South Tulsa Today

Oral Roberts men's basketball head coach Paul Mills has been named a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year and Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year awards.

Coach Mills has led the Golden Eagles to their best season in the program's Division One era going 30-4 overall and 18-0 in Summit League. ORU won the Summit League regular season outright for the first time since 2011-12 and is the second team in league history to go through league play undefeated. ORU was the only team in the nation to go undefeated in conference action. Under Coach Mills, Oral Roberts went to the Sweet 16 in 2021 and throughout the 2022-23 season has guided the team to be mentioned in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for seven-straight weeks. ORU will head to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons after winning its sixth Summit League championship

The Hugh Durham Award, which is presented annually to the top Division I mid-major coach in college basketball, is named after a coach who built winning programs at three different universities.

Coaches of teams in the following conferences are eligible for the award: America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC, West Coast.

The Jim Phelan Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top Division I coach, is named in honor of a legendary bow-tied coach who spent his entire career at Mount Saint Mary's University.

The winner of both awards will be announced in March in Houston, Texas, the site of the NCAA Basketball Championship.  

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