NCAA Basketball: 3 teams to watch in first week of 2023 conference tournaments

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

When the weekend closes, the Summit League will be down to its last four competitors. If the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles aren’t one of those semifinalists, something has gone terribly wrong.

If the Golden Eagles lose in the Summit League tournament, it will outpace the amount of conference losses Oral Roberts suffered during the regular season. The program is the only one in the entire country to go undefeated in conference play this year.

Many college basketball fans were introduced to Oral Roberts a couple of years ago when the No. 15 seed shocked both Ohio State and Florida in the 2021 NCAA Tournament before narrowly missing a win over Arkansas and a trip to the Elite Eight.

Two players on that squad were deemed worthy of Wikipedia entries. One was Kevin Obanor, who transferred out after that run and is with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who are in the thick of a bubble battle.

The other is Max Abmas, who has remained with the Golden Eagles his entire career. The senior is averaging a mere 22.3 points per game, good for sixth in the sport. He’s the best player in the conference and arguably one of the best at any mid-major conference.

Abmas flirted with the NBA Draft last year and this may be the end of the line for his college career. As long as Abmas leads the Golden Eagles into the NCAA Tournament, Oral Roberts will be a popular choice to pull an upset or two.

If they don’t survive to that point, it could prove to be one of the stories of the week.