BlueGold Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Another regular season is over and we can look back and reflect on where we were, where we are, and where we're going. Where we were: A 16-15 record, but 2 of those wins came against non-qualifiers Southwestern Christian and St. Gregory's, both NAIA schools, so 14-15 against D-1 opponents. Still better than the 9-20 record from the season before. Good at home (12-2), pretty lousy on the road (2-11), and 2-2 on neutral courts, if you count our loss to South Dakota State in the Summit Tournament in Sioux Falls as a neutral court. Good non-conference wins over Tulsa (17-13, 3rd in the American), Missouri State (18-14, 3rd in the Missouri Valley and runners-up in the MVC Tournament) and Eastern Michigan (22-12, 2nd in the Mid-American West and runners-up in the MAC Tournament). Non-conference losses to ranked teams Baylor and Tennessee, to power-conference teams Kansas State and Wisconsin, and to UALR (28-4, Sun Belt regular season and tournament champs). Third in the Summit at 9-7 by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker over Western Illinois and IUPUI. Still better than the 8-10 record from the season before. We won a Summit Tournament game, then lost the next one after leading at the half. Freshmen played 39.2% of our total minutes. Jordan Doyle played the most minutes on the team (1,004, or 32.4 per game) and started every game, all at point guard. Faith Ihim started 19 of 31 games and 18 straight to end the season. Where we are: We lose these 5 seniors: 1. Bernadett Balla 2. Atoe' Jackson 3. Carolina Lopez 4. Tysia Manuel 5. Vicky McIntyre These players could return (with their classifications as of next season, and primary positions): 1. Dorottya Balla (Junior- Forward) 2. Jasauen Beard (Redshirt freshman- Forward)- she sat out this season due to injury 3. Jordan Doyle (Sophomore- Guard) 4. Jordan Gilbert (Sophomore- Guard) 5. April Glisson (Redshirt sophomore- Guard) 6. Faith Ihim (Sophomore- Forward) 7. Jayden Oliver (Sophomore- Guard) 8. Esther Udoumoh (Sophomore- Forward) Unless we bring in another one-year player like Vicky, we won't have a senior for the next 2 years. We lost 2 senior starters- Vicky (center) and Atoe' (shooting guard). Where we're going: These players are joining us for 2015-16: 1. Ashley Beatty- Anadarko HS (Oklahoma) 2. Fruzsina Fejes- Hungary 3. Bria Pitts- Transferred from the U. of Arkansas in January 2015, will be eligible after final exams are over in December 2015 4. Tijana Raca- Greece 5. Rylie Torrey- Locust Grove HS (Oklahoma) 6. Maria Martianez Vendrell- Spain All are freshman in eligibility except for Bria, who played one season at Arkansas and will be a redshirt sophomore. I think we'll have some versatility at different positions with the players we're bringing in for next season. Ashley, Rylie and Bria can all play at both point guard and shooting guard. I believe both Maria and Tijana can play at both guard and forward. Fruzsi is a true post. It will be interesting to see if we bring in any more players during the spring signing period, which begins April 13th. We potentially have up to 3 scholarships available, if everyone comes back that can come back and both April and Esther are not on scholarship. I presume they're not. From what I recall reading last year, April came to ORU on an academic scholarship, and I believe Esther is a walk-on. If I am wrong and they are both on scholarship, we would be at 14 scholarships and have only one left to give. Either way, will we wait until the fall signing period in November of this year to use them or try to bring players in now? Players typically sign early these days, but there are exceptions. We signed Faith during the spring period last year, and one of the best players in Oklahoma, Hailey Tucker of Bartlesville, elected not to sign in the fall last year and will sign somewhere in April. I know we've recruited her. She's a special player, but I don't believe we are anywhere near being the favorite to sign her. I believe we're in pretty good shape. Our freshmen saw a lot of minutes this season and grew up and improved as the season went on. That bodes well for the future. Obviously, losing Vicky is a major blow. I think our game will change with her loss. We're bringing in shooters so we'll be more of a perimeter threat as a team next season. Our newcomers bring a lot of talent, skill and experience. Ashley and Rylie are recognized and proven stars in Oklahoma high school basketball, and just led their teams to the 4A state championship game where they played against each other. That was pretty cool. They're both tough, and they are leaders. Fruzsi, Maria and Tijana have all played for their national teams in international tournaments. Bria was a prep star at Tulsa's East Central HS who went to Arkansas and began to show what she can do late in her freshman season after coming off of injuries. I'm excited to see her light it up from everywhere on the court. Heck, I'm excited to see all of them light it up. I'm also excited to see Jasauen play. It was tough losing her to the ACL injury. I'm betting she'll come back strong, like Obi did for the men, and impress. I'm sure we'll face a challenging non-conference schedule again next season. We have return games at Grand Canyon and Eastern Michigan, and I'm pretty sure we'll play at TU in the continuation of the Mayor's Cup game/series. Can't confirm but it's also likely we'll play a return game at Missouri State, and we may have a return game at home against UALR. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 BlueGold, --i think Coach Cussen mentioned in one of the coaches' shows that she had signed 5 and had 2 transfers coming in. --on Pitts, it looks like she did not play in the fall for Arkansas. wouldn't that make her eligible in the fall? --are we certain that Mayberry and Wilson will not be returning to the team? no announcement was ever made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGold Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 - I thought I heard Misti say that too, that there are 2 transfers, but I don't have any information on who the other one is, if it is true - Even though Bria didn't play any games for Arkansas this past season, she completed the fall semester there and has to sit out a school year, or two consecutive semesters, making her eligible to play for us in December of next season after the fall semester finals are completed. - Mayberry and Wilson, well, I didn't consider them when putting together my post. Out of sight, out of mind I guess, not to sound cruel. I don't have any information to go on as to what their statuses are. I know they were both brought up in posts last September and October when we realized they weren't on the roster anymore. Most of what I know, or come to know, comes from social media or checking online to see if anything's out there. I haven't seen anything on either of them out there. Unfortunately, I'm not an insider anymore and haven't been for a while. It would be great to have someone on this board that is. I know that the women's basketball program and the Athletic Department aren't going to release everything. I remember sending an email to a former staffer about a year ago asking about what happened to a couple of players that were no longer to be found on any rosters, etc. and said staffer told me in very professional terms that anything they are going to release will be released through the athletics website. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 thanks.....good info BlueGold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I appreciate your informed posts Blue Gold. I heard from an informed person that Mayberry will be back on the squad next year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGold Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Thanks ORUalum, and thanks ORUTerry, I'm glad to hear that KayKay is expected back. It's like recruiting a new player without having to recruit her. She'll strengthen us even more at guard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Blood Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 It's all about retention... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holtontulsa Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Where are you? It is obvious that this year was a step in the right direction. When I say step, I mean, like a babies first step. Congratulations to Misti, however. She did receive her first road in over a year and a half. 0-26 on the road at one point. sheesh! With the players that are leaving vs. the players that are coming in I would say that step forward just turned in to a competitor in the annual diaper derby at the halftime of a men's game. Maybe next years ladies team could play the little dribbles at half during a mens game Gotta give it up to Mike Carter, though. Solid hire! Solid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Blood Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 That's harsh, mean, and unnecessary. It's personal in nature, not beneficial to an adult conversation on the subject, and just plain hateful. I'm not sure how the moderators haven't banned you already. There's nothing wrong with a mature discussion where one disagrees with the direction of the program, but you repeatedly cross the line. Back on topic. What I will add is that, without Vicky, it's fair to imagine this year's record probably looks a lot like last year's record. And Vicky isn't coming back. That doesn't mean the program isn't heading in the right direction, but each returners will need to show real individual improvement for the team to get back to this year's win total in 15-16 without Vicky in the middle. For all the ink the author of this thread spilled, I don't see nearly enough talk about the two real issues to address: retention and point guard development Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Correct JJONES! Misti was a great hire! The previous coach has basically given up/lost his fire. Which is evident by his recruiting the last 2-3 years at ORU and his first 3 years at his new job, where his program has gotten progressively worse each year, which was just capped off by an 8-23 finish this year. I mean...how do you lose 23 games in a season?!? Meanwhile, us ORU fans/alumni have an energetic/aggressive coach and staff that continues to improve and just finished 3rd in the conference and got a post-season road win, last night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGold Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Why even engage in a conversation or back-and-forth with this guy, we all know why he comes on here. Let him continue to try to be clever and talk about babies and diapers and whatever, and to be negative with every post. Just ignore him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Misti is smart, hard-working, moral, and has a wonderful personality. She embodies everything ORU should look for in a coach - in ANY sport - and she should be afforded every opportunity to succeed at ORU, which she has done in the past with Jerry's players, and will no doubt continue to do with her own. P.S. Don't feed the troll. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 I heard from an informed person that Mayberry will be back on the squad next year. good to see Mayberry back with the team! First summer workout is in the books!! #ORUWBB #TisTheSeasonToGetBetter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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