Why Oakland basketball could be this year’s Cinderella story in NCAA tournament

ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oakland University men’s basketball is on the verge of an extraordinary run. With just two more wins, they’re on the brink of punching a ticket to the big dance.

As March grows older, the anticipation for the NCAA tournament continues to increase. While the Michigan Wolverines will miss the postseason for the second year in a row, and the Michigan State Spartans are projected to land close to the 7-line once again, there is another team in the southeast Michigan area that could be dancing in a couple of weeks’ time.

Oakland men’s basketball advanced to the Horizon League tournament semifinal after a 75-65 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday (March 7) night, leaving just two wins between them and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

It was the first time the Golden Grizzlies hosted and won a Horizon League tournament game on their home floor since 2021, just one accomplishment on an already long list for the team.

Led by head coach Greg Kampe, the longest-tenured coach in all of college basketball, OU is quietly putting together its most memorable campaign.

Winning the Horizon League regular season title outright is something the school hasn’t been able to achieve since joining the conference in 2013.

They also have senior forward Trey Townsend, the fourth Golden Grizzly to ever win Conference Player of the Year after averaging a team-high 16.6 points per contest.

Oakland hopes the good times will continue to roll as they are set to face Cleveland State on Monday night. The Vikings split the season series with OU and find themselves in the semifinals after upsetting second-seeded Youngstown State.

For a conference that usually has the tournament champion be its lone representative in the big dance, the Horizon League has been very competitive.

The Grizzlies just knocked off a Purdue Fort Wayne team that finished with 20 wins despite being the 8-seed in the tournament.

Of the four teams remaining in the semifinal, Oakland is the only squad that won its first game after earning a first-round bye. Defending tournament champion Northern Kentucky and Milwaukee make up the rest of the semifinal, which will move to a neutral location next week.

Kampe’s boys led the four teams still alive in points allowed, three-point shooting, and free throw percentage during the regular season, which are crucial for postseason success. If all bodes well, those numbers could also help in the big dance, which Oakland is looking to return to for the first time since 2011.

Senior leadership and depth are other strengths of this team. The entire starting lineup consists of upperclassmen, with four players averaging double digits in scoring.

Guards Blake Lampman and Jack Gohlke ranked top-five in Horizon League three-point shooting percentage and makes, not to mention Gohlke was named sixth man of the year in the conference.

Also coming off the bench is another senior in Rocket Watts, a ball-handler that Michigan State fans probably recognize who led the Grizzlies with 18 points in the win over Purdue Fort-Wayne.

With this season being the last ride for much of his roster, Kampe hopes an NCAA tournament birth will be a nice send-off and a much-deserved reward for all they have been through.

“It’s been the focus since day one. When you have an old group like this, there is no tomorrow,” Kampe said in a one-on-one interview with Local 4′s Hobie Artigue. “They’re not kids anymore. I am coaching men. It’s almost like coaching in the NBA, probably, and it’s been just so much fun because they’re so focused, and they want to win so bad that I don’t have to tell them twice.”

There is still work to be done, but if Oakland gets their name called on selection Sunday, they could be tabbed as an early ‘Bracket Buster.’

In 2011, they were given a 13-seed, with a 14-seed and first-round dismissal at the hands of Pittsburgh coming in the season prior.

Major outlets have the Golden Grizzlies winning the Horizon League tournament and drawing a 14 seed in the latest edition of their bracket projections (ESPN vs. Creighton, CBS vs. Iowa State).

Whoever the Golden Grizzlies get in a presumed first-round matchup will surely be labeled as the betting favorite. After all, Oakland has been able to accomplish in 2023-24 an argument can be made that that team should also be put on upset watch.

Whether it be the St. Peter’s Peacocks, the Princeton Tigers, or the legendary Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast, every year of March Madness provides an underdog that comes from what seems like out of nowhere.

Who is to say that Oakland can’t be next up? Winning the regular season championship, having the conference player of the year, and hopefully taking home the Horizon League tournament championship could be the start of this year’s Cinderella story.