ORU Story in Bristol, CT Newspaper

[ORUTerry]

My brother, who lives in CT, let me know about this story; he couldn't believe the amount of space they gave ORU:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oral Roberts back in NCAA Tournament for first time since 1984

March 8, 2006

BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) - Let's start listing the teams that appear to be headed for the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

There's Duke, of course. And Connecticut. Memphis looks very strong, as does Villanova. And don't forget Oral Roberts.

Hunh?

"Whoever plays ORU is going to have their hands full," said Chicago State coach Kevin Jones, whose team suffered an 85-72 loss to the Golden Eagles in Monday night's Mid-Continent Conference tournament championship at Tulsa, Oklahoma. "They've got a very good team. In fact, I would be very surprised if he doesn't have a chance to win maybe two games this year."

Overstatements aside, Oral Roberts is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1984 - before about half its roster had been born.

Also headed to the "Big Dance" are Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which won its second straight Horizon League title, and South Alabama, which won the Sun Belt Conference title game and has its first berth since 1998.

Ken Tutt scored 25 points and Larry Owens added 24 for Oral Roberts (21-11), which erased the memory of last year's last-second loss to Oakland in the conference title game.

"I'm awfully proud of how they battled this year and a very disappointing end to last season and to come into this tournament with the focus and determination like they've been just makes me proud," Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton said.

Having already upset the second and third seeds in the tournament, Chicago State (11-19) was looking for the trifecta against top-seeded Oral Roberts and held a 34-33 halftime lead.

The Cougars still had a 44-44 tie after a jumper by David Holston with 15:30 to play. However, Tutt sank a 3-pointer to trigger an 18-0 run that featured seven points from Caleb Green and six from Owens.

Green, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds, capped the surge with a layup for a 62-44 lead with 9:44 left.

"We didn't want to go through what we went through last year," Tutt said.

To get to the regional semifinals, Oral Roberts may have to win three games. After winning the conference title game last year, Oakland was slotted in Tuesday's play-in game in Dayton, Ohio.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee did make it to the regional semifinals last year and is looking for a repeat performance after its 87-71 victory over Butler on its home floor.

A year ago, Wisconsin-Milwaukee knocked off fifth-seeded Alabama and fourth-seeded Boston College to reach the "Sweet 16" for the first time in school history.

On Tuesday, Boo Davis scored 18 points to lead a balanced attack for the Panthers (21-, who ended the first half with a 21-8 run to take the lead for good and pulled away in the second half.

Butler (19-12) trailed, 40-32, at halftime and got no closer than seven points the rest of the way. A 3-pointer by A.J. Graves cut the deficit to 54-47 with 11:29 to play before Mark Pancratz had a pair of hoops to start an 11-3 surge.

A 3-pointer by Nick Hansen - his only basket of the game - made it 65-50 with 7:38 to go.

Joah Tucker scored 15 points, Adrian Tigert added 14 and Chris Hill 10 for the Panthers, who shot 52 percent (32-of-62) from the field and held a 40-24 rebounding advantage.

Brandon Polk scored 27 points and Avery Sheets added 20 for Butler, which reached the regional semifinals in 2003.

South Alabama turned its pressure defense into offense as it got off to a quick start and never let Western Kentucky back in the game, rolling to a 95-70 victory in the Sun Belt Conference tournament title game in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Richard Law scored 22 points and fellow reserve Demetric Bennett added 18 for the Jaguars (24-6), who shot a blistering 62 percent (34-of-55), including 9-of-20 from the arc.

"We just played great defense and I think our pressure upset Western Kentucky's rhythm," said Jaguars coach John Pelphrey, whose team avenged a regular-season loss to the Hilltoppers. "Our perimeter shooting really played a factor in tonight's game."

Anthony Winchester scored 18 points on just 6-of-21 shooting for Western Kentucky (23-7), which shot less than 34 percent (24-of-71) and was denied its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2003.

A dozen teams have clinched berths, with two more to be determined Wednesday in the tournament title games for the Northeast Conference and Big Sky Conference.

On Monday, fourth-ranked Gonzaga (27-3) wrapped up its eighth straight bid by winning the West Coast Conference tournament championship.

Other schools in the field of 65 include Iona (23-7), North Carolina-Wilmington (25-7), Southern Illinois (22-6), Davidson (20-10), Murray State (24-6), Winthrop (23-7), Belmont (20-10) and Pennsylvania (19-7), which won the Ivy League regular-season title Friday.

There are 31 automatic berths. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will make 34 at-large selections to complete the field, which will be announced Sunday.