ROCHESTER, Mich. – The leaves on the trees were beginning to lose their color, men’s basketball season was fast approaching and Greg Kampe had a problem.
The Oakland University head coach had been tasked with voting for the preseason All-Horizon League teams, but there were more lines on the ballot than there were names in his head.
“I actually asked on Twitter for help and I had a bunch of people respond,” Kampe said with a laugh. “I looked at it and I took what they said and made my picks. Right now, if you said, ’Name 10 players in this league,’ I would have to go look at my notes. A year from now, I’ll be able to name 50 players in this league.”
In this era of conference reconstruction and realignment, these are the little things that don’t come to mind as consequences of a move. But Kampe takes it in stride, happily figuring things out as he goes while preparing the Golden Grizzlies for their first season in the Horizon League.
“I think it’s a league that top-to-bottom is as good as you’re going to find,” Kampe said. “In our old league, we’d play teams that we’d beat 15 times in a row. That’s not going to happen in this league. Every night is going to be war, and I’m looking forward to it.”
MOVIN’ ON UP
Kampe isn’t the only one at Oakland excited about the move. As far as the university’s athletic administration is concerned, this is a move that’s been many years in the works.
“I think that, for some of us who have been around here for a long time, we’ve always looked at the Horizon League as what would be a great step for Oakland and we always thought Oakland would be a good fit for the Horizon League,” Oakland athletic director Tracy Huth said. “When that opportunity presented itself, we were certainly excited about that opportunity and prepared to make a push for membership.”
Though men’s basketball season hasn’t started yet, Huth has been getting a taste of the Horizon League while presiding over the Oakland fall sports teams and getting involved in the various levels of conference leadership. So far, he hasn’t been disappointed.
“It’s been great, certainly, being involved in some of the committees and with some of the ADs and other administrators; it’s been a great experience for me personally and I think for [Oakland],” Huth said. “We’re getting to see how the league operates and what the potential of the league is. It’s definitely exciting from our standpoint. You just realize the professionalism that is there, the direction that the league is going and the sustaining excellence that’s already there.”
With less hands-on experience so far than Huth, Kampe has been studying up on the Horizon League in preparation for the first season. Like Huth, he’s impressed with what he’s seen.
“It’s an upgrade in prestige, it’s an upgrade in the level of teams that are in [the league],” Kampe said. “It’s central to where we live; it’s central to our fan base – they know the league and there’s a great deal of respect for the league. It’s just a huge upgrade for us in every way we look.”
CHALLENGES AHEAD
On the surface, the move looks glamorous for Oakland. But, as with any change, it also presents a unique set of challenges – most of which have a larger impact that who to vote for in preseason polls.
“I think that the biggest challenge is the unknown – never having shot in that gym, never having gone into a city and gotten prepared for a game,” Kampe said. “When you get into the league, you stay at the same places and you eat at the same restaurants and you get comfortable with your setting. All of that’s going to be new for us.
“For other teams in the league, it’s just the one game in Oakland that’s going to be a challenge for them. We have a new challenge every time we go.”
Huth added that the new team in a conference always has a target on its back.
“I think anytime you go into a new conference, everyone knows that you’re coming,” Huth said. “I think they want to welcome you but at the same time they kind of turn it up a little bit, especially when you go into their venues, to make sure they make it very competitive for you and make sure your team understands that this is a competitive league. I think that says a lot about our program, as well as their programs. We are familiar with a few of the teams, having played them in the past.”
OLD FRIENDS BECOME NEW FRENEMIES
Among the teams with which Oakland has familiarity is Valparaiso. The Crusaders are 17-5 all-time against the Golden Grizzlies and have played Kampe’s squad each of the past three season – with those contests decided by a total of five points.
“Our games with them [Valpo] have been bizarre,” Kampe said. “There are stories that their fans could tell and our fans could tell where we’re ahead by 14 with two minutes to go and lose in regulation. They’ve just been bizarre games that come down to the last possession. Our last three games have all come down to the last possession. That’s exciting that we’re going to be able to get back into that twice a year.”
The relationship between Oakland and Valparaiso is more than just competition. Kampe is a family friend of former Crusaders coach Homer Drew and his son Bryce, the current Valpo head coach.
“I’m sure he really wants to beat Valpo, and we really want to beat him, but he’s also been a friend of our family for such a long time that it’s always enjoyable seeing him,” the younger Drew said. “It’s always competitive, but after the game he’s always very encouraging with the things that he says.”
The Crusaders will visit Oakland on Jan. 4, 2014. Oakland travels to the ARC on Feb. 9.
Drew doesn’t necessarily think Kampe will become buddies with every coach in the Horizon League, but he believes the Golden Grizzlies coach will enjoy the level of competition within the conference. Drew saw a similar situation with his dad, who was the head coach when Valparaiso joined the Horizon League in 2006, the most recent addition before Oakland.
“I think they’ll find more rivalries in the league because a lot of those games are a lot close in proximity to each other,” Drew said. “The teams are very, very competitive – you recruit against the schools in your conference, so you know a lot of the players on other teams when you play against them.”
MOTOR CITY MATCHUP
With the exit of Loyola and the entrance of the Golden Grizzlies, Oakland vs. Detroit becomes the Horizon League’s premiere geographic rivalry. Fewer than 30 miles separate the two campuses.
The Titans are 11-1 all-time against Oakland, but the two schools haven’t played since 2004.
“I think for us, being a local school, I think that’s going to create some more interest here,” Detroit head coach Ray McCallum said. “I think that’s going to bring more awareness and more interest in our league in this area.
“I think, being in the Horizon League, that’s a better brand for them to sell.”
Oakland travels to Calihan Hall on Jan. 11 and the teams will face off from the O’Rena on Feb. 14 in an ESPNU broadcast.
TV TIME
The matchup with Detroit on ESPNU is one of eight appearances on the ESPN family of networks scheduled for Oakland this year.
“We would not have done that without the Horizon League,” Kampe said. ““I’ve been very, very impressed [with] the media awareness that the league has. I think that the people in the Horizon League office are very media conscious, very image conscious with what the Horizon has accomplished, what the Horizon is about and what the Horizon wants to be in the future and I’m very impressed with that.
“It’s just impressive to me to come into a league that is so media friendly and understand that we have a product, we’re trying to sell that product and we’re going about it the best way that we can.”
In addition to national television broadcasts, Huth is excited about Oakland fans and alumni having the ability to tune into the Horizon League Network from anywhere in the world.
“As we prepare for basketball season we need to get prepared for some of those opportunities where our fans can actually travel to games,” Huth said. “And for people who can’t travel or even some alumni who live far away, they know about the Horizon League Network and that has been a huge plus for us to have. So they’ll see our teams play and see the higher level of competition across the board.”
Oakland’s first Horizon League men’s basketball game is Jan. 2 at Wright State and will be broadcast on HLN.
Tags: Oakland - Men's Basketball
