It’s great to see these little programs that are working the extra mile, putting forth the effort to get through these short tournaments and lock up an NCAA berth with a conference championship.

MSNBC.COM tells us that the Summit League’s very own Oral Roberts University punched its ticket to the Big Dance by beating IUPUI Tuesday, 71-64. It will be the third consecutive trip for the Christian school based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oral was good from long range, as Moses Ehambe hit seven 3-pointers and scored 25 points in a close game.

IUPUI took the loss in stride.

“ ‘We’re not going back to the hotel to sulk. We planned a nice celebration, and we’re going to have that celebration tonight,’ [IUPUI] coach Ron Hunter said. “We are going to celebrate this. We’re not going to let this moment deter anything from what we’ve done.

” ‘I’ve got the best kids in the world, and we’re going to celebrate.’ “

So are we, coach. We’re going to celebrate our third straight year of Oral.