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LOCATION: Tulsa, OK
CONFERENCE: Mid-Continent
LAST SEASON: 17-11 (.607)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 10-4 (t-1st)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 2/3
NICKNAME: Golden Eagles
COLORS: Vegas Gold, Navy & White
HOMECOURT: Mabee Center (10,575)
COACH: Scott Sutton (Oklahoma State '94)
record at school 1st year
career record 1st year
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ASSISTANTS: Conley Phipps (Northwestern St. '90)
Tom Hankins (Northeastern '90)
Corey Williams (Oklahoma State '92)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 10-18-21-19-17
RPI (last 5 years) 260-142-63-146-148
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference final.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Good coaches find jobs. And so, after Southwest Missouri State coach Steve Alford went 78-48 in four seasons, culminating in March's trip to the Sweet Sixteen, he was wooed away by Iowa. And so, after Oral Roberts coach Barry Hinson went 36-23 in two seasons, including two trips to the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament championship game, he was wooed away by Southwest Missouri State. This particular game of musical coaches came to an end when ORU promoted four-year assistant coach Scott Sutton into the top job. At 28, the son of Oklahoma State legend Eddie Sutton, Scott Sutton is one of Division I's youngest coaches, but he has assisted a couple of good head coaches, Hinson and Bill Self, in turning around the Golden Eagles program and building it into a perennial conference contender. Last year's team was no exception. Playing a tough non-league schedule, Oral Roberts staggered out of the gate, going 3-6 in its first nine games. Then the fuse was lit and the Golden Eagles ripped off 13 victories in their final 17 regular-season games. Their 10-4 Mid-Continent record gave them a share of the conference title. Then, after breezing past Youngstown State in the Mid-Continent Tournament, they were ousted, for the second straight year, by Valparaiso, by a mere four points in the championship game. All in all, it was a fine season. Swingman Chad Wilkerson enjoyed a breakout season and earned league player-of-the-year honors, and forward Derrick Taylor was selected to the all-conference second team for the second year in a row. As a team, ORU led the league in field-goal percentage, at .481, and was second in three-point percentage, at .380. And in its two seasons in the Mid-Continent, the Golden Eagles have yet to lose a conference home game.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT C+ BENCH/DEPTH C
FRONTCOURT B INTANGIBLES C
Oral Roberts has transitioned very well to the Mid-Continent Conference, and if Valparaiso hadn't been soaring along on its magic carpet ride of the 1990s, the Golden Eagles could very well have represented the league in the NCAA Tournament at least once, and maybe twice. Scott Sutton, who brings to his new job an impressive pedigree but no head-coaching experience, will try to continue ORU's resurgence. He has a veteran team that knows how to win, which should help a great deal. The Golden Eagles, in fact, are a study in pluses and minuses. The team has lost a stud in Chad Wilkerson, but waiting in the wings is Derrick Taylor, as fine a replacement as a coach could hope for. However, Taylor's health specifically, the condition of his damaged knee is a major concern. There are two double-figure scorers in the backcourt, but center is a jumble of question marks. And on and on. We see Oral Roberts right in the thick of things in the Mid-Continent. The aforementioned minuses seem a bit too daunting to ink in yet another rematch with Valparaiso in the conference championship, but you could certainly justify penciling it in. |
None of this means that Sutton's term is a guaranteed success, of course. But ORU returns a veteran squad this season, one that includes seven seniors, three starters and three double-figure scorers. If he has recovered from the torn ACL that kept him out of the last eight games, 6-5 senior forward Taylor (14.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg) will be the Golden Eagles' go-to guy. Last season he was their second-leading scorer and top rebounder, and he hit for an impressive .534 from the floor. Taylor plays over his head, corralling lots of rebounds and loose balls and powering his way to the free-throw line, where he once again struggled a year ago. His .518 shooting from the free-throw line was about his only offensive weakness. That's a relatively minor quibble, though, and it is completely accurate to say that much of the squad's success this year will depend on his health. The team's other linchpin is 5-11 senior point guard Eric Perry (11.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg), who had 90 assists and 38 steals. He also made 62 three-point shots on .343 shooting, and was 50-of-55 from the free-throw line. He handles the ball well, fires it up when he has the open shot and has proved himself a solid floor leader in two years as a starter. Additionally, for a guy under six feet, Perry hits the boards hard. He and Taylor are the only fourth-year seniors on the team. ORU's third returning double-figure man is 6-4 senior guard Reggie Tate (10.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg), who stepped into a Division I role smoothly after a stint in junior college. Like Perry, he is a backcourt player who can rebound well and shoot the lights out. Tate connected on .498 percent of his field-goals and .460 percent of his three-pointers. He also helped out the offensive cause with 64 assists and .754 percent free-throw shooting. Another player trying to return after a serious injury is 6-3 senior guard Nathan Binam, who lost half the index finger of his shooting hand in a car accident. Binam was out for all of last year. When he last played two seasons ago, he started 15 games, averaging 6.1 points and 2.9 rebounds. He proved an accurate shooter and all-around athlete, but it remains to be seen how his injury will affect his game. Returning to the ORU bench is 6-4 sophomore guard Micah Ratzlaff (0.8 ppg, 0.5 rpg), who didn't do much in 24 games as a freshman despite showing an outstanding shooting touch in high school. He will be joined by 6-2 junior Dave Sumrall, who missed all of last season. He averaged 1.1 ppg and 0.4 rpg in 14 games the season before. In one game, 6-2 sophomore guard Larry French scored no points and grabbed one rebound. The rest of the guard corps consists of newcomers. They are 6-3 freshman Josh Atkinson (Tulsa East Central HS/Tulsa, Okla.), 5-11 freshman Jonathon Barnett (Tulsa Victory Christian HS/Tulsa Okla.), 6-1 junior Marquis Warrior (Carl Albert JC/Midwest City, Okla.), 5-9 junior Evan Black (Middle Georgia JC/Woodstock, Ga.) and 6-0 freshman Nonzo Azubuke (Tulsa Victory Christian HS/Tulsa Okla.). A year ago, Atkinson averaged 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds, Barnett 16.0 points and 5.0 rebounds and Warrior 11.0 points and 4.0 rebounds. Up front, steady center Blake Moses has graduated, taking his 8.2 points and 5.4 rebounds with him and leaving Sutton to find someone to patrol the middle. The coach may be searching for a while. Kyan Brown (1.0 ppg, 0.9 rpg), a 6-7 junior, played in 24 games last season and shot .500 from the floor, but he took only 22 shots. And Paul Brandt (0.0 ppg, 0.3 rpg), a 6-11 senior, has spent the last two seasons trying and failing to find meaningful minutes, so he can't be counted on for a whole lot this season. Taylor will be a fixture at one forward slot. The most likely candidate to fill the other post is 6-6 senior Leon Irving (9.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg), who had an excellent season, leading the team in blocked shots, with 19, and in shooting percentage, at .582. Last year was Irving's first in Division I, and he handled the transition very well. Da'Monn Sanders (2.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg), a 6-5 senior, appeared in 28 games. While Sanders didn't put it up all that often, when he did he was successful, hitting .551 percent of his shots. Rounding out the forwards are 6-8 sophomore Kyle Stewart (0.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg), who appeared in only two games, and transfer Gerald Burris (Shelby State JC/Memphis, Tenn.), a 6-6 junior who averaged 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds two years ago. Burris sat out last season in order to earn his associate's degree.
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