Tulsa World: ORU opens at Wake Forest

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ORU opens at Wake Forest

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Published: 11/13/2009 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 11/13/2009 6:02 AM

They are teams on opposite ends of the college basketball spectrum, but similar in at least one respect.

Both are hoping to atone for last season's failures as Oral Roberts University visits Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference to tip off the 2009-10 regular season Friday night.

ORU failed to win the Summit League regular-season title for the first time in five years and lost to seventh-seeded South Dakota State in the first round of the conference tournament.

"It's still in the back of my mind how we ended our season in the conference tournament, losing to a team we were supposed to beat," said ORU senior forward Kevin Ford said.

"Everything we've done since then has been about getting back to where the program is, and that's in the NCAA Tournament," Ford said.

Imagine Wake Forest's disappointment. The Deacons were No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for a week, beat eventual NCAA champion North Carolina and tied for second in the ACC regular season, but lost to Cleveland State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

"We started off 16-0, No. 1 in the country," senior guard L.D. Williams told the Winston-Salem Journal. "And then we lay an egg in the NCAA Tournament. It just tore us to pieces when we knew we weren't going to be able to fulfill our dream."

Afterward, forward James Johnson and guard Jeff Teague left for the NBA, taking their combined 33.8 points per game with them. Both were eventual first-round draft picks.

That talent

drain wasn't lost on ACC media members, who picked the Demon Deacons to finish sixth in the 12-team race in the league's preseason poll.

"I think a lot of people are probably writing them off," ORU coach Scott Sutton said, "I'm sure they're excited and hungry and have a big chip on their shoulder because they want to prove people wrong."

That's where the similarity between the programs end. The ACC is one of the best in college basketball, and was rated tops among all 32 major conferences in the Ratings Percentage Index last season. ORU's league was 26th.

The Eagles are 0-6 all-time against the ACC.

The Deacons still have plenty to concern the Eagles, starting with sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu. The 6-foot-9 forward received multiple freshman All-American honors and is projected as an NBA lottery pick when he leaves school, probably next April.

"It'll be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to playing against the best," said ORU sophomore forward Kyron Stokes.

The 6-foot-5 Stokes and 6-foot-5 junior transfer Michael Craion will share the job of containing Aminu, who averaged 12.8 points and 8.2 rebounds last season.

ORU guard Rod Pearson will start his first game since transferring from Southeast Missouri State after the 2007-08 season.

Mike Brown 583-8390
mike.brown@tulsaworld.com By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

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