Mid-Con Tournament Notebook

[ORUTerry]

Mid-Con Tournament Notebook: Part of the show

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

3/8/2006

Part of the Show:

ORU's players and coaches can watch CBS' Selection Sunday show without knowing it will take a miracle to hear their school listed on the bracket.

Tuesday's win over Chicago State gave the Eagles a spot in the 65-team NCAA Tournament field.

"It's a great feeling, because ever since I was little, I've been watching Selection Sunday, wondering if one day I'm going to be there as a player," said junior guard Ken Tutt. "And now all that hard work that I put in is finally going to pay off."

"It'll be fun. There's no telling what seed we'll have," said assistant Tom Hankins. "It'll be the best (Selection Sunday) of all time, no doubt. I've been in this tournament for nine years, and finally got one. This is really sweet."

Purely for speculation purposes, FoxSports.com's bracket project had ORU as a 15th seed, playing Ohio State in Dayton, Ohio. That seemed a little more likely than CBS SportsLine's Gregg Doyel, who had the Eagles as one of five 16 seeds -- five, because two will meet in the Tuesday night play-in game.

Credit's due:

Caleb Green notched his 15th double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but said Larry Owens and Ken Tutt "put us on their backs and carried us in the second half. We rode on them all night long."

Climbing:

Jonathan Bluitt's seven assists gave him sole possession of second place on ORU's all-time list with 508. He started the game with 501, tied with Arnold Dugger (1974-77).

Family ties:

Tommy Chesbro, former Oklahoma State wrestling coach, attended games Monday and Tuesday. He is ORU coach Scott Sutton's uncle.

Looking ahead:

The Eagles are looking for a fourth team to play in a tournament they hope to host next season. Santa Clara (Calif.) University and Northwestern (La.) State have committed. ORU also expects home games with Montana, from this year's BracketBuster, and La.-Lafayette.

All-Tournament team:

Caleb Green, Oral Roberts; George Hill, IUPUI; Larry Owens, Oral Roberts; Royce Parran, Chicago State; Ken Tutt, Oral Roberts (MVP).