March 3, 2011
ROCHESTER, Mich. -- Dominance can be so fleeting in a one-bid conference.
America loves its March Madness upsets, but what about the basketball team that rules from November through February, only to be sent home by a buzzer-beater?
Oakland University is the class of the Summit League. It's not even close. Greg Kampe's team outscored conference opponents by more than 14 points per game while winning 17 of 18 and running away with the regular-season title.
The Golden Grizzlies cleaned up on the individual awards, too. Center Keith Benson was selected both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Guard Larry Wright is the top sixth man, and Kampe is Coach of the Year.
In its past 49 games against Summit opponents, Oakland is 46-3.
But it's March now, so all of those accomplishments really mean nothing in a small conference like the Summit. All that matters is who wins the postseason tournament to get the automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Oakland (22-9) opens the Summit tournament Saturday night against Southern Utah in Sioux Falls, S.D.
A victory would put the Grizzlies into Monday's semifinals (televised by FOX Sports Detroit starting at 7 p.m. EST), possibly against South Dakota State on Jackrabbits' home floor. The championship game is Tuesday.
"You spend your whole year preparing for this weekend," Kampe said. "There's a ton of pressure on us. Somebody said, 'Well, you're in the NIT at least.' We don't want to go to the NIT."
Although the regular-season title assures Oakland of that NIT bid, it's Big Dance or bust to Kampe and company. The Grizzlies are prohibitive favorites to reach the NCAA tournament for the second straight year. They were a No. 14 seed last year and lost to Pittsburgh in the opening round.
In a way, it will seem as if only Oakland has something to lose in the Summit tournament while the other seven schools have everything to gain.
The Grizzlies think they're ready whatever they face this month. They took on the role of road warriors during the nonconference schedule by traveling to West Virginia, Purdue, Illinois, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio State, along with playing Michigan State on a neutral floor at The Palace.
Oakland was 1-6 against the power conferences, including 1-4 against ranked teams. The highlight was an 89-82 victory over then-No. 7 Tennessee on Dec. 14 in Knoxville.
"It doesn't matter what we've done," Kampe said. "That means nothing. It all comes down to these three days.
"Somebody gets sick, a sprained ankle, a bad call, a team gets hot, we may have to play South Dakota State in front of 6,000 of their people."
That's why he gives his team such difficult challenges in November and December.
It's all part of the plan.
"I don't know that teams from our level get to the Final Four very often, but Butler did last year," Kampe said. "We believe we can do anything. But we won't have the chance to prove that if we don't get through this weekend."
Kampe, in his 27th season as Oakland's coach, has chosen not to hide from the pressure.
Bring it on, he says.
His players were all watching Thursday's news conference when Kampe went on and on about the enormous burden his team faces.
Some coaches are in denial about it. Kampe is just the opposite.
His players have heard the talk many times.
"What's life without pressure?" junior guard Reggie Hamilton said, smiling. "Throughout the season, I think we made a lot of noise, showed that we can play with the big boys. I think we can have a great turnout in the dance if we can just win these three games."
Oakland is No. 56 in the RPI rankings, according to CollegeRPI.com. It's impressive for a mid-major, but Kampe said he's not holding out hope of an NCAA at-large bid.
It's win-or-else in the Summit. That's what he's told his players.
Kampe doesn't sugarcoat anything. He puts his players in tough spots during nonconference play to try to make them tournament tough.
"We had a stretch where we played four games in six days," Benson said of facing Michigan, Rochester College, Valparaiso and Ohio State from Dec. 18-23.
"I think that will help us in the conference tournament, where we have to play three games in such a short period of time (four days). Playing in the hostile arenas really helped us, too."
A year ago, Kampe invited former Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr to talk to his players. Carr's words have become a significant part of Oakland's approach.
"He said some things that we embraced," Kampe said. "One is that you want pressure. You want it, and you want to go right at it. Nothing in the world that's worth anything is easy.
"We want to be in these pressure situations. We want to play Michigan State. We want to play Tennessee. We want to play the best teams in the country."
And they want to be the team that dominates the Summit in the regular season and then has to prove itself all over again in the conference tournament.
