Post by QTip – On Twitter @QTip47
Oral Roberts capped off their incredible 30-4 regular season with a convincing 92-58 win in the Summit League Conference championship game. A projected 12 seed in the NCAA tournament and currently the only projected team from the state of Oklahoma to make it in the tournament. So, how can Cinderella from 2 years ago do it again and prove the shoe still fits?
Momentum is everything heading into the NCAA tournament, and this team is HOT. 20 games in a row hot as their last lost came back on January 19th against New Mexico 82-75. Most of those games, Oral Roberts won running away from the competition, as Oral Roberts is averaging 84 points a game and are holding opponents to 70 points a game. If we look back just a couple of years ago when Oral Roberts made the sweet 16, they only had 18 wins the entire year.
Let’s make the case with numbers for the Golden Eagles. Kenpom rankings are rankings that bettors, bookmakers, and even coaches use as they are some of the most accurate rankings there are. Oral Roberts ranks 56th in kenpom total rankings ahead of teams like Texas Tech and Floridia. The more impressive Kenpom ranking for Oral Roberts is that they come in at 23rd in offensive rankings, which is ahead of teams like UCLA and Kansas. Oral Roberts has proven before that offense does more than sell tickets.
Now the final case for Oral Roberts is that every team needs a star, and Oral Roberts has one of the best on their team. Max Abmas, one of the stars of the ball two years ago, is back to make another lengthy tournament run. Averaging 22 points a game while shooting 44 percent from the field and 37 percent from three leads the team in scoring. However, his most impressive stat is he is shooting a whopping 91.8 percent from the free throw line, something a lot of sweet 16 teams struggle with.
It is hard for lighting to strike twice in the same spot, but the NCAA tournament has proven for that not to be the case. From Butler to Gonzaga, teams once thought to always be Cinderella are now consistent favorites. Oral Roberts is led by a great head coach in Paul Mills who is destined to receive Power 5 jobs this summer. A great coach and veteran leadership go hand in hand like Cinderella and a glass slipper.