Oral Roberts

Daily Conference Poll: Who Will Win the Summit?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:52:05 -0500

Summit League Basketball Preview: 08-09

CHN — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:05:07 -0500

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Conference Rank: 25th

10 year average: 26th

All-Summit Team
Pos.	Player	Team	Yr.

G	Robert Jarvis	Oral Roberts	Sr
G	Ben Woodside	North Dakota St	Sr
G	Johnathon Jones	Oakland	Jr
F	Derick Nelson	Oakland	Sr
F	Brett Winkelman	North Dakota St	Sr
CHN Award Winners		Returning Leaders
Mid-Major All-Americans Robert Jarvis Ben Woodside		Points: Ben Woodside 20.7 Rebounds: Ben Winkelman 8.3 Assists: Johnathon Jones (Oak) 6.0

Summit Standings
Nat'l	Team	League	Tourney

118	North Dakota St	Summit	1	NCAA
136	Oakland	Summit	2
152	Oral Roberts**	Summit	3
207	IUPUI	Summit	4
224	Southern Utah	Summit	5
255	IPFW	Summit	6
271	UMKC	Summit	7
287	Centenary	Summit	8
314	South Dakota St	Summit	9
316	Western Illinois	Summit	10

*Click on links for full Top 144 team preview

** returning conference champion

Poll: Who Do You Think Will Win the Summit?

Other Summit Content

Head Coach Q&A's

Ron Hunter: IUPUI

Other

Rise & Fall: Summit

State of '08: Oklahoma

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:06:47 -0400

Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

OKLAHOMA

OKLAHOMA - From 1995 to 2003, the Sooners made 9 straight NCAA Tournaments. The last handful of years have been a bit more unpredictable due to the departure of Kelvin Sampson, but this year's squad has very high expectations.

OKLAHOMA STATE - The Cowboys haven't been to the Big Dance since 2005, which ended an 8-year streak. The last three teams haven't even finished in the RPI Top 50 or at .500 in Big 12 play. The departure of Sean Sutton should help jump-start the program's future.

ORAL ROBERTS - Unlike brother Sean, Scott Sutton's coaching career is off to a phenomenal start. In 9 seasons, he's turned ORU into the Summit League's dominant power. They've made three NCAA Tournaments in row, were a basket away from reaching it in 2005, and are considered by some to be the league favorites once again in 2009.

TULSA - Doug Wojcik has done a great job getting Tulsa back on track after a brutal run from 04 to 06. For whatever its worth, the Golden Hurricane won the CBI last year, but have a shot to make the Big Dance this season. From 1994 to 2003, Tulsa won at least 19 games every season and made 8 potseason trips.

Last: Ohio - Next: Oregon

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

2008 San Juan Shootout: Final Pairings

Press Release — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:05:22 -0400

The Wright State men's basketball team will take a trip in December off the mainland for the first time since 1993 as the Raiders have signed a contract to be part of this year's San Juan Shootout December 20-22. Murray State, South Florida and Oral Roberts have also been confirmed.

2008 San Juan Shootout

Dec. 20 South Florida vs Murray State and WSU vs Oral Roberts

Dec. 21 Oral Roberts vs Murray State and WSU vs South Florida

Dec. 22 WSU vs Murray State and Oral Roberts vs South Florida

ORU Signs Maryland's Beloved Rogers

Press Release — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:46:59 -0400

TULSA -- Beloved Rogers (Baltimore, Md.) has signed a National Letter-of-Intent to play basketball at Oral Roberts University beginning next fall, ORU head coach Scott Sutton announced Wednesday.

Rogers, a 6-3, 200-pound guard, comes to ORU from Princeton Day Academy in Lanham, Md., a Washington, D.C. suburb. One of the top seniors in Maryland, Rogers led the state in scoring at 27.8-points per game, and was also the state leader in 3-pointers per game (3.5) and steals per game (3.6).

"This is a great pick up for us, especially this late in the spring," said Sutton. "Beloved has the size, strength and skills to be an impact player. I love his intangibles. You can'?t teach speed, quickness and athleticism. He has chance to eventually be a great player for us."

Roger's standout senior season was highlighted by five tournament championships and five tourney MVP honors, including top player awards at the South Shore Thanksgiving Shootout in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Western Hills Holiday Classic in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Crossin Memorial Holiday Classic in Plymouth, Pa.

The team captain also posted 13 games with 30 or more points, 6 games with 30-plus points in the second half, two 40 point games and a post-season masterpiece win where he nailed 10 three-pointers and scored 46 points at Friendship Edison HS in Washington, D.C.

Princeton Day's first-year basketball program finished as the 4th-ranked Christian School in America (National Christian School Athletic Association). The National Association of Christian Athletes ranked the Storm No. 8 among Christian school teams in America. And Hoopsusa.com tabbed the Princeton Day squad as the 35th-best squad amongst all Private School teams in the country.

Also an excellent student, Rogers nears graduation with a 3.7 grade-point average while taking mostly honors courses his senior year.

Poll: What Will be Thursday's Big Upset?

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:06:24 -0400

2008 NCAA Tournament Capsule: Oral Roberts

Joel Welser — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:28:05 -0400

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Summit League (24-8, 16-2)

Big Wins: 11/27 Tulsa (84-70), 12/20 at Oklahoma State (74-59), 1/17 IUPUI (64-63)

Bad Losses: 11/14 vs Texas A&M Corpus Christi (81-86), 2/16 at IUPUI (66-69), 3/1 at North Dakota State (55-68)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2007, First Round loss to Washington State

Coach: Scott Sutton (0-2 in 2 NCAA appearances)

Probable Starters:

Adam Liberty, Senior, Guard, 9.7 ppg, 3.3 apg

Moses Ehambe, Senior, Guard, 11.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg

Yemi Ogunoye, Senior, Guard, 3.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg

Marcus Lewis, Junior, Forward, 8.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg

Shawn King, Senior, Center, 9.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.0 bpg

Key Roleplayers:

Robert Jarvis, Junior, Guard, 16.1 ppg, 2.0 apg

Kelvin Sango, Junior, Guard, 3.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg

Marchello Vealy, Junior, Guard, 4.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg

Why They Can Surprise:

Rarely does a so-called mid-major have so much size on the perimeter. On the wings Oral Roberts starts 6-6 Moses Ehambe and 6-9 Yemi Ogunoye. Ehambe is a big mismatch on the offensive end. He can shoot the three-ball with consistency over smaller defenders or use his speed around bigger defenders to get to the basket. Ogunoye is not much of a scorer. In fact, none of his numbers will jump out at you, but he is the prototypical glue guy and does all the little things.

The size continues up front. Marcus Lewis, a 6-8 junior, is a tough forward who has turned into a nice low post option on the offensive end. The transfer from Portland is a solid rebounder and will always be aggressive under the basket. The biggest of the big guys is 6-10 center Shawn King. King has had a solid senior season, averaging 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds. He is also the lone shot blocking threat on the team and averages over two per contest.

Why They Can Disappoint:

The Golden Eagles used their size to dominate the Summit League this season, but they will need their shots to fall with more consistency if they hope to find an upset in March. In years past, ORU was one of the best shooting teams in the conference, but the numbers have slipped a little bit this year. The rebounding is in the same boat. ORU barely outrebounds their opponents and for a team that has used their height to overmatch most teams they play, that is surprising. Ehambe and Ogunoye, despite their size, do very little to help out the overall rebounding numbers.

Who To Watch:

Even with all the size, the two most important players are also the shortest, relatively speaking. Adam Liberty will run the point and he does a decent job keeping the team under control. The turnover numbers are a little high, but Liberty will get to the basket and do plenty of scoring. Robert Jarvis will usually come off the bench and Coach Scott Sutton could not ask for a better spark. Jarvis leads the team in scoring and is a great long range shooter. He is not simply a shooter off the bench though and the 5-11 Jarvis will find his way through the paint and get to the basket.

Today's Top Game Predictions: IUPUI vs Oral Roberts

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:38:34 -0400

A companion to our daily Three Stars of the Day, we present the top three Games of the Night.

IUPUI (26-6) at Oral Roberts (23-8)

7:00 PM ESPN

I've been struggling to pick conference finals games so far.. so take what I say with a grain of salt. Oral Roberts has been the team to beat in the Summit League for a few years.. and is impressively back in the title game despite key graduations over the summer. Though they don't have a star like IUPUI's George Hill (who dominated the semis), they do have a solid cast of supporting players. Both teams split their regular-season series (the games were very close), and tonight's match should be extremely close and heated. But the game is in Tulsa.. and as we saw last night with Siena and San Diego, home-court advantage is a big deal.

Prediction: Oral Roberts

MTSU (17-14) at Western Kentucky (26-6)

7:00 PM ESPN2

The real interesting aspect of the Sun Belt tournament, whether someone could knock off South Alabama to make this a two-bid league, has already occurred. MTSU beat the Jaguars for the 2nd time this season to advance to the title game in Mobile. Western Kentucky is a bubble team of sorts.. but a flimsy one that hasn't beaten a team better than 96th in the RPI all year. In fact, WKU's wins over MTSU are right there as their best wins all season.

Prediction: Western Kentucky

Cleveland State (21-11) at #10 Butler (28-3)

9:00 PM ESPN

Butler is a heavy 10-point favorite in the Horizon Championship.. thanks to name recognition and home-court advantage. But the Vikings beat Butler earlier in the year, and only lost by 5 when they met in Indianapolis. The Bulldogs are too good to lose this game.. but CSU against the big spread is intriguing.

Prediction: Butler

Previous Game of the Night (Predictions, 88-53)

March 10th - Gonzaga at San Diego (1-2)

March 9th - Florida at Kentucky (1-2)

March 8th - UNC at Duke (2-1)

March 5th - Tennessee at Florida (2-1)

March 4th - UNLV at New Mexico (3-0)

March 3rd - Texas Tech at Kansas (3-0)

March 2nd - Clemson at Maryland (1-2)

Daily Dribble: Friday Report Card

Shawn Siegel — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:29:53 -0500

The Report Card

A - Oral Roberts

The Golden Eagles have been the best team in the Summit for a few years now, coming off back-to-back seasons in which they won 20 games and made the NCAA Tournament. But many assumed this good run had more to do with Caleb Green and Ken Tutt as opposed to a consistent base of great talent. But this year's team is showing that there was more to their success than those guys. Seniors like Shawn King, Adam Liberty, and Moses Ehambe, who were contributors last year are playing better than ever.. and have mixed well with newcomers Robert Jarvis and Marcus Lewis. At 13-0 in Summit league play and with a surprisingly good RPI of 46, it makes our 3rd place projection to start the season a bit suspect.

B - Pac-10

Even before the season, the Pac-10 was getting respect as one of the country's best (if not the best) leagues. So the fact that so many teams are getting NCAA Tournament kudos is no big surprise. The league can be looking at 7 bids considering that 7 of the 10 teams have an RPI of 60 or better. This is an amazing number considering that in 2006, the league had only 3 teams better than 57th in RPI, and only 4 teams in the top 85. With the exception of Oregon State, who simply provides two free W's to the rest of the league, every team is moving in a positive direction.

C - Wake Forest

Nice job by Coach Gaudio and the staff getting Wake to .500 in ACC play. With games against Duke, UNC, and Maryland coming up, their 5-5 record might become a distant memory. For today though, this is a nice accomplishment for a team that was considered to be just biding time until next year's monster recruiting class comes to town. Next year's starting lineup of lets say Smith, Teague, Aminu, Johnson and one of Woods/Walker at the five looks pretty solid.

D - UMASS

Huge loss by the Minutemen to Fordham last night. Coming in, they were in almost everyone's projected field of 65 despite a sub .500 A10 record. Sure, they were 4-5 in league play but 3 of the losses were on the road and the other two were home defeats to tournament teams Xavier and Saint Joseph's. The point being they had no bad losses. But a home loss to Fordham (158th in the RPI) could be a big blow to their tournament chances. No doubt they will fall out of most brackets when the analysts rework the field.. but all hope shouldn't be loss. They have a favorable schedule the rest of the way with games against most of the A10's lower tier teams.

F - Picking Big Ten Games

Just about every night for the Games of the Night series, I pick the results of three big games. For whatever reason, my picks have been a bit off this year compared to previous seasons.. and a big reason why is the Big Ten. When the Big Ten's big four get together (Indiana, Michigan State, Purdue & Wisconsin), I've been wrong just about every time. Indiana at Wisconsin.. wrong. Michigan State at Purdue.. wrong. The list could go on and on. One day I'll figure it out.

The Daily Report Card tells you all you need to know about the day in college hoops. From good to bad and bad to worse, I'll be laying down the law.

Previous Best / Worst

February 13th - Mike Green / Ed Donato

February 11th - Charron Fisher / Tim Morris

February 8th - Big West / Virginia

February 6th - Chris Lofton / Dick Vitale

February 5th - Bob Knight / Josh Heytvelt

February 4th - New York Giants / Washington State

February 1st - Nevada / Penn

January 31st - Kansas State / St. John's

January 29th - Winthrop / Dyson & Wiggins

January 28th - Rutgers / Doris Burke

January 25th - Ron Hunter / Princeton Offense

January 23rd - Kentucky / Archbishop Burke

January 22nd - DJ Augustin / Scott Sutton

January 21st - New York Giants / Marquette

January 20th - Maryland / ESPN.com editors

January 18th - Cleveland State / Marquette

January 17th - Drake / HP Laptops

January 14th - Roy Hibbert / Michigan State

January 10th - Tony Bennett / Saint Louis

January 9th - DJ White / CSTV

January 8th - Robert Morris / Schedule Makers

January 7th - Wayne Ellington / Illinois

January 6th - Herb Sendek / Kentucky

Seven Day Stretch: Sutton Brothers Going Different Directions

Rob Carpentier — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:30:47 -0500

Three weeks ago I pegged Providence College as the Seven Day Savior (team), and they have collapsed since then. Two weeks ago, I put Seton Hall in the same category and they too, have fallen off the radar since my selection. Even my choices of SDS individual awards have been hit. Two weeks ago, it was Central Florida. Last week it was UNC-Asheville. Both teams went from undefeated when I wrote about them to losing…in UCF’s case, more than once. Last week I selected Drake and probably put a scare into those Bulldog followers that read the column. They proceeded to lose to Southern Illinois.. Look out ASU.

Seven Day Savior (Team): Arizona State Sun Devils

ASU played only one game last week, but what a game it was! The Sun Devils went into Tucson and defeated the Arizona Wildcats for the Sun Devils’ first season sweep of their in-state rivals since the 1994-95 season. The win, however, went far beyond just a sweep of the Wildcats. ASU, which had been at the top of the Pac-10 Conference only a couple of weeks ago, were in danger of collapsing down the stretch and being shut out of all post-season play. With that victory, coupled with an equally impressive win over Stanford last night, the Sun Devils have again become relevant in any NCAA conversation. This really is an amazing accomplishment considering the state of the ASU program only 1 ½ years ago. Coach Herb Sendek doesn’t have a senior that plays significant minutes and his top player, James Harden, is a freshman. Sendek’s rebuilding plan is already well ahead of schedule.

Seven Day Savior (Player): Ryan Wittman, Cornell Big Red

The sophomore guard from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and son of Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Randy Wittman has clearly become the best player in the Ivy League. In Cornell's sweep of Pennsylvania and Princeton, Wittman had 45 points and was clearly the best player on the floor. The 22.5 PPG average from last week really shouldn’t be a shock. Wittman was one of the best players on the floor earlier this season when Cornell went to Durham, North Carolina and played Duke tough. Wittman averages 15.7 PPG and shoots 51%...that’s right, 51%, from behind the three-point line. He’s an 87% free throw shooter and is even tied for second on the Big Red in rebounding average. With Wittman on the squad, Cornell is a real threat to not only get to the NCAA Tournament, but also upset a team or two along the way. By the way, the win over Penn was Cornell’s first over the Quakers in 18 games.

　

News of the Week: Indiana’s NCAA Troubles

When Indiana hired Kelvin Sampson to replace Mike Davis, there were more than a few whispers. Regardless of what one might think about Bob Knight, (and I’ve always thought of him as over-the-top), he ran a VERY clean program while in Bloomington. Sampson, who had already gotten into hot water with the NCAA because of some illegal recruiting phone calls while he was at Oklahoma, has a reputation as a loose cannon when it comes to the nitty-gritty of the rules. This reputation began when Sampson was at Washington State and gained steam while at OU. Indiana HAD to have known about these whispers, and yet they hired Sampson anyway. The powers-that-be in the Indiana athletic department felt that Sampson was worth the risk. He’s a very good game coach and prepares his teams well. He has Indiana poised to get a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. But now he has been accused of lying to the NCAA. This is the second-worst infraction that a school or coach can be accused of, behind only the dreaded, “lack of institutional control.” Based on the fact that Sampson was already put on what was effectively a probation while at Oklahoma, and that Indiana had to punish him last fall, the likelihood of Sampson’s surviving these latest allegations is pretty slim. Want to bet that the Indiana AD is wishing they went in a different direction now?

Game of the Week (The one you DON’T know about): Memphis at UAB

While were on the subject of Indiana, let’s look at former Hoosier coach Mike Davis and his UAB Blazers as they prepare to host the #1 ranked Memphis Tigers on Saturday. Houston has been getting a lot of press the past few weeks as the only Conference-USA team that could give Memphis a problem. Obviously the press hasn’t been paying attention to Birmingham. Davis is building a strong program at UAB, and he’s doing it outside the shadow of Bob Knight. Memphis is certainly a stronger program…right now, but if Davis and the Blazers can upset the Tigers then it will show that they have taken a big step up. UAB still has an outside shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and a win against the Tigers would go a long way to getting them on the Big Dance card. On the other hand, Memphis is still looking at gaining the #1 overall seed for the NCAA Tourney. Because of C-USA’s low RPI rating, any loss in conference in the regular season will cost Memphis disproportionately in the seeding process compared to any other of the top teams. This is a big game for both teams.

Seven Days Under the Radar: Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

At least one of the Sutton boys is doing well these days. Scott Sutton and the Golden Eagles have been the dominant force in the Summit League, (formerly known as the Mid-Continent Conference), for the past several years, supplanting the Valparaiso Crusaders who just moved to the Horizon League. Sutton’s squad is undefeated in league play; they have an overall record of 17-5, including an easy win against Oklahoma State at a neutral site and they have a wonderful opportunity for a big win on television in next weekends Bracket Buster games when they host Missouri Valley Conference power, Creighton. There is a possibility that if Oral Roberts ran the table for the rest of the regular season and got to the Summit League Tournament final but lost, that the Golden Eagles could be in line for an at-large bid to the Big Dance; their RPI is actually pretty good, at 59 this week.

Seven Days on the Hot Seat: Sean Sutton, Oklahoma State

Scott Sutton is having a great season at Oral Roberts. Scott’s brother Sean, the second-year head man at Oklahoma State, is not. When Eddie Sutton, the famous coaching legend and father of the two Sutton boys, “retired” prematurely, it left Sean in a bit of a lurch. He had been named Eddie’s successor, but the time for that to happen was supposed to be at least another season away. Fate has a funny way of causing plans to go awry. Sutton, who is a good X’s and O’s guy, wasn’t ready quite yet to be the head man. It was hope that he would grow into the position, being able to rely on the talent that was supposed to be in Stillwater. The problem is that the talent isn’t that good, (thanks, Dad), and Sutton isn’t an ace recruiter. Adding to Sutton’s woes is the fact that the Cowboys haven’t won a conference road game since beating Kansas State on February 4…2006! That’s more than two years between conference road wins. As of today, the Cowboys sit in LAST place in the Big 12. That’s a big fall for a proud program. And a big fall usually needs a fall guy.

Seven Days of Head Scratching: Nepotism in Coaching

The Divine Right of Kings used to dictate that the eldest living son of a given European royal family would take the throne upon the death of the king. Whether the new ruler was going to be better than the newly deceased ruler was a crapshoot, but the idea was that the genetics that ran through the family would provide a wise and benevolent ruler. England beheaded Charles I; France did the same to Louis XVI, while Czar Nicholas II of Russia was shot along with his entire family. You get the idea. People generally know that you shouldn’t hire applicants for jobs just because they’re family members. That has a way of turning out badly. A coaching gig at a major Division I institution should be thought of as no different. However, the statistics would show otherwise, at least recently. With last week’s “retirement” of Bob Knight at Texas Tech, and the subsequent hiring of Knight’s son, Pat, as the new head man, nepotism is alive and well in college basketball, and that may not be a bad thing. Admittedly, sometimes it turns out poorly. I already mentioned Sean Sutton’s troubles, but he’s far from the only one. I mentioned last week that it was much more likely, based on his resume, that Pat Knight was going to struggle at Tech. However, there are many “legacies” coaching in their fathers’ chairs that are doing very well. Keno Davis is the mid-major darling of the college hoops world right now, with his 22-1 Drake team. Several years ago, Scott Drew took over for his father Homer at Valparaiso and he got them to the NCAA Tournament in his only season before he took the Baylor job. Based on Baylor’s play this year, Drew knows his stuff and is qualified to be a successful D-1 coach. John Thompson III has taken his father’s seat at Georgetown and returned the Hoyas to prominence. Perhaps most successful of all is Tony Bennett at Washington State, who has had the Cougars poised for a top seed in the NCAA Tourney the past two seasons. One would think that the laws that apply to the rest of the world in regards to leadership would remain the same in the basketball world. Apparently they do not. But, hey, even if they didn’t, at least if you weren’t a success the fans wouldn’t kill you…I think.