meatloaf Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 About 32 hours til tip. Meatloaf hasn't seen his former school play live since 07-08 but TV and ESPN3 is my best friend. ORU comes into the season with high hopes. West Virginia expects a down season, but is still predicted to be a middle of the road Big East team. Both teams have struggled with Division II teams, while WVU lost, ORU won. West Virginia only returns 3 players who saw the floor last year. ORU looks to have a much deeper lineup then WVU who starts 3 freshman. I feel like with a quick start ORU WILL win this game. Key Matchup for ORU: Kevin Jones vs Steve Roundtree If Tree can play strong on the offensive end, ORU WILL pull it out. Key matchup for WVU: Keaton Miles vs Dominque Morrison Keaton showed a strong defensive presence in the exhibition, and DoMo is one of the top players not only in the Summit but in the nation. If DoMo is held below 25, WVU will win. Key matchup for the game: Darryl 'Truck" Bryant vs Warren Niles Most likely, these two will be trading baskets all night. Niles has a rare size advantage over the 5'11" Truck. Both are scorers, and quietly get theirs. Who will be the better defensive player is the main question. I don't see this game getting over 70 for either team. The scorers have to be scorers. ORU comes in to a hostile environment, but the campus has been quite. The ranked WVU women's team opens up at 6:30 followed by the Men at 9. I feel like the women will fire everyone up. ORU has a chance, but WVU has the size and strength advantage. West Virginia University 67 Oral Roberts University 63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballmangc Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I'm not that confident, foul trouble on Tree and a slowed DBH could hurt us big time. Without Holdman someone will need to have a good game. 20+ pts from Niles would be nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Big opener in Morgantown for the Good Guys.....this is a real early season test and we have the experience and scoring to give the Mountaineers all they can handle....obviously, Coach Huggins has the attention of his players this week after that ugly loss to D-II Northern Kentucky last weekend.....and ORU has come too far to sneak up on anybody.....they know who we are....and West Virginia and their fans will know even more after we beat them tomorrow night.....we need a healthy DBH who can hopefully give us at least a good 20-25 minutes inside....we need Tree to stay out of foul trouble and some good outside shooting from Niles and DoMo.....Rod Pearson will need to play a solid 30-32 minutes at PG because our depth is shallow....still, TheEagleman sees a hard fought victory for ORU.....let's call it 75-72 as DoMo, Craion and Tree lead the GoldenEagles balanced scoring all with 15+...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 WVU by 12. Poor defense and only limited minutes from DBH does ORU in. This bunch has gotten their upsets at home not on the road. It seems the Ken and Caleb era teams were not afraid on the road, I don't think the same can be said of the DoMo led teams. EDIT: better link...(7:40) Bob Huggins preview of ORU; this year's Oakland...LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Geez, ORUAlum....tell us how you really feel?.......talk about lack of confidence in this team of mostly upper classman.....this is a game ORU can and will win......agree that DBH needs to give us some quality minutes....if he can't....that's big trouble.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Haxton posted this from shoot around earlier... http://www.twitvid.com/K7WWD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cletus Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Traveling to the ORU vs WVU game in Morgantown to see some division 1 basketball. Go Golden Eagles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 cbssports.com: West Virginia, 71-55 Danny Sheridan: no pick Vegas.com: no pick Ken Pomeroy: West Virginia, 72-64 RealTimeRPI.com: West Virginia, 83-60 Sagarin projections: West Virginia (-17) ORU under Scott Sutton has never won a true road game in a season opener. This particular group of ORU players has struggled against good zone defenses, for which Huggins' teams are known (1-3-1). You know, I keep asking, "Which ORU team shows up for this year: the team that won 19 games last season, or the one that lost 16 games?" In other words, we seemed capable of being pretty good, or pretty mediocre, depending on the game. The troubling aspect is that I haven't seen anything so far in the preseason to make me think we're that much different. In four halves of exhibition basketball this year, we've only played particularly well in one (first half vs. Rogers State). If that "good" ORU team (which featured an offensive-minded Michael Craion and a suffocating defense) shows up for TWO halves in Morgantown, then we have a chance to keep the game close and perhaps win it, even comfortably. But, if the "other" ORU team shows up, the one that went through the motions for the second half against Rogers State and looked befuddled at times against NSU, then we're in trouble of not only losing, but looking bad doing it. I'm shooting somewhere in the middle: I think we play fairly well, but fall short against the combination of the zone defense, the Big East refs, and the maniacal crowd: West Virginia 77, ORU 69. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We need better outside shooting from Niles and Morrison against a zone defense. Nile usually plays better on the road for some reason. Let's hope he has a great game. Since we never play zone defense and are short handed - I wonder how prepared we are to execute against a zone? The guys have to play smart and stay out of foul trouble, which may be difficult given the Big East officiating crew that will be on the court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 still no line for the game at covers.com...game not even listed...LINK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Hope I'm wrong, but we historically haven't shot well in openers - and didn't shoot well in this year's exhibitions - and it may take a while for the guys to overcome the loss of Holdman. If DBH gets quality minutes, we could keep it closer, but it feels like a 72-61 WVU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 We will learn a bit about this team tonight. How will they handle adversity and can they adapt their game to a Big East foe, crowd and officials? Mental toughness will mean as much athletic ability. Play together as a team and concentrate on defense. That is how this team will succeed this year. I can handle a loss tonight if we play tough defense and play with poise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Just got home and see where ORU played hard but come up a little short 78-71....looks like we fell behind by double digits in the 2nd half but rallied and came close to pulling it out....can't shoot 40% on the road and expect to win....DoMo had 21 but only shot 5-17 from the floor....TheEagleman is hoping for a better result next Tuesday night in Stillwater.....I have my ticket and will be there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Really impressed with the EFFORT tonight, even in a losing cause. The five starters must be totally exhausted, as three reserves logged only around 15 of the 200 minutes. Way to out-rebound a Big East team in their own house by a large margin (33-23) and no one fouls out! Just couldn't hit the big shot when we needed to, and the Mountaineers shot lights out (59%), often scoring late into the shot clock. The biggest difference - the first four minutes of each half... where we were outscored 13-4. The rest of the game, we win 67-65 (and 4 of their points came late from the FT line in the last few seconds). While pleased with the effort, I am VERY concerned about this team... these five guys simply can't carry this load for the entire grueling season. Very frustrating - and there's really nothing we can do except hope and pray that DBH recovers... SOON. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Guys you are in for a special year.... I need to get to bed as a 5 hour drive to Cincy tomorrow in 5 hours from WVU @ Cincy in Football so more on Sunday, but after the way you guys dominated the boards.... Its gonna be a great year Golden Eagles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Really impressed with the EFFORT tonight, even in a losing cause. The five starters must be totally exhausted, as three reserves logged only around 15 of the 200 minutes. Way to out-rebound a Big East team in their own house by a large margin (33-23) and no one fouls out! Just couldn't hit the big shot when we needed to, and the Mountaineers shot lights out (59%), often scoring late into the shot clock. The biggest difference - the first four minutes of each half... where we were outscored 13-4. The rest of the game, we win 67-65 (and 4 of their points came late from the FT line in the last few seconds). While pleased with the effort, I am VERY concerned about this team... these five guys simply can't carry this load for the entire grueling season. Very frustrating - and there's really nothing we can do except hope and pray that DBH recovers... SOON. I agree it was the early 1st & 2nd half runs that did us in. POSITIVES:We did a better job of both running the offense and moving without the ball than at this point in previous seasons.Rebounding was decent.Timeouts were used efficiently... but I think if they weren't our guys would probably collapse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cletus Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Great effort by ORU. Came within 1 then 3 points with 2 minutes to go. Could have easily gone their way. They have nothing to be ashamed of playing WVU with their crowd on mountaineer's side. Go Golden Eagles! I took a friend along who worked at WVU and saw many games in the past. He was impressed with how hard ORU team came to play and win! He was cheering for them at the end! I liked the efforts by Roundtree, Craion, Morrison and Niles. They outrounded WVU 37-24. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Sounds like our guys played with a lot of heart as usual.....our lack of a bench is going to catch up with us....a healthy DBH is huge.....losing Kenny also leaves a big void......ORU dug a big hole at the beginning of both halves yet still was around with a chance to win vs. a decent Big East team at the end in a very tough building.....a win at Stillwater on Tuesday night is now a must.....TheEagleman can't wait to see the game..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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