Old Titan Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 • There are four REALLY good teams at the top of this league right now, led by four REALLY good players in Morrison, Hamilton, Braun, and Wolters, and all four teams/players were in top form last night. Fantastic stuff. • Mad props to Mike Minyard for filling the house last night, and to the students, who were over 1000 strong according to ID counts at the gate. Way to go, OZONE! • The game ops last night seemed virtually flawless - Richard McCutchen and his crew nailed every promo, timout, etc. And the band was great. It's just nice to have the students, cheerleaders, and band all together - makes for a wonderful college basektball experience when the fans are there with them. • All that being said, I've never seen such a contrast between the crowd in their seats at tip-off, and the crowd that eventually came to almost filling the place. A VERY slow process to get everyone in the building - not sure how bad the lines were in the lobby, but the arena continued to fill well into the second half. Just hope some of those late-arrivers who apparently had to wait in line for quite a while will come back next time either earlier, or with a reserved ticket in hand. • As for the game, Oakland played a lot better defense this time around, but our shooting was just silly good. And so was theirs! Incredibly entertaining to watch. Three of the last four home games (NDSU, SDSU and Oakland) have been as fun to watch as any games I've ever seen at the Mabee Center. • Rod Pearson was really tough tonight. He stayed patient late in the shot clock on possessions where it appeared nothing was going to happen, then found men for open shots. EIGHT assists - ONE turnover. Not to mention his 4-point possession on the flagrant foul and the sweet drive and lay-up late to preserve the win. He played GREAT. • When Warren Niles is hitting the 3, he plays harder in all other facets of the game. • After Domo scored six straight to gave us the lead at 70-67 with 9 minutes to go, Kampe decided to double-team him whenever he caught the ball outside. At that time, he had 22 points. He did not score again until 30 seconds to go, when he hit 2 free throws to end with 24 points total. Normally, Domo going scoreless for 8+ minutes down the stretch in a tight game would spell disaster for us. But instead, the others picked up the slack and carried the day offensively, scoring 21 of our final 23 points of the game (Niles-9, Pearson-4, Craion-3, Lliteras-3, Roundtree-2). That's HUGE: if we can continue to make opponents pay when they take such drastic measures on Domo, there's no telling who we might be able to beat the rest of the year. • Did Damen Bel-Holter suffer some sort of injury? He only played a few minutes in the second half. He had a couple of inside buckets in the opening minutes of the game, and a great hustling block on a Hamilton face break lay-up near the end of the first half, but that was pretty much it. • The new sports editor of the Tulsa World apparently just doesn't get it: five paragraphs on the front page of the Sunday edition, and that from columnist John Klein or else, who knows - we might have been relegated to interior purgatory again. But, hey - TU won again over a mediocre Rice team that couldn't stay within 20 points of Oakland, and that's what's important. That, and a trivial story on OU's new TV network that takes up 3/4 of the front page and could have been run this July. I've decided that from here forward, I'm not going to let some small-minded newbie be a buzz kill for me. I'm going to, as Geoff Haxton says, "celebrate all victories". 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Great points, OT. While lines may have been bad last night, I can't help but think many arrived late because they CAME LATE! My son came with four friends and got to the game midway through the first half. He said they had to park a long way away, to it took them a while to walk to the Mabee Center. I don't think it took them long to get inside once they were there. While Warren Niles was well deserving of being named "Player of the Game" by Geoff Haxton, another member of the "team" that I think was just as deserving was our old pal, Mike Minyard. What an INCREDIBLE job he did filling up Mabee Center last night! That crowd made all the difference in the world as far as atmosphere, and I think that both teams fed off of it. It made the play better, and the game more exciting. You talked about Rod's offense, which WAS great, but I think his defense on Hamilton was equally great. It was Rod's hustle, time after time, that denied Reggie open shots. Hamilton still managed to score 27 - in the charged atmosphere of Mabee Center last night, something that he seems to feed off of, I hate to think how many Hamilton might have scored had Rod not been on him. Have to say the same for Domo, though. He was all over Bader all night long, and managed to fight through many a screen to deny #3 an open look on the other side. I think last night's game was truly a BCS- level game, played by two very talented teams playing at near the top of their skill levels in front of a great crowd. Hard to improve on what we saw last night. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 +1...great comments by OT and tmh. I'd add that the coaching staff is doing a great job also. I watched Coach Sutton's post game on orugoldeneagles.com and you can tell that he really likes this team and thinks this year could be special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum11 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Last night was by FAR the best ORU game I've attended in the last 5 years. Yes, the win over Missouri was a great game, but this one carried so much more weight. DoMo is hungry for a championship and sweeping Oakland in the regular season is a huge deal for him and the entire team. Rod played his best game in an ORU uni last night. 8 assists, 1 TO, driving, kicking out. Wow... way to go Rod! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU GRAD Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I thought the Dakota games were great but this was the "best ever" as my grandson told his grandma on the phone. However, you can not pick one as mvp last evening. They all were mvp's and the team unit was the real reason. You think the line was long to get in. Try standing in line after the game with the kids to get DoMo's autograph! The guy just signed everything they put in front of him and even signed their shirts on their back! What a great representation of ORU. I am really proud to be a grad from this great University. Pub? We got plenty last night at the game as 9k plus saw what we call basketball at it's best. Who needs the Tulsa World ! One Tulsa- One Team ORU!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 It was an Amazing game with an engaged crowd and a lot on the line. The 2 articles about the game were very positive in the Tulsa World and the OU basketball game only received a tiny mention on the front page. So our coverage was as good as TU or OSU received. But... It was absurd to take up 2/3 of the front page with a not-so-timely filler article about OU and Texas football networks. What a silly decision. I guess football isking even in the middle of basketball season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 TheEagleman could feel the crowd energy from Mabee Center thru the TV screen....the fans were into it and it made the experience of watching a big time college basketball game all the better.....while the flagrant foul was a huge turning point in the game...and Niles' and DoMo's scoring was clutch....Rod Pearson just seemed totally in control all night and that driving layup with ORU only up by 5 and one minute left to make it 88-81 was such a tremendous play....that one wrapped up the game in my opinion and was the final nail in the coffin....Pearson has really stepped up his game this season..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I've never quite been able to connect with Twitter - just doesn't do anything for me. But I do check it from time to time, and found this really great comment by the Tulsa World's Barry Lewis after last night's game: "BarryLewisTW I've seen all 40 seasons of #ORUMBB at Mabee Center and at this point this ranks among the top 5." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 • After Domo scored six straight to gave us the lead at 70-67 with 9 minutes to go, Kampe decided to double-team him whenever he caught the ball outside. At that time, he had 22 points. He did not score again until 30 seconds to go, when he hit 2 free throws to end with 24 points total. Normally, Domo going scoreless for 8+ minutes down the stretch in a tight game would spell disaster for us. But instead, the others picked up the slack and carried the day offensively, scoring 21 of our final 23 points of the game (Niles-9, Pearson-4, Craion-3, Lliteras-3, Roundtree-2). That's HUGE: if we can continue to make opponents pay when they take such drastic measures on Domo, there's no telling who we might be able to beat the rest of the year. Was it just me or did DoMo just do a stellar job when he was double teamed of not getting rattled, but looked for his open teammates and fed the ball to the appropriate person. I don't recall a turnover from DoMo during those 8 minutes when OU was putting the double team on him. Speaking of turnovers, EIGHT (count them, eight!) turnovers by the good guys last night. Have we had a season like this where our turnover numbers have been so low?? We definitely have worked on taking care of the ball this season. The season average for turnovers must certainly be a high-water (or low-water in this case) mark for our basketball team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryL Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Good to see the larger crowds back in the Mabee Center! Success breeds success! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 A big crowd at Mabee Center makes all the difference in the atmosphere and gives us a big "home advantage".....2800 old farts sitting on their hands all night is a bore....but put all those students and 9000 in the house and it's dramatically different....TheEagleman doesn't expect a big crowd for USD on Thursday night but hopefully Saturday vs. UMKC will be over 5000......the students and the community need to get behind this team....it's the best ORU squad since the Green-Tutt era.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Great observations... Here are some others: * This team and coaching staff are unflappable - almost machine like. When we fell behind by 10 points against the Grizzlies, the team kept its cool and worked hard to close the gap. * I saw several new offensive sets which I suspect is a result of some practice time. * The coaching staff did a good job of adjusting to whatever Oakland threw at us (double team of Domo, zone defense, etc) * Pearson has evolved into a very good point guard. He is a strong, physical defender and does a great job of running the offense. His assists are way up and turnovers down. * Nile had a great scoring night, but he contributed in other ways... His interior passing is the best on the team. * Domo is obviously the team leader and focal point. He is so smooth and efficient on offense. Look for other teams to mimic Oakland's tactic of double teaming him. * This team seems to get along and has good chemistry. I guess a 11 game winning streak will do that. Roundtree seems to be okay in coming off the bench - and Pearson had no trouble passing the ball to Lliteras (freshman) for a late (important) 3 point shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BasPlayr Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Could I rent the OZONE gang for a Saturday Game when Your team is out of town? I'd like to show the TU faithful what an energetic student section can do for the home team. I LOVE the ORU student crazies. that chant they started. "We believe. We believe that. We believe that we. We believe that we will. We believe that we will win." Thru that OU player's mind for a loop. Didn't he miss both of those FT's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmg1984 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 i was amazed at beg of game how few people were there but it really filled up nice win for oru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttowncount Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 • All that being said, I've never seen such a contrast between the crowd in their seats at tip-off, and the crowd that eventually came to almost filling the place. A VERY slow process to get everyone in the building - not sure how bad the lines were in the lobby, but the arena continued to fill well into the second half. Just hope some of those late-arrivers who apparently had to wait in line for quite a while will come back next time either earlier, or with a reserved ticket in hand. As always, I especially appreciate your analysis and positive comments, OT. It was an all around outstanding experience to be in Mabee Center last Saturday night. Here's my two cents on how it might have been even better: When opened in 1972 the escalator to the second level in the Mabee Center must have been a novelty. Now, however, I think it is time to rethink and come up with an acceptable work around for big events. I recall when large crowds could be accommodated with both sides of the escalator going up; I'm assuming the fire marshal is opposed to that these days. Furthermore, I think the scanners also slow down the crowd's ability to get to the second level. So let's invest in more scanners! But most of all, I'll like to see us scan on the upper level. Why not open the outside stairs for people who already have their tickets? Then those walk-up customers just purchasing theirs could use the escalator without it being so crowded. The escalator and the outside stairs all converge into the same area upstairs; four doors could be opened with plenty of scanners to keep the crowd moving into the building. The worst I've personally experienced was on Pavarotti's last visit to Mabee Center. The concert was sold out, and it started over 30 minutes late because so few people were in their seats when it was time for the concert to begin. It is time we stop ignoring the problem and attempt to come up with some workable solution. Let's not do anything to lose the loyalty of some new fan we've tried to woo into the building only to have them get off to such a bad start and leave with a bad taste in their mouths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKC Eagle Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 As always, I especially appreciate your analysis and positive comments, OT. It was an all around outstanding experience to be in Mabee Center last Saturday night. Here's my two cents on how it might have been even better: When opened in 1972 the escalator to the second level in the Mabee Center must have been a novelty. Now, however, I think it is time to rethink and come up with an acceptable work around for big events. I recall when large crowds could be accommodated with both sides of the escalator going up; I'm assuming the fire marshal is opposed to that these days. Furthermore, I think the scanners also slow down the crowd's ability to get to the second level. So let's invest in more scanners! But most of all, I'll like to see us scan on the upper level. Why not open the outside stairs for people who already have their tickets? Then those walk-up customers just purchasing theirs could use the escalator without it being so crowded. The escalator and the outside stairs all converge into the same area upstairs; four doors could be opened with plenty of scanners to keep the crowd moving into the building. The worst I've personally experienced was on Pavarotti's last visit to Mabee Center. The concert was sold out, and it started over 30 minutes late because so few people were in their seats when it was time for the concert to begin. It is time we stop ignoring the problem and attempt to come up with some workable solution. Let's not do anything to lose the loyalty of some new fan we've tried to woo into the building only to have them get off to such a bad start and leave with a bad taste in their mouths. Plus 1,000! I can think of no bigger turn-off to a new attendee than to have to suffer through that line when the solution (more scanners) seems so easy. For the regular tickets, they could also tear a stub and scan them later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 ORU could also improve things by educating people not to show up 5 min prior to tip. On TV it looked like the crowd did not settle in until almost halftime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Could I rent the OZONE gang for a Saturday Game when Your team is out of town? I'd like to show the TU faithful what an energetic student section can do for the home team. I LOVE the ORU student crazies. that chant they started. "We believe. We believe that. We believe that we. We believe that we will. We believe that we will win." Thru that OU player's mind for a loop. Didn't he miss both of those FT's? Yep. Their sharp-shooter (Bader) missed 2 out of 3 FT's during that chant. So glad you and the wife came and enjoyed it! And courtside, no less!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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