tournament, trying to end an NCAA Tournament drought that stretched to 1984. They lost. This year, they return to the UMAC as the top seed, and they?re ...

Looking for Redemption

Eagles are craving to write different ending this time

If you have a small favor to ask of Mickey Michalec, like changing a tire or saving the world, it will have to wait until later next week.

Michalec can't see past next Tuesday. That's the day the Toshiba Mid-Con basketball championships will be decided. Michalec and his Oral Roberts University teammates plan to be there.

The Golden Eagles have talked for a whole year about the "unfinished business" they need to address at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center over the next four days.

They've waited that long to atone for last year's last-second loss to Oakland (Mich.) in the 2005 final, denying ORU its first NCAA Tournament berth in 21 years.

"This is the most important part of our lives," Michalec said. "It can't get any bigger than this. After last year and the letdown we had, it's been in our minds day in and day out from the last time we stepped on the court at the UMAC."

Time heals all wounds, and often brings us back to Square One. That's where the Eagles find themselves Saturday as the 2006 tourney unfolds with four men's and women's first-round games.

ORU plays eighth-seeded Western Illinois at 6 p.m. The winner advances to Monday's semifinals against fourth-seeded Valparaiso or fifth-seeded Southern Utah, which meet at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The Eagles again carry the top seed in the men's bracket and are favored to win three games in four days before near-capacity or sellout throngs at Union's state-of-the-art facility.

"There's really not much left to say," said junior guard Ken Tutt. "We've talked about it for so long. Now, we just need to go win the tournament, no questions asked."

Things were going just fine last year. ORU beat Southern Utah 82-59 in the first round and outraced Indiana-Purdue, this year's second seed, 80-69 in the semifinals. The Eagles waited until the final to play their worst game in a month, and lost 61-60 on Pierre Dukes' shot from the corner with 1.3 seconds left.

That sent seventh-seeded Oakland to the NCAA Tournament with a 12-18 mark instead of the Eagles, whose 25 wins were the most in ORU's Division I history since 1972.

The Eagles have had every day since to remember. They crave to write a different ending.

"This is what we've looked forward to since this time last year," said head coach Scott Sutton. "I was ready to get started the day after Oakland beat us. I'm sure the guys felt the same way."

But Sutton said the Eagles can't afford to get ahead of themselves. Western Illinois has won only twice since losing at ORU 83-66 on Jan. 7. But one of those was a 70-65 upset of the Eagles in Macomb, Ill., on Jan. 24, a repeat of the Leathernecks' home win over the Eagles in 2005.

"We know we're playing a talented team and they have our respect," Sutton said. "You can't start thinking about Monday or Tuesday until you take care of business Saturday night, and we won't do it. We'll talk about Western all the way up until gametime."

The Leathernecks were picked to finish fourth, not eighth, this season, but have battled offensive inconsistency and injuries. Junior guard Troy Okeson led the Mid-Con in 3-point shooting when he injured a thigh muscle in January. Okeson has missed six weeks.

WIU coach Derek Thomas said shooting woes are part of the reason the Leathernecks lost several close games. Six league losses were decided by seven points or less. Western is eighth in the Mid-Con in scoring (68.3 ppg), shooting (.420) and 3-point percentage (.354).

But sophomore guard David Jackson didn't have any shooting trouble in the ORU win. He made 6-of-7 first-half shots, including four 3-pointers, and finished with a game-high 24 points.

It didn't help ORU's cause that junior forward Caleb Green, the Mid-Con's leading scorer, missed most of the first half with foul trouble and didn't score until 16:44 remained. Or, that the Eagles made a season-low 11-of-23 foul shots.

"Jackson was terrific and there were a lot of things we didn't do very well that night," Sutton said. "Give Western credit for a lot of that, but we just didn't play very inspired and we didn't play very smart. It was one of our worst performances of the year."

Experience tells the Eagles what another game like that would mean.