In a series of dispatches, award-winning college basketball writrer and former USA Today columnist Mike Lopresti will share features with HorizonLeague.com. Today, Lopresti looks at the conference's newest member, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
How does Oakland coach Greg Kampe love joining the Horizon League this season? Let us count the ways.
High profile. Kampe relishes hearing the Horizon League vow to maintain national relevance. “That’s what we’re about,” he said. “That’s what we want.”
Travel and climate. Not that the Horizon League is without mileage, or winter, but life in the Summit League for the Grizzlies meant sojourns across a wide swath of northern -- and frigid -- America. “You ever been to Fargo, North Dakota? We played there, it was minus-32 degrees,” Kampe said. “Then you went into the building and in the locker room it was probably only minus-28.”
An instant rivalry. Among Oakland’s new conference cousins is Detroit, just down the road. How eager is Kampe to finally meet the Titans, after the two have debated for years on whether to play? “I think it’ll have all the things that make up a great rivalry,” he said. “Closeness. Words. History of some things. We go there Jan. 11th, and they play us (at Oakland) Feb. 14th. Those are the only two dates of any games I know (besides the season opener). So that might answer the question.”
And finally, the chance to torment a new league with Oakland’s unabashed love to run and score, then run and score some more – while the opponents begin to wheeze. “It’s definitely great as a player to get up and down and try to push teams to maybe something they’re not used to,” said Travis Bader, who is back as a senior guard with a 22-point average.
BYU is the only program in the country to score more points than Oakland the past five years. Now the Grizzlies are in a conference where several teams champion defense. It’ll be fascinating to watch who has the most trouble getting used to whom.
“We’ll see, because a lot of people are saying we’re going to get beat around and knocked down and held,” Kampe said. “We’ve heard it all. Or he’s (nodding toward Bader) is not going to get shots.
“I guarantee you, he’s going to get shots.”
So the Horizon League can plan on some lively nights with its newcomer. Defense? “We open Nov. 8th,” Kampe said, “and I think Nov. 6th in our practice plan, we’ll put in our defense.”
This is a team that broke 80 points a dozen times last season, and returns all five starters. A team whose most dangerous scorer, Bader, is but 101 3-pointers from breaking J.J. Redick’s NCAA career record. A team with a notable thief named Duke Mondy, who topped the nation in steals last season, and had the most in the Big East while a Providence sophomore. So he could become the rare defender to lead three different leagues in steals.
The Horizon League will meet a team routinely steeled for conference play by what has become a Kampe trademark after 29 years at Oakland; a brutal non-conference schedule. Among the glittering names on the Grizzlies’ docket are North Carolina, UCLA, Gonzaga, Indiana and Michigan State. It is an assignment list with little mercy, but lots of purposes.
“One is money,” Kampe began. “Two is, we’re playing the best teams in the country on TV. Our name is going to scroll across the bottom of the screen. Another is what it does to your RPI. And then most important is recruiting. Every kid in Michigan that we recruit knows they’re going to play Michigan State, and there isn’t a kid who grows up in Michigan who doesn’t want to play Michigan State.
“The bottom line for us is, to get to the NCAA Tournament, we have to win the Horizon League. That non-conference schedule is supposed to build and get us ready to have a chance to do that. I’m an old guy that’s been around a long time. I don’t care how many games that we win (early). I don’t care about wins and losses. What we do is try to be really good in February.”
It seems to work. Oakland has advanced to one postseason tournament or another for five consecutive seasons. In those five years, the Grizzlies were 31-4 in February.
We’re grateful, we’re humble, any adjective you want to use, that’s how we feel,” Kampe said of joining the Horizon League. Should be interesting.
Tags: Oakland - Men's Basketball
