Oral Roberts: The Dark Horse

                                                 





Written By: Avary Bourbin of Swish Tribune


As we all know, March Madness is coming around the corner. Everyone will soon be scrambling to pick the perfect bracket for the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tournament. Most people will be choosing many of the household names including Houston, Alabama, and Kansas to make deep runs this March. But in order to create that perfect bracket, you have to pick the right spot for that major upset. These are games that can make or break one's bracket. Even the top seeded teams are destined to make early first-round exits. Although it’s rare for a 16-seeded team to defeat a 1-seeded team, or a 15-seeded team to beat a 2-seeded team, it has still happened many times.

  

For instance, just last year we saw a team from a small school in New Jersey, St. Peters, with virtually no March Madness experience, stun Kentucky; a blue blood team who has not lost in the first round of March Madness since 2008 and was 28-8 entering the 2022 tournament. I have good reason to believe that Oral Roberts may be the St. Peters of this year's tournament.





Oral Roberts has many components that can make them a dangerous team. Other than having a 7'5 center, Connor Vanover, Oral Roberts has a reliable and experienced senior point guard, Max Abmas, who will not let his team go down without a fight. Not only is the senior guard averaging 22.3 points per night, but he is also the Summit League’s top scorer. Alongside Abmas, Oral Roberts has three other players who shoot 40% from beyond the arc. This team’s perimeter depth allows Abmas to operate more freely, giving opponents no double-team opportunities without leaving the opponent open from downtown.


The combination of a very experienced and hungry point guard with a team that can score from anywhere on the court will cause problems for teams come tournament time. This team is anything but an easy out. Buckle up for this March and the emergence of the Golden Eagles during this year's tournament.

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