Oakland set for Horizon League semifinal
If recent history is any indication, the Horizon League takes the madness part of “March Madness” very seriously.
Over the past seven seasons since Oakland University joined the conference, the No. 1-seeded regular-season winner has gone on to prevail in the conference tournament just once.
That recent track record — ripe with upsets and parity — suggests the third-seeded Golden Grizzlies will have as good of a shot as any one of the four semifinal teams to emerge and represent the Horizon League in the NCAA Tournament later this month.
Oakland (11-17) will square off against the fourth seed, Northern Kentucky (14-10), on Monday from Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. A 9:30 p.m. tipoff, the game will be televised on ESPN2.
Top-seeded Cleveland State and No. 8 Milwaukee comprise the other semifinal matchup as a result of an incredible slate of quarterfinal games that saw three of them go to overtime and the other decided on a buzzerbeating tip-in basket.
The Golden Grizzlies were one of those teams requiring overtime to dispatch Youngstown State, 87-83, at home Tuesday.
“I didn’t want to say it publicly, but I was really upset when I heard that’s who we drew in the tournament,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said after beating Youngstown State. “Everybody was talking about Detroit (Mercy) being the hot team, or (another) team being the hot team. But Youngstown was the team that scared me the most of all of them just because of their seniors.”
Through to the semifinals, Oakland now faces the highly unusual circumstance of playing a conference tournament game against a team it did not face during the regular season. The Golden Grizzlies were originally slated to face Northern Kentucky for a pair of games Dec. 26 and 27, but the Norse had to cancel due to COVID-19 complications.
“How weird is this? How weird is this year that we’re going to play a team in the postseason in our league (for the first time),” Kampe said shortly after learning of his next opponent Tuesday. “We’ve played 21 league games, but have not played them.”
Northern Kentucky won the Horizon League tournament each of the past two seasons, both times as the 2-seed. The
Norse are led by junior guard Trevon Faulkner (16.3 points per game) and his mate in the backcourt, freshman Marques Warrick (16.1 per game).
Kampe said that despite not seeing NKU in person, he feels he has a good sense of how the Norse play through extensive video scouting.
“The good thing for me is that they play zone. I know the players in the league, so I don’t need to watch their last game or learn about them as players. I need to know what they do against zone (defense) because that’s what we were playing. Every (time I scouted) this year, I watched the team we were playing against Northern Kentucky,” Kampe explained.
“I’ve seen almost every one of Northern Kentucky’s games, so I think I have a leg up. But my guess is they did the same because of our zone. I think the coaches will know each other, but the players won’t … It should be a boxing match, the first 10 minutes of this game.”
The Golden Grizzlies are spearheaded by junior Jalen Moore, who averages nearly 18 points per game and continues to lead the nation in both assists and made free throws.
Two more juniors, Rashad Williams and Daniel Oladapo, have been pouring in 13 points apiece on average for Oakland. The team’s starting five is rounded out by a pair of conference All-Freshman team selections, Micah Parrish and Trey Townsend (Oxford High School).
Now in its eighth season competing in the Horizon League, Oakland has yet to advance to a tournament final. The program last qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011 after winning consecutive Summit League championships.
“The amount of pressure that’s on you in a one-bid league is (huge). You feel it for your players,” Kampe said.
“There’s only four teams left and we’re one of them.”