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First day: Good entertainment value except for the ORU women blowing out WIU.
Women:
ORU 108, WIU 68
IPFW 68, UMKC 53
ORU not perfect but showed signs of perfection...its future is bright, too, with some excellent young talent. Luper deserves all accolades she gets. ORU's coach Fink exhibited some jerky behavior: 108 points and Luper's still in there (Bigham entered the game very late--yep, fully-severed-ACL-protected by a brace). Was Fink looking for records (got one with the 108 score, beating prior 102 high-score conference game record, got another with 42 field goals made-- did he want the three-point record set by SDSU couple years ago at 13? he didn't get that one but he had his long snipers in the game to the end.)
IPFW v. UMKC game was okay much of the first half but UMKC frayed in the second half. UMKC has two freshman towers that should be impact players in the next three years. They're not shy about mixing it up under the basket...one's 6-5 and the other is 6-3. UMKC is a team to watch.
Men:
Oakland 82, SUU 66
ORU 72, NDSU 65
Oakland is clearly the best in the conference. I know they're beatable but day in and day out, they're just a notch above every other team. This game got sloppy at times.
The ORU v NDSU game was the most entertaining game of the first day. As is often the case, the final margin of victory tells nothing. No matter what the actual score showed, this was a de facto one-pointer for most of the final few minutes.
ORU has better talent...is NDSU one of those teams that drags the other team down to its level? ORU's Morrison can do better and he has one season left. Newcomer of the year, ORU's Roundtree, did some freshman things but he's a guy who will be tough to deal with for three more years (anybody remember the first-generation Nintendo Game "Double Dribble"? Remember the sound if you tried to dunk but just bounced the ball off the rim? Roundtree did that late in the game and it was pretty funny. He had an uncontested breakaway and somehow blew the jamb...then, on the other end of the court he fouled a guy hard and went down, might've hurt his back a little).
NDSU sorely needs guards. ORU could get away with poor play at times because NDSU didn't require anything better. NDSU's bright spot -- and it is a very bright spot -- is Travon Wright. The guy is a big-time player and he has three more years in which he'll likely add size and strength.
The second game was a demonstration of what we've watched all season: take Oakland out of the equation and seeds 2-5 or 6 are pretty close.
Women:
ORU 108, WIU 68
IPFW 68, UMKC 53
ORU not perfect but showed signs of perfection...its future is bright, too, with some excellent young talent. Luper deserves all accolades she gets. ORU's coach Fink exhibited some jerky behavior: 108 points and Luper's still in there (Bigham entered the game very late--yep, fully-severed-ACL-protected by a brace). Was Fink looking for records (got one with the 108 score, beating prior 102 high-score conference game record, got another with 42 field goals made-- did he want the three-point record set by SDSU couple years ago at 13? he didn't get that one but he had his long snipers in the game to the end.)
IPFW v. UMKC game was okay much of the first half but UMKC frayed in the second half. UMKC has two freshman towers that should be impact players in the next three years. They're not shy about mixing it up under the basket...one's 6-5 and the other is 6-3. UMKC is a team to watch.
Men:
Oakland 82, SUU 66
ORU 72, NDSU 65
Oakland is clearly the best in the conference. I know they're beatable but day in and day out, they're just a notch above every other team. This game got sloppy at times.
The ORU v NDSU game was the most entertaining game of the first day. As is often the case, the final margin of victory tells nothing. No matter what the actual score showed, this was a de facto one-pointer for most of the final few minutes.
ORU has better talent...is NDSU one of those teams that drags the other team down to its level? ORU's Morrison can do better and he has one season left. Newcomer of the year, ORU's Roundtree, did some freshman things but he's a guy who will be tough to deal with for three more years (anybody remember the first-generation Nintendo Game "Double Dribble"? Remember the sound if you tried to dunk but just bounced the ball off the rim? Roundtree did that late in the game and it was pretty funny. He had an uncontested breakaway and somehow blew the jamb...then, on the other end of the court he fouled a guy hard and went down, might've hurt his back a little).
NDSU sorely needs guards. ORU could get away with poor play at times because NDSU didn't require anything better. NDSU's bright spot -- and it is a very bright spot -- is Travon Wright. The guy is a big-time player and he has three more years in which he'll likely add size and strength.
The second game was a demonstration of what we've watched all season: take Oakland out of the equation and seeds 2-5 or 6 are pretty close.
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