Tulsa World: ORU's grueling road trip begins

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ORU's grueling road trip begins

ORU's Kevin Ford is fouled on a shot attempt by NW Oklahoma State's Kendrae Carter during the 2nd period of their game at ORU in Tulsa, OK Nov. 16, 2009. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Published: 11/18/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 11/18/2009 6:09 AM

Like the old Willie Nelson song, the Oral Roberts University basketball team is on the road again.

Over the next eight days, the Golden Eagles will play games on both coasts and in a foreign country.

It's part of the eight-team Cancun Challenge. The ordeal starts with Wednesday's game at Stanford of the Pac-10 and continues cross country for a Saturday afternoon date at Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

From there, it's on to Cancun for Nov. 24-25 games against Sam Houston State and Florida A&M or Rider.

When the Eagles return with souvenirs on the day after Thanksgiving, they will have traveled some 6,700 miles.

"Our coach did this for a reason," senior forward Kevin Ford said. "If we believe in what we're doing, we ought be able to go and take care of business."

ORU head coach Scott Sutton typically challenges the Eagles with taxing nonconference schedules, feeling it toughens them up for Summit League play. But when is enough enough?

They've already played at Wake Forest of the ACC and still have the likes of No. 20 Louisville (Dec. 16) on the road and Missouri (Dec. 9) and New Mexico (Dec. 23) at home.

"You'd like to think you'd be able (to survive), but you never know," Sutton said.

But Sutton insists the schedule isn't nearly as severe as last year's, when the Eagles played at North Carolina, Creighton, Southern California and Missouri and had only one home game in a 45-day period between Nov. 18 and Jan. 2.

ORU survived, barely. The 3-11 pre-January record was the program's worst since going 2-7 in Bill Self's second year at the helm (1994-95).

"That's probably the one thing I'd go back and change, is being gone so long during the month of December," Sutton said. "When we get back here after this trip, we're here for two or three weeks. We'll be able to practice and get better and we have some home games. I can't predict what our record will be, but I'd be disappointed if it's what it was last year."

Sutton said it helps that the Eagles open conference play at home with UMKC (Dec. 3) and Southern Utah (Dec. 5).

Stanford was ninth in the Pac-10 last year and was picked to finish dead last this year in the league's preseason media poll.

The Cardinal (1-1) lost three veteran producers from last year's 20-14 squad and have had even more attrition leading up to the season. Freshman forward Andy Brown was lost to knee surgery and 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Josh Owens has been sidelined by an undisclosed medical condition amidst speculation he may never play again.

Senior forward Landry Fields is the top returnee from last season. He had 22 points and seven rebounds as the Cardinal opened at home Sunday with a 70-53 win over Cal Poly.

Mike Brown 581-8390
mike.brown@tulsaworld.com By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

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ORU_TXAlum, (11/18/2009 6:48:52 AM)

I watched the game Monday night on FCS; with how terrible NW OK St. is, it was hard to measure how good our Golden Eagles could potentially be. Stanford is a highly intelligent and disciplined team that I think will be a good measuring stick for us.

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