As part of Slate.com’s “Duke, Eastern Kentucky and 11 Other Teams We Hate In This Year’s NCAA Tournament”, David Roth lays into the East Region’s no. 14 seed.
If Oral Roberts weren’t Oral Roberts, the Golden Eagles would be easy to cheer for. After 22 years without a tourney bid, ORU just won its second straight title in the Mid-Continent Conference, a bizarro grab-bag whose members include such far-flung institutions as Southern Utah and Michigan’s Oakland University. This turnaround, authored by second-generation coach Scott Sutton and NBA prospect Caleb Green, is a great story ¦ until you remember that it’s ORU.
Televangelist Oral Roberts (above), the school’s founder, preaches “seed faith,” a doctrine that’s indistinguishable from a constant pitch for donations. What do you get for your money? Campus landmarks like a 30-ton statue of praying hands and the TV studio whence the ministry pleads, hourly, for more cash.
If you think ORU takes a hard line on donations, check out this grandiosely illiberal liberal arts college’s policy on cursing. Or gambling, sex, homosexuality, and men wearing earrings. All are banned”though they may have a point on the earring thing. Like everyone else, I’m inclined to pull for double-digit seeds. But personally, I’d rather my underdogs be tougher on defense than they are on male jewelry.