TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Tuesday, February 09, 2010 | WIRELESS
CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBER SERVICES | SIGN IN SIGN OUT | MY PROFILE PAGE | MY ACCOUNT

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on RSS
Sports Extra!
Follow us on ...
OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL




SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS
    Sports Editor
Mike Strain
Sports Columnist
Dave Sittler
The Picker
Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA



Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark

Missouri highlights schedule

HAPPY WITH SCHEDULE
Scott Sutton: Says the Golden Eagles will be ready for the challenges of the 2009-10 schedule.
 
By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer
Published: 6/27/2009  2:22 AM
Last Modified: 7/2/2009  8:40 AM

 The 2009-10 season could be filled with uncertainty for the Oral Roberts basketball team. That hasn't stopped head coach Scott Sutton from putting together another challenging schedule.

ORU will play its customary assortment of big-name foes. The good news is that one of them, unlike past years, will visit the Mabee Center.

Missouri, which upset regional No. 2 seed Memphis and reached the Elite Eight in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, is set for a Dec. 9 game in Tulsa, returning ORU's visit to Columbia last December.

Coached by former University of Tulsa guard Mike Anderson, the Tigers went 31-7 last year and captured the school's first Big 12 postseason tournament title.

Although they lost senior standouts DeMarre Carroll (a first-round NBA draft pick) and Leo Lyons, the Tigers will probably be ORU's most attractive home foe since Texas in December 1998.

"It isn't very often that you get a team of that caliber coming to play on your home court," Sutton said. "This is a great game for our team, and obviously for our fans."

Tulsa and New Mexico, an NIT participants last year, also visit the Mabee Center, giving the Eagles "probably the best home schedule we've had at least since I've been head coach," said Sutton, who is in his 11th year.

It's better than last season, when the Eagles had only two nonconference home games and played only once at home between Nov. 17 and Jan. 2.

Tulsa visits on Jan. 20 for the annual Mayor's Cup.

The schedule has games at Louisville, Wake Forest, Stanford and Virginia. Louisville was a No. 2 seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and Wake Forest also qualified.

"We've always tried to give our kids an opportunity to play some of the elite teams in the country. I think there's just a handful we haven't played," Sutton said.

The Eagles will play eight teams that participated in postseason play last March.

It may not seem the time for such a taxing schedule. ORU lost two all-conference selections (Robert Jarvis and Marcus Lewis) and returns one senior starter (Kevin Ford) from a 16-15 squad.

But Sutton is excited about a five-man recruiting class that includes freshmen Damen Bell-Holter, Hunter McClintock and Warren Niles.

"There's certainly a chance that we'll be rebuilding, but every team goes through that," he said. "Hopefully we've recruited well. These guys will have to come in and develop, but the talent is there."

2009-10 schedule

November: 2, Bristish Columbia (exhibition), 7:05 p.m. 7, Rogers State (exhibition), 7:05 p.m. 13, at Wake Forest, TBA. 16, TBA. Nov. 18, at Stanford, TBA. Nov. 21, at Virginia, TBA. Nov. 24, Sam Houston State in Cancun, Mexico, TBA. Nov. 25, Florida A&M or Rider in Cancun, Mexico, TBA. Nov. 30, Arkansas-Little Rock, TBA.

December: 3, UMKC, 7:05 p.m. 5, Southern Utah, 7:05 p.m. 9, Missouri, 7:05 p.m. 13, at Indiana State, TBA. 16, at Louisville, TBA. 23, New Mexico, 7:05 p.m. 31, at South Dakota State, TBA.

January: 2, at North Dakota State, TBA. 7, Oakland, 7:05 p.m. 9, IPFW, 7:05 p.m. 14, at IUPUI, TBA. 16, at Western Illinois, TBA. 20, Tulsa, 7:05 p.m. 23, at Centenary, TBA. 28, North Dakota State, 7:05 p.m. 30, South Dakota State, 7:05 p.m.

February: 4 , at IPFW, TBA. 6, at Oakland, TBA. 11, Western Illinois, 7:05 p.m. 13, IUPUI, 7:05 p.m. 17, Centenary, 7:05 p.m. Feb. 20, TBA. 25, at Southern Utah, TBA. 27, at UMKC, TBA.

March : 6-9, Summit League Tournament, Sioux Falls, S.D.

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

Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark


COMMENTS 
      Add your comment Show: Most Recent Comment First

2 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
Report Comment Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you.  -- Web Editor Jason Collington
 

 
Report Comment
coprau, Tulsa (6/29/2009 12:20:23 PM)
ORU is going to be 5 and 7 through the first 12 games...best case scenario. I like the tough schedule though.
Report Comment
okcthunderrolls, (6/30/2009 1:47:12 PM)
Tough, Tough, TOUGH Schedule!!! ORU is doing a great job of scheduling tough (did I say it enough?) teams, but, they should compete with most of those teams. 5 and 7 through their first 12 would be great, but I think they will surprise Mizzou and maybe Virginia, both of those teams are rebuilding and could be caught off guard by a young talented team of Morrison McClintock Stokes and Ford annd Holter. I'm probably wrong because ORU is young and will lose games they shouldn't lose but will beat rivals and big schools that they shouldn't beat. (sigh) I just wish the season would hurry up and get here.
 

 
Add Your Comment 
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.

 
Post Your Comment
 



Home | About Tulsa World | Advertise With Us | Privacy | Usage Agreement | FAQ and Help | Contact Us | Today's Headlines
Copyright © 2010, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.