College Sports Madness Selects Baseball Preseason All-Summit Teams

College Sports Madness (collegesportsmadness.com) has selected its preseason all-league teams for The Summit League as the site continues the countdown to the 2012 baseball season.

Oral Roberts took three of the four league’s individual awards.  Southern Utah's Bo Cuthbertson was named Player of the Year and also received College Sports Madness Preseason All-America First Team honors.  ORU's Alex Gonzalez earned Pitcher of the Year, while Nate Goro was selected as Freshman of the Year and Rob Walton was named Coach of the Year.

 

The site’s first team all-league selections included Cutherbertson (IF) along with fellow Thunderbirds Taylor Shaw (IF), Tyson Weber (OF) and Mitchell Kauweloa (UTL). The Golden Eagles had a league-high five on the first team. Joining Gonzalez (P) were Drew Bowen (P), Joe Spring (P), Cam Schiller (IF) and Brandon King (OF).  Rounding out the team were South Dakota State's Eric Cain (IF) and Beau Hanowski (OF) and Western Illinois' Tom Lilja (IF).

 

The second team can be viewed on the College Sports Madness website by clicking here.

Oakland Head Coach Pete Hovland Earns 300th Career Win

Oakland head men's and women's swimming and diving coach Pete Hovland earned his 300^th career victory at OU as the men's and women's swimming and diving teams earned wins over both Cleveland State and Xavier Saturday, Jan. 14 at the OU Aquatic Center.   The women beat Cleveland State with a score of 142-101 and earned a victory over Xavier with a score of 186-51.  The men beat Xavier with a final score of 163-42 and beat Cleveland State 134-103.

ORU's Bell-Holter's Buzzer Beater Nominated for Geico Play of the Year

Oral Roberts’ junior center/forward Damen Bell-Holter’s full-court buzzer beater vs. UA-Little Rock on Dec. 12 was nominated for the GEICO Play of the Year, announced by Intersport. Each week for eight weeks, four incredible college basketball plays will be nominated as the GEICO Play of the Year. Each week’s winner will be determined by fan voting through the official Facebook page (facebook.com/BestofCollegeBasketball). The eight finalists will compete in a week-long competition to determine the GEICO Play of the Year. The winner will be announced during the GEICO Best of College Basketball special which airs March 25 at 1 p.m. ET. on CBS.

In addition to recognizing the season’s top plays, the one-hour CBS special will relive the season’s greatest moments, players and traditions. The show reviews the GEICO Best of 2012 Basketball Tour, an interactive fan experience that visits 10 marquee games throughout the basketball season.

With only seconds left in the game and both teams assuming overtime, Bell-Holter caught an inbound pass from UA-Little Rock.  He took a few steps and tossed the ball towards his basket just as time was about to run out. The ball went in as the buzzer sounded and the team went wild. Oral Roberts beat UA-Little Rock in the last second of the game 58-55. Bell-Holter’s full-court buzzer beater is competing against three other plays from week three, including a follow-up dunk by Kansas’ Thomas Robinson, a buzzer-beater from behind the hoop by Wagner’s Kenneth Ortiz and inside-out dribble play by Michigan State’s Keith Appling.

To watch or support Bell-Holter or any of the other highlight plays, visit www.facebook.com/BestofCollegeBasketball. Fans can even share their vote with their Facebook friends. Week three voting opened today, Tuesday, Jan. 17 and ends Monday, Jan. 23, at 11:59 a.m. ET.

Indiana’s Christian Watford won week one with his game-winning 3-pointer against Kentucky, and Purdue’s Robbie Hummel won week two with his buzzer-beating tip-dunk against IPFW.