Whatever conference it plays in, success follows ORU's basketball program
BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Thursday, February 07, 2013
2/07/13 at 7:05 AM
Oral Roberts has been through conference name changes, conference membership changes and changes in conference affiliation while transitioning from the Mid-Continent Conference to the Summit League and now the Southland Conference.
The thing that stayed the same? Winning.
ORU is 149-41 in league play since the 2001-02 season, including 82-18 in its last 100 conference games.
The Golden Eagles - 9-1 so far in their first tour of the Southland - will attempt to stay atop the league standings when they begin a crucial road swing Thursday with a game against third-place Northwestern State.
What's the secret behind ORU's sustained success? You're only as good as your players. Scott Sutton and his staff deserve a passing grade for their ability to locate and sign prospects who can be difference-makers in whatever neighborhood the Golden Eagles call home.
Put it this way: You can't take up residence at the top of a conference without all-conference players. At least one Golden Eagle has made first-team all-conference each of the last 11 seasons.
Keep in mind ORU isn't pursuing the same prospects blueblood programs are recruiting. Some schools can afford to merely recruit. Golden Eagle coaches have to evaluate.
"You have to find guys that, for whatever reason, slipped through the cracks," Sutton said, before name-dropping former players like Caleb Green, Ken Tutt and Dominique Morrison.
Green became a three-time conference player of the year.
"I am still shocked that not one of the other teams in Oklahoma really thought about recruiting him," Sutton said. "I guess Tulsa did a little bit."
Tutt scored more than 2,000 points at ORU. Morrison was the Summit League's player of the year last season and the Golden Eagles plucked him out of Kansas City, the heart of Big 12 country.
"Our staff has done just a remarkable job of finding guys that can play in any conference in America and convinced them that you can come here and be a star and be a part of a program that has had a lot of success," Sutton said, adding that several other ORU players could have had good careers in leagues like the Big 12 or SEC.
Sutton said his staff tries to examine the potential and character of prospects. Virtually ever player gets "seen" nowadays, according to the coach. The trick is seeing something others don't see.
"Ken Tutt played on an AAU team that probably had six or seven Division I players," Sutton said. "If you go watch a kid once or twice, you may not see what you are looking for because he is not getting the playing time and he is not getting the shots and he is not in a role where you can foresee him playing for you. If you watch him a lot, and that's what we did with Dominique, you could tell there was something special there."
Once targets are identified, Sutton believes ORU has things - good program, good arena, good city - worth selling to recruits.
"But the bottom line is trying to get on kids early and sign them early," he said.
"Guys like Caleb and Dominique Morrison, if they hadn't signed with us in November, we probably wouldn't have been able to sniff them in April. They went on and had unbelievable senior years and we were able to see them and recruit them hard early, the summer before their senior year, and get them signed maybe before people realized how good they were."
ORU's evaluation successes have been a group effort, according to Sutton, who indicated there's a reason former ORU assistants like Corey Williams, Tom Hankins and Chris Crutchfield were coveted by other programs.
"Mike Carter and our administration have done a great job of giving us the resources that have allowed us to keep those guys for as long as we did," Sutton said.
Sutton said his current aides - Kyan Brown, Sean Sutton (who has cred in AAU circles because of his Oklahoma State background), Wade Mason, Conley Phipps and Steve Upshaw - are doing a great job of finding players.
Guard Dederick Lee of Clarksville, Ark., once was committed to Arkansas and recently made Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" after becoming the third player in Arkansas high school history to score 2,500 career points. Scott Sutton said Brown convinced Lee that ORU was the best place for him. Lee and guard Bobby Word of Lancaster, Texas, signed with the Golden Eagles in November.
Said Scott Sutton, "This staff will continue to recruit and find kids that can come in and build this program."
Where Eagles fly
ORU has had at least one first-team all-conference player every year since the 2001-02 season:
2001-02
Reggie Borges, first team
Markius Barnes, second team
2002-03
Reggie Borges, first team
Luke Spencer-Gardner, second team
2003-04
Caleb Green, first team
Ken Tutt, first team
2004-05
*Caleb Green, first team
Ken Tutt, first team
2005-06
*Caleb Green, first team
Larry Owens, first team
2006-07
*Caleb Green, first team
Ken Tutt, first team
2007-08
Robert Jarvis, first team
Shawn King, second team
2008-09
Robert Jarvis, first team
Marcus Lewis, first team
2009-10
Dominique Morrison, first team
Michael Craion, second team
2010-11
Dominique Morrison, first team
Damen Bell-Holter, honorable mention
Warren Niles, honorable mention
2011-12
*Dominique Morrison, first team
Michael Craion, second team
Warren Niles, honorable mention
Steven Roundtree, honorable mention
* player of the year
Up next
At Northwestern State
7:30 p.m. Thursday
Radio: KYAL fm97.1
Original Print Headline: Whatever the league, the success follows ORU
Jimmie Tramel 918-581-8389
jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com
