Dallas may be next stop for Golden Eagles - TW (3-12-06)

[ORUTerry]

Dallas may be next stop for Golden Eagles

By MIKE STRAIN AND MIKE BROWN World Sports Writers

3/12/2006

ORU's first-round opponent expected to be Big 12's Texas.

Oral Roberts University has waited 22 years for this day. And now the Golden Eagles hope it brings good news.

The NCAA Tournament bracket will be released at about 5 p.m. Sunday. ORU will be in the field for the first time since 1984. And if experts are right, ORU is headed to Dallas for a first-round game against Texas.

"If we got sent to Dallas, that would be ideal for our fans and our players' families," said ORU coach Scott Sutton.

ORU will gather for a watch party on Sunday evening in the Mabee Center practice gym. The NCAA selection show will be on KOTV-6 at 5 p.m.

Speculation surrounds tournament selections. Everyone has an opinion. But according to four bracketologists -- the recently coined term that describes gurus who formulate mock NCAA Tournament brackets -- ORU is headed for a No. 15 seed in Dallas against No. 2 seed Texas.

CollegeRPI.com, ESPN.com and FOXSports.com all project ORU playing in Dallas. CBSSportsline.com doesn't project game locations but does project matchups, and it predicts ORU vs. Texas. If that game materializes, it almost certainly would be played in Dallas.

It also appears the Golden Eagles will avoid the dreaded No. 16 seed, the lowest in a region. NCAA teams seeded 16th have an 0-84 record since the tournament expanded to 16-team regionals in 1985.

"As far as what seed, I said (Tuesday) night that if the selection committee really looks at our season closely, which hopefully they will and should, they have to take into consideration all the injuries that we had," Sutton said.

And with that in mind, where should ORU be seeded?

"I think 14's the best case, and I would be disappointed if we were anything less than a 15" seed, said Sutton.

Among four mock brackets (CollegeRPI.com, FOXSports.com, ESPN.com, CBSSportsline.com), Oral Roberts is a consensus No. 15 seed. The Golden Eagles are a 15 seed on CollegeRPI, ESPN and CBS. ORU is a 16 seed on ESPN's bracket.

Jerry Palm, the publisher of CollegeRPI.com, predicts a No. 15 seed and a first-round game in Dallas against second-seeded Texas.

ORU is "my lowest 15" seed, Palm said in a telephone interview Friday night. "But you know what? They're probably not going to go down from there."

Palm said ORU could benefit on his bracket from weekend upsets in conference tournaments.

"I doubt they'd be a 14" seed, Palm said. "And I don't expect to see them in the play-in game."

The play-in game is Tuesday and is reserved for the 64th and 65th teams selected. Oakland, which upset ORU in last year's Mid-Con championship game and entered the Tournament with a losing record, defeated Alabama A&M in the 64/65 game. Otherwise, first-round games start Thursday.

Sutton said he hopes the NCAA selection committee gives consideration to the fact that his team played 10 games without Ken Tutt, the junior guard who averages 14.3 points per game. Chris Riouse, ORU's fourth-leading scorer (7.8 ppg), missed seven games. And starting point guard Jonathan Bluitt missed three games.

Sutton also said he hopes the committee looks closely at ORU's games against teams in power conferences. Although the Golden Eagles lost to Oklahoma (Big 12), Marquette (Big East) and Minnesota (Big 10), they were competitive in each game, Sutton said.

Working against ORU in the seeding process is four losses against teams outside the RPI's top 100. Additionally, the Mid-Continent Conference is among the bottom in RPI -- ranked 28th out of 31 conferences.