Pemberton's Point

MIprepzone Football Preview Show - September 9

2010-09-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Host Dave Pemberton breaks down the Game of the Week: Walled Lake Central at Walled Lake Northern with Oakland Press high school coordinator Keith Dunlap and contributor Scott Burnstein. Includes interviews with players and coaches and predictions for the county's 10 best games.

MIprepzone Football Wrapup Show - September 4

2010-09-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

Host Jason Schmitt breaks down the Game of the Week: Southfield at Farmington Hills Harrison with contributor Scott Burnstein and the Farmington at Rochester Adams game with prep coordinator Keith Dunlap.

MIprepzone Football Preview Show - September 2

2010-09-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

Host Dave Pemberton breaks down the Game of the Week: Southfield at Farmington Hills Harrison with Oakland Press high school coordinator Keith Dunlap and contributor Scott Burnstein. The trio also breaks down Farmington at Rochester Adams and gives their predictions for the other big games in Week 2.

MIprepzone Football Wrapup show - August 28

2010-09-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Host Dave Pemberton and guests Keith Dunlap and Scott Burnstein break down the Game of the Week Oxford vs. Lake Orion and the Rochester Adams at Clarkston game. Features video highlights, coaches interviews and analysis.

MIprepzone Football Show's Top 10 Players

2010-09-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

Host Dave Pemberton breaks down the top 10 players in Oakland County with Oakland Press prep coordinator Keith Dunlap and contributor Scott Burnstein.

MIprepzone Football Preview Show - August 26

2010-09-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

Preview of Week 1 of the prep football season, including a complete break down of Oxford at Lake Orion and Rochester Adams at Clarkston as well as predictions for the rest of the big games.

Summit League predictions

2009-10-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

1. Oakland — The Golden Grizzlies look to be in great position to win their first regular season league title since the 1999-2000 season (Oakland’s first in the Summit) and qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. Oakland returns four starters from last year’s team that reached the Summit League championship game and return former leading scorer Derick Nelson, who missed last season with a medical redshirt. Senior point guard Johnathon Jones and junior center Keith Benson are two of the league’s premier players. Will Hudson, Blake Cushingberrry and Drew Maynard all started at times last season and are back. Oakland also adds Larry Wright, who sat out last season after transferring from St. John’s.
2. IUPUI — The Jaguars return seven of their eight rotation players from last season’s squad, which went 16-14, 8-5 Summit. Robert Glenn, the newcomer of the year last season, is IUPUI’s top returning player. Glenn averaged 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds last year. Sophomore Alex Young is back after a solid freshman season where he averaged 10.8 points. Other key players back include Leroy Nobles (9.9 points, 1.4 3-pointers) Jon Avery (9.2 points, 5.9 rebounds), Billy Pettiford (5.0 points, 5.9 rebounds) and Adrian Moss (4.8 points).
3. Oral Roberts — The Golden Eagles lost two first-team all-league players in Robert Jarvis and Marcus Lewis to graduation, but should reload with a solid core back and a group of highly touted newcomers. Sophomore Dominique Morrison is ORU’s leading returning scorer at 9.6 per game. Kevin Ford (9.4 points and 7.4 rebounds) and Kyron Stokes ( points) should also play key roles. The list of newcomers who could make an immediate impact include SE Missouri State transfer Roderick Pearson, freshman Hunter McClintock, freshman Damen Bell-Holter, freshman Warren Niles, Northern Oklahoma College transfer Javier Nasarre and Independence CC transfer Michael Craion.
4. South Dakota State — The Jacks return seven of their top eight players minute wise last season. Senior Garrett Callahan (15.8 points, 2.4 3-pointers) and Anthony Cordova (12 points, 6.7 rebounds) started all 33 games last season for SDSU. Clint Sargent (14.1 points), Kai Williams (9.8 points, 7.1 rebounds), Dale Moss (6.1 points), Griffan Callahan (5.4 points) and Michael Palarca (3.2 points) are also key returnees. With the conference tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. the Jacks could be a dangerous team in March, but first have to end their 18-game road losing streak in league play.
5. IPFW — The Mastodons return four starters in sharpshooter Ben Botts (11.3 points), Nick Daniels (8.4 points), Zach Plackemeier (7.7 points) and Trey McCorkle (3.2 points). IPFW also returns Summit League sixth man of the year Deilvez Yearby (9.1 points, 6.3 rebounds). Newcomers include Lamar CC transfer Antwone Snead, Cloud CC transfer Oleg Kovalov and freshman Eli Lee.
6. North Dakota State — The Bison lose four starters from last year’s Summit League championship team. Junior Michael Tveidt, who averaged 9.8 points per game last year, is NDSU’s lone returning starter. The Bison were dealt a blow when Freddy Coleman was likely lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. Dejuan Flowers (3.3 points) should play a key role this season. Head coach Saul Phillips will likely need a few newcomers to step in and fill key roles.
7. Southern Utah — The Thunderbirds will be a young team this season with six freshman and two sophomores. Davis Baker (17.4 points and 4.5 rebounds) and Jake Nielson (5.8 points) are the only returning players, who logged significant minutes last season.
8. Western Illinois — Head coach Jim Molinari is hoping for a better second season after the Leathernecks lost four of their last five and missed the conference tournament last season. WIU lost its two leading scorers (David DuBois and Josh Rivers) to graduation so Molinari will look to players like Ceola Clark (7.7 points), David Nurse (8.4 points), Quenton Kirby (6.0 points) and Tommie Tyler (3.4 points) to carry the load.
9. UMKC — The Kangaroos certainly want to forget last season, which saw them finish dead last in the Summit League. UMKC has a two promising young players in Spencer Johnson (10.7 points and 6.6 rebounds), Latreze Mushatt (9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds). The Kangaroos are also hoping Evansville transfer Jay Couisnard can come in and contribute right away.
10. Centenary — The Gents are likely in for a long season as they prepare to drop down to Division 3 and are not eligible for the conference tournament this season. Promising young players Chase Adams and Gary Redus have transferred away. Key players for the Gents this season will likely be Maxx Nakwaasah, David Perez, Daman Starring and Jerald Bonham.

Preseason Summit League all-conference team

2009-09-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

I no longer get a preseason vote for the Summit League all-conference team. That honor goes to The Oakland Press' new Oakland beat writer Paul Kampe. (I am now the paper's Pistons beat writer for those that care). But this is the how I would vote for the all-league team. I will have my predicted order of finish for the league later in the week.

1. Johnathon Jones, (Sr.) Oakland — Jones is everything you want in a point guard. He distributes, he can score, he defends and he’s a leader on the court. Who Oakland’s most talented player is up for debate, but Jones is the Grizzlies most important player. Jones led the nation in assists per game (8.1) and averaged 12.9 points per game last season.
2. Keith Benson, (Jr.) Oakland — Benson improved by leaps and bounds last season, and established himself as the dominant big man in the Summit League. Benson has the potential to garner national attention and will get his chance with Oakland’s brutal non-conference schedule. Benson was second in the league in rebounding (8.3 per game), first in blocks (3.2) and eighth in scoring (16.6) last season.
3. Garrett Callahan, (Sr.) South Dakota State — Callahan was the Jacks most consistent player last season and will likely be the league’s top outside shooter this season. Callahan was ninth in the league in scoring (16.1 per game) and fourth in 3-pointers (42).
4. Derick Nelson, (Sr.) Oakland — Nelson entered last season as a possible Summit League Player of the Year candidate before a broken foot forced him into a medical redshirt. A healthy Nelson will be a huge boost for Oakland. Nelson led the Grizzlies in scoring (17.3 per game) and rebounding (7.4) during the 2007-08 season.
5. Robert Glenn, (Sr.) IUPUI — The Wabash Valley transfer emerged as a star for the Jaguars in his first year with the team last season. He averaged 16.7 points and 6.1 rebounds during league play, and was third in the league in blocks (1.7).
6. Dominique Morrison, (Soph.) Oral Roberts — Morrison often deferred to Robert Jarvis and Marcus Lewis as a freshman last season, but now will have the green light as the Golden Eagles No. 1 option. He averaged 9.6 points and 3.2 rebounds a game as a freshman.
7. Alex Young, (Soph.) IUPUI — Young showed flashes of why IUPUI coach Ron Hunter compared him to former star George Hill, but was inconsistent and came off the bench for part of the season. With a year under his belt, Young should start to realize some of his potential.
8. Davis Baker, (Sr.) Southern Utah — The Thunderbirds will rely heavily on Baker, who was fifth in the league in scoring last season, averaging 17.6 per game. Baker is just one of five players back for Southern Utah this season.
9. Michael Tveidt, (Jr.) North Dakota State — Tveidt was often the fourth option for the Bison last season, behind the big three of Ben Woodside, Brett Winkelman and Mike Nelson. Tveidt still averaged 9.8 points per game and will be a much bigger part of the offense as NDSU’s only returning starter.
10. Anthony Cordova, (Jr.) South Dakota State — Cordova has the potential to be one of the league’s top big men after averaging 11.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last season. Cordova could be the key to whether or not the Jacks can contend for one of the league’s top three spots.
11. Deilvez Yearby, (Sr.) IPFW — Yearby was the Summit League sixth man of the year last season and provides the Mastodons with a solid inside presence on both ends of the floor. Yearby was eighth in the league in rebounding (6.3 per game) and second in blocks (1.8).

Next five (in no order): Spencer Johnson, UMKC; Clint Sargent, South Dakota State; Ceola Clark, Western Illinois; Kevin Ford, Oral Roberts; Larry Wright, Oakland.

OU men's schedule is out, here's my predictions

2009-09-14T15:08:00.001-07:00

The Oakland men’s basketball schedule is finally out and man is it a tough one with road games at Wisconsin, Kansas, Memphis, Michigan State, Oregon and Syracuse.

The home non-conference schedule is sort of weak with Hope College, Eastern Michigan, Rochester College, Central Arkansas, Green Bay and Alma, but I know Oakland’s expectations for this season are out and likely made an already difficult task of finding home games even more difficult.

Here is my early prediction of how things pan out for the Golden Grizzlies this season. I may be a little optimistic, but again expectations are high this season.

W — Nov. 10 Hope College — The return of former OU player Peter Bunn won’t go well, as Oakland wins this one easily
W — Nov. 14 Eastern Michigan — The Eagles will be better with Carlos Medlock back, but the Grizzlies should still get the win.
L — Nov. 18 at Wisconsin — Part of me wants to pick an upset here and while the Badgers lost Marcus Landry, they do return Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon.
W — Nov. 21 Rochester College — It’s admiral what OU does for Rochester College coach Garth Pleasant and his program, but I don’t see them even keeping it close.
W — Nov. 23 at Tennessee Tech —The Golden Eagles went 12-18 and 6-12 in the Ohio Valley last year, will be a tough win on the road, but OU is capable.
L — Nov. 25 at Kansas — OU’s Keith Benson will go against his roomate at the Amare Stoudemire camp Cole Aldrich, but the Jayhawks will likely prove too much.
W — Nov. 28 Central Arkansas — The Bears finished dead last in the Southland last year and I don’t see them coming into the O’Rena and getting a win.
L — Nov. 30 at Memphis — The Tigers should once again be one of the top teams in the nation despite the loss of coach John Calipari.
W — Dec. 5 at IPFW — The Grizzlies have just one conference game in the middle of the non-conference schedule this year, which is a positive after losing to Southern Utah in early December the last two years.
L — Dec. 10 at Michigan State — OU has never beat the Spartans and this could be one of the best MSU teams the Grizzlies have faced.
W — Dec. 13 Green Bay — This is Oakland’s most difficult non-conference home game. The series has been entertaining thus far, so this should be a good one.
W — Dec. 17 at Seattle University — Will likley be a tough road game for OU. Seattle went 21-8 last season, including 13-8 against Division I opponents, but lost team MVP Austen Powers to graduation. Seattle will play its first full Division I schedule this season.
L — Dec. 19 at Oregon — Oakland is 2-0 against Oregon the last two years, but the Ducks likely have this one circled on their calendar and will come out fired up to win this game.
W — Dec. 22 at Syracuse — I got a feeling Oakland is going to knock off one of these big-time opponents, it might not be the Orange, but I’m going out on a limb and saying Oakland springs the upset.
W — Dec. 28 Alma — OU concludes the non-conference schedule with an easy win over the non-Division I opponent.
W — Dec. 31 Western Illinois — The Leathernecks will be improved, but Oakland absolutely dominated them twice last year.
W — Jan. 2 IUPUI — The Jaguars will be a dangerous team with Alex Young, Robert Glenn and a solid group back, but OU is tough at home.
L — Jan. 7 Oral Roberts — Oakland fell in overtime at Oral Roberts last season. The Golden Eagles did lose Robert Jarvis and Marcus Lewis, but have a strong group of newcomers. OU will likely lose two or three on the road during league play so here’s one of them.
W — Jan. 9 at Centenary — The Grizzlies got embarrassed at the Gold Dome last year, but this Gents team isn’t the same and will likely struggle all season as the school prepares for the transition to Division III.
W — Jan. 14 UMKC — The Kangaroos will likely be another team that struggles this year after finishing dead last in the Summit League last season.
W — Jan. 16 Southern Utah — Davis Baker and Jake Nielson are back, but the Thunderbirds don’t return much after that.
W — Jan. 21 at North Dakota State — Not sure what to expect from the Bison this year. Michael Tveidt could be a star in the league, but the rest of the team could experience some growing pains.
L — Jan. 23 at South Dakota State — Frost Arena is a tough place to play and the Jacks have nearly everyone back from last year. Like I said previously OU will likely lost two-three conference games so this is the second one I’m predicting.
W — Jan. 28 at IUPUI — The third of four straight on the road for Oakland. This could be a trap game, but the Grizzlies should be able escape the Jungle with the win.
W — Jan. 30 at Western Illinois — Oakland should conclude the road trip with a win over the Leathernecks.
W — Feb. 4 Centenary — Oakland can’t overlook the Gents, but should be able to win this one easily.
W — Feb. 6 Oral Roberts — The Golden Eagles always find a way to finish near the top of the conference, but I don’t see them sweeping Oakland.
W — Feb. 11 at Southern Utah — The dreaded trip to Cedar City, where Oakland hasn’t won since 2006. The Grizzlies end the losing streak this season.
W — Feb. 13 at UMKC — Municipal Auditorium is normally a tough place to play, but the Kangaroos will likely struggle this year so the crowd could be thin.
W — Feb. 18 South Dakota St. — Oakland avenges the loss in Brookings and clinches the league title against the Jacks, who I predict will finish in the top three of the league this year.
W — Feb. 20 North Dakota St. — The Grizzlies continue their home winning streak with a win over the Bison.
W — Feb. 27 IPFW — This could be a trap game, especially if the conference race is over. But if Oakland is undefeated at home at this point in the season then they won’t let it slip away against the Mastodons.

Predicted finish: 25-7 overall, 16-2 Summit (League champions)

Lake Orion at West Bloomfield video

2009-09-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

Lake Orion defeats West Bloomfiled, 49-23.

Kangas signs with Spanish team Rosalia

2009-08-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

Former Oakland star Erik Kangas has signed with Rosalia of Santiago, Spain according to OU Athletics. Rosalia plays in the LEB Silver League.

"This is a once in a lifetime experience, not many people can say they've done this," Kangas told OU Athletics. "I get to go to a great country, where there are a lot of neat cities to visit and I'm getting paid to play basketball. You can't really get much better."

Kangas ended his career as arguably the best outside shooter in Oakland history. He owns the school record for career 3-pointers and 3-pointers in a season, as well as the Summit League single-season recored for 3-pointers. He averaged 3.9 3-pointers per game last season, which was third in the nation.

The sharpshooter also had a knack for hitting big shots, nailing several game-winners during his time at Oakland.

"Since I got to play a lot and showcase myself at OU, that really helped out," Kangas told OU Athletics. "The coach over there watched my games from OU and really liked me. Going through, learning all our offenses and the toughness our coaches taught here have prepared me to go over there."

Kangas is the second member of the 2009 senior class to sign a professional contract. Earlier this month, Dan Waterstradt signed with CSU Pitesti in Romania.

"I'm really happy to sign with Pitesti," Waterstradt told OU Athletics. "I am chasing my dream of playing basketball professionally. I want to thank all the OU fans and alumni that helped and encouraged me to keep working hard. Also I want to thank the OU coaching staff for helping me get to where I am as a player and person."

Bachrouche verbally commits to OU women

2009-08-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

North Farmington’s Jenna Bachrouche knew exactly who to turn to when she needed advice on the recruiting process, her sister Katya, who is a swimmer at Virginia.

With the help of Katya, Jenna Bachrouche decided Oakland was the best place to continue her basketball career and verbally committed to the Golden Grizzlies.

“She went on the official visit with me,” Jenna Bachrouche said of her sister. “She told me it’s a good program and growing. (Coach Beckie Francis) really cared. Some coaches just recruit, Oakland really wanted me and that played a part. They really cared about my family, me and everything.”

The 6-foot Bachrouche picked Oakland over offers from Vermont, Cincinnati, UMKC and IUPUI among others. Oakland’s campus being so close to home also helped Bachrouche make her decision.

“My grandma really loves watching me play and it’s close enough for her to watch me, which is good,” Bachrouche. “My parents and friends can all watch me too.”

Bachrouche’s family played an important role in her decision and posed the perfect question to help her make up her mind.

“I had been talking to my family about it and they asked, ‘Why you wouldn’t go there?’ and I couldn’t really come up with a reason,” Bachrouche said. “I think basically it seemed like the right time, it wasn’t too late and it wasn’t too early. It just felt right.”

Bachrouche has had plenty of battles over the years against Oakland’s incoming freshman and former Lake Orion star Bethany Watterworth, who also helped her decide on Oakland.

“I’ve been playing against her for a long time in AAU and high school,” Bachrouche said. “I met her when I went to an open gym at Oakland and she was really nice. I look forward to playing with her.”

Bachrouche averaged 15 points and eight rebounds last year for the Raiders and helped North Farmington reach the Class A semifinals as a sophomore. Bachrouche hopes to have a memorable senior season and is glad the recruiting process is over so she can concentrate on high school.

“I just want to mentor the younger kids, get them to get better,” Bachrouche said of her goals for her senior year. “Just help lead the team as much as I can. Hopefully we will make it far this year and just have fun.”

Oakland ranked No. 113

2009-08-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Collegehoops.net has the Oakland men's basketball team ranked No. 113. A bit low in my opinion, but then again the Summit League doesn't get much respect nationally. I don't know enough about every college team in the nation to rank them myself, but 113 still seems low to me. Oakland is ranked the No. 1 team in the Summit League, which with what the Grizzlies have returning is a no-brainer at this stage. Overall it's a solid article on Oakland and worth checking out.

The women's basketball team received some good news Wednesday when North Farmington's Jenna Bachrouche verbally committed to the team. I'll have more on that later in the week.

Eisenhower's Petros commits to Oakland

2009-08-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Oakland men’s basketball team picked up its first recruit for the 2010 class when Utica Eisenhower center Corey Petros verbally committed.

The 6-foot-10, 235 pound Petros averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks for Eisenhower last year and choose Oakland over several other offers, including Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Detroit Mercy.

“I talked with my parents about it and I thought Oakland was the fit for me out of all the schools,’ Petros said. “I like how the coaches run their offense and I think the system will fit me perfectly. I really like the coaching staff.”

Petros said Oakland being close to home was a bonus, but wasn’t a factor in his decision. He wanted to pick the school that fit him the best.

“I’m glad I made my decision and can move on and enjoy the rest of my summer and my senior year,” Petros said.

Utica Eisenhower coach Brandon Lemley has worked with Petros since he was a freshman and said he thinks Oakland is getting a heck of a player.

“He’s got great hands, great footwork, and a nice touch around the basket,” Lemley said. “He’s still developing and growing. He needs to put on weight and get stronger, but he’s got a huge upside. … He’s only 16. He’s a year younger for his age. He has a whole extra year of development than your typical senior. As he grows into his body, he will continue to develop. He gets better everyday, if he can continue at the pace than it’s good for his future.”

Petros also plays AAU for Team Detroit, which recently won the Reebok Summer Championships in Las Vegas. Petros’ teammates on Team Detroit include Birmingham Detroit Country Day’s Ray McCallum Jr. and Mount Pleasant’s Trey Ziegler.

Petros is a versatile player, who can go inside and also play on the perimeter. Lemley said Petros was shooting 300 3-pointers a day before the AAU season started.

“He ‘s worked hard on his perimeter game,” Lemley said. “He can face up to the basket. He has good handles and can put the ball on the floor. He can be a face-up type player or go in the post if that’s what the defense is giving him.

“I’m very proud of him and his work ethic, and the way he has represented Eisenhower basketball. He’s been a great representative of what we stand for at Eisenhower. Oakland is going to be thrilled when they get him on campus and he can start playing for the Golden Grizzlies.”

Centenary to leave Summit League

2009-07-09T20:40:00.001-07:00

Centenary has notified the Summit League it will leave the conference in 2011. The school avoids any penalties by giving a two-year notice. South Dakota is set to join the league in 2011, so it appears the league will stay at 10 teams

Losing Centenary is not a big loss for the Summit League. Remaining league members won’t miss the cost of traveling to Centenary’s Shreveport, La. campus. The Gents and Ladies have struggled in men’s and women’s basketball and most other league-sponsored sports. Centenary is also one of the smallest schools at the Division I level with less than a 1,000 students.

"The main reasons were financial and to find a conference more geographically appropriate," Centenary interim president Michael Easton told the Shreveport Times.

The Gents men’s basketball team is ineligible for postseason play next season because of poor Academic Progress Rate scores.

Benson honored to take part in camp

2009-07-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Oakland junior Keith Benson tested his skills against some of the top big men in the country as part of the Amare Stoudemire Skills Academy last week in Phoenix. Benson was one of 14 players invited to the prestigious camp, which featured instruction from NBA coaches and scouts.

“It meant a lot to be selected as one of the top big men around,” Benson said. “There were a lot of major schools there and it was just an honor. ... I didn’t really know a lot about it, but I was excited to get an opportuntiy to go there.”

Benson said he learned over 30 post moves at the camp and different ways to defend each one, as well as things NBA scouts look for when evaluating players. Stoudemire also stopped by to give the participants some pointers.

“It was good to see where I was against other people,” Benson said. “It was different not being the tallest one around and to matchup against them. I think I did well.”

Benson’s roomate was Kansas’ Cole Aldrich, who is projected to be a top five NBA draft pick next season.

The camp also featured Georgetown’s Greg Monroe, Virginia Commonwealth’s Larry Sanders and Tulsa’s Jerome Jordan — who are all projected to NBA draft picks next year by nbadraft.net — and Wake Forest’s Tony Woods, Purdue’s JaJuan Johnson and Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates, who are projected to be NBA draft picks in 2011 by nbadraft.net.

Rounding out the camp was Jeff Allen (Virginia Tech), Denis Clemente (Kansas State), Dwayne Collins (Miami), Jeremy Lin (Harvard), Jerome Randle (California) and Calvin Stoudemire (LeMoyne-Owen College).

Benson participating in Nike elite camp

2009-06-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

Oakland center Keith Benson was invited and is currently participating in the Amare Stoudemire Skilsl Academy, which is for the top big men in the country. Only 14 players in the country are invited so it's quite an honor for Benson to be invited. The other players participating can be viewed here. I'll have more on this later in the week.

Eackles signs with Oakland

2009-05-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

Oakland added to its recruiting class this week with what head coach Greg Kampe called the highest-rated recruit Oakland has ever signed in Ledrick Eackles of Zachary, La.

Eackles choose Oakland over Nebraska, UAB, Southern Miss and even Memphis recently showed interest in Eackles.

“We went outside of our comfort zone in recruiting,” Kampe said. “We went out of our area in who we recruit, which is a major step for us, forget that we got a really good player, we went and recruited a kid from Louisiana that had offers from BCS schools and Conference USA teams, and we got him. That’s a major step forward in who we can recruit. ... We recruited him hard. Darren Sorenson did a tremendous job. I flew to Boston to see him play, that’s something I usually don’t do.”

Eackles said the coaching staff and Oakland’s dribble-drive offense helped him decide Oakland was the right fit for him.

“I really like the coaching staff,” Eackles said. “I liked what they were looking for and I think I fit that description that perfectly. ... It’s a different style of basketball than I normally play. We press a lot in Louisiana. When I came up north, it was a different style. I like the offense Oakland runs, the dribble-drive. It’s a good offense for me because I can get to the basket.”

Eackles played last season for Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. Eackles averaged 12 points a game for Hargrave, helping lead them to a national runner-up finish in the preparatory school national championships, tallying 20 points in the title game and was named to the All-Tournament second team. Hargrave’s entire roster has committed to play Division I college basketball. Playing with so many Division I players has helped Eackles become a better player.

“Playing against the top kids in practice and learning different moves, it teaches you to play defense against different types of players, different talents and moves. And how to read players and study their moves,” Eackles said.

Kampe likes Eackles commitment to defense and his athleticism.

“He’s a tremendous athlete at 6-foot-1,” Kampe said. “His biggest strength is he has the potential to be a lock-down defender. His dad (Ledell Eackles) played in the NBA so he has the pedigree. He’s a shooter too.”

Eackles visited Oakland in late October and said he liked the campus and the players, who showed him around. But there is one thing he will have to get used to, “The only difference is the temperature,” Eackles said. It’s going to be a different atmosphere for me in the winter time.”

Eackles likely completes Oakland’s recruiting class. Kampe said the team has one scholarship left, but they don’t have any offers out for the 2009-10 class.

Tim Williams signs with South Alabama

2009-04-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Former Oakland guard Tim Williams has signed to play with South Alabama after a one-year stint at Motlow State Community College. The following is a press release from South Alabama athletics.

Press release: Williams signs with South Alabama
MOBILE, Ala. — Tim Williams (Pontiac Northern) has signed a National Letter-of-Intent to play basketball at the University of South Alabama for the 2009-10 season, the school announced Tuesday.

Williams is a 6-foot-4, 205 wing and is transferring from Motlow State Community College in Lynchburg, Tenn. He played his freshman season at Oakland University. He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

He enjoyed one of the best seasons in MSCC school history last year, becoming the first player in Motlow’s 40-year history to rank in the top 10 in scoring, scoring average, rebounding, rebounding average, assists and assists average all in the same year.

He led the Bucks by averaging 21.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game and converted a team-high 55 3-pointers and 52 steals.

Williams also inserted his name in MSCC’s single-game records with 38 points (eighth), 20 rebounds (fifth) and seven steals (fourth).

“Tim has great size and the athletic ability to be able to play two or three positions,” South Alabama head coach Ronnie Arrow. “He’s very versatile and has the ability to go inside or outside. He can shoot the 3 and can guard on the perimeter or inside. His signing will enable us to use him in a number of ways — as a defender and a scorer.”

Hamilton to transfer to Oakland

2009-04-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Oakland added a familiar face to its recruiting class with the addition of guard Reggie Hamilton, who is transferring in from Summit League rival UMKC (University of Missouri-Kansas City). Hamilton plans to start summer classes next week at Oakland.

“I am pretty familiar with the program,” Hamilton said. “I like their style of play and coach (Greg) Kampe is a well-respected coach. The program has had a lot of success, and I think the coaching staff and the people they bring in are a big part of that. That’s why I had a lot of interest in the program.”

Hamilton left the UMKC program in late-January after meeting with the coaching staff and agreeing it wasn’t a good fit.

“Mostly the style of play, really didn’t fit me,” Hamilton said. “Me and the coaches agreed that it wasn’t a perfect fit for my style of play.”

Hamilton averaged 12.6 points and 3.6 assists per game in 21 games last season and 11.7 points, 3.3 assists and 3.2 rebounds as a freshman at UMKC.

After being granted his release from UMKC, Hamilton said he talked to the Oakland coaching staff and Oakland point guard Johnathon Jones.

“I talked to couple players,” Hamilton said. “I have a lot of respect for Johnathon Jones. He’s one of the best guards in the conference. To practice with him for one year will be great for me. I talked to him during the season (while at UMKC). I thought that was a big rival for me. We always had good games against each other. It will be great for me to learn from one of the better point guards in the league.”

Hamilton will have to sit out the 2009-10 season, but will have two years of eligibility after that. Hamilton said he gets asked a lot of what it will be like to go against his former team, but he’s not really worried about it.

“I have no hard feelings towards the UMKC program,” Hamilton said. “I’m still cool with the players. There will be no emotions going into that when I’m able to play again.”

Several other schools were interested in signing Hamilton, including Wichita State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Baylor.

Hamilton is originally from Chicago and attended Thornwood High School, the same high school as current New York Knicks center Eddy Curry.

Kangas ready for 3-point shootout

2009-04-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Oakland senior Erik Kangas broke nearly every school record for 3-pointers this season. Now he is set to test his 3-point shooting prowess against the rest of the nation’s top shooters in the 21st annual ESPN College Slam Dunk and Three-Point Championships Thursday at 7:30 at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Kangas is looking forward to the event and said he was honored to be one of the eight players chosen to compete in the 3-point championship.

“I think it’s a good story for the rest of my life that I was one of the few people chosen to be in one of these skills competitions,” Kangas said. “It’s pretty cool that I got in it because I’m at a small school, where you don’t get a lot of national press. It’s good to get my name out there and get Oakland’s name out there too.”

Kangas said he has practiced a few times to prepare for the event, but he is trying to stay loose and have fun with the event.

“I did some trial runs, just picking them off the rack and seeing what side of the rack I’m more comfortable with. Besides that I’ve just been shooting on my own, making sure I don’t get all-washed up,” Kangas said with a laugh.

“I found out that I like picking them up from the right side of the rack better. Also you shouldn’t watch your shoot go in the hoop, you just have to shoot it and pick up the next ball. You can’t waste all that time. … I’m going to do a set-shot too, I’m not going to do a jump shot so I can go quicker. I’m not going to rush my shot, but after I shoot it, I’m going to go get the next ball.”

With the 3-point shootout taking place a short drive from Oakland’s campus, Kangas expects a strong cheering section at The Palace.

“Everyone that I talk to on a regular basis said they are going,” Kangas said. “Student tickets are only five dollars so I’m expecting a big section.”

Kangas will have some stiff competition with Creighton’s Booker Woodfox, Miami’s Jack McClinton, Missouri’s Matt Lawrence, Northwestern’s Craig Moore, West Virginia’s Alex Ruoff, Rhode Island’s Jimmy Baron and perhaps the wildcard of the group Grinnell College’s John Grotberg taking part. Grotberg, an Ann Arbor native, hit 526 career 3-pointers for Division III Grinnell College, the highest total in college basketball history at any level. He is the first Division III player to earn an invitation to the event in its 21-year history.

Kangas said he doesn’t know any of the other competitors, but is looking forward to meeting them and he is also looking forward to the dunk contest.

“The dunk contest is one of those things that everybody likes to watch,” Kangas said. “I think it’s going to be even cooler to watch it in person.”

The dunk contest will feature Gonzaga’s Jeremy Pargo and Micah Downs, Marquette’s Wesley Matthews, Charlotte’s Charlie Coley III, New Mexico’s Tony Danridge, Central Florida’s Jermaine Taylor, Toledo’s Tyrone Kent and Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Terry Evans.

The women’s 3-point championship will feature Arizona State’s Briann January, Maryland’s Kristi Toliver, Iowa’s Kristi Smith, Georgetown’s Karee Houlette, Central Michigan’s Angel Chan, Iowa State’s Heather Ezell, Duke’s Abby Waner and Furman’s Melissa Liebschwager.

Jones named All-American

2009-03-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

Oakland junior point guard Johnathon Jones was named a Mid-Major All-American by CollegeInsider.com Tuesday. Jones and North Dakota State's Ben Woodside were the only Summit League players named to the team. Jones was also named the Summit League Most Valuable Player by CollegeInsider, while Woodside was named the Player of the Year. Not sure what the difference between the two awards is, but it's a nice honor none the less. Jones is just the second Oakland player to be named a Mid-Major All-American. Mike Helms was the first, he earned the honor back in 2003.

Jones set a Summit League single-season record with 290 assists this season, averaging 8.1 per game, tops in the nation. He also averaged 13.3 points per game this season to earn Summit League all-conference first team honors and all-tournament team honors.

"I am pleased for JJ and I think anytime you make a postseason All-America team it is well deserved,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe told OU athletics. “I think if you lead the nation in assists you should make every All-America team.”

Top 10 moments of 08-09 season

2009-03-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

The 2008-09 Oakland men’s basketball season is over. It was a memorable year with plenty of ups and downs as the Golden Grizzlies broke several team and individual school records on their way to a 23-win season, the most in the Division I era. Here are some of the most memorable moments from the season in chronological order, anybody is welcome to put them in their own order or let me know if I missed one.

Oakland wins at Oregon
Not many people thought Oakland could go into Oregon and get a win, especially after defeating the Ducks at The Palace of Auburn Hills the year before. The Grizzlies not only won this game behind a dazzling 32-point performance from Johnathon Jones, but showed a lot of mental toughness by doing it in overtime. Erik Kangas hit three free throws to give Oakland the lead with 33 seconds left and Blake Cushingberry putting them up 3 with a pair of free throws before Tajuan Porter hit three free throws to send it into overtime. I was listening to the game on the radio in the office and when went it went to overtime I told a co-worker that I thought Oakland lost its chance to win this one and Oregon would likely take it in overtime. Boy was I wrong. Kangas converted a three-point play 19 seconds in and the Grizzlies never trailed in overtime.

Freshman sizzle in Vegas Invitational
Freshman Drew Maynard scored 21 points and freshman Blake Cushingberry added 11 points, including the first three 3-pointers of his career as Oakland rallied from a 42-33 halftime deficit to beat Delaware State. The Grizzlies were playing without Erik Kangas, who was out with an injured ankle. The game I thought was a glimpse into Oakland’s future and propelled the team to the lower-bracket championship in the Las Vegas Invitational.

Grizzlies hand Green Bay lone home loss
This is in my mind Oakland’s most impressive win of the regular season. Green Bay (22-11) was 13-1 at home, with its lone home loss being to Oakland. The Phoenix finished the season ranked No. 16 in the CollegeInsider.com mid-major top 25. Kangas came through in the clutch with a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left in overtime to put the Grizzlies up two, 75-73. Oakland held on from there.

Benson’s double-double against U-M
Sophomore Keith Benson had 23 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in Oakland’s loss to Michigan at the Palace of the Auburn Hills. The game helped kick start Benson’s breakout season, where he established himself as a low-post threat for the Grizzlies. Benson even said the Michigan game gave him confidence that he could be dominant against anybody.

Kangas 3-pointer lifts OU over Bison
Battling a cramp in his calf, Kangas played through the pain and hit the game-winning 3-pointer with five seconds left. In a rare display, Oakland head coach Greg Kampe rushed to halfcourt and hugged Kangas at the conclusion of the game. Kangas said it was his most memorable coach Kampe moment. I was on vacation the week of the game, but attended as a fan, dragging my wife along with me. She didn’t miss many games after that.

Kangas nets 39 in win at IPFW
In one of the best offensive performances I’ve seen live, Kangas poured in 39 points, including eight 3-pointers in a 93-88 win over the Mastodons. IPFW tried everything it could to slow down Kangas, but nothing worked. I think an older gentleman that sat in front of me put it best when he said, “Man that guy can shoot,” after Kangas buried an NBA range 3-pointer with a defender in his face.

Kangas hot-streak continues
Kangas hit eight 3-pointers in a win over IUPUI and then hit seven against Western Illinois to become Oakland’s all-time leader in 3-pointers. It gave Kangas 23 3-pointers in three games. In a classy move Oakland announced that Kangas was the new all-time leader and Kampe even called a timeout so the crowd could cheer Kangas’ accomplishment. Kangas won back-to-back Summit League Player of the Week honors for his effort.

Oakland dominates Oral Roberts
The Grizzlies lost a tough one in overtime at Oral Roberts earlier in the season and were coming off a pair of losses at the Dakotas. Kampe later said he thought the South Dakota State loss changed the team’s season and the players became committed to defense after it. Oakland’s ‘Big Three’ all had huge games as Kangas netted 21 points, Benson had 19 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and Jones had 17 points and 13 assists. The win was the first of nine straight for Oakland.

Oakland completes perfect home season
Oakland defeated UMKC, 100-88, in the regular-season finale to finish the regular season 11-0 at the O’Rena and earns its first 20-win season since turning Division I. Despite being out of the conference tournament race, the Kangaroos didn’t allow Oakland to coast to victory and gave an inspired effort. But Oakland used its offense to win the game. Also memorable was senior Ricky Bieszki making his first career-start and addressing the crowd along with fellow seniors Dan Waterstradt and Kangas after the game.

Grizzlies reach Summit League title game
Playing basically road games in the semifinals against South Dakota State and in the finals against North Dakota State, Oakland appeared on its way to the NCAA tournament before the Bison rallied and defeated the Grizzlies on a last-second shot by Ben Woodside. Seeing the Grizzlies come into the semifinal game in front of a packed house and dominate the game from start to finish was impressive to see. The loss in the finals may have erased the memory for some of how well Oakland played for 75 minutes in three days, but the Grizzlies gave it their all and came up just a bit short. The city of Sioux Falls also was impressive in its effort, shattering attendance records. It was also a neat experience going to various places and having people know not only about South Dakota State, but the entire Summit League. Every person I talked to had nothing but positive things to say about Oakland, including a group of classy Bison fans I ran into at Buffalo Wild Wings after the championship game.

75-footer eliminates Oakland from CIT
The season has to end at some point and if you can’t win the final game, why not lose on a 75-footer? That was my attempt at trying to be positive. You would have a hard time convincing me Bradley's Chris Roberts got the shot off in 0.9 seconds, but either way it was one heck of a shot and one that will be remembered for a long time to come. Had the shot missed, Oakland might have went on to win the CIT, but we’ll never know. The win over Kent State was also memorable. Oakland came out in a daze, but came out inspired in the second half and dominated. Jones also broke the Summit League single-season assist record in the Kent State win.

Oakland at Bradley live blog

2009-03-23T16:16:00.001-07:00

Oakland at Bradley

Oakland at Bradley preview

2009-03-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

CollegeInsider.com Tournament

The opponent — Bradley (19-14) finished in fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference and has an RPI of 98, tops of the 16 teams in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Braves defeated Austin Peay, 81-74, in the first round to advance to the quarterfinals.

Seventh-year Bradley head coach Jim Les runs a ‘spread motion’ offense and likes to play an uptempo style. Les has recruited athletic and skilled players to run his system.

Senior forward Theron Wilson (6-foot-5, 200) is Bradley’s go-to player. Wilson was a first-team all conference player and is the only player in the Missouri Valley Conference to rank among the league’s top five in scoring (14.1, fifth), rebounding (7.2, fourth) and steals (1.9, second). He leads the Braves in all three categories. Wilson also gets to the free-throw line, averaging 7.2 attempts per game and is shooting 71.8 percent. Wilson has averaged 8.7 free throw attempts in Bradley’s 19 wins, compared to 5.1 attempts in its 14 losses.

The Braves as a team get to the free-throw line a lot. Bradley’s 777 free-throw attempts this season is among the top 30 in the nation.

Sophomore guard Sam Maniscalco (12.5 points, 2.9 assists, 1.9 3-pointers) is the Braves best outside shooter and shoots over 84 percent from the free-throw line. Bradley’s third-leading scorer Dodie Dunson (10.1 points, 3.0 rebounds) will likely be limited. Dunson suffered a severely bruised hand back on Feb. 21. He was limited in the Missouri Valley Tournament and played just 10 minutes against Austin Peay and didn’t score

Junior guard Chris Roberts (8.3 points, 4.1 rebounds), freshman point guard Eddren McCain (5.8 points, 3.2 assists) and 7-foot senior center David Collins (4.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.5 blocks) round out the Braves’ starting lineup. Senior forward Sam Singh (4.7 points, 3.2 rebounds) and freshman forward Taylor Brown (3.6 points) are key players off the bench.

The Braves hit 11 3-pointers and shot 24 for 38 from the free-throw line in their win over Austin Peay. Bradley, which is located in Peoria, Ill., drew 4,472 fans for the first round game. The Braves averaged over 10,000 fans a game during the regular season. Wilson led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds against Austin Peay, Maniscalco added 15 points and hit four 3-pointers, McCain had 13 points and five assists and Roberts finished with 12 points.

Bradley lost key players Andrew Warren and Will Egolf to season-ending injuries early in the season.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Bradley’s Sam Maniscalco. The Grizzlies will likely have several guys try to shut down Wilson, but the matchup between Kangas and Maniscalco will be crucial. Kangas scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half against Kent State and showed once again how he can change the whole momentum of a game when he gets hot. Oakland is 11-1 when Kangas scores 20 ore more. Maniscalco is averaging 16.2 points and 2.5 3-pointers per game in his last nine. Maniscalco has shot 29 free throws in his last four games, including a 14-for-14 performance against Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Matchup history — Bradley won the only previous meeting, 76-35, back on Dec. 6, 1997 at Carver Arena. Oakland and the Braves have had three common opponents this season, Michigan State, UMKC and Southeast Missouri State. Oakland defeated UMKC twice, fell to Michigan State, 82-66, and defeated Southeast Missouri State, 81-63, at the Las Vegas Invitational. Bradley lost to UMKC, 73-61, at a neutral site, fell at Michigan State, 75-59, and defeated Southeast Missouri State, 75-62, at home.

The skinny — Oakland can not afford a slow start like it had against Kent State, especially on the road. The Braves are a tough team at home and went 12-3 at Carver Arena this season. The Grizzlies will have to use its size inside with Keith Benson and Will Hudson to its advantage or could have to go small to defend Bradley’s uptempo style. Benson will likely matchup with Collins, who is a solid shot blocker (second in the MVC), but Collins averages just 17.5 minutes per game.

Oakland point guard Johnathon Jones will also play a key role on both ends of the floor. The nation’s assist leader has reached double digit assists in 10 of his last 15 games, including a 12-assist performance against Kent State.

The Grizzlies bench came up big against Kent State and Oakland could use a similar performance Monday. Oakland is 8-1 this season when Dan Waterstradt scores in double figures and 5-1 when Blake Cushingberry scores in double figures. Waterstradt had 11 points and 11 rebounds in Oakland’s win over Kent State, while Cushingberry added nine points and three steals. Cushingberry will also play a key role defensively and could see time on Wilson.

The winner of this game will have an excellent shot at making the finals, with the winner of the Idaho-Pacific game having to travel across the country to play in Wednesday’s semifinals.

Oakland to play at Bradley

2009-03-19T09:04:00.001-07:00

Oakland will travel to Bradley Monday for the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Bradley defeated Austin Peay, 81-74, at home in the first round of the tournament, while Oakland defeated Kent State at home to advance.

The Braves, who finished in fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference, are 19-14 overall and are 12-3 at home this season.

“Bradley has been an outstanding team in the Missouri Valley, which is a conference that has some pull,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “When we hosted the NCAA Tournament at the Palace, they won two games here. They are pretty darn good. It’s a good team, not the best they’ve had, but solid. They have 19 wins and we’re excited to play them.”

The winner of the Oakland-Bradley game will host the winner of the Pacific-Idaho game in the semifinals. "They have bracketed the tournament now and the winner of our game will host the semifinals," Kampe said.

Oakland got off to a sluggish start in its win over Kent State and trailed 40-27 at halftime before outscoring the Golden Flashes, 53-34, in the second half. Kampe said the extra practice time to prepare for Bradley will help, but he believes at tournament time your team should be ready for anything.

“At this time of the year, your defense should be able to stop anything it sees,” Kampe said. “There shouldn’t be anything you haven’t seen before. I don’t know what they do yet. We are getting the tape today, will be figuring out their personal and trying to get it stopped.

“Except the last seven minutes of first half, (Kent State) couldn’t score on us. If your defense is sound and principles of it are sound, you can stop whatever you see.”

Kampe is also confident his team is now hungry to play in this tournament after not displaying that hunger in preparation for the Kent State game.

“I think they understand the tournament now,” Kampe said. “They played a game, they got excited and now they’re into it. I suspect we’ll go there and play well.”

Oakland vs. Kent State preview

2009-03-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

CollegeInsider.com Tournament

The opponent — Kent State (19-14, 10-6 MAC) finished in a three-way tie for third place in the MAC and lost to Buffalo in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. The Golden Flashes won 10 of its last 12 during the regular season.

First-year coach Geno Ford likes to keep his team fresh. The Golden Flashes have eight players averaging 15 minutes or more per game and just one player, senior guard Al Fisher, averaging over 28 minutes a game. Fisher is Kent State’s leading scorer at 15.2 per game. Fisher also leads the team in assists (3.5 per game) and averages 1.6 steals and 1.3 3-pointers per game.

Junior Chris Singletary (12.2 points) and junior guard Tyree Evans (11.7 points) also average in double figures for Kent State. Evans typically comes off the bench, but has started eight games. Evans is the team’s leading 3-point shooter, averaging 2.5 per game. Singletary averages 3.0 assists, 1.6 steals and 4.1 rebounds.

Other key players for the Golden Flashes include 6-foot-8 junior forward Anthony Simpson (6.7 points, 6.2 rebounds), 6-5 senior forward Julian Sullinger (6.6 points, 4.9 rebounds), 6-10 junior center Brandon Parks (6.1 points, 4.8 rebounds) and senior guard Jordan Mincy (5.4 points, 2.8 assists).

Kent State played three common opponents with Oakland this season. The Golden Flashes lost at Cleveland State, 67-41, defeated Eastern Michigan at home, 68-46, and beat Toledo at home, 81-53. Oakland fell at Cleveland State, 58-55, beat Toledo at home, 67-58, and won at Eastern Michigan, 66-53. This will be the first meeting between Oakland and Kent State.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Johnathon Jones vs. Kent State’s Al Fisher. Fisher is an offensive-minded point guard, who was the MAC Player of the Year last season and an all-MAC first team selection this season. Kent State is 6-2 when Fisher scores 20 or more, so shutting down Fisher will be a big priority for the Grizzlies. Fisher is also known as a clutch performer, with several game-winning shot to his credit in his two years at Kent State. Jones averaged 14 points and 8.3 assists during the Summit League conference tournament. Jones will have to continue to get his teammates involved, while making Fisher work on the defensive end.

The skinny — It’s real simple, both teams would rather be in the NCAA tournament so whoever wants it more in the CollegeInsider.com tournament will likely win. Oakland coach Greg Kampe said after the loss to North Dakota State he was worried because the team wasn’t practicing good, but they have turned things around with good practices the last few days. The Grizzlies’ undefeated home record will be on the line against Kent State so that could also be a motivator. The Golden Flashes need a win to keep their streak of 20 win seasons alive. Kent State is just one of seven Division I programs with at least 20 wins in each of the last 10 years.

Looking at the field, Oakland has a legitimate shot at making a run at the tournament championship, but can’t look ahead. If the Grizzlies defeat Kent State, they would likely host another tournament game on Monday. There is no tournament bracket, with the team’s being re-seeded after the first round so their opponent will be determined later. The tournament semifinals are next Wednesday and the finals March 31.

Oakland to host postseason game

2009-03-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

Oakland’s most successful season in Division I will continue after a heartbreaking loss in the Summit League championship game to North Dakota State. The Golden Grizzlies (22-12) will host Kent State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the O’Rena in the first round of the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

“I’m really excited,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “I’m excited to get a chance to participate in postseason play, especially with the way our season ended. It’s great for our young team to be in another ‘one and done’ situation. It’s great for our seniors to be rewarded for our winningest season in our Division I history. It’s neat we were selected for a home game. They respect our schedule and what we’ve accomplished. I’m excited the fans will get a chance to see Erik Kangas play one more home game. And I’m excited we are in a position where we can actually win it.”

The CollegeInsider.com Tournament is a 16-team tournament that features mid-major schools. The tournament will be re-seeded after each round, with the championship game scheduled for March 31. The tournament field was not set at press time, but check CollegeInsider.com for more details.

“It’s a tournament for the mid-majors,” Kampe said. “It looks toward teams that had really good years, but didn’t get in the NIT or NCAA (tournament). They are deserving, but didn’t get in. A lot of times the NIT will look the other way when it comes to mid-majors because it wants to make money. This tournament is not about making money. It’s about rewarding student athletes at the mid-major level. It’s really a great concept and I’m really excited to be part of it.”

Kent State (19-14) finished tied for third place in the MAC and will have its streak of 20-win seasons on the line against Oakland Tuesday.

The Grizzlies have won a Division I school record 22 games this season and went 11-0 at home to earn the first undefeated home record in school history. Oakland won nine straight before falling, 66-64, to North Dakota State in the Summit League championship game.

Oakland quick hitters

2009-03-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

Oakland senior Erik Kangas has been invited to participate in the College 3-Point Contest on April 2 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Kangas is fourth in the country with 127 3-pointers this season, an average of 3.8 3-pointers per game. Kangas is also in the top-25 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 41.9 percent. Kangas is Oakland's all-time leader in 3-pointers and holds the school and Summit League single-season record for 3-pointers.

The Golden Grizzlies (22-12) have likely not played their last game after falling to North Dakota State in the Summit League championship game. Oakland has a good shot at hosting a game in the 2009 Collegeinsider.com tournament. The 16-team tournament begins on Tuesday, March 17.

Oakland vs. North Dakota St. live blog - Summit League title game

2009-03-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

Oakland vs. NDSU

OU women vs. SDSU - Summit League finals

2009-03-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

OU women vs. SDSU

Oakland-South Dakota State live blog

2009-03-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

Oakland vs. South Dakota St. live blog

Oakland-South Dakota State capsule

2009-03-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

No. 3 Oakland (21-11) vs. No. 7 South Dakota State (13-19)
Why the Grizzlies will win: Oakland has the better inside players and will likely go to them early and often. The Grizzlies should also hold the edge on the boards with the bigger frontcourt. Oakland also has an edge at point guard with Johnathon Jones one of the best around. With Jones running the offense, the Grizzlies can put points on the board and limit their bad possessions. The big question mark is will leading scorer Erik Kangas play and if he does, how effective will he be? Kangas injured his ankle late in the win over IPFW.

Why the Jacks will win: Three words: Home court advantage. The Sioux Falls Arena will be filled to the rafters with Jacks fans, who are hungry to reach the conference championship game. SDSU has talent, but has been inconsistent, especially on the road, where it was 1-15 this season. The Jacks are also a solid perimeter shooting team and hit a school record 15 3-pointers against Oakland in Rochester earlier this season. SDSU rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to win in overtime in the last meeting, so the Jacks have confidence they can beat the Grizzlies.

Position by position breakdown
Point guard: Oakland’s Johnathon Jones (5-11, 165) vs. SDSU’s Michael Palarca (5-10, 170)
If Kangas is out or limited, look for Jones to be more offensive minded against the Jackrabbits. Jones has shown he is capable of going off for 20 or more this season when he has looked for his shot more. Jones will also be key factor in feeding post players Keith Benson and Will Hudson. Jones creates a lot of shots for those two and they didn’t get many looks while he was sitting against IPFW with three fouls last in the first half. Palarca played just eight minutes against Oral Roberts Saturday so he could see limited time again tonight. He has made five starts this season.

Shooting guard: Oakland’s Erik Kangas (6-3, 205) vs. SDSU’s Clint Sargent (6-4, 200)
Kangas status is still up in the air as of this afternoon, but my gut tells me he will at least give it a try. Just having Kangas on the floor is a plus for the Grizzlies because SDSU’s defense will have to be aware of him at all times and can’t concentrate on defending the interior. If Kangas can’t go, look for Blake Cushingberry to likely get the start. Sargent was just 3 for 11 with 12 points against Oral Roberts, but he is a key part of the Jacks offense. He averaged 14.3 points a game this season and hit 66 3-pointers in 28 games.

Wing: Oakland’s Drew Maynard (6-7, 220) vs. SDSU’s Garrett Callahan (6-1, 180)
This matchup will likely be critical. When Kangas missed a game earlier this season with an ankle injury, Maynard scored a career-high 21 points at the Las Vegas Invitational. Maynard was just 1 for 2 with two points in 17 minutes against IPFW, but will likely see more minutes and more shots if Kangas can’t go. Callahan is the Jacks leading scorer at 16.1 per game and went off for 30 against Oral Roberts on Saturday, but was 8 for 20 from the field. Callahan is a 43.2 percent shooter from 3-point range and averaged 2.5 3-pointers per game.

Power forward: Oakland’s Will Hudson (6-9 225) vs. SDSU’s Kai Williams (6-6, 220)
Hudson looked good in Sunday’s win over IPFW, scoring 15 points, grabbing eight rebounds and had three blocks. Hudson will need to be active again tonight and use his height advantage against Williams. Williams is likely the Jacks most versatile player, but has had an up and down junior season after an impressive sophomore and freshman years. Williams has the talent to do a lot of damage so he can’t be overlooked.

Center: Oakland’s Keith Benson (6-11, 225) vs. SDSU’s Anthony Cordova (6-7, 225)
This is the matchup Oakland will need to exploit if it hopes to quiet the crowd. Benson had 11 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks against IPFW, but had just five shots, hitting four. The Grizzlies have to get Benson more looks tonight. Benson will also have to stay out of foul trouble, while remaining aggressive defensively in the paint. Cordova has emerged as a solid player for the Jacks this season and is averaging 11.7 points and 6.8 rebounds this season. SDSU may try to go to him and get Benson in foul trouble.

Bench
The Jacks will likely have the edge here with Dale Moss and Griffan Callahan both productive players off the bench. Moss was 5 for 6 from the field with 10 points and six rebounds against Oral Roberts, while Callahan had four points and 11 rebounds. SDSU played Josh Cassaday (6-6) and Mark Engen (6-10) two minutes each against the Golden Eagels. The Grizzlies bench was likely the difference in its win over IPFW. Senior Dan Waterstradt hit three 3-pointer and finished with 13 points, freshman Matt Samuels had eight points in 11 minutes with Jones in foul trouble and Cushingberry had four points and four rebounds in 26 minutes. Cushingberry could be moved into the starting lineup depending on Kangas’ status.

OU women vs. North Dakota St. live blog

2009-03-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

OU women vs. North Dakota St.

Kangas update

2009-03-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Oakland senior Erik Kangas went down with an injury with 2:18 left in Oakland's Summit League quarterfinal win over IPFW Sunday night. His injury was not disclosed after the game and his status will likely remain unknown until Monday's semifinal game against South Dakota State.

Oakland coach Greg Kampe was asked about the play and had this response: "It was a very physical game. I think that was their strategy, to come out and really get into us. It was like if all five guys foul at the same time, they can only call one. … They really went after us and the refs aren’t going to call a foul every possession so it was a physical game. And it ended like that, usually physical games end where something goofy happens. I’m not happy about it, but it’s basketball. We are going to play tomorrow night, not matter what. But I don’t know, he can’t walk."

If Kangas can't go then freshman Blake Cushingberry will likley move into the starting lineup and freshman Matt Samuels will be boosted into the rotation. Samuels played well Sunday night with junior point guard Johnathon Jones in foul trouble. Samuels had eight points on 8 for 8 free-throw shooting, three assists and one turnover in 11 minutes.

Oakland will take on South Dakota State, which upset No. 2 seed Oral Roberts Saturday night behind the home fans. The women's basketball team will also play tomorrow in their conference semifinal at 3:30 p.m. (Eastern). They will take on the three seed, North Dakota State.

Oakland vs. IPFW live blog

2009-03-08T12:29:00.002-07:00

Oakland vs. IPFW

OU women vs. UMKC live blog

2009-03-07T11:07:00.001-08:00

OU women vs. UMKC

Oakland vs. IPFW capsule

2009-03-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

No. 3 Oakland (20-11) vs. No. 6 IPFW (13-16)
Why the Grizzlies will win: Nobody has been able to stop Oakland’s offense as of late with the big three of Johnathon Jones, Erik Kangas and Keith Benson proving to be too much for their opponents, while Will Hudson, Drew Maynard, Dan Waterstradt and Blake Cushingberry have all made huge contributions. The Grizzlies are 10-0 when they score 80 points or more and have averaged 82 points a game during its seven-game win streak. If Oakland’s offense is on, then there are not many teams that can keep up.

Why the Mastodons will win: IPFW’s offense is capable of keeping with Oakland and has averaged 80 points a game against the Grizzlies this season. The Mastodons’ defense has also stepped up, holding opponents to an average of 65.6 points per game during its current three-game win streak. IPFW has won five of its last seven and look to be coming together at the right time. If the Mastodons can slow down Oakland’s offense and their 3-point shooters are on then it could pull off the upset.

Position by position breakdown
Point guard: Oakland’s Johnathon Jones (5-11, 165) vs. IPFW’s Zach Plackemeier (6-3, 190)
Jones leads the nation in assists at 7.8 per game and runs Oakland’s high-powered offense that has averaged over 82 points a game during its current seven-game win streak. Jones also averages 13.5 points per game and is a tough defender. He will likely guard the more offensive minded Ben Botts. Plackemeier averages 7.6 points and is among the league leaders in assists at 2.8 per game. He has averaged 8.5 points, five assists and four rebounds against Oakland this season.

Shooting guard: Oakland’s Erik Kangas (6-3, 205) vs. IPFW’s Ben Botts (6-0, 165)
This is a matchup between two of the Summit League’s premier outside shooters. In the first meeting Kangas set his career-high with 39 points, while Botts tied his career-high with 22 points. Both players scored 13 points in the second meeting, with IPFW focusing a lot of its attention defensively on stopping Kangas. This matchup will be key with both players capable of changing the whole momentum of the game at any time.

Wing: Oakland’s Drew Maynard (6-7, 220) vs. IPFW’s Nick Daniels (6-2, 190)
Both players could prove to the X-factor for their team. Oakland is 7-2 when Maynard scores in double figures. Maynard’s last double-digit output was against IPFW on Feb. 14, where he scored 13 points. Daniels is a consistent 3-point threat. He has hit 45 3-pointers this season and shoots 49.5 percent from 3-point range.

Forward: Oakland’s Will Hudson (6-9, 225) vs. IPFW’s David Carson (6-7, 220)
Carson has been a thorn in the Grizzlies side since transferring to IPFW, averaging 18 points in four meetings. Carson will try to use his speed and athleticism to counter Hudson’s size, while Hudson will look to crash the boards and go at Carson inside. Hudson’s defense will be more important than his offense in this matchup, but the sophomore averaged 12 points a game against IPFW this season.

Center — Oakland’s Keith Benson (6-11, 225) vs. IPFW’s Trey McCorkle (6-10, 230)
This is the matchup Oakland will likely look to make the most of. Benson had just nine points on 3 for 3 shooting at IPFW, but had 23 points, nine rebounds and six blocks in the second meeting when the Mastodons concentrated on stopping Kangas and Jones. If IPFW employs a similar strategy in the tournament then Oakland will need Benson to make the Mastodons pay. If IPFW is forced to double Benson then it will open up things for Kangas and Jones. McCorkle played just eight minutes at Oakland and 19 in the first meeting, with Delivez Yearby (6-6, 212) seeing more minutes.

Oakland bench vs. IPFW’s bench
IPFW’s Yearby (8.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks) won the Summit League Sixth Man of the Year award and is a rare big body that comes off the bench. The Mastodons typically go deeper into their bench than the Grizzlies with 10 players averaging over 10 minutes a game, while Oakland has just seven. The Grizzlies bench will likely consistent of just Dan Waterstradt and Blake Cushingberry. If either has a good game Oakland’s chances of winning improves. The Grizzlies are 5-1 when Cushingberry scores in double figures and 6-2 when Waterstradt does.

Grizz Talk 3-6-09 Tournament Edition

2009-03-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland head coach Greg Kampe as his team prepares for the Summit League tournament and then hosts the Championship Edition of Grizz Talk Trivia.

Summit League tournament capsules

2009-03-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

No. 1 North Dakota State vs. No. 8 Centenary
Why the Bison will win: NDSU has four fifth-year seniors, who have prepared their entire career for this one shot at the NCAA tournament. Summit League Player of the Year Ben Woodside, first team all-league selection Brett Winkelman, Mike Nelson and Lucas Moormann will play like there is no tomorrow because for these guys there’s not. The Bison offense has been tough to stop all season and scored 89 points in their win over Centenary last week. Woodside had 32 points in the game that had a tournament feel because NDSU was trying to clinch a share of the league title, while Centenary was fighting to make the league tournament.

Why the Gents will win: The equalizer for Centenary is its 3-point shooting. In league play, the Gents led the league in 3-pointers made with 139 and attempted (388). Nick Stallings and Chase Adams each hit over 55 this season and David Perez and Maxx Nakwaasah hit over 20. If the Gents are on from the outside they can play with anybody, but if not they could be in trouble. The big keys for Centenary will be Stalling’s offense, the team is 3-0 in league play when he scores over 20, and how well Adams (the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year) can defend Woodside.

Key matchup: NDSU’s Ben Woodside vs. Centenary’s Chase Adams
Season matchup: NDSU swept, 68-53 on Dec. 6 and 89-79 on Feb. 26
Prediction: North Dakota State comes out with emotion and builds an early lead the Gents can’t recover from. Winner: North Dakota State

No. 2 Oral Roberts vs. No. 7 South Dakota State
Why the Golden Eagles will win: Oral Roberts has the experience edge as the three-time defending tournament champions and the Jacks are playing in their first-ever Division I tournament game. The Golden Eagles frontline of Marcus Lewis and Kevin Ford will have a height and strength advantage, and know how to take advantage of it. ORU senior Robert Jarvis is also known to play his best in big-game situations and won’t be intimidated by the home crowd.

Why the Jacks will win: SDSU will have the home crowd behind it as the state of South Dakota comes out to enjoy its first Division I basketball tournament. The Jacks road troubles have been well documented, but they will be just one hour from their Brookings campus where they went 10-3 this season and 7-2 in league play. SDSU also has solid depth with three players averaging in double figures in Garrett Callahan, Clint Sargent and Anthony Cordova, and also have Kai Williams (9.9 per game) and Dale Moss, who filled in nicely for Sargent who missed a few games recently.

Key matchup: ORU’s Marcus Lewis vs. SDSU’s Kai Williams
Season matchup: ORU swept, 85-76 on Dec. 6 and 63-58 on Feb. 26
Prediction: The Jacks played ORU tough on the road last week and will have the home crowd behind it so an upset pick is tempting. But ORU has been here before and while it will likely be a close game, the more experienced team will win out. Winner: Oral Roberts

No. 4 IUPUI vs. No. 5 Southern Utah
Why the Jaguars will win: IUPUI is clearly the more athletic team and will us its athleticism to its advantage. Robert Glenn and Leroy Nobles have really emerged during league play, while freshman sensation Alex Young has been up and down. If all three can get going, along with Gary Patterson, then the Jaguars have a chance to do some damage. IUPUI has struggled with consistency, but also has multiple players capable of taking a game over.

Why the Thunderbirds will win: Southern Utah coach Roger Reid has gotten the most out of his team all season and will have them ready for the tournament. The frontline of Tyler Quinney and John Clifford can matchup with Glenn and Nobles. The real x-factor for the Thunderbirds will be Davis Baker. If Baker can get going then SUU will have a good shot, but if Baker struggles then so will the Thunderbirds. SUU will also make any team pay for silly fouls, the Thunderbirds lead the nation in free-throw percentage.

Key matchup: Southern Utah’s Davis Baker vs. IUPUI’s Leroy Nobles
Season matchup: IUPUI swept, 59-54 on Jan. and 79-65 on Jan. 29
Prediction: IUPUI is a bad matchup for Southern Utah. The Thunderbirds will keep it close, but the Jaguars will advance behind the play of Glenn, Nobles and Patterson.

My Summit League all-conference ballot

2009-03-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

Summit League all-conference team
1. Ben Woodside, North Dakota State —Woodside was the unquestioned leader for the Bison, which won the Summit League regular-season championship. Woodside led the league in scoring at 22.2 per game and his 23.0 per game overall is currently ninth nationally. His 5.6 assists were second in the league and his 6.3 overall is 11th nationally. He also shot 85.6 percent from the free-throw line and his 237 attempts overall is tied for 10th most in league history. Woodside is NDSU’s all-time leader in points, free throws made and attempted. He is also third in assists, fifth in steals and in second games played.
2. Erik Kangas, Oakland — Kangas was second in the league in scoring at 19.7 per game. He hit a single-season league record 119 3-pointers, which is currently third nationally. Kangas also became the Golden Grizzlies all-time leader in 3-pointers and continues to pad his record. Oakland was 10-1 this season when Kangas scored 20 or more points. He was also third in the league in free-throw percentage (89.3 percent) and averaged 1.2 steals per game.
3. Brett Winkelman, North Dakota State — The senior forward may get overshadowed a bit by Woodside, but he is a huge part of NDSU’s success. He was third in the league in scoring at 19.2 per game and ever more amazing at 6-foot-6 he is third in the league in rebounding (8.2 per game). He was also among the league leaders in free-throw percentage (eighth, 85.3 percent), steals (seventh, 1.5) and field-goal percentage (14th, 49.0 percent).
4. Johnathon Jones, Oakland — Jones led the league in assists (9.2 per game) and is currently leading the nation in assists (7.8 per game). The unselfish Jones also led the league in minutes played (37.7 per game) and assist/turnover ratio (3.0). Jones finished 18th in the league in scoring (12.9) and eighth in steals (1.4). He is also known as a tough defender and was one of eight finalists for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.
5. Robert Jarivs, Oral Roberts — Jarvis followed up his 2008 first-tem All-Summit League performance with another all-league season. Jarvis was sixth in the league in scoring at 17.2 per game, second in 3-pointers per game (2.6) and ninth in minutes (34.6 per game). He helped lead Oral Roberts to a second-place finish in the league.
6. Marcus Lewis, Oral Roberts — Lewis was rewarded for his hard work in the offseason with a memorable season year, where he established himself as one of the top big men in the league. He was among the league leaders in seven categories, finishing 13th in scoring (13.8), fifth in rebounds (7.4), fourth in field-goal percentage (60.7), 14th in assists (2.3), sixth in blocks (0.8), seventh in offensive rebounds (2.4) and fifth in defensive rebounds (5.0).
7. Robert Glenn, IUPUI — Glenn established himself as a force in his first year in the Summit League after transferring to IUPUI from Wabash Valley J.C. Glenn finished seventh in the league in scoring (17.1 per game), ninth in rebounds (6.1), third in blocks (1.7), ninth in steals (1.4) and sixth in field-goal percentage (59.8 percent). He is a strong contender for Newcomer of the Year and a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
8. Davis Baker, Southern Utah — Baker increased his scoring average by over 11 points per game this season. He averaged 6.7 per game last season and improved to 18.5 this season (fifth in the league). He finished fifth in the league in free-throw percentage (87.9 percent), sixth in 3-point percentage (44.9 percent), ninth in 3-pointers (1.7) and fifth in minutes (35.5)
9. Keith Benson, Oakland — Might have short-changed the sophomore center a bit by voting him ninth as he established himself as a force in the paint all season and would be a strong candidate for most improved player if the league had an award. He led the league in blocks (3.2) and offensive rebounds (3.0). He was eighth in scoring (16.6), second in rebounding (8.3), third in field-goal percentage (66.3 percent) and fourth in defensive rebounds (5.3). He is currently sixth in the nation in field goal percentage (62.6 percent, minimum five field goals made per game).
10. David Carson, IPFW — Carson was the Mastodons go-to player all season and helped them win five of their last seven. He is a threat both inside and out on offense and can guard multiple positions. He finished the season ninth in the league in scoring (16.1), 11th in rebounds (5.9) and 10th in free-throw percentage (81.4 percent).
11. David DuBois, Western Illinois — DuBois did it all for the Leathernecks despite most teams game-planning to stop him. He was fourth in the league in scoring (18.6), 12th in rebounds (5.7), ninth in field-goal percentage (50.8 percent), 10th in blocks (0.7) and second in minutes (36.6).

NOTE: Voting is based on conference games only so those are the stats used in this article. 1-6 is my first team and 7-11 the second team.

Newcomer of the Year
1. Robert Glenn, IUPUI
2. Kevin Ford, Oral Roberts
3. Delivez Yearby, IPFW
4. Gary Redus, Centenary
5. Ceola Clark, Western Illinois

Defensive Player of the Year
1. Mike Nelson, North Dakota State
2. Johnathon Jones, Oakland
3. Kelvin Sango, Oral Roberts

Sixth Man of the Year
1. Delivez Yearby, IPFW
2. Ceola Clark, Western Illinois
3. Dan Waterstradt, Oakland

Coach of the Year
1. Saul Phillips, North Dakota State
2. Greg Kampe, Oakland
3. Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts

Final Summit League power rankings

2009-03-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (23-6, 16-2 Summit) — The Bison earned their first outright conference title since 1981 by going into the Mabee Center and beating Oral Roberts, which was looking for a share of its fifth straight title. Senior Ben Woodside hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final 34.9 seconds to lift NDSU to the win and cement his spot as the Summit League Player of the Year. Woodside had 29 points in the win, while Brett Winkelman had 21 and Michael Tveidt had 17. The rest of the team combined for eight points. Depth looks to be NDSU’s only weakness heading into the tournament.
2. Oral Roberts (16-14, 14-4) — The Golden Eagles played likely their best game in the month of February in their loss at home to North Dakota State. Oral Roberts had a shot at its fifth-straight regular-season league title, but now must focus on trying to win its fourth-straight tournament title. The Golden Eagles had the advantage of the tournament being in Tulsa the last four years, but now must face South Dakota State in Sioux Falls, S.D. in the first round. The loss at home to NDSU snapped ORU’s streak of 35 straight wins at home in league play.
3. Oakland (20-11, 13-5) — The Golden Grizzlies are likely the hottest team entering the league tournament after winning their last seven. Oakland has won by an average of 13.4 points during its seven-game win streak and have averaged 82.3 points per game. Senior Erik Kangas hit five 3-pointers in the Grizzlies win over UMKC, which give him 119 on the year and breaks former UMKC great Michael Watson’s single-season league record of 118 3-pointers. Kangas’ 4.0 3-pointers per game is the third most in the nation and his 42.3 3-point percentage is 21st in the nation.
4. IUPUI (16-13, 9-9) — The Jaguars ended Western Illinois season with a 71-66 win in Macomb, Ill. The Leathernecks knew they needed to beat IUPUI to get in, but couldn’t get past the Jags. IUPUI had four players in double figures in the win lead by 17 from Alex Young, but had just seven bench points. The starting five of Young, Robert Glenn, Gary Patterson, Leroy Nobles and Jon Avery is likely the Jaguars best unit and expect those five to start in Sioux Falls.
5. IPFW (13-16, 8-10) — The Mastodons enter the tournament on a three-game winning streak and have won five of their last seven after starting off league play 3-8. Senior David Carson and junior Delivez Yearby have been huge during the three game winning streak. Carson has averaged 17.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game, while Yearby averaged 10 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. The Mastodons will face Oakland, which swept them during the regular season.
6. Southern Utah (10-19, 8-10) — The Thunderbirds dropped a pair of road games last week, but still managed to get the five seed. In the first round, SUU will face IUPUI, one of only two teams to sweep SUU this season. The Thunderbirds averaged just 57 points a game in the two losses last week, while giving up 73.5. Davis Baker averaged 13.5 points a game, but no other player averaged in double figures.
7. South Dakota State (12-19, 7-11) — The Jacks road losing streak continued with a pair of losses at Oral Roberts and Centenary last week, which dropped them to the seven seed. But SDSU enters the tournament as a dangerous team. The Jacks nearly upset ORU before falling in the final minutes and will be just an hour from campus for the rematch in the first round of the tournament. Second leading scorer Clint Sargent returned from an ankle injury to score 20 points in 26 minutes in the loss at Centenary.
8. Centenary (6-12, 8-22) — The Gents are now playing with house money after sneaking into the conference tournament with a win over South Dakota State. Centenary lost eight straight prior to the win over the Jacks. Senior Nick Stallings scored 22 points in the win over SDSU and the Gents clearly need Stallings' scoring to win games. Stallings averaged just 9.1 points per game during Centenary’s eight-game losing streak after scoring 16.2 per game when the Gents started conference play 5-4. Centenary is 3-0 in league play when Stallings scores 20 or more.
9. Western Illinois (9-20, 6-12) — The Leathernecks had three straight home games to end the season and needed to win just one to get in the conference tournament, but failed to do so. It’s a shame senior David DuBois career had to end like that. DuBois played hurt for most of the season and was a great competitor. WIU will also lose second-leading scorer Josh Rivers so head coach Jim Molinari will have a lot of work to do, but he has the long-term contract to get it done.
10. UMKC (7-24, 3-15) — The Kangaroos showed a lot of heart in its loss at Oakland by not giving up when they were down 20 early and making it an interesting game. UMKC could be a dangerous team next season depending on how hard the core of underclassmen work in the offseason. The Roos only lose senior Dane Brumagin, who showed a lot of toughness playing hurt the last few weeks. Playing on one foot, Brumagin scored 14 points against Oakland when most guys might have just quit on the team.

The week ahead

2009-03-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

I'll be heading to Sioux Falls on Friday to cover the league tournament and will likely be live blogging from all the Oakland games. I plan on doing several things leading up to start of the tournament, including final Summit League power rankings, my Summit League all-conference ballot, a tournament edition of Grizz Talk and previews for all the men's games so be sure to check in. It's shaping up to be a fun tournament and I expect some big crowds in Sioux Falls.

Here are a couple links from this weekend
Oakland men-UMKC game story.
Oakland women-UMKC game story.
Feature on OU's Ricky Bieszki making his first career start

Oakland-UMKC preview

2009-02-28T00:21:00.000-08:00

The opponent — UMKC (7-23, 3-14 Summit) come into Saturday’s game playing for nothing but pride. The Kangaroos will miss the conference tournament for the first time since joining the Summit League. UMKC has lost 11 of its last 12 and is 0-8 on the road in league play (2-13 overall).

The Kangaroos will likely start three freshman (Dustin Dibble, Latreze Mushatt and Trey McKinney-Jones) and two sophomores (Spencer Johnson and Bakari Lewis) against Oakland.

Leading scorer Dane Brumagin (15.3 per game) has been battling a sore Achilles’ and has missed three games and played six minutes or less in three others in UMKC’s last seven games, with the lone exception being when he scored 16 points in 24 minutes on UMKC's senior night. Brumagin will likely play limited minutes Saturday, but he is a deadly shooter that can get hot in a hurry.

The Kangaroos are also without second leading scorer Reggie Hamilton (12.6 points, 3.6 assists), who asked and was granted his release from his scholarship back in January.

Lewis, a transfer from Nicholls State who sat out UMKC’s first 10 games, has stepped as of late. Lewis (6-foot-1) has started the last seven games and averaged 15 points a game over that span. He is averaging 10.5 points and 2.5 assists on the season. Lewis has the third most 3-pointers (22 in 19 games) on the team behind Brumagin (52) and Hamilton (34).

Mushatt, who graduated from Saginaw Arthur Hill, is averaging 12 points a game in his last 11. The 6-5 freshman is averaging 5.6 rebounds on the season and has started 24 games.

Johnson (6-foot-6) is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.6 per game and is averaging 10.3 points per game. Johnson is the second tallest player on the team behind 6-7 sophomore James Humphrey (3.7 points, 3.0 rebounds).

Dibble is also a Michigan native and graduated from Petoskey High School. He made his second start since Dec. 28 on Thursday at IPFW and scored a career-high 15 points on 5 for 8 shooting.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson vs. UMKC’s Spencer Johnson. Benson and Johnson both had big games in the first meeting between these two schools. Benson finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Johnson had 20 points and 13 rebounds. These two will likely battle on the boards once again. Benson has a five-inch height advantage, but Johnson will try to counter with his quickness. Oakland will likely try to feed Benson and Will Hudson early and often, so Benson could be in for a big day.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 17-6 and has won the last four meetings. UMKC is 2-8 all-time at O’Rena with its last win being in 2006. The Grizzlies won a tight one, 84-78, back on Dec. 4 earlier this season. Kangas scored 19 points for Oakland and hit a key 3-pointer with 52 seconds left to give the Grizzlies the lead for good. Johnathon Jones had 12 points and six assists and freshman Matt Samuels had a career-high 10 points. Brumagin led UMKC with 29 points, including five 3-pointers and Hamilton added 15 points and nine assists.

The skinny — Oakland clearly has more to play for with a chance at a perfect home record for the first time in school history and its first 20-win season since turning Division I. Oakland coach Greg Kampe said he’s excited about the opportunity to hit both milestones.

“I think those are milestones, you strive to get those,” Kampe said after practice Friday. “To have a chance to do that, I think is really important for our program, especially when you look at who we play. That’s the big thing. We have 55 wins over the last three years and look at who we play, six or seven BCS schools a year. This year 13 of our first 15 games were away from the O’Rena, not at home. I think it’s quite a milestone.

“I think one of the things that you judge a program on and if you look around the country and see the programs that are really good, they always have a long homecourt winning streak. I think that’s important. Ours is at 12 right now, we have a chance to get it to 13. All programs that are running and going in the right direction, you look at that’s something they usually have. To finally get something like that just puts you in that group and I think that’s important. This is year 10 of Division I and it’s time to have milestones like that. I’m excited about it. I think 20 wins is big.”

The Grizzlies also have a chance to enter the league tournament on a seven-game win streak, which would be the second longest win streak in school history. Seniors Kangas, Dan Waterstradt and Ricky Bieszki will all start and be playing their final regular-season home games. Look for all three to give an inspired effort and for the underclassmen to follow their lead.

A little tournament speculation

2009-02-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

The final Saturday of the regular season in the Summit League is here and it will be an interesting one. Only two teams fates are already decided, Oakland will be the three seed and UMKC won’t make the conference tournament. Everyone else has something to play for, here is how things breakdown, game by game.

Update: Got an update from the league office today, apparently Saturday's Oral Roberts-North Dakota State game is winner take all. Meaning the winner is the No. 1 seed.

From the league office: In the event of a tie between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts, ORU will be the top seed in the tournament based on tiebreaker procedures. The teams split their head-to-head competition, therefore moving the tiebreaker to comparison of the teams’ record against the team occupying the highest position in the standings until a team gains the advantage. ORU went 2-0 against Southern Utah while NDSU went 1-1. In the event that Southern Utah and IPFW, or any additional team(s) tie, SUU gains the higher seed based on the same procedure.

North Dakota State (22-6, 15-2) at Oral Roberts (16-13, 14-3), 7:05 p.m. — There is no doubt this is the big one. The Bison have already clinched a share of the regular-season league title, but the No. 1 seed in the Summit League tournament and the automatic NIT bid are still up for grabs. The Golden Eagles can secure the No. 1 seed with a win and if Southern Utah wins at IPFW. NDSU wins the title outright with a victory and no tiebreaker is needed.

Southern Utah (10-18, 8-9) at IPFW (12-16, 7-10), 4 p.m. — Both teams have secured a spot in the tournament, but have plenty to play for. The Thunderbirds can secure at least the five-seed, possibly the fourth with a win. A loss and Southern Utah could fall to the six-seed and have to face red-hot Oakland in the first round. IPFW is currently in sixth, but could jump to five with a win, while a loss could put it in seventh.

IUPUI (15-13, 8-9) at Western Illinois (9-19, 6-11), 7 p.m. — The Leathernecks could be playing for their tournament life, but will know their fate before the game because Centenary plays at 2:30 p.m. If the Gents lose, Western Illinois is in, but if the Gents win, Western Illinois must win to get in. The Leathernecks will be the eight seed if they can get in because they can’t win the tiebreakers with IPFW or South Dakota State. IUPUI can secure the four seed with a win, but based on its sweeps of IPFW and Southern Utah can fall now lower than the five seed (I think) so the Jaguars are likely locked in at the 4-5 matchup.

South Dakota State (12-18, 7-10) at Centenary (7-22, 5-12), 2:30 p.m. — The Gents have collapsed after a nice start to the conference season, losing eight straight, but amazingly can still sneak into the tournament with a win and a Western Illinois loss. The Jackrabbits, which are hosting the tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., are the real wildcard. SDSU has clinched a spot, but can finish as high as fourth and as low as seventh (I think). Best-case scenario for the Jacks, is they win, IPFW beats Southern Utah and Western Illinois beats IUPUI, which would create a four-way tie at 8-10 for the 4-7 spots. Who goes where I can’t really figure out because there is so many tiebreakers in play based on head-to-head sweeps and wins over the top three teams. I’ll let the league sort that mess out.

UMKC (7-23, 3-14) at Oakland (19-11, 12-5), 6 p.m. — This game is meaningless to the standings, but Oakland has a chance to secure 20 wins, a perfect home record and extends its winning streak to seven.

My predictions
1. Oral Roberts — Golden Eagles win fifth straight-regular season title and the No. 1 seed based on the tiebreaker.
2. North Dakota State — Bison lose at ORU and lose the tiebreaker because of loss to SUU
3. Oakland — Grizzlies enter tourney on seven game win streak
4. IUPUI — Jags beat Leathernecks and secure fourth spot
5. Southern Utah — Thunderbirds win over NDSU secures it the five seed
6. IPFW — Mastodons win third straight, but lose tiebreaker to SUU
7. South Dakota State — Jacks pick up first road win in conference play and get another shot at ORU
8. Western Illinois — The Leathernecks sneak in despite losing three-straight at home to end the season
9. Centenary — Gents complete collapse and lose their ninth straight to end the year
10. UMKC — The Kangaroos fall to Oakland and use the offseason to figure out what went wrong

Oakland-Southern Utah Live Blog

2009-02-26T14:20:00.001-08:00

Oakland vs. Southern Utah

Oakland-Southern Utah preview

2009-02-25T23:25:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Southern Utah (10-17, 8-8 Summit) enters Thursday’s contest a half game ahead of IUPUI for fourth place and has already clinched a spot in the conference tournament. The Thunderbirds have won four of their last six and can’t finish worse than sixth in the league.

Junior forward Davis Baker (6-foot-4) leads the team in scoring at 17.8 per game and is fifth in the conference. Baker scored 28 points in the Thunderbirds last game and is averaging 22.3 point per game in his last six. Baker is 11th in the nation in free-throw percentage (88.9 percent) for Southern Utah, which as a team leads the nation at 80.3 percent. Baker has 38 3-pointers this season, which is second on the team.

Senior center John Clifford (6-10) leads the league in rebounding at 8.1 per game and is second in field goal percentage (64.6 percent). Clifford, who averages 9.8 points per game, has six double-doubles this season. Senior forward Tyler Quinney (6-7) is second on the team in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (5.1), and shoots 85.5 percent from the free-throw line. Clifford and Quinney both played for Southern Utah coach Roger Reid at Snow College before transferring to SUU last season.

Senior guard Dave Marek is the team’s top 3-pointer shooter, averaging 1.6 per game and hitting 42 percent of his attempts. Marek is also fourth in the conference in assists at 3.0 per game and averageds 8.6 points per game. Reid has started Baker, Clifford, Quinney and Marek in 26 of 27 games this season, with the lone exception being because Quinney sat out a game with an ankle injury.

Freshman Jake Nielson (6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds) has started the Thunderbirds last six games and SUU is 4-2 in that span. Nielson is a true freshman, but is 21 years old (will be 22 in April). He originally committed to Colorado State, but came to Southern Utah after serving a SDS church mission. Key players off the bench for the Thunderbirds include Cory Davis (3.8 points) and Mike Josserand (2.9 points, 2.9 assists).

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Southern Utah’s Davis Baker. Kangas had his worst offensive game of the season against the Thunderbirds in December, scoring just five points on 1-for-5 shooting. It is one of two times this season Kangas has failed to score in double figures, with the other being against North Dakota State when he was battling a calf injury. Oakland will likely need a bigger game out of Kangas. The Grizzlies are 9-1 when he scores 20 points or more. Kangas is six 3-poiners away from the single-season league record. Baker scored 22 points in SUU’s win earlier this season, shooting 9-for-16 from the field and hitting three 3-pointers. The Thunderbirds are 7-6 when Baker scores over 20 points.

Matchup history — Southern Utah leads the all-time series 13-9 and has won the last four, including an 82-66 victory in Cedar City back on Dec. 2. Senior Tyler Quinney led all scorers with 35 points on 11-for-16 shooting and shot 13-for-15 from the free-throw line. John Clifford added 12 points and nine rebounds for SUU, which had 82 points despite having just five players score. Drew Maynard led Oakland with 17 points, Johnathon Jones added 16 points and Blake Cushingberry had 14 points off the bench.

The skinny — Oakland (18-11, 11-5) is well-aware Southern Utah has won the last four meetings and will look to end that streak Thursday. The Grizzlies, who won five straight, are just two games away from a perfect home record and 20 wins so shouldn’t lack any motivation. Oakland has averaged 80 points a game during its five-game win streak and will likely try to control the tempo against the Thunderbirds, who average 66.1 points per game.

The Grizzlies will need more of its big men (Keith Benson, Will Hudson and Dan Waterstradt) who combined to score 12 points in the loss in Cedar City. Jones, who has 65 assists in his last five games, will likely try to get them involved early.

Oakland also has to avoid silly fouls against the Thunderbirds and keep them out of the bonus. SUU leads the nation in free-throw shooting and shot 16-for-20 in its win over Oakland.

Grizz Talk 2-24-09

2009-02-25T14:24:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland senior Dan Waterstradt and assistant coach Saddi Washington.

Summit League power rankings 2-23-09

2009-02-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (21-6, 14-2 Summit) — The Bison routed rival South Daktoa State on senior night and then went on the road to beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which is 10-6 in the Horizon League and was coming off a win over No. 22 Butler. NDSU now hits the road with hopes of clinching its first Summit League championship and at least an NIT berth. The Bison play at reeling Centenary and then at Oral Roberts in a showdown that will likely determine the league champion. NDSU could still win the league with a loss at ORU because the tiebreaker is still up in the air.
2. Oral Roberts (15-13, 13-3) — The Golden Eagles dominated a pair of road games last week to stay in the regular-season title hunt. ORU beat Southern Utah and UMKC by a combined scored of 157-108 and hit 18 3-pointers in the two wins. Oral Roberts is 6-0 in league play when it hits six or more 3-pointers in a game. To truly see how dominant the Golden Eagles were at UMKC click here.
3. Oakland (18-11, 11-5) — The Golden Grizzlies swept a pair of road games last week and have now won five straight as they prepare to end the regular-season with a pair of home games. Oakland clinched at least the third seed with the win over IUPUI. Junior point guard Johnathon Jones tied his career-high with 15 assists against the Jaguars and now has 65 assists (13 per game) in his last five games. Freshman Blake Cushingberry scored a career-high 24 points at IUPUI and hit his first seven shots, including four 3-pointers.
4. Southern Utah (10-17, 8-8) — The Thunderbirds clinched a conference tournament berth with their win over Centenary. SUU has now beat every team in the league except Oral Roberts, which routed the Thunderbirds, 64-46, last week. Senior John Clifford had a double-double in the final home game of his career, finishing with 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against the Gents. Davis Baker scored a career-high 28 in the victory and continues to make a strong case to be on the all-league team.
5. IUPUI (15-13, 8-9) — The Jaguars trailed by 20 with 11:26 left against Oakland after head coach Ron Hunter got ejected. IUPUI rallied to pull within three and had the ball with less than a minute left, but a Robert Glenn 3-pointer was off the mark. OU sealed the game at the free-throw line from there. The Jaguars clinched a conference tournament berth with their win over IPFW earlier in the week. IUPUI has just one game left at Western Illinois and could end up playing just about anyone in the tournament based on how the final week plays out.
6. South Dakota State (12-17, 7-9) — The Jacks can clinch a conference tournament berth with a win or a Centenary loss this week. SDSU, which is 1-13 on the road this season, is still looking for its first Summit League road win. The Jacks are 0-16 all-time in Summit League road games. SDSU fell by four, 66-62, at 7-17 Cal Poly in its ESPN Bracketbusters game. Sophomore Dale Moss is averaging 20 points a game in his last three as he fills in for the injured Clint Sargent.
7. IPFW (11-16, 6-10) — The Mastodons can clinch a tournament spot with a win over last-place UMKC Thursday. If IPFW wins both home games next week, it could move as high as the fifth seed. Senior Jakari Johnson scored a season-high 17 points off the bench in the Mastodons win over Western Illinois. Senior David Carson scored eight points in IPFW's loss to IUPUI. The Mastodons are 0-6 this season when Carson fails to score in double figures.
8. Western Illinois (9-19, 6-11) — The Leathernecks were outscored 159-126 in a pair of home losses last week to Oakland and IPFW. WIU has just one game left and could still make the tournament with a loss, but would need Centenary to loss both of its home games next week. Freshman Ceola Clark averaged 25.5 points a game and hit eight 3-pointers in the Leathernecks two losses last week.
9. Centenary (7-21, 5-11) — The Gents dropped two more last week and have now lost seven in a row. Leading scorer Nick Stalling averaged just five points a game in the pair of losses last week. The Gents will need to win both home games this week or win one and have Western Illinois lose at home to IUPUI to make the tournament. Centenary would win the tiebreaker with WIU based on its win over Oakland.
10. UMKC (7-22, 3-13) — Freshman Fred Ford’s layup with sixth tenths of a second remaining lifted the Kangaroos over Centenary and snapped their eight-game losing streak. UMKC was then embarrassed, 93-62, by Oral Roberts on senior night. On a positive note, senior Dane Brumagin was able to play in his final home game and scored 16 points in 24 minutes.

Postseason prediction

2009-02-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

Thought I would try to predict how the conference race will play out in the final week and half. Here is what I see happening, but the Summit League has proved to be unpredictable so far this season.

1. Oral Roberts (wins out) 15-3
North Dakota State (wins 1 of 2) 15-3
3. Oakland (wins out) 13-5
4. IUPUI (splits two) 9-9
5. IPFW (wins 2 of 3) 8-10
Southern Utah (wins 1 of 3) 8-10
7. Western Illinois (splits) 7-11
8. SDSU (loses out) 6-12
9. Centenary (wins 1 of 3) 6-12
10. UMKC (loses 3) 3-15

The tiebreakers are too difficult to predict at this time. In this scenario the tiebreaker between Oral Roberts and NDSU will be based on where IPFW and SUU finish, which in this scenario finish tied. The tiebreaker between IPFW and SUU would be based on where ORU and NDSU finish, which is based on where they finish. Confused yet, I know I am. SDSU wins the tiebreaker with Centenary based on its split with IPFW this season.

Anybody have any better predictions?

Oakland at IUPUI preview

2009-02-20T14:59:00.000-08:00

The opponent — IUPUI (15-12, 8-8) enters Saturday’s game in fourth place in the league and clinched a spot in the conference tournament with a win over IPFW Thursday. The win gave the Jaguars the tiebreaker over IPFW, which can only tie them now and UMKC can’t catch the Jaguars.

Junior Robert Glenn, a transfer from junior college Wabash Valley, is the frontrunner for Summit League Newcomer of the Year. Glenn (6-foot-7) leads the Jaguars in scoring (13.9), blocks (1.7) and is third in rebounding (5.3). He is currently seventh in the nation in field goal percentage (62.9 percent, with a minimum five field goals per game). Glenn averages 16.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in league play and has scored 20 or more in five of IUPUI’s last eight games.

Freshman Alex Young is the Jaguars second leading scorer at 11.1 per game, but has found himself in and out of the starting lineup, starting three of the last 10 games. He was held scoreless in IUPUI’s win over IPFW and has scored in double figures just twice in his last nine games after scoring in double figures in 14 of his first 15 games. Young still leads all Summit League freshman in scoring, but has been ineffective when his minutes and shots are limited.

Sophomore Leroy Nobles (10.1 points, 1.4 3-pointers) has emerged as one of the Jaguars top 3-point threats. Nobles has averaged 12.5 points and 2.1 3-pointers in his last 11 games, including 16.3 points in his last three games.

Gary Patterson (9.6 points, 2.0 3-pointers, 2.7 assists) is the Jaguars' lone senior and will be playing in the last home game of his career. Junior Jon Avery (8.9 points and 5.8 rebounds) has started seven of the Jaguars last nine games and in those seven starts he is averaging 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Sophomore Adrian Moss, who missed nine games with a knee injury, started the Jaguars last game and has started eight games this season, averaging 4.6 points and 2.6 assists. Junior forward Billy Pettiford (5.4 points and 5.6 rebounds) started the first 20 games off the season, but has came off the bench in six of his last eight games. The 6-7 Pettiford leads the team in assists at 2.6 per game. Sophomore John Ashworth (3.1 points) averages over 20 minutes a game and has made 13 starts.

Head coach Ron Hunter has lead the Jaguars to seven consecutive seasons with a .500 record or above. He is the school’s all-time leader in wins with 248.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson vs. IUPUI’s Robert Glenn. Glenn has scored in double figures in 15 of his last 16 games, with the lone exception begin a two-point performance against Oakland on Jan. 22. He played just 15 minutes, which is he second lowest all season. Benson had nine points and 10 rebounds in Oakland’s win over IUPUI. Benson is also coming a seven-point effort against Western Illinois, his lowest scoring output since Nov. 29. Expect a bigger game out of both these guys on Saturday as each team will try to get their big guy going.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 18-12, but is just 6-9 all-time at The Jungle. IUPUI is 8-4 at home this season and the Jaguars homecourt nicknamed The Jungle, which seats just over 1,200 fans, is a difficult place to play. The Grizzlies won the last meeting, 75-57, led by 33 points from senior Erik Kangas, who shot 11-for-15 from the field and 8-for-11 from 3-point range. Freshman Drew Maynard was the only other Oakland player in double figures with 15 points and point guard Johnathon Jones added seven points and 10 assists.

The skinny — This is the Grizzlies (17-11, 10-5) final road game of the regular season and an important game for a couple reasons. Oakland can clinch at least the third seed with a win and will also have a chance to reach 20 wins in the regular season. The Grizzlies also still have a shot at second place, but need Oral Roberts to lose two games. An Oakland loss and Oral Roberts win eliminates Oakland from a shot at second place.

Oakland started off hot against Western Illinois and will likely to try to get off to another hot start against the Jaguars. The Grizzlies are 13-3 when leading at halftime. Kangas scored 23 points at Western Illinois and Oakland is now 9-1 when he scores 20 or more. Kangas is two 3-pointers shy of breaking his single-season school record for 3-pointes (108).

Junior point guard Johnathon Jones continues to lead the nation in total assists with 208 and has reached double figure assists in four straight games. Look for Jones to get his teammates involved early and try to silent the home crowd.

Oakland routs Leathernecks

2009-02-19T21:56:00.000-08:00

There was never any doubt in Oakland’s convincing 77-52 win at Western Illinois. The Golden Grizzlies (17-11, 10-5 Summit) jumped out to a 12-0 lead, led by nine points from senior Erik Kangas (three 3-pointers). Oakland never led by less than 10 the rest of the game and by as many as 30.

Kangas finished with 23 points and hit seven 3-pointers. The seven 3-pointers give Kangas 108 this season, one short of his school-record 109 during the 2006-07 season.

Sophomore point guard Johnathon Jones had 16 points and 10 assists. Jones has recorded double digit assists in four straight games and six of his last eight.

“He’s got (50) assists in the last four games,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe told Oakland Athletics “I don’t think there’s anybody else in the country who has that. He’s also got Kangas making shots. That kind of helps. He’s just an outstanding player. I think he’s as good as there is at the point. He had an unlike-Johnathon Jones game last Saturday, and we won anyway by double digits. I love him as a player, and I hate to think he’s only got a year and a few games left. We’ll enjoy him while we’ve got him.”

The Grizzlies defense was impressive in the first half, holding the Leathernecks (9-18, 6-10) to 29.2 percent shooting and Ceola Clark and David DuBois combined for all 20 first-half points.

“I’ve never seen that before, where only two players on a team scored in a half,” Kampe said. “I didn’t know it until we got in at halftime, and then my staff said that only two guys had scored. And then my answer to that was ‘How did that guy get to 13?’ They struggled to score. They’ve scored 70 points four times this year, and their high, 75 was against a non-Division I school. So in Division I play they’ve only scored 70 points three times. My feeling was if we could get to 75 we’re going to win. We went with our zone, which we haven’t been playing much of. We didn’t want to let (David) Nurse come off the screen and get open, or let (David) DuBois run free. If we could stop those two guys, and they’re going to get some points, but they’re not going to get to 75.”

Senior Dan Waterstradt had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench, freshman Drew Maynard added nine points and five rebounds and Keith Benson finished with seven points and seven rebounds for Oakland.

Clark led Western Illinois with a career-high 24 points and DuBois finished with 14 points and five rebounds.

“I want to give Oakland a tremendous amount of credit,” Western Illinois head coach Jim Molinari told WIU athletics. “They were very aggressive and we lose our confidence when we can’t stop people. They hit us with three or four 3s right away and then we were struggling. I don’t want to take away from everything we’ve done because we still have a lot to play for. These games in February are going to be really tough, with tough matchups and a lot of travel. Tough players play and tonight we didn’t do that. We have to go back to the drawing board and see what we have to do different.”

Oakland can still get to 20 wins with the victory and is still fighting for the second seed despite Oral Roberts winning at Southern Utah Thursday night.

“We still have a chance to sneak into second place,” Kampe said. “We lost what I think is the best player in the league (Derick Nelson). Some people had him as the preseason player of the year, other people had (North Dakota State’s Ben) Woodside. I just think Nelson is the best player in the league, but I’m prejudiced. We lost him before the season started, and if you would have told me then that we had a chance to win 20 games, that we would have a chance for a second or third seed, I would have been skeptical.

"I’m really pleased with the progress of our team. We’re very young. Our two scholarship seniors (Erik Kangas and Dan Waterstradt) are having really good senior seasons, and I think Kangas is an outstanding player. They’ve taken it upon themselves. It would be easy for them to sit there and say ‘you know, we’ve lost this great player and we’ll wait till next year,’ except they’re not going to be here next year. Our freshmen are getting better every time we play, and that’s four in a row that we’ve won now. We still haven’t been beaten at home, so we’ve still got a lot of things we’re playing for down the stretch. We’ve got two more home games and hopefully we can finish an undefeated season at home. We need three more wins for 20 wins. If we get 20 wins, with those new postseason tournaments, we might be able to get into one of those postseason tournaments. So there’s a lot for us to play for.”

The Leathernecks remain in a tie with IPFW, which lost to IUPUI Thursday night, for eighth place. Western Illinois hosts IPFW Saturday.

“IPFW lost by two tonight so they will come in here all charged up,” Molinari said. “We have to figure out what we have to do because IPFW is a heck of a team.”

Oakland at Western Illinois preview

2009-02-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Western Illinois (9-17, 6-9 Summit) has won three of its last six and is fighting for a spot in the conference tournament. The Leathernecks have three straight home games to end the regular season, starting with Thursday’s game against Oakland.

Leading scorer David DuBois (17.9 points and 5.8 rebounds) hit two free throws with five seconds left to secure Western Illinois’ 55-54 win at Centenary last Saturday. DuBois missed the Leathernecks’ three-point loss at Oral Roberts with an ankle injury.

Western Illinois has been starting a four-guard lineup of DuBois, Josh Rivers (10.1 points, 1.8 3-pointers) David Nurse (8.6 points, 1.7 3-pointers) and Tommie Tyler (3.5 points). James Granstra (6-foot-10) is the lone forward and averages 2.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Ceola Clark (6.6 points) is the leading scorer off the bench, with Quenton Kirby (6.2 points and 3.1 rebounds) and Rodney Williams Jr. (4.2 points) also key contributors.

Western Illinois would be the seven seed if the tournament were to start today and is a half game ahead of IPFW and Centenary.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Will Hudson vs. Western Illinois’ David DuBois. Oakland held DuBois to 12 points last time and rolled to a 40-point win. DuBois averages 19.5 points a game at home where the Leathernecks are 5-3. At 6-foot-9 Hudson will have the height advantage and will have to make DuBois work on the defensive end or Oakland may have to go with a smaller lineup. If Hudson can limit DuBois then Western Illinois will have a tough time beating the Golden Grizzlies. If DuBois has a big game then the Leathernecks could get the W.

Matchup history — Oakland has won five straight, including a 86-46 win back on Jan. 24. Erik Kangas led the way with 27 points and Keith Benson added 24 points and 12 rebounds. The Grizzlies lead the all-time series 19-4 and have a seven-game win streak at WIU’s Western Hall. Oakland’s last defeat in Macomb, Ill. was on Feb. 3, 2001. The Grizzlies beat the Leathernecks three times last season, including in the first round of the Summit League tournament.

The skinny — Oakland is just 2-5 on the road in conference play and can use this final road trip to build some confidence on the road, especially the younger players. The conference tournament is technically on a neutral floor, but if Oakland faces South Dakota State or North Dakota State at the tournament it will have the feel of a road game. The Grizzlies also still have a shot at the second seed and the off day that comes with it. Oakland trails Oral Roberts by two games with four games left so a loss will likely put Oakland out of the race for second and possibly open the door for Southern Utah to steal the third seed.

Western Illinois will likely come out inspired because it is playing for its conference tournament life and will also want to avenge the 40-point shellacking in Rochester. Oakland will have to weather that initial storm and try to get off to a good start. Establishing Benson and Hudson inside early against the smaller Leathernecks will also be important.

Summit League power ranking 2-17-09

2009-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (20-6, 14-2 Summit) — The Bison had their 11-game win streak snapped by Southern Utah, which was also their first home loss of the season. NDSU allowed the Thunderbirds to shoot 54.9 percent and had just five bench points. The Bison followed that up with a convincing win over SDSU, with Ben Woodside netting 32 points. NDSU will play at Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday as part of the ESPN Bracketbusters. It appears the league race could come down to NDSU’s game at Oral Roberts on the final day of the regular season.
2. Oral Roberts (13-13, 11-3) — The Golden Eagles swept Western Illinois and IUPUI last week. The win over the Leathernecks wasn’t pretty, but Oral Roberts had four players in double figures against IUPUI. The Golden Eagles also hit eight 3-pointers, which was just the second time they have hit eight or more since Dec. 17. If Oral Roberts can sweep its two-game road trip this week, it could set up a showdown for the regular-season title with NDSU, but a loss could open the door to Oakland for second place.
3. Oakland (16-11, 9-5) — The Golden Grizzlies completed a season-sweep of IPFW and shot 62.3 percent in the win. Four players scored in double figures led by Keith Benson’s 23. Johnathon Jones had a school record 15 assists against the Mastodons. OU hits the road this week looking to gain some confidence on the road. The Grizzlies are just 2-5 on the road in conference play. Oakland needs help, but still has a shot at the second seed in the conference tournament.
4. Southern Utah (9-16, 7-7) — The Thunderbirds blew a second-half lead at SDSU, but followed that up by shocking NDSU. Davis Baker averaged 24.5 points last week to earn Player of the Week honors. Baker hit a jumper with 37 seconds left to give the Thunderbirds the lead for good against NDSU. Southern Utah leads the nation in free-throw percentage, shooting 80.4 percent and shot 12-for-12 against NDSU. The Thunderbirds sit in fourth place and have a shot at third beginning this week when they hosts Oral Roberts and Centenary.
5. IUPUI (14-12, 7-8) — The Jaguars split a pair of road games last week and can now clinch a spot in the conference tournament with a win over IPFW Thursday. Junior Robert Glenn averaged 21.5 points a game last week and is making a strong case to be an all-conference selection and Newcomer of the Year. Freshman Alex Young averaged 15.5 points after getting re-inserted into the starting lineup last week.
6. South Dakota State (12-16, 7-9) — The Jacks road winless streak in Summit League play reached 16 with the loss at North Dakota State Tuesday night. SDSU plays at Cal Poly Saturday before concluding the regular season with road games at Oral Roberts and Centenary. The Jacks will likely have to win at least one of those road games to get in the conference tournament, but could back in with a pair of losses. Sophomore Dale Moss has started the last two games and averaged 21 points a game.
7. Western Illinois (9-17, 6-9) — The Leathernecks win at Centenary could prove to be what gets them in the conference tournament. WIU now has three home games left and could get in with one win, but may need two because of the tiebreaker situation. David DuBois scored 19 points in the win over Centenary after missing the Oral Roberts game due to injury. The Leathernecks nearly upset the Golden Eagles without DuBois before falling by three.
8. IPFW (10-15, 5-9) — The Mastodons loss to Oakland hurts, but they still control their own destiny. IPFW holds the tiebreaker over Centenary after sweeping the Gents this season and can complete a sweep of Western Illinois with a win Saturday. The win over Oral Roberts is also huge for tiebreakers purposes. David Carson scored 18 points in his final visit to Oakland, but shot 6-for-16 from the field.
9. Centenary (7-19, 5-9) — It was just three weeks ago that the Gents were the surprise team in the league, winners of four of their last five and 5-4 in the league. Centenary has since dropped five straight, including three at home, and are fighting to make the conference tournament. The trio of Nick Stallings, Gary Redus and Chase Adams continue to shoulder the load offensively with very little help from anyone else.
10. UMKC (6-21, 2-12) — The Roos have now lost eight in a row and 13 of their last 14. UMKC is now playing for pride and next season when it hosts Centenary and Oral Roberts this week. Hopefully senior guard Dane Brumagin, who did not make the Roos’ trip to the Dakotas last week because of a sore Achilles’, is healthy to play in the final home game of his career.

Grizz Talk 2-14-09

2009-02-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

Oakland-IPFW preview

2009-02-13T16:24:00.000-08:00

The opponent — IPFW (10-14, 5-8 Summit) won two home games last week to get back in the race to make the Summit League tournament. Eight of the 10 league members make the tournament and the Mastodons are currently tied for seventh place with Centenary and a half game ahead of Western Illinois.

Junior forward Deilvez Yearby, a transfer from Kansas State, is coming off his best game at IPFW. Yearby had 23 points, 10 rebounds and a school-record seven blocks in the Mastodons win over Oral Roberts. Yearby came off the bench, but played 36 minutes. Yearby is averaging 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds on the season, and his 1.8 blocks per game is second in the league behind Oakland’s Keith Benson (2.2 per game).

Senior David Carson leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points per game and in conference play is seventh in the league in scoring (16.3). The former Oakland player also averages 5.5 rebounds.

Sophomore sharpshooter Ben Botts is second on the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game and averages 1.8 3-pointers per game. Junior Nick Daniels (8.1 points, 1.6 3-pointers), sophomore Zach Plackmeier (7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds) and Trey McCorkle (3.9 points) round out the starting lineup. Daniels leads the league in 3-point field goal percentage (47.4 percent).

Head coach Dane Fife is a Clarkston native and the son of legendary Clarkston High School coach Dan Fife. A large group of Clarkston fans attended last year’s IPFW game and a large contingent is expected again this season.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. IPFW’s Ben Botts. These two put on an offensive display in the last meeting between the two schools. Kangas hit a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 39 points and Botts tied his career-high with 22 points and hit a career-high five 3-pointers. Oakland will likely try to contain Botts, while IPFW will certainly try to limit Kangas’ open looks.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 7-3 and the Division I series is tied, 3-3. IPFW is 1-2 against the Golden Grizzlies since joining the Summit League last season. Oakland won the last meeting, 93-88, at IPFW back on Jan. 17. The two teams combined to hit 26 3-pointers and both shot over 58 percent from the field, including over 50 percent from 3-point range. Oakland’s Johnathon Jones had 20 points and eight assists and Will Hudson added 16 points and nine rebounds. Carson scored 21 points for IPFW, Daniels added 17 points and Plackmeier finished with 12 points.

“It was an offensive game,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “Both teams were making everything they shot. They scored 14 points in the last minute of the game, they were at 74 with a minute to go in the game on their floor. I think that final score is a little deceptive of how the game really went. We had a comfortable lead late in the game and they made some bombs. They did a nice job of a late game situation. ... We are looking at what hurt us and trying to make sure it doesn’t hurt us again.”

The skinny — Both schools are battling for position in the Summit League standings. Oakland is trying to distance itself from the rest of the pack and is two games ahead of IUPUI for third place and two games behind Oral Roberts for second place. IPFW is battling to make the conference tournament and a win over Oakland would really boost its chances.

The Grizzlies need to establish their inside game against the smaller Mastodons. McCorkle (6-foot-10) is the only IPFW player over 6-6 that is playing significant minutes. Benson, who is averaging 20 points a game in his last five games, had just nine points in the last meeting. Oakland will likely to try to go inside to Benson and Hudson early, which will open up things for the guards.

IPFW coach Dane Fife was in a bad mood after the home loss to Oakland earlier this season and will no doubt have his team motivated to win. Kampe said IPFW will be bringing a few buses full of fans like Oakland did to the game at IPFW. The Mastodons are the closest team in the Summit League to Oakland and a rivalry could be developing.

“I hope so,” said Kampe when asked if he thought it would develop into a rivalry. (IPFW) is the closest school to us in the league. It’s one I would like to see a real good rivalry develop because rivalries are important in college basketball and our league being so spread out it’s hard. Oral Roberts is a great rivalry, but nobody can get in a car and drive to Oral Roberts. We can get in a car and drive to Fort Wayne. We are travel partners so our games are always on Saturdays. I think it’s one that could really develop. I know the administrations of both schools would like to see that.”

Click here for a feature story on Johnathon Jones.

Summit League power rankings 2-9-09

2009-02-09T20:27:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (18-5, 12-1 Summit) — It was a great week for the Bison, who have now won 10 straight. NDSU won two road games handily and its main competition for the league title, Oral Roberts, lost two games. The Bison won their two road games in two different ways. NDSU won a defensive struggle at Western Illinois, where the team shot just 38.8 percent and leading scorer Ben Woodside went 0-for-12 from the field and scored just seven points. NDSU followed that up by scoring 91 points at IUPUI, shooting 55.7 percent from the field and hitting 54.2 percent (13-for-24) of its 3-poitners. The Bison control their own destiny and have three of their five remaining league games at home.
2. Oral Roberts (11-13, 9-3) — The Golden Eagles may have let their chances at a fifth straight regular-season league title slip away last week. Oral Roberts had its nine-game win streak snapped by Oakland and then fell at IPFW. The Golden Eagles shot just 6-for-36 from 3-point range in the two losses, including 4-for-20 by Robert Jarvis. Oral Roberts shot just 33.3 percent from the field at IPFW and had just five assists. The Golden Eagles will try to rebound with two home games this week when they host Western Illinois and IUPUI.
3. Oakland (15-11, 8-5) — The Golden Grizzlies improved to 8-0 at home this season with double-digit victories over Oral Roberts and Centenary. Junior point guard Johnathon Jones had two double-doubles, averaging 15.5 points and 12.5 assists last week to earn Player of the Week honors. Jones now leads the nation in total assists with 183 and is fourth in the nation in assists per game (7.0). Sophomore center Keith Benson averaged 22.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks and senior guard Erik Kangas averaged 20 points a game last week. Kangas is now second in the nation in 3-pointers made (98) and fourth in 3-pointers per game (3.9).
4. IUPUI (13-11, 6-7) — The Jaguars, who allow a league best 62.8 points per game, gave up 91 points to NDSU and had their four-game win streak snapped. Junior Jon Avery is averaging 12 points and 6.3 rebounds in his last six games as a starter. Freshman Alex Young looks like he has hit the wall. He has failed to score in double figures in his last five games, averaging 4.6 points per game and has had his season average dip to 11.2 per game. The Jaguars have two road games this week and have by no means locked up a spot in the conference tournament.
5. Southern Utah (8-15, 6-6) — The Thunderbirds completed a sweep of UMKC and pulled to .500 in the league, good for fourth place. SUU had six players score in double figures led by 18 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and two steals from John Clifford. The Thunderbirds shot 91.2 percent from the free-throw line (31-for-34), 52.3 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point range. SUU now heads to the Dakotas this week.
6. Centenary (7-17, 5-7) — The Gents lost a pair of road games to fall from fourth place to sixth place and are just a half game ahead of IPFW, SDSU and Western Illinois. Centenary averaged 62 points a game and shot just 32.7 percent (37-for-113) from the field in its two losses last week. The trio of Nick Stallings, Chase Adams and Gary Redus combined to score 87 points in the two losses, while the rest of the team combined to score 37 points.
7. IPFW (10-14, 5-8) — The Mastodons quickly showed any doubters that they aren’t going to lay down and die. IPFW won two home games last week, topping second-place Oral Roberts and then fourth-place Centenary. Junior Deilvez Yearby had a career day against the Golden Eagles, scoring a career-high 23 points, blocking a school-record seven shots and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sophomore Zach Plackmeier also scored a career-high, finishing with 22 points on 6-for-8 shooting. IPFW now has three-straight on the road starting with Oakland on Saturday and then its final two at home.
8. South Dakota State (10-15, 5-8) — The Jacks just keep finding ways to lose league games on the road, falling by eight at IUPUI and then losing on a half-court shot at the buzzer by Josh Rivers at Western Illinois. SDSU led the Leathernecks 59-52 with 3:02 left, but didn’t score the rest of the way. Clint Sargent went in for the last shot with the game tied, but had his shot blocked by David DuBois and the ball bounced to Rivers who sunk the half-courter. This is a huge week for the Jacks, who host their final two home games of the season against Southern Utah and UMKC. SDSU plays at North Dakota State, Oral Roberts and Centenary in its final three conference games.
9. Western Illinois (8-16, 5-8) — The Leathernecks barely escaped with a win against SDSU and the victory could prove to be the one that gets them in the conference tournament should they make it. WIU still has a lot of work to do and it starts with two road games this week, at Oral Roberts and at Centenary. The Leathernecks will need Josh Rivers, who found his shot against SDSU, finishing with 15 points. Senior David DuBois averaged 20.5 points and eight rebounds last week.
10. UMKC (6-19, 2-10) — Stick a fork in the Kangaroos, who are three games behind everyone else with five games left. UMKC fell by 12 points at Southern Utah and have now lost six straight and 11 of its last 12. Senior Dane Brumagin, who is battling a sore Achilles’ tendon, played just five minutes in the loss. A good sign for UMKC’s future is sophomore Bakari Lewis scored 23 points and freshman Latreze Mushat added 16 points and five rebounds in the loss.

Oakland wins fourth straight award

2009-02-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

For the fourth straight week an Oakland player has won the Summit League Player of the Week award. This time it is junior point guard Johnathon Jones taking home the honors.

Jones averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 assists and 2.5 turnovers in wins over Oral Roberts and Centenary last week. Jones also made 11 of 12 free-throw attempts and shot over 60 percent from the field (8-for-13). It is the second time this season Jones has won the award. He won for the first time back on Nov. 24.

Sophomore center Keith Benson shared the weekly honor with IUPUI’s Robert Glenn last week. Senior guard Erik Kangas won it two weeks in a row prior to that (Jan. 19 and Jan. 26).

Oakland-Centenary preview

2009-02-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Centenary (7-16, 5-6 Summit) enters Saturday’s game on a two-game losing streak. The Gents, who won four of five before losing their last two, are a tough team to figure out. Centenary’s 64.8 points per game in league play currently ranks sixth in the league, but the Gents have shown they can go off for 80 or more points on any given night.

Part of the reason the Gents are so unpredictable is they are very dependent on the 3-point shot. Centenary leads the league in 3-pointers, averaging 7.8 per game and are averaging 8.3 in league play.

Nick Stallings (16.4 points and 6.2 rebounds) and Chase Adams (14.5 points and 4.6 assists) both average over two 3-pointers a game for the Gents.

Centenary has six players who have hit 10 or more 3-pointers this year and average 21.9 attempts a game. The Gents also lead the league in steals, averaging 9.0 a game led by Adams’ 2.7 per game.

Centenary likes to go with a small starting lineup with just one player over 6-foot-6. The Gents start Stallings (6-1), Adams (5-10), Gary Redus (6-6), Maxx Nakwaasah (6-1) and Jerrald Bonham (6-8).

Redus averages 10.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals. Nakwaassah averages 4.4 points and 2.0 rebounds, but has averaged 9.6 points a game since being inserted in the starting lineup five games ago. Bonham has started all 23 games for the Gents and is averaging 3.1 points and 3.0 rebounds. Senior Lance Hill (6-7) may see more minutes against Oakland and is averaging 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 16.3 minutes per game.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Centenary’s Nick Stallings. In Oakland’s 80-60 loss at Centenary, Kangas scored 15 points, but was 4-for-14 from the field. Stallings had 26 points and shot 11-for-20 from the field. Stallings also shot 4-for-5 from 3-point range for the Gents, who shot 11-for-19 as a team. Oakland is 10-2 this season when Kangas is the team’s leading scorer and 8-1 when he scores 20 or more. Kangas has been especially deadly at home averaging 21.7 points a game, for the Grizzlies who are 6-0 in the O'Rena this season. Containing Stallings has to be a priority for Oakland. Stallings had 20 of his 26 points in the first half against Oakland and the Gents outscored Oakland 45-24 in the first half. Stallings scored just six points in the second half and Oakland outscored the Gents 36-35.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 8-3. The Gents win on Jan. 8 snapped the Grizzlies’ five-game winning streak against Centenary. The Gents shot 52.5 percent from the field in the 80-60 win and 57.9 percent from 3-point range. Oakland meanwhile shot just 33.3 percent and 10.5 percent from 3-point range (2-for-19). Keith Benson had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Johnathon Jones had 13 points, three assists and five turnovers. Chase Adams scored 17 points off the bench and hit five 3-pointers, Nakwaasah had 10 points off the bench and Redus scored 14 points off the bench. The entire trio was inserted into the starting lineup two games later and have started the Gents’ last five games.

The skinny — Oakland is coming off a big win over Oral Roberts and can’t afford a letdown against Centenary. If the Grizzlies hope to build some momentum in the month of February they can start by avenging an embarrassing 20-point loss to the Gents. If Oakland plays like it did against the Golden Eagles on Thursday then there is likely not a team in the Summit League that can beat them.

A key to the game will be if Centenary is forced to adjust to Oakland’s height with Benson and Will Hudson or if the Grizzlies are forced to adjust to the Gents’ speed and outside shooting. Oakland should try to go to its big men early and force Centenary to adjust.

Oakland-Oral Roberts notes

2009-02-05T21:45:00.000-08:00

Oakland started off the important month of February with a quality win over four-time defending Summit League champion Oral Roberts. The Golden Grizzlies showed they are not about to lay down despite being out of the regular-season league race and beat a team that is fighting for a league championship.

Bench comes up big
One of the big factors in the game was the production of Oakland’s bench. Senior Dan Waterstradt (10 points, five rebounds and two blocks) and freshman Blake Cushingberry (eight points, five rebounds and two assists) played quality minutes, and were a big part of Oakland’s inspired defensive play.

It was Waterstradt’s first game in double figures since the Grizzlies lost to Oral Roberts in overtime on Jan. 10. The senior had just five points combined (all in the Western Illinois game) in Oakland’s last five games. He suffered an injury in the first Oral Roberts game that may or may not have been bothering him, but having him providing energy and spreading the defense with his outside shot is huge. Other teams are not used to having to guard Oakland’s big men on the perimeter so having Waterstradt hitting from outside is huge. I remember hearing Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton shouting instructions to guard Waterstradt on the perimeter to his players during Thursday’s game.

Cushingberry two 3-pointers late in the second half were huge and might get him going offensively. If Cushingberry can come off the bench and contribute offensively than Oakland can be a dangerous team. The freshman also played solid defense and coach Greg Kampe commented that Cushingberry’s defense was why he played 31 minutes.

“This was a game that we had to win at the defensive end," Kampe said. "That’s why you saw Waterstradt play more and Cushingberry play more. We really believed that we were going to win at the defensive end, and for a while it looked like we were playing no defense. That’s why Drew (Maynard) didn’t play as much. He’ll be in the starting lineup Saturday, he’ll play 25-30 minutes, and he’ll bounce back.”

Offensive juggernaut
Oral Roberts had not allowed a team to score over 80 points since No. 3 North Carolina scored 100 on Dec. 13. The Grizzlies snapped that 13-game streak by scoring 81 points and shot 56.1 percent from the field.

In league play Oakland is averaging 76 points a game, tops in the league. Keith Benson (19 points) and Johnathon Jones (17 points, 13 assists) combined to shoot 15-for-18 from the field, while senior Erik Kangas led the balanced effort with 21 points.

“That’s what our team is built around,” Jones said of the team effort. “We’ve got so many guys that can step up in key moments. Cushingberry stepped up and hit two big 3s, Kangas was himself like he is every game. Benson on the inside, and Will – but the person that really stepped up today was (Dan) Waterstradt. He hit some key baskets. You look for him to rebound, and he did. He got some key rebounds for us and really brought the energy for our team tonight.”

Sutton said he thought his team lost the game on the defensive end. “The game wasn’t lost on the offensive end,” Sutton said. “We aren’t averaging a whole lot of points. The game was lost defensively. I’m not sure when the last time we gave up 81 points was. Tonight we shot close to 39 percent, they shot 56. I think normally teams are averaging 62 points against us, and tonight they got 81. That was the difference for us.”

Home-court advantage
Oakland improves to 7-0 at home with the victory Thursday night and have four home games remaining, starting with Centenary on Saturday. The victory also allows Oakland to split with the two teams that will likely finish at the top of the league in Oral Roberts and North Dakota State.

“It was huge," Kangas said of beating Oral Roberts. "I’ve only beaten these guys once in my career. We don’t want to lose at home this year, that’s one thing we really want to accomplish. It’s good for our confidence, too, because we know going into the tournament that we can beat these guys.”

Quote to note
“I thought (Oakland) was terrific tonight. Offensively they played a really great game. I thought they played like a team that had more to play for, which really disappoints me. We are sitting here basically in first place and I thought our guys didn’t play with the passion and the intensity our teams normally play with. I give Oakland a lot of credit. We didn’t do a good job defensively and they made us pay." — Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton

Grizz Talk 2-5-09

2009-02-05T11:16:00.001-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland junior Larry Wright and head coach Greg Kampe.

Oakland-Oral Roberts preview

2009-02-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

For my preview in today's paper click here.

The opponent — Oral Roberts (11-11, 9-1 Summit) rides into Oakland on an eight-game winning streak and have not lost in 2009. The Golden Eagles have won the eight games by an average of 17 points, with the closest game being a three-point overtime win over Oakland. Oral Roberts has won four-straight regular-season league titles and three-straight conference tournaments.

Senior guard Robert Jarvis is the Golden Eagles leading scorer at 17.1 points per game. He also leads the team in field goal attempts and by a wide margin, 133. He shoots 38.9 percent from the field, but is always a threat to go off and is not afraid to keep shooting until he finds his shot.

Senior Marcus Lewis (6-foot-8) leads a potent Oral Roberts frontcourt. Lewis averages 13.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and leads the team in assists with 50. Lewis was a role player last season after transferring in from Portland. He averaged 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds, and was named to the Summit League all-newcomer team. He shed 40 pounds in the offseason to get in better shape and it has paid off. He is averaging 16.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists, while shooting 63.5 percent from the field in his last 11 games.

Junior Kevin Ford, who transferred in from Ball State, has made a huge impact since becoming eligible back on Dec. 13. Ford is averaging 9.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, and the Golden Eagles are 9-5 since he became eligible.

Ford is just one newcomer making an impact. The freshman class of foward Dominique Morrison (9.4 points, 3.0 rebounds), guard Kyron Stokes (6.8 points, 4.1 rebounds) and guard Beloved Rogers (2.7 points, 1.0 rebounds) have all contributed. Morrison has started all 22 games, Stokes has started nine games and Rogers is a solid 3-point shooter off the bench.

Andre Hardy (7.9 points and 6.0 rebounds) is a solid inside presence off the bench, while Kelvin Sango (4.0 points) is a solid defender, who has started 13 games including all eight during Oral Roberts win streak.

During league play Oral Roberts leads the conference in scoring defense (61.7 per game), scoring margin (+13.7), field-goal percent defense (39.2 percent), offensive field-goal percentage (49.3 percent), offensive rebounds (12.0 per game) and rebounding margin (+7.6).

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson and Will Hudson vs. ORU’s Lewis and Ford. The matchup between Johnathon Jones and Robert Jarvis is no doubt huge, but this game will likely be won inside the paint. Benson and Hudson have stepped up their games tremendously this past few weeks, but Lewis and Ford will present the biggest challenge they will face in the Summit League. The game could come down to one or two possessions so every rebound will be critical. Benson leads the league in rebounding during league play, averaging 8.6 per game, while Lewis is sixth (7.7 per game) and Ford is eighth (7.3). Benson and Hudson also have to be careful not to get into foul trouble, especially with Oakland’s short bench. In the first meeting, Benson had 14 points, while Hudson had four off the bench. Lewis had 17 points (all in the second half and overtime) and 11 rebounds, while Ford had seven points and seven rebounds.

Matchup history — Oral Roberts leads the all-time series 16-7 and has won the last four. Oakland is 5-5 all-time at home against the Golden Eagles, but has lost four of its last five at home to Oral Roberts. The Golden Eagles defeated Oakland, 68-65, in overtime back on Jan. 10. Jarvis had 17 points, while Stokes scored 11 off the bench. Jones had 16 points and seven assists before fouling out 12 seconds into overtime, while Erik Kangas had 20 points and Dan Waterstradt scored 11 points. The two teams have combined to win the last four conference tournamets, Oakland in 2005 and Oral Roberts in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Grizzlies and Golden Eagles have met twice in the tournament championship game, with Oakland winning in 2005 and Oral Roberts in 2007.

The skinny — Oakland is coming off a pair of tough road losses and should be hungry to get a victory against rival Oral Roberts. The Grizzlies are 6-0 at home this season, winning by an average of 17.8 points. That number is a little deceiving considering Oakland beat Western Illinois by 40 and Rochester College at 34, but Oakland has been tough at home.

Oakland freshman Drew Maynard and Blake Cushingberry failed to score against Oral Roberts earlier this season, but have played much better at home. Maynard is averaging 11.2 points per game at home.

Kangas cooled off a little bit last week, but still averaged 15 points and shot 7-for-22 from 3-point range. He has shown all season he can go off at any point and Oral Roberts will certainly key in on him. Benson and Hudson can relieve some pressure off Kangas if they get going early and Jones admitted the inside game has become more of a weapon as of late.

“At first, at the beginning of the season they were like our second option,” Jones said. “Now when we start games they are our first option. With them playing so well it opens up the guard play, it opens our driving lanes and Kangas gets more open shots. They are playing really well right now. I think in the last couple games, they have both been in double digit scoring and rebounding so that’s huge for us.”

Ilija Milutinovic update

2009-02-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Illija Milutinovic returned to practice for the first time Tuesday. He looked a little rusty and Oakland coach Greg Kampe said he has to get his conditioning back to where it was before he got hurt. Kampe discusses Milutinovic on the next episode of Grizz Talk so look out for that.

Bracketbusters thoughts

2009-02-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

The ESPN bracketbusters pairing were announced yesterday and North Dakota State will play at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and South Dakota State will play at Cal Poly. Neither will be a televised game.

Now I know Oral Roberts has participated in this before and now NDSU and SDSU are this year. The question is how do teams get picked? When will Oakland get a chance? What about IUPUI, which won 26 games last year? Why all of a sudden is Oral Roberts, the three-time defending champion, no longer involved? I don’t have an answer, but I sure hope it’s not because the Summit League won’t accommodate the organizers of the bracketbusters.

Teams don’t want to play three games in a week during the conference season so it appears NDSU and SDSU were picked because they play just one game the week of bracketbusters this season. No I don’t know if the Summit League planned it that way or it just happened to work out that way. The answer doesn’t really matter because the league should be offering all of its teams for this. The entire Mid-American Conference and Horizon League are part of this and accommodate it. So why not the entire Summit League? Now I know the organizers might not want the whole league, but I’m sure they would rather have Oral Roberts, IUPUI and Oakland than some of the teams involved.

The Summit League is unique because there is more travel involved, but the bracketbusters is a great opportunity because even if you don’t get a TV or home game, you are guaranteed a home game the following year with the team you go play. The Summit League needs to do whatever it can to have as many of its teams as possible in it, not just make two teams available. Maybe I’m off-base on this, but it’s just a thought I had when I looked at the RPI of some of the teams involved. I’m curious how other people feel about this?

Update: Looked into it a little further and the entire WAC, Metro Atlantic, Big West, Missouri Valley, Colonial and Ohio Valley participate in this. Teams with RPIs in the 300s like SE Missouri St. (333), Northern Illinois (331) and Eastern Michigan (330) are in it.

Summit League power rankings 2-2-09

2009-02-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (16-5, 10-1 Summit) — The Bison picked up their first-ever win over Oakland thanks to a late run and then dominated IPFW last week. Senior Mike Nelson had a huge 21-point effort against the Grizzlies, his first 20-point game since Nov. 29, and played solid defense on Erik Kangas. Nelson followed that up with 10 points in 24 minutes against IPFW. NDSU has a big road trip this week to Western Illinois and IUPUI and might be able to gain some ground on Oral Roberts with a pair of wins.
2. Oral Roberts (11-11, 9-1) — The Golden Eagles remain undefeated in 2009 and their victory at Centenary was their eighth straight. The Gents had no answer for Marcus Lewis, who had 21 points on 10-for-14 shooting. Lewis is 21-for-27 from the field in his last two games. The Golden Eagles are now .500 for the first time since the second game of the regular season. Oral Roberts remains in the hunt for its fifth-straight regular-season league title and have two big road games this week, at Oakland and at IPFW.
3. Oakland (13-11, 6-5) — It was not a good week for the Golden Grizzlies, who were swept on their trip to the Dakotas. Oakland was tied 64-64 with North Dakota State with less than six minutes left before the Bison went on a 13-0 run to earn their first-ever win over Oakland. The Grizzlies then blew a 17-point second half lead at South Dakota State and fell in overtime. Oakland’s big men continued their hot play. Sophomore Keith Benson broke the single-season school record for blocks and averaged 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per game last week and shot 14-for-17 from the field. Sophomore Will Hudson averaged 14 points and 5.5 rebounds, and shot 12-for-15 from the field.
4. Centenary (7-15, 5-5) — The Gents 71 points against Oral Roberts broke the Golden Eagles’ nine-game streak of holding opponents under 70 points, but the Gents still lost their 12th straight to Oral Roberts. The loss also snapped Centenary’s four-game winning streak. Leading scorer Nick Stallings (16.4 per game) scored just five points in the loss to ORU. Sophomore Gary Redus scored a career-high 23 points in the game, his first 20-point game since he scored 21 against Troy back on Nov. 20.
5. IUPUI (12-10, 5-6) — The Jaguars picked up a pair of road victories last week and have now won three-straight to pull themselves out of the league cellar. IUPUI is currently in a three-way tie for fifth place and has two home games this week. The Jaguars won easily at Southern Utah, which is typically a tough place to win, but the Jaguars have won six of their last seven trips there. Junior Robert Glenn is averaging 19 points and 7.3 rebounds during IUPUI’s three-game win streak.
6. South Dakota State (10-13, 5-6) — The Jacks protected their homecourt nicely last week with a pair of wins. SDSU rallied from 17 down in the second half to beat Oakland in overtime. It was the Jacks third overtime game in their last four, but their first overtime victory. Junior Kai Williams became the first SDSU player to score 1,000 points all at the Division I level with his 15 points against Oakland Saturday. Garrett Callahan is just 45 points away from becoming the second player to do so. SDSU hits the road this week still looking for its first Summit League road victory in school history.
7. Southern Utah (7-15, 5-6) — The Thunderbirds split a pair of home games last week. SUU led by as many as 15 in the second half against Western Illinois, but had to hold on late to win by one. Dave Marek hit all seven of his 3-point attempts against IUPUI and finished with 23 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Thunderbirds fell by 14. SUU hosts UMKC Saturday, but then plays four of its last six on the road.
8. Western Illinois (7-15, 4-7) — The Leathernecks snapped their six-game losing streak with a wild win at UMKC. WIU trailed by four with 42 seconds left, but UMKC committed four turnovers and the Leathernecks capitalized on each one to win by five, 56-51. WIU almost stole a second one at Southern Utah, but David DuBois missed a shot at the buzzer. It would have been the Leathernecks first win in Cedar City, they are now 0-12 all-time. WIU leads IPFW by one-game for the final conference tournament spot and host two home games this week.
9. IPFW (8-14, 3-8) — The trip to the Dakotas did not go well for the Mastodons. IPFW fell at South Dakota State by six, the same team it beat by 34 at home. The Mastodons then got embarrassed by 31 at North Dakota State and scored just 43 points, with senior David Carson scoring 22 of them. IPFW hosts two league games this week against Centenary and Oral Roberts and likely needs at least one win to stay in the conference tournament hunt.
10. UMKC (6-18, 2-9) — The Kangaroos are in disarray. UMKC lost second-leading scorer Reggie Hamilton, who asked to be released from his scholarship last week and was granted his request. Leading scorer Dane Brumagin missed both games last week with a sore Achilles’ heel. The Kangaroos somehow turned a four-point lead with 42 seconds against Western Illinois into a five-point loss. UMKC has lost five straight and now have three-straight road games and five of its last seven are on the road.

Oakland at South Dakota State preview

2009-01-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

The opponent — South Dakota State (9-13, 4-6 Summit) enters Saturday’s game in the mix to make the conference tournament, which is in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Jackrabbits, 76-70, win over IPFW put them in a four-way tie for fifth place and one game ahead of the Mastodons, who at 3-7 is in ninth place in the league.

SDSU has been a much stronger team at home than on the road. The Jacks are 7-3 at home and 1-9 on the road this season, with their lone win being at Iowa State. SDSU is 1-1 on a neutral court this season. The Jacks have not won a Summit League road game since joining the conference last season.

The Jacks had five players scored in double figures in the win over IPFW led by 22 points from junior Garrett Callahan, who averages 17 points a game this season and 18.9 in league play. Garrett Callahan’s 2.7 3-pointers per game is second in the league to Oakland’s Erik Kangas (3.8 per game).

Sophomore forward Anthony Cordova added 15 points and 11 rebounds against the Mastodons for his fourth double-double of the year. The 6-foot-7 Cordova is the tallest starter on the Jacks and averages 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard Clint Sargent is SDSU’s second leading scorer at 14.7 per game and is fourth in the league in 3-pointers per game at 2.5. Junior forward Kai Williams (6-foot-6) could be the Jacks best player and is the most versatile. Williams struggled early this season. He is averaging 9.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game this season down from the 14 points and 7.8 rebounds he averaged last season.

The Jacks fifth starter has been a revolving door with sophomore guard Payton Tivis (1.2 points and 1.2 rebounds) making eight starts and starting the win over IPFW. Senior Mackenzie Casey (3.2 points) has made 10 starts. Freshman Griffan Callahan (the younger brother of Garrett) is the Jacks top reserve and averages 7.1 points and 3.5 rebounds. Griffan Callahan has started three games this season.

Sophomore Dale Moss (4.7 points, 3.0 rebounds), freshman Josh Cassady (3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds), sophomore Michael Palarca (2.5 points) and junior Mark Engen (2.0 points) each made two starts this season, while coach Scott Nagy was toying with different lineups and trying to motivate his starters.

Saturday’s game is South Dakota State’s 37th annual Pork Classic, add that to the fact that the women’s team is hosting a big game against the Oakland women and you have a scenario where the crowd will likely be bigger than normal.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. SDSU’s Garrett Callahan. A matchup between two of the league’s top shooters. Both players are also their team’s leading scorers. Kangas scored 13 points and shot 3-for-10 from 3-point range in Oakland’s loss at North Dakota State. Kangas averaged 33 points a game during the Grizzlies three-game winning streak prior to the loss to NDSU. Kangas scored 20 points in Oakland’s win over SDSU on New Year’s Eve and hit four 3-pointers. Garrett Callahan scored 24 points and hit seven 3-pointers for the Jacks, who hit a school record 15 3-pointers against Oakland. Whoever has the hotter hand between Kangas and Garrett Callahan could determine the outcome of the game.

Matchup history — Oakland is 3-0 all-time against the Jacks, including a 86-81 victory at home earlier this season. The Grizzlies had five players in double figures in the win. Kangas had 20, Keith Benson added 19 points and nine rebounds, Drew Maynard had 14 points and Dan Waterstradt and Will Hudson each scored 10 points. Johnathon Jones had nine point and six assists. All five of the Jacks starters scored in double figures and all but Cordova hit at least two 3-pointers.
The Grizzlies won their only meeting in Brookings last season, 73-72, on a jumper by Brandon Cassise with 15 seconds left.

The skinny — The Grizzlies are likely out of the race for the regular-season league title, but still have an outside shot at the two seed and an excellent shot at the third seed. Oakland leads Centenary, which was idle Thursday and hosts Oral Roberts Saturday, by a half game for third place. A win Saturday would set the Grizzlies up nice to make a run with five of its last seven at home. Oakland could very well meet SDSU in the first round of the tournament depending on how things play out, a matchup that would be tougher than usual considering the tournament is in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The key to the game for the Grizzlies will be establishing their inside presence with Benson and Hudson, but at the same time not allowing the Jacks to hit uncontested 3-pointers. SDSU’s biggest strength is it’s outside shooters, especially Garrett Callahan and Sargent. Oakland has to decide early if it’s going to defend man-to-man with a smaller lineup or if it’s going to try and exploit SDSU’s lack of height with both Hudson and Benson. If the Jacks get going from the outside early and build a lead it could be a long night for the Grizzlies. Oakland also needs to get more out of its bench, which scored just three points against NDSU and played a combined 31 minutes.

For my preview of the women's game against SDSU in today's paper click here.

NDSU game thoughts

2009-01-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

Well I paid eight dollars so I could watch the on-demand video of the Oakland-North Dakota State game when I got home from work Thursday night and it was never loaded on the on-demand portion of gobison.com and as of 5 p.m. today before I had to come into the office it still wasn’t loaded. So I’m a little annoyed and still haven’t seen the actual game.

I thought I would give some of my thoughts from looking at the box score and reading the postgame quotes. First off it was a good effort on the road by Oakland and it appears they ran out of gas. It was tied at 64 with 6:35 left when the Bison went on a 13-0 run. The Grizzlies have just eight scholarship players and are getting nothing out of Matt Samuels right now.

Expecting Johnathon Jones and Erik Kangas to play 40 minutes a night is tough to do, but at the same time I can’t blame Oakland coach Greg Kampe for doing it.
Samuels shows flashes of potential, but can’t be trusted to not make a turnover or take a bad shot. He seems almost too eager to prove himself and part of that is because he knows he’s not going to get many minutes. It’s the chicken and egg kind of thing. Do you wait until he plays good to give him more minutes or give him minutes and hope he calms down and plays within the gameplan? I don’t have the answers, but I do know this the chances of a league title aren’t very good so resting your stars and giving the freshman some minutes as well as John Kast might not be a bad idea. At least you will know what you have come tournament time and won't kill your studs during the regular season by playing them 40 minutes.

My other thought and Kampe mentioned this in the postgame quotes, is beating NDSU three times in a year would be hard to do. Now the Bison don’t have that extra motivation should the two teams meet in the tournament. Not that the four fifth-year seniors need anymore motivation, but still I think it's a good thing to get that first win out of the way for them. Also no offense to either of them, but I don’t think Lucas Moormann is going to shoot 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and Michael Tveidt is going to shoot 4-for-7 and 2-for-2 on too many nights. The Bison’s role players had good nights Thursday and the Bison, who are shoot 75 percent on the season, shot 95 percent from the free-throw line. Part of that can be playing at home. I am just hoping their is a third game between the two teams on a neutral floor because I expect it would be another good one.

Grizz Talk 1-29-09

2009-01-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with senior Ricky Bieszki and Erik Kangas.

Oakland at North Dakota State preview

2009-01-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

For my preview in today's paper click here.

The opponent — North Dakota State (14-5, 8-1) has won six-straight since Oakland defeated the Bison back on Jan. 2 on a late Erik Kangas 3-pointer. NDSU’s 8-1 league start is its best in 35 years, dating back to its days in the North Central Conference. The Bison also earned their first road sweep since joining the Summit League a couple weeks ago. NDSU was 3-6 on the road last year, but is off to a 4-1 start on the road in league play this season.

The Bison have been quite strong at home, going 8-0 and winning their home games by an average of 22.3 points. NDSU lost just two home games last season, the last to IUPUI on Feb. 9, 2008 and the other to Oakland on Jan. 5.

Preseason Player of the Year Ben Woodside has lived up to his billing. He leads the league in scoring (24.2 per game) and is second in assists (6.4 per game). Teammate Brett Winkelmann is second in the league in scoring (19.1 per game) and second in rebounding (7.3 per game).

The two fifth-year seniors are joined in the starting lineup by fellow fifth-year seniors Mike Nelson (11.3 points, 4.2 rebounds) and Lucas Moormann (4.3 points and 4.2 rebounds), and sophomore Michael Tveidt (8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds).

The Bison have been quite healthy this season, with the same starting five in all 19 games and their top three subs off the bench (junior Dejuan Flowers, junior Josh Vaughan and freshman Eric Carlson) have played in all 19 games.

NDSU is currently ranked in the mid-major Top 25, checking in at No. 25. The Bison are the only Summit League team that received votes in the latest poll.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Johnathon Jones vs. North Dakota State’s Ben Woodside. This will be the fourth matchup between two of the Summit League’s elite guards and should be another good one. Jones has averaged 18.3 points and seven assists in three games against the Bision, while Wooside has averaged 13 points and 5.7 assists. North Dakota State’s entire offense runs through Woodside and Jones will certainly play a key role in trying to contain him. Jones can help his cause defensively by attacking Woodside on the other end, while still getting his teammates involved.

Matchup history — Oakland is 4-0 all-time against NDSU and have won the last three on last second shots, including two Kangas 3-pointers. Sophomore Keith Benson led Oakland with 17 points and nine rebounds on Jan. 2, while Drew Maynard added 15 points, Will Hudson had 11 points and six rebounds, Jones finished with 13 points and nine assists and Kangas had seven points in just 25 minutes after he suffered a cramp in his calf. Winkelmann led the Bison with 33 points and 14 rebounds, while Woodside was the only other player in double figures with 14 points and six assists. Michael Tveidt added nine points, while Mike Nelson was held to three points and without a field goal.

The skinny — The Bison have likely been counting down the days until this game after falling victim for the third straight time to a last second shot. Woodside commented after the Jan. 2 game that it was a lot of fun, but he’d like to come out on the winning side once. He will get his chance Thursday. The fans are dying to see NDSU beat Oakland and will likely be out in full force. Oakland’s start in the the hostile environment will be crucial. The Grizzlies need to get the ball inside to Benson and Hudson and try to build a lead or keep it close. If Oakland falls behind, coming back to win in Fargo may be too much to ask.

For all intents and purposes if Oakland has any chance at the regular-season league title it has to win this game. In the end it is all about those few days in March, but a win here and the Grizzlies can still consider themselves in the hunt with five of their last eight at home. Oakland would also improve its chances of earning a No. 2 seed, which comes with the all important off-day at the conference tournament.

Nickname wanted

2009-01-28T08:31:00.001-08:00

As Keith Benson and Will Hudson continue to emerge as low-post threats for Oakland I thought it would be a good time to come up with a nickname for the duo. So get out your creative hats and submit your ideas. My first suggestion is Chilli Cheese. Chilli for Benson, who is a pretty laid back (chill) guy and cheese for Wisconsin native Will Hudson. Now I know someone can come up with a better one so let's hear it.

Hamilton leaves UMKC

2009-01-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Things just continue to get worse for UMKC. The Kangaroos lost one of their best players in sophomore guard Reggie Hamilton, who asked and was granted a release from his scholarship. Hamilton was second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game. Hamilton was one of UMKC coach Matt Brown's first recruits and averaged 11.7 points a game last season as a freshman. The last-place Kangaroos (6-16, 2-7) chances of making the conference tournament are now even longer without Hamilton.

I'm assuming Hamilton will try to transfer somewhere. The Harvey, Ill. native is a talented player and in my opinion was a future all-conference player. Fans on the UMKC message board have blamed Brown for running off Hamilton as well as other players. I don't know how true or untrue that is, but losing Hamilton is a big blow for UMKC. He was just a sophomore and looked like he had a bright future ahead of him along with Spencer Johnson

Summit League power rankings 1-26-09

2009-01-26T13:27:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (14-5, 8-1) — One of the signs of a championship team is that it wins games it probably should have lost. The Bison displayed this quality once again in a victory at South Dakota State Friday. Now NDSU turns its attention to Oakland, a team that has won three straight nail-biters over the Bison the past two years, including one in Fargo last season. The Bison are 8-0 at home this season, but have beaten just one Division I team with a winning record at home (Utah Valley).
2. Oral Roberts (10-11, 8-1) — The Golden Eagles have won seven straight, are undefeated in 2009 and are now one win away from being .500 for the first time since Nov. 22. Junior Kevin Ford continues his streak of highlight-reel dunks and earned the No. 1 play on ESPN’s Top 10 plays list last week, his fourth time making the list and first as No. 1. Oral Roberts begins the second half of league play with three-straight on the road, starting at red-hot Centenary Saturday.
3. Oakland (13-9, 6-3) — The Golden Grizzlies didn’t just protect their homecourt last week, they dominated at home. Senior Erik Kangas has hit 23 3-pointers in his last three games and is now the school’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals. He picked up his second straight Player of the Week award for his efforts. Junior Johnathon Jones had two straight double-digit assist games last week and is now 12th in the nation in assists per game (6.2 per game). The Grizzlies have a huge week as they travel to the Dakotas and need a win Thursday at NDSU to keep their regular-season title hopes alive.
4. Centenary (7-14, 5-4) — The Gents didn’t just win two home games last week, they dominated, topping UMKC by eight and Southern Utah by 25. Centenary has now won four straight and five out of their last six. The big test for the Gents will come this week when they host Oral Roberts, which has won seven straight. Freshman guard Maxx Nakwaasah has averaged 12 points a game since moving into the starting lineup three games ago.
5. IUPUI (10-10, 3-6) — The Jaguars halted their five-game skid with a dominating 84-57 win at IPFW Saturday. IUPUI shot 59.6 percent from the field, while holding IPFW to 38.1 percent shooting. It was a much better performance than the Jaguars’ 18-point loss at Oakland. IUPUI has held opponents to an average of 61.5 points (1st in the league) and 42.5 percent shooting (2nd in the league) in league play.
6. South Dakota State (8-13, 3-6) — The Jacks have nobody to blame but themselves for their overtime loss at home to North Dakota State. Anthony Cordova had a stellar game shooting 10-for-12 from the field and finishing with 21 points and eight rebounds. Garrett Callahan scored 22 points, but took 22 shots. SDSU continues to lose close games, but is a young team with just one scholarship senior. The Jacks need to protect their homecourt this week to stay in the race for the final few conference tournament spots.
7. Southern Utah (6-14, 4-5) — Lucky for the Thunderbrids, they return home for three straight games after they got abused in two road games last week. Southern Utah fell by 16 at Oral Roberts and by 25 at Centenary. Davis Baker failed to reach double digits for just the third time this season in the loss to Oral Roberts, where the Thunderbirds scored just 51 points.
8. IPFW (8-12, 3-6) — The Mastodons are up and down offensively this year, they can score 80 points one night and then 57 the next. The problem is IPFW has to rely on its offense to win games, because its defense has really struggled, allowing their opponents to shoot an average of 48.6 percent in league play. Things don’t get any easier as IPFW heads to the Dakotas this week starting with SDSU, which is likely looking forward to avenge its embarrassing loss at IPFW earlier this year.
9. Western Illinois (6-14, 3-6) — The Leathernecks have now lost six-straight after starting league play 3-0 and got absolutely embarrassed at Oakland by 40 points. Western Illinois relies too much on senior David DuBois and its lack of size inside really hurt it against Oakland. The Leathernecks have two more road games this week and if they don’t turn things around soon they might never make it to Sioux Falls.
10. UMKC (6-16, 2-7) — The Kangaroos have really dug themselves a hole and have lost six of seven since league play restarted. UMKC had one of the better non-conference seasons, but has not been able to translate that success into league play. Senior Dane Brumagin failed to reach double figures in both losses last week, just the third and fourth time he has done so all season.

All-conference ballot
First team
Ben Woodside, North Dakota State
Erik Kangas, Oakland
Marcus Lewis, Oral Roberts
Brett Winkelman, North Dakota State
Johnathon Jones, Oakland
Robert Jarvis, Oral Roberts

Second team
Nick Stallings, Centenary
Robert Glenn, IUPUI
Garrett Callahan, South Dakota State
Davis Baker, Southern Utah
David Carson, IPFW

Honorable mentions
Dane Brumagin, UMKC
David DuBois, Western Illinois
Keith Benson, Oakland
Anthony Cordova, South Dakota State
Gary Patterson, IUPUI

Western Illinois thoughts

2009-01-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

The most encouraging thing to me from the Western Illinois win was the dominant inside play of Keith Benson and Will Hudson. When you get to the conference tournament it tends to turn into a half-court game and having a dominant inside game is huge in that type of environment. Teams that are guard-orientated might struggle to score if their shots aren’t falling, but big men tend to take high-percentage shots so they are less likely to have an off night. And it’s not like Oakland’s guards are chop liver. Anybody in the league would love to have Erik Kangas and Johnathon Jones. And Drew Maynard continues to improve and is always a threat to go for 12-18 points with his outside shot and athleticism.

Mr. Unselfish
Jones could be one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever seen. A lot of guys say they will do whatever it takes to win and they don’t care about their numbers, but Jones doesn’t say it, he does it. Here is a guy who scored 32 points at Oregon at the beginning of the year, but has no problem scoring one point and dishing out 11 assists against Western Illinois. Oakland landed a gem when they signed Jones and a gem both on and off the court. He brings leadership to the team and is the perfect guy to run the offense. He can score when he needs to and he gets his teammates involved. I don’t know the exact number of Kangas 3-pointers Jones has assisted on, but I’m sure it’s a lot.

What a crowd
The crowd on Saturday was one of the biggest I’ve seen. I’m not really sure why so many people showed up for Western Illinois, but I think any casual fans that wandered in will likely come back. It was a fun game even though it was such a blowout. Oakland coach Greg Kampe talked about the crowd at the post-game press conference and said he thought Oakland games were becoming events. This team has talent and a bright future so hopefully the community can get behind them.

NOTE: For those of you that enjoyed the free Pitas at the Pita Pit after the game Saturday you can thank my little brother Mike. He was the one who hit the halfcourt shot and won free pitas for one year for himself in the process. I couldn’t believe he made it, but I had to heckle him for missing the free throw.

It's a three-horse race

2009-01-25T11:36:00.000-08:00

The Summit League conference season is half-over and it’s safe to say it’s a three-team race. North Dakota State and Oral Roberts sit atop the league at 8-1, with Oakland two games back at 6-3.

The Golden Grizzlies for all intents and purposes have to win Thursday night at North Dakota State to stay in the race. A loss would give Oakland four league losses and it can’t expect NDSU and Oral Roberts to each lose at least three out of their nine remaining games.

All three teams are undefeated at home. Oakland and North Dakota State each have five home games left, while Oral Roberts has four. Oakland and North Dakota State have four common games (at IUPUI, at Western Illinois, home Southern Utah, home UMKC). Oakland and Oral Roberts have none. North Dakota State and Oral Roberts one game (at Centenary).

A look at the first-half of league play
Oral Roberts lost at North Dakota State (an eight-point loss) and survived at home against Oakland in overtime. But the Golden Eagles have dominated the rest of the league, winning all seven games by at least nine points and by an average of 18.4 points.

North Dakota State has had several close calls. The first a three-point win at home against IUPUI, where the Bison trailed by six with 1:34 left. The second was a 65-60 win in overtime at UMKC and the third an 87-77 win at South Dakota State in overtime.

Oakland has two double-digit road losses, at Southern Utah and at Centenary. Neither game was close from the start and the Grizzlies, who average 76.9 points a game in league play, scored exactly 60 points in each loss.

Common games and results
At IPFW
Oakland win, 93-88 (+5)
North Dakota State win, 67-60 (+7)

IUPUI home
Oakland win, 75-57 (+18)
North Dakota State win, 55-52 (+3)

Western Illinois home
Oakland win, 86-46 (+40)
North Dakota State win, 81-64 (+17)

At Southern Utah
Oakland loss, 82-60 (-22)
North Dakota State win, 76-53 (+23)

At UMKC
Oakland win, 84-78 (+6)
North Dakota State win, 65-60, OT (+5)

Centenary home
North Dakota State win, 68-53 (+15)
Oral Roberts win, 82-59 (+23)

At South Dakota State
Oral Roberts win, 85-76 (+9)
North Dakota State win, 87-77, OT (+10)

Head-to-head
Oakland d. North Dakota State, 77-76
Oral Roberts d. Oakland, 68-65 (OT)
North Dakota State d. Oral Roberts, 83-75

Oakland-Western Illinois preview

2009-01-23T10:53:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Western Illinois (6-13, 3-5 Summit) is another team coming to the O’Rena desperate for a victory. The Leathernecks have lost five straight after starting off the conference season 3-0.

Jim Molinari is in his first year as Western Illinois’ head coach. He has 28 years of Division I coaching experience and most recently was an assistant coach at Ball State last season and the interim head coach at Minnesota during the 2006-07 season.

Senior guard David DuBois (6-foot-5, 225) is the heart and soul of the Leathernecks team. He leads the team in scoring (18.1 points) and rebounding (5.7). In conference games only, he is second in the league in scoring at 20.3 points per game.

Senior guard Josh Rivers (11.2 points, 2.9 assists) is the only other Western Illinois player scoring in double figures and is the team’s leading 3-point shooter (2.1 per game). Junior guard David Nurse (8.6 points, 2.9 assists) is another quality shooter for the Leathernecks and averages 1.6 3-pointers per game. Freshman guard Tommie Tyler (3.3 points) has started 16 games.

Western Illinois has tinkered with its starting lineup all season. Sophomore forward James Granstra (2.5 points) and freshman guard Ceola Clark (5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds) started for Western Illinois in its loss at IPFW Thursday, with Nurse coming off the bench.

Junior guard Quenton Kirby (6.3 points) has been the Leathernecks most effective player off the bench and has made four starts. He had 11 points off the bench against the Mastodons. Junior Rodney Williams, Jr. (4.8 points) has also contributed off the bench and has made seven starts.

Western Illinois’ main weakness appears to be inside. The Leathernecks have gotten outrebounded by an average of 31.1 to 27.7 and have just 33 blocks as a team.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Western Illinois’ Josh Rivers. Kangas has been on an absolute tear the past few games and doesn’t show any signs of slowing. The Leathernecks will likely key in on Kangas and try to shut him down. The senior sharpshooter is used to the attention and typically finds ways to get open. Kangas is just seven 3-pointers away from breaking Jason Rozycki’s school-record of 292 career 3-pointers.

Rivers came off the bench in the Leathernecks last game, just the second time he has done so all season. Rivers has the ability to get hot quick, he hit six 3-pointers against Eastern Illinois earlier this season. Shooters have seemed to find their stroke against Oakland this season so shutting down Rivers will have to be a priority.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 18-4 and has won the last four. Oakland is 8-2 all-time at home against Western Illinois. The Golden Grizzlies beat Western Illinois three times last season, including in the first round of the conference tournament. Kangas scored 26 points, including six 3-pointers in Oakland’s 80-66 win in the tournament. Derick Nelson added 17 points and nine rebounds and Johnathon Jones had 14 points and four assists. The Grizzlies won the other two meetings last season, 91-82, at home and 85-71 in Macomb, Ill.

The skinny — Oakland has done a nice job of protecting its homecourt and needs to kept it going by staying focused Saturday. The Grizzlies can’t afford another hiccup, especially with their trip to the Dakotas coming next week. Oakland should try to use its size early with Keith Benson and Will Hudson. Oakland point guard Johnathon Jones has done a nice job getting those guys involved as well as hitting Kangas perfectly so the senior can get his shot off. Jones can affect the game in so many different ways, which is a large reason why he deserved the preseason mid-major All-American tab.

A win over the Leathernecks and Oakland will still be in decent shape in the league race heading into the second half of league play. It will be interesting to see if freshman guard Matt Samuels, who has not played in the last two games, sees any minutes. Oakland coach Greg Kampe said he wants to get Samuels back in the rotation and the team can’t afford to have just a seven-man rotation.

Oakland-IUPUI preview

2009-01-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

The opponent — IUPUI (9-9, 2-5 Summit) enters Thursday's game on a four-game losing streak and lost two at home last week, one on a buzzer-beater to Centenary. The losing streak has left the Jaguars in a three-way tie for last place in the Summit League and desperate for a win. The four-game losing streak in conference play is IUPUI’s first since the 1999-2000 season. Head coach Ron Hunter has guided the team to seven consecutive seasons with a .500 or better record.

Freshman Alex Young is the team's leading scorer at 12.8 points per game, but has struggled recently. Young scored in double figures in 14 consecutive games to start the year, but has failed to do so in three of his last four. He came off the bench for the second time this season in the loss to Centenary.

Junior college transfer Robert Glenn (6-foot-7, 195) has really come on as of late and has proved to be a huge addition for the Jaguars. Glenn averages 12.2 points and 5.4 rebounds (16.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in league play). Glenn has led the team in scoring and rebounding in four of its last six games.

Senior guard Gary Patterson is one of two starters back from last year’s team that won 26 games. Patterson’s numbers are down from last year. His scoring is down to 9.9 per game from 12.9 last year and he is hitting 1.8 3-pointers a game this year, down from his 2.8 last year. But Patterson's assists are up to 3.4 compared to 2.6 last year and he is still shooting 42 percent from 3-point range.

Junior forward Billy Pettiford (6.1 points, 6.2 rebounds) is the other returning starter and only IUPUI players to start all 18 games this season. Sophomore guard Leroy Nobles (9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds), junior forward Jon Avery (8.1 points, 6.0 rebounds) and John Ashworth (4.2 points) have all started over seven games for the Jaguars, who have used nine different starting lineups this year.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Will Hudson vs. IUPUI's Robert Glenn. Hudson is coming off his best game of the season a 16-point, nine rebound performance at IPFW. Hudson's 67.6 field goal percentage in league play is the best in the conference and he is eighth in offensive rebounds (2.6 per game). Hudson will have to help keep Glenn (whose 3.1 offensive rebounds per game in league play is third in the league) off the offensive glass. Glenn is averaging 16.3 points a game in league play and has been the Jaguars most consistent player during their four-game skid. If Hudson can stay out of foul trouble and help contain Glenn then IUPUI will have to rely on its struggling perimeter players to win the game.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the overall series 17-12 and is 11-3 at home. The Grizzlies and IUPUI split their regular-season meetings. IUPUI defeated Oakland, 80-65, in the Summit League tournament semifinals before falling in the championship game to Oral Roberts. IUPUI junior George Hill (a first-round NBA draft pick, who is now with the San Antonio Spurs) had 32 points, 13 rebounds and five assists in the tournament game. The Grizzlies won the meeting at the O’Rena last year, 84-69, led by 19 points from Derick Nelson and 15 points and seven assists from Johnathon Jones. The Jaguars won the meeting in Indianapolis, 82-69.

The skinny — The game will be a matchup of wills. Oakland’s will to stay in the league race and protect its homecourt vs. IUPUI’s will to end its losing streak and pull itself out of the league cellar. The Grizzlies must play better defensively than it did at IPFW, where their offense won the game. The Jaguars aren’t a strong perimeter team, shooting 31.3 percent from 3-point range as a team and doesn’t have one player averaging two 3-pointers a game, but teams have seem to find their shooting stroke against the Grizzlies this season. Case in point was IPFW’s Ben Botts scoring 22 points against Oakland after being held scoreless the previous game at Centenary.

Offensivley, Oakland will once again need senior Erik Kangas and junior Johnathon Jones to carry the load and hopefully being at home will help freshman Drew Maynard and Blake Cushingberry build some confidence as the second-half of league play approachs. The frontcourt duo of Keith Benson and Will Hudson has shown flashes of being dominant and should continue to build on their success in this two-game homestand.

Summit League power rankings 1-20-09

2009-01-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (12-5, 7-1) — The Bison trailed by as many as 12 in the second half at UMKC before rallying to win in overtime. The most impressive part of NDSU’s win was it held the Kangaroos scoreless in overtime and to just four points in the final three minutes of the second half. The Bison are second in the league in scoring defense in league games, holding opponents to 61.8 points per game. NDSU plays at rival South Dakota State Friday night.
2. Oral Roberts (8-11, 6-1) — The Golden Eagles have won five straight since the restart of league play. Oral Roberts leads the league in scoring margin during league play winning by an average of 10.4 points. Oral Roberts won road games at IUPUI and Western Illinois each by double digits. Oakland is the only team to score over 60 points against the Golden Eagles during their winning streak and Oakland did so in overtime. Senior Marcus Lewis joined the 1,000-point club last week.
3. Oakland (11-9, 4-3) — Senior Erik Kangas put on a display in the Golden Grizzlies win at IPFW, scoring 39 points and making the most difficult shots look easy. Oakland leads the league in scoring offense in league play, averaging 75.9 points, but is last in scoring defense giving up an average of 79 points. The Grizzlies need to protect their homecourt in league games against IUPUI and Western Illinois this week if they hope to stay in the league race.
4. Southern Utah (6-12, 4-3) — Thunderbirds head coach Roger Reid continues to get the most of his players and his squad is one of four teams with a winning league record. Southern Utah really struggled offensively against NDSU, scoring just 53 points in a 23-points loss, but turned things around against SDSU. Davis Baker (20.3 points per game) is one of three players averaging over 20 a game in league play.
5. Centenary (5-14, 3-4) — No that’s not a misprint, the Gents are one of the hot teams in the Summit League right now and have won three of their last four. Centenary swept its first road trip since entering the Summit League last week thanks to freshman Maxx Nakwaasah’s put-back with one second left that lifted Centenary over IUPUI. The play made SportCenter’s Top 10 list, which also showed Ron Hunter shoeless. The Gents host three straight league games starting with Southern Utah and UMKC this week.
6. Western Illinois (6-12, 3-4) — The Leathernecks have lost four straight after starting off league player 3-0. Things won’t get any better for WIU if David DuBois, who missed Saturday’s loss to Oral Roberts, misses an extended period of time. The Leathernecks, who are 1-7 on the road this season, have two road games this week and a pair of losses could put them at the bottom of the league standings. Wonder how many 'experts' are projecting them to make the NCAA tournament now?
7. South Dakota State (8-12, 3-5) — The Jackrabbits came close twice, but still have not won a road Summit League game. Kai Williams had a chance to force overtime at UMKC, but missed a point-blank layup. The Jacks then appeared to have a 'W' in the books at Southern Utah when Garrett Callahan hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to give his team a 3-point lead, but Southern Utah’s Jake Nielson hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to force overtime. SDSU scored just five points in overtime to fall to the Thunderbirds.
8. IUPUI (9-9, 2-5) — The Jaguars are reeling after losing their fourth straight game. After scoring in double figures in the first 14 games of his career freshman Alex Young has failed to do so in three of his last four. Young scored just two points in 11 minutes against Oral Roberts and had five points off the bench against Centenary. Junior college transfer Robert Glenn has been IUPUI’s most consistent player as of late and is averaging 16.3 points a game in league play.
9. IPFW (7-11, 2-5) — The Mastodons shot 58.2 percent from the field, including 62.5 in the second half and a sizzling 53.8 percent from 3-point range (14-for-26) against Oakland, but still lost because they allowed Oakland to shoot 58.9 percent (66.7 in the second half) and 52.2 percent from 3-point range. Head coach Dane Fife said he challenged his team in the locker room after the loss to Oakland so it will be interesting to see how they respond. The Mastodons host two league games this week.
10. UMKC (6-14, 2-5) — The Kangaroos find themselves in a three-way tie for last place in the league, but just two games out of third-place. UMKC is 2-8 in its last 10 and narrowly defeated South Dakota State. The Kangaroos had every chance to hand NDSU its second league loss, but fell apart down the stretch and couldn’t even score in overtime. Things don’t get any easier as UMKC heads to Oral Roberts, which has lost a home league game since 2005 and then to red-hot Centenary.

Oakland at IPFW preview

2009-01-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

The opponent — IPFW (7-10, 2-4) enters Saturday’s game against Oakland in a four-way tie for sixth place or last place depending on your point of view. The Mastodons have experienced the ups and downs of having a young team, with just two seniors on their roster. IPFW’s three juniors are all transfer students playing their first season on the team.

The Mastodons are led by former Oakland player David Carson, who is averaging 14.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this year. Carson was a freshman and key member on Oakland’s 2005 NCAA tournament team, but left Oakland after two years because of a lack of playing time. He has proven to be one of the league's elite players this season and is averaging 17.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in league play.

IPFW’s second leading scorer is sharp-shooting sophomore Ben Botts (9.8 points). Botts didn’t even score in IPFW’s win at Centenary last time out, but he can get hot in a hurry and is a dangerous player.

Another dangerous player is junior forward Deilvez Yearby, a transfer from Kansas State. Yearby averages 8.7 points and leads the team in rebounding at 6.8 per game and blocks (1.76 per game), but he has been in and out of the starting lineup, starting nine of 17 games.

Junior Nick Daniels, a transfer from Central Michigan, is another solid outside shooter and is averaging 7.1 points a game. Sophomore Zach Plackmeier (6.8 points) and freshman Trey McCorkle (3.7 points) have started over 10 games each for the Mastodons. Freshman Jeremy Mixon (5.6 points) has been a key player off the bench and is coming off a career-high 20 points against Centenary.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Drew Maynard/Blake Cushingberry vs. IPFW’s David Carson. Oakland coach Greg Kampe admitted Carson is a tough guard, especially without Derick Nelson. Maynard and Cushingberry will likely have to guard Carson if the Grizzlies go man-to-man. Carson (6-foot-7, 220) can go inside and score, hit the outside shot and beat people off the dribble. Limiting him will be key for Oakland, but not at the expense of leaving IPFW’s shooters open. The Grizzlies freshman can’t be expected to shut down Carson, but must limit him as much as possible and also contribute offensively. Both Maynard and Cushingberry failed to score in an overtime loss at Oral Roberts and Kampe admitted they are likely hitting the freshman wall, but added he hopes this is a bounce back week for them.

Matchup history — Oakland leads the all-time series 6-3, but IPFW won both matchups last season its first in the Summit League. The Grizzlies are 2-2 all-time at IPFW, with its last win being back on Nov. 26, 1983. The Mastodons won both meetings last season, but had huge contributions from Jaruan Burrows (40 points in two games) and DeWitt Scott (29 points in two games), who both graduated. IPFW is a mere three hours from Oakland, which makes it by far the closest league opponent and a potential rival. Oakland for the second straight year will be sending several buses full of fans to the game.

The skinny — There is no sugar-coating it, if Oakland is to have a shot at the regular-season league title then winning at IPFW is a must. North Dakota State (6-1 Summit) and Oral Roberts (5-1 Summit) both won road games Thursday and sit ahead of the Grizzlies in the league standings. Oakland (10-9, 3-3) is in a three-way tie for third with Southern Utah and Western Illinois.

“It’s really important for us in terms of getting back in the Summit League race and the regular season championship,” Oakland senior Dan Waterstradt said of Saturday’s game. “I don’t think we should have lost either of those games on that road trip (last week). We had a team goal to sweep Oral Roberts this year, obviously that’s not going to happen now. Some things didn’t go our way. But going down to IPFW and getting a win is something we need to do, especially with the way we practiced last week. It wasn’t very good. The way we are starting off this week it’s kind of the same.

“We have to get guys mentally ready and back in the swing of things with classes starting. We need to realize we need to go out and play on emotion against IPFW because they are a team that’s pretty dangerous. They can get some things going for them. Some nights they are going to score 100 points like they did against South Dakota State and other nights they are only going to score 58 or 60. They are a scary team like that. We just need to go out there and play hard.”

Another big key to Saturday’s game will be the performance of Oakland’s freshman. The Grizzlies have gotten huge contributions out of their freshman this year, but didn’t get much last week in a pair of road losses. Kampe said it’s likely they have hit the freshman wall and knows it will be key to see how they respond.

“We’ve played 19 games and a high school season is 20,” Kampe said. “You play 20 in high school then the tournament. We’ve played 19. The difference is we’ve traveled across the country three times doing it. You stay in rooms and we are gone from Wednesday on. It’s starting to wear and tear on them and they are really struggling. Cushingberry and Maynard haven’t made a shot in a week. But that happens to everybody and they have to learn to get through it. That’s one of the problems for your team though when you’re so reliant on freshman. You know these days are coming and that’s what we’ve run into.”

For my preview in Saturday's paper click here.

Grizz Talk 1-15-09

2009-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland sophomore Will Hudson and assistant coach Saddi Washington.

Summit League power rankings 1-12-09

2009-01-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

1. North Dakota State (10-5, 5-1 Summit) — Senior Brett Winkelman scored the final seven points of the game to lift the Bison over IUPUI, 55-52. Ben Woodside scored 26 points in a season-low 25 minutes in NDSU’s 17-point win over Western Illinois. The first-place Bison can give themselves some cushion in the league race and answer questions about their road toughness with games at Southern Utah and UMKC this week.
2. Oral Roberts (6-11, 4-1) — The Golden Eagles won their 30th straight conference home game with an overtime victory over Oakland Saturday. Oral Roberts has won three straight to double its win total on the season. Marcus Lewis picked up his fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Oakland, while Kevin Ford missed getting his fourth straight double-double finishing with seven points and seven rebounds. The Golden Eagles have a pair of road games this week, at IUPUI Thursday and at Western Illinois Saturday
3. Oakland (10-9, 3-3) — The Golden Grizzlies responded to an embarrassing 20-point loss at Centenary by nearly ending Oral Roberts’ conference home game winning streak before falling in overtime. Oakland has dug itself in a bit of a hole in the league race and will have to run off some wins to get back in it. The Grizzlies can start at IPFW Saturday. Oakland is playing short-handed with just eight scholarship players and three (freshmen Blake Cushingbery, Drew Maynard and Matt Samuels) failed to score against Oral Roberts.
4. Western Illinois (6-10, 3-2) — The Leathernecks suffered their first two league losses last week, falling at SDSU and NDSU. David DuBois had 24 points against the Bison and 21 against the Jacks, while Josh Rivers had 16 against NDSU and 15 against SDSU. No other Western Illinois player scored in double figures in either game. Western Illinois hosts Centenary and Oral Roberts this week.
5. IUPUI (9-7, 2-3) — The Jaguars nearly upset North Dakota State on the road, but then got embarrassed at South Dakota State. IUPUI is experiencing the ups and downs of a young team. Freshman Alex Young entered the week averaging 15 points a game, but scored just three against NDSU, which was just the second time all season he failed to reach double figures. Young then came off the bench for the first time all season against SDSU and had 10 points in the 20-point loss.
6. Southern Utah (5-11, 3-2) — The Thunderbirds three league wins have all come by exactly 16 points. Davis Baker and Tyler Quinney each scored 24 points in the Thunderbirds win at UMKC. Baker (18 points per game this season, 6.7 last season) has nearly tripled his scoring averaging from last year and Quinney (15.3 this season, 6.4 last season) has more than doubled his. Quinney earned player of the week honors for his efforts.
7. South Dakota State (8-10, 3-3) — Figuring out what Jackrabbits team will show up on a nightly basis is like trying to predict the weather. SDSU responded from its 34-point loss at IPFW last week with two dominating home victories. The first over then first-place Western Illinois, 64-55, and then a 20-point win over IUPUI. Both wins were at home and the Jacks remain winless all-time in Summit League road games, but something tells me the Jacks end that streak this week.
8. IPFW (7-10, 2-4) — The Mastodons held on for a win at Centenary on Saturday, but didn’t have a field goal in the final three minutes. IPFW hit four free throws in the final 20 seconds to hold on for the win. Freshman Jeremy Mixon had a career-high 20 points in the win. The Mastodons scored just 46 points in their loss at Oral Roberts and had just 19 at halftime. IPFW hosts Oakland, which is swept last season, on Saturday.
9. UMKC (5-13, 1-4) — The Kangaroos have lost four-straight league games after topping IPFW in their conference opener. Senior Dane Brumagin had 20 of UMKC’s 50 points in its 16-point home loss to Southern Utah. No other player had more than seven. The Kangaroos have to start turning things around if they want to make the league tournament and can start with two home games this week.
10. Centenary (3-14, 1-4) — The Gents put on an offensive display in their first home game of the season, a 20-point win over Oakland. Nick Stallings scored 20 points in the first half, which Centenary dominated 45-24. Stallings finished with 26 points in the win. The Gents trailed IPFW, 63-49, with just over three minutes left and went on a 13-1 run to pull with two, 64-62, but the Mastodons were able to hold on.

Oakland at Oral Roberts preview

2009-01-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Oral Roberts (5-11, 3-1 Summit) looks to be hitting its stride with the conference season in full swing. The four-time defending regular season champion and three-time defending conference tournament champion Golden Eagles really struggled during their brutal non-conference schedule, but have won two straight at home and sit a half-game out of first place in the Summit League.

Senior guard Robert Jarvis (17.1 points) and senior forward Marcus Lewis (12.4 points and 6.6 rebounds) provide Oral Roberts with veteran leadership. Both were named to the preseason all-league team, Jarvis to the first team and Lewis to the second team.

Newcomers Kevin Ford (transfer from College of Southern Idaho) and freshman Dominique Morrison (10.5 points) have helped fill the void left by graduation. Ford is averaging 11.3 points and 9.1 rebounds in the eight games since he became eligible.

Senior guard Kelvin Sango (3.8 points) rounds out the starting lineup with sophomore Andre Hardy (8.0 points, 6.1 rebounds) and freshman guard Kyron Stokes (7.0 points, 4.4 rebounds) key players off the bench.

Head coach Scott Sutton was the Summit League Coach of the Year last season and has led the Golden Eagles to 93 victories in the last four years. Oral Roberts has won 29-striaght conference home games dating back to 2005. The Golden Eagles last home lost in conference play was to UMKC back on Jan. 29, 2005. Oral Roberts has won its two home conference games this season by an average of 25 points.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Johnathon Jones vs. Oral Roberts’ Robert Jarvis. Jones has consistently scored between 9-16 points over the past couple months, but is due for a game where he goes off like he did at Oregon. Time will tell when that will happen, but Oakland needs Jones’ passing (5.9 assists per game) and defense more against the Golden Eagles, especially on Jarvis. Oral Roberts’ senior guard can single-handily shoot his team in or out of games. Jarvis is averaging 16 shots a game and is shooting 38.3 percent from the field. He has hit an average of three 3-pointers per game, while no other Golden Eagles player is averaging more than one per game. Both Jarvis and Jones play a ton of minutes, Jones leads the league at 37.7 per game and Jarvis is sixth at 34.8.

Matchup history — Where should do you start? Over the past four or five years these two teams have developed one of the best rivalries in the Summit League. Oral Roberts leads the all-time series 15-7 and has won the last three meetings, which includes the 2007 Mid-Con championship game. Oakland defeated the Golden Eagles in the championship game in 2005 to earn its only Division I NCAA Tournament berth. Oral Roberts has dominated the matchup at the Mabee Center, going 9-1 and winning the last eight. The Grizzlies last won at the Mabee Center back on Jan. 20, 2000.

Last season the Golden Eagles won the first meeting, 66-60, at the O’Rena behind 20 points from Jarvis. Derick Nelson, who is redshirting this season, lead Oakland with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Jones added 15 points and nine assists. Oral Roberts won the second meeting, 60-53, with Jarvis leading the way with 14 points. Marcus Lewis scored just two points, but had 13 rebounds. Nelson led Oakland with 13 points, while Jones and Erik Kangas each scored 12.

The skinny — Oakland (10-8, 3-2 Summit) has dug itself a hole in the league standings after a 20-point loss at Centenary on Thursday. It was the Grizzlies second loss to a team in the lower half of the standings. Oakland can begin to dig itself out of the hole with a win at Oral Roberts, which Oakland coach Greg Kampe accurately described as a game that is worth two, in that it not only is a win for your team, but a loss for another contender. The Golden Eagles protect their homecourt and will likely have a nice crowd on hand. Oakland needs to have a good start and play a complete game. Having just eight scholarship players won’t help, but the Grizzlies have to play the hand their dealt. A big part of the Golden Eagles gameplan will be to stop Kangas so other players need to help shoulder the scoring load.

Oakland’s two weaknesses defensively have been allowing open 3-pointers and offensive rebounds. Other than Jarvis, Oral Roberts doesn’t have another great 3-point shooter, but it does have rebounders. The Grizzlies will need to protect the glass and limit the Golden Eagles’ second chance points.

For my preview in today's paper click here.

Centenary thoughts

2009-01-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

My work schedule did not allow me to watch Oakland's loss to Centenary, but I did talk to Oakland coach Greg Kampe for a preview for Saturday's game at Oral Roberts. Here are some of the things he had to say about the loss.

In your mind what was the difference in the Centenary game?

I don’t know if I have an answer for that. They kicked the crap out of us. I have no idea why. At one point in the game they were shooting 70 percent from the floor and we were shooting 10 percent. I think they made 11 straight shots during the game. We played zone, we played man, we played box-and-one, we played every defense we know. We played zone probably a third of the game, not even a third of the game. We played man two-thirds of the game, then a mix of zone and box-and-one the rest of the time. Everything we had we tried and we couldn’t stop them. In the second half we started in a box-and-one and Stallings, who had 20 at halftime, only had six in the second half. We played the second half fairly even. We couldn’t guard them. We couldn’t keep them in front of us. They just went by us.

They went real small during that run they made. The game started out pretty sloppy by both teams and then Stallings made a 3 and we turned it over a couple times and gave them some transition baskets. Then they just made 10 or 11 straight shots. They just flew by us, kicked the ball around, found open guys and made shots.

At the other end we looked like we hadn’t seen a basketball court in a year. We just played terrible. I think we tried. I think we played hard. I think we tried, but I’ve been a coach a long time and I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t offer any explanation. I don’t know what happened. I know we missed layups, we missed open shots, we made bad plays, we made stupid plays, we turned the ball over, we didn’t pass the ball very well, obviously we only had four assists the entire game, that’s unbelievable in itself. In a nutshell, I don’t know what happened. I really don’t. I wish I was smarter and I could figure it out. All I know is we were down 30 points to Centenary on the road and they beat us. They just kicked the crap out of us. They kicked the crap out of us in every category there is, except rebounding. And I would hope if your playing five guys, 6-foot-2 or less, we would at least be able to rebound.

What is your team's mindset after the tough loss and entering Oral Roberts on Saturday?

I think at this time of the year, it’s January, bad things happen, good things happen, you have to let them both go. We are not even going to watch tape from Centenary because I watched the tape after the game and there is nothing to be learned. We are just going to take that and throw it away, well we won’t throw it away, we’ll hold on to it until the next time we play them.

Oral Roberts is one of those games that we talked about the other day, it’s worth two, not one. It’s an important game. We lost to a team that didn’t have a league win. That’s not good. We got two of those losses. We got to stay on the path, stay focused on what our goals are and realize it was just one game and get ready to play Oral Roberts.

We haven’t won there since the first year we were in the league, the year we won the title outright. That was nine or 10 years ago. We haven’t won (there) since then and it’s always been something. What we have to do is defend them and we have to rebound. We have said that since Day 1 this year, we are pretty talented offensively, but we are going to be up and down because we are young.

I will say this about last night, that it was the first time all year where I saw our young kids play like young kids. A lot of it had to do with, well JJ didn’t have a very good game and Kangas was OK. Benson was 3-for-9 from the floor and he only took one jump shot, everything else was a layup. We missed point-blank shots. We missed wide-open shots. We panicked when we got in trouble. All year long, we have had bad things happen to us and we have been able to get through it. We are at Oregon and we get a bad call at the end of the game and we win in overtime. We are at Green Bay and we have 10-point lead with two and a half minutes to go and they come back, and we win overtime. We never folded. We never did anything all year that looked like a young team, which has kind of surprised me. (Thursday) we looked like a young team. We weren’t able to overcome adversity. That was a first for them. We are going to see adversity (at Oral Roberts) and we have to be able to overcome it. We have to be able to guard them and rebound. If we don’t do that we aren’t going to win.

Grizz Talk 1-9-08

2009-01-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Derick Nelson and has a second edition of Trivia Time with Nelson, Dan Waterstradt and Ricky Bieszki.

Oakland at Centenary preview

2009-01-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Centenary (2-13, 0-3 Summit) enters its matchup with Oakland on an eight-game losing streak. The Gents will be playing their first home game after playing 15-straight on the road to start the season, while their home arena underwent renovations.

Head coach Greg Gary, who was an assistant at Duquesne last season, is in his first year as the Gents’ coach.

Centenary’s strength is its backcourt of senior guard Nick Stallings and junior point guard Chase Adams (13.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists). Stallings in the Gents leading scorer (17.0), rebounder (6.6) and 3-point shooter (35-for-79).

“Stallings is a great player,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “He is one of the better players in the league. Chase Adams is a very good point guard. They’re a perimeter team. Our zone is going to have to guard the perimeter. We got to guard transition. They are very good in transition. And we are going to have to play against the enthusiasm they have of playing their first game in this place.”

The Gents also received a boost when senior forward Lance Hill (6-foot-7, 255) returned. Hill, who averaged 11.7 points per game last season, is averaging 7.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in his first three games back and started Centenary’s last game.

“We have to take advantage of the inside,” Kampe said. “Lance (Hill) just came back from an academic suspension, he’s their big guy and was a pretty decent player last year. He’s only played in three games so he’s getting better. I think you’re going to see this team improve as the year goes on with him back. Their weakness is inside and now with (Hill) coming back they could get a lot better quickly.

Junior forward Jerrald Bonham (3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds) and sophomore guard Gary Redus (9.4 points) round out the starting lineup.

Centenary’s two wins are over Troy and Alcorn State with both being in the LSU men’s classic.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Erik Kangas vs. Centenary’s Nick Stallings. Kangas is coming off the North Dakota State game where a cramp forced him to sit most of the game before he came in and nailed the game-winning 3-pointer. Oakland, which is already short-handed, needs a healthy Kangas and his scoring. Stallings is a huge part of the Gents’ offense and is an effective 3-point shooter (44.3 percent). Slowing down Stallings has to be Oakland’s No. 1 key defensively

“He’s a great athlete and nothing bothers him,” Kampe said of Stallings. “He can miss 10 in a row and he’s going to take five more. He’s got a great attitude. He’s a tremendous athlete. He is quick with the ball, he flies it up and down the court. He’s their leading rebounder. He is their whole team, he’s everything. Chase Adams is a guy that gets him the ball and does the right stuff. Those two guys are a very, very good backcourt.”

Matchup history — Oakland is 8-2 all-time against Centenary, has won the last five and is 4-1 at the Gold Dome The Golden Grizzlies won the last meeting at Centenary, 97-61, on Feb. 9, 2008. Derick Nelson led Oakland with 22 points and nine rebounds. Kangas added 14 points and Will Hudson had 11 points and seven rebounds. Oakland won the earlier meeting last season, 74-61.

The skinny — If Oakland wants to win a regular-season conference championship then this is a game it needs to win. The Grizzlies can’t look at Centenary’s record and think they can just show up and win. The Gents are a dangerous team with some streaky scorers and will no doubt want to win their first game in the newly renovated Gold Dome.

Oakland will be playing at least the next three weeks, if not the rest of the season short-handed with just 10 players and just eight that have seen quality minutes this season. The Grizzlies are still confident they can accomplish their goals with the guys they have and need to build on their win over North Dakota State. Oakland needs to start off its three-straight on the road with a win and then move on to Oral Roberts on Saturday.

For a story on the Oakland freshman click here.

Summit League looking to expand?

2009-01-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

Expansion could be coming to The Summit League soon. The conference announced it would be visiting South Dakota on Jan. 20-21 in a press release. What this means I’m not sure, but I do know the conference wouldn’t announce it’s going if it wasn’t seriously considering adding South Dakota. The Coyotes are in their first year of Division I.

“We feel really good about it, but it's just another step — not the final step by any means," USD athletic director Joel Nielsen told the Argus-Leader. "I think, though, that we can make a strong case for the academic profile of our university and our geographic footprint fitting in with the current membership."

Apparently North Dakota, which is also in its first year of Division I is not being considered by The Summit League until it solves it’s issue with the Sioux nickname and logo.

“I’m not presenting any information to the (league’s) presidents council on the University of North Dakota until the logo issue is resolved one way or the other,” Summit League commissioner Tom Douple told the Grand Folks Hearld. “I don’t want it to be an issue for our members.”

Douple also told the Grand Folks Herald there is no timetable for expansion, “But we’re always looking at our options.”

If both Dakotas are added, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they both were, then the league could consider dividing into two six-team divisions. Time will tell what happens, but it should be interesting what the league does over the next few years.

Milutinovic update

2009-01-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Oakland men’s basketball team got some bad news earlier this week. An MRI revealed freshman center Ilija Milutinovic’s foot is broken. The X-ray done on the foot after the initial injury did not show the break, but an MRI did. Milutinovic will now miss at least 3-4 weeks and could be out the remainder of the season. He will be re-evaluated in three weeks.

Milutinovic missed the last four games with the injury. The Serbian native played in 12 games, averaging 1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.2 minutes per game. The injury leaves the already short-handed Grizzlies with just eight scholarship players as they head to Centenary for Thursday night’s game.

Oakland women-South Dakota St. thoughts

2009-01-05T21:47:00.000-08:00

For various reasons I haven’t been able to get to too many Oakland women’s basketball games this season, but I was really impressed with their win over South Dakota State Monday night. The Grizzlies made the Jackrabbits, who are a very talented squad, look like a team that had no business being in the Top 25.

The Jackrabbits had won 10-straight entering Monday’s game and beaten Missouri, Wisconsin, Utah, Oregon, Illinois, Montana, Minnesota, Oral Roberts and Gonzaga among others. In other words SDSU is legit and Oakland dominated the Jacks in the first half, held off a second-half rally and ended the game on a 16-2 run.

Oakland’s defense in the first half was the difference in the game. The Golden Grizzlies forced 11 turnovers, allowed just 15 points and held the Jacks to 22.2 percent shooting from the field.

I really liked the starting lineup of Jessica Pike, Melissa Jeltema, April Kidd, Brittany Carnago and Sharise Calhoun. The lineup has a lot of speed, strength inside and played great defense to start the game. Carnago was really impressive defensively with five blocks and six steals. Carnago, Jeltema and Kidd were all active on the boards and having Kidd, Calhoun and Pike guarding the perimeter caused SDSU problems. The trio used their speed to get in SDSU's face and get into the passing lanes.

Bringing Hanna Reising off the bench also gives the Grizzlies a solid offensive weapon to bring in. Reising had just four points, but she is capable of scoring points in bunches. I’m pretty sure Reising came off the bench because she was coming off an illness, but it’s a lineup that could be used more.

Sophomore Anna Patritto was also impressive and was huge during a seven-minute stretch in the second half where she scored 10 of Oakland’s 12 points. She played her best game last season against a Top 25 team (West Virginia). Hopefully she can build on her performance against the Jacks.

The Golden Grizzlies now have an important game at Oral Roberts on Saturday. Oakland (11-4, 3-1 Summit) is tied for first place with SDSU (14-2, 3-1) and North Dakota State (5-7, 3-1). IUPUI (7-7, 2-1) and Western Illinois (4-10, 2-1) are a half game back. Oral Roberts is 8-6 and 1-2 in Summit League play.

Summit League power rankings 1-5-08

2009-01-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

1. Oakland (10-7, 3-1 Summit) — The Golden Grizzlies earned an impressive win over North Dakota State thanks to an Erik Kangas 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left. It was a total team effort for Oakland, with Kangas limited due to a cramp in his calf. The Grizzlies need a healthy Kangas in the games coming up after losing Derick Nelson for the season to a medical redshirt. Oakland has three straight road games starting with at Centenary on Thursday and at Oral Roberts on Sunday.
2. North Dakota State (8-5, 3-1) — Senior forward Brett Winkelman was phenomenal in the Bison’s heartbreaking loss at Oakland, scoring 33 points despite battling a stomach virus. Something tells me after three straight close losses to the Grizzlies, the Bison can’t wait until they host Oakland on Jan. 29 in what might not be the final meeting between the schools this season. NDSU hosts a pair of league contenders this week in IUPUI and Western Illinois.
3. IUPUI (9-5, 2-1) — The Jaguars won a pair of home league games, topping UMKC and Southern Utah. Junior forward Robert Glenn averaged 15.5 points off the bench in the two wins. Freshman Alex Young leads the team in scoring at 15.2 per game. IUPUI heads to the Dakotas this week, where it swept its two games last season.
4. Western Illinois (6-8, 3-0) — The Leathernecks stand as the only team undefeated in league play after home wins over UMKC and Southern Utah. Half of Western Illinois’ total wins this season are in league play. Senior David DuBois is averaging 19.3 points per game in three league games and junior Josh Rivers has established himself as solid second option, scoring in double figures in five straight games.
5. Oral Roberts (4-11, 2-1) — The Golden Eagles easily defeated a road weary Centenary team and will be looking for their first back-to-back wins of the season when they host IPFW on Thursday. Junior forward Kevin Ford is averaging 11.1 points and 8.9 rebounds in the seven games since he became eligible.
6. IPFW (6-9, 1-3) — The Mastodons embarrassed South Dakota State, 100-66, to earn their first league win of the season. Senior forward David Carson outscored the Jacks by himself in the first half, 20-18. Carson is averaging 20.5 points in four league games. After starting league play 0-3, IPFW has work to do and will start with games at Oral Roberts and Centenary this week.
7. Southern Utah (4-11, 2-2) — The Thunderbirds fell to .500 in league play with two losses last week, at IUPUI and at Western Illinois. Junior guard Davis Baker is averaging 21.3 points and senior forward Tyler Quinney 17.5 points in four league games. Southern Utah plays at UMKC on Saturday.
8. UMKC (5-12, 1-3) — The Kangaroos lost two close road games, both by three points last week. UMKC was down big in both games and rallied back, but couldn’t complete the comeback. Senior Dane Brumagin is averaging 23.8 points per game in four league games this season.
9. South Dakota State (6-10, 1-3) — The Jacks are now 0-11 all-time in Summit League road games after a pair of road losses last week. SDSU hit a school-record 15 3-pointers in a 86-81 loss at Oakland, but then got embarrassed at IPFW by 34 points. The Jacks host two league games this week.
10. Centenary (2-13, 0-3) — The Gents concluded their 15-straight games on the road with a 82-59 loss at Oral Roberts. Centenary will host Oakland Thursday in its first home game of the season in the newly renovated Gold Dome. Senior Nick Stallings surpassed 1,000 career points in the loss to the Golden Eagles. Stallings is averaging 17 points a game this season.

Oakland-NDSU thoughts

2009-01-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Oakland’s win over North Dakota State is a huge victory for a number of reasons, but here are three that I think are the biggest.

1. The Golden Grizzlies were able to protect their homecourt despite having a limited Erik Kangas. Like Oakland coach Greg Kampe said after the game, the bench won Oakland this game. Drew Maynard had 15 points, four rebounds and three assists and Will Hudson had 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman Blake Cushingberry also played well, finishing with nine points. With Derick Nelson now out for the season these young guys are going to have to continue to come through and they did against one of the premier teams in the league.

2. Kampe can now go to a man-to-man defense with more confidence. Whether or not North Dakota State is the best team in the league remains to be seen, but it has a great offense and the Grizzlies played man defense on them for three quarters of the game. Kampe said he wanted to play the zone as long as he could, but knew it wouldn’t last against a great shooting team like the Bison. But now the team has a little more confidence in its man defense. It did create some matchup problems, in particular having Will Hudson or Dan Waterstradt try to keep up with 6-foot-6 Brett Winkelman, but Winkelman scored 16 or so points against the zone.

3. Kampe put it best when he said Friday night’s win was basically worth two games because it gives Oakland a win and gives NDSU a loss. Kangas’ game-winning shot could prove to be the one that won them a championship or it might not matter either way. There is still a lot of basketball to be played and while the team should be excited about the win they have to remain focused. There is 14 league games left and three tough ones coming up. Centenary will be playing its first home game of the season and is desperate for a win. Oral Roberts is still one of the league contenders and in the Summit League poll was voted the favorite, winning at the Mabee Center will not be an easy task. And finally Oakland plays at IPFW, which put up a 100 points against South Dakota State Friday and won by 34.

Other thoughts
n I was impressed by the crowd Friday night and on New Year’s Eve. I got to the game on New Year’s Eve and it looked like it was going to be a morgue, but a lot of people showed up. Friday’s game was also impressive considering the students are still gone and it was the day after New Year’s. Kampe even commented about the crowds being good the past two games at the press conference. I know the Grizz Gang has a bus going down to IPFW. I believe its for the first 200 that sign up, I’ll be interested to see how fast it fills up.

n Just when I think Kangas can’t possibly impress me anymore with a clutch shot, he finds a way. Just being in the game looked painful for him, but to have the confidence to take that shot when you were 0-for-4 on 3-point attempts in the game and on a cramped leg is unbelievable. People likely wonder how he got open, but as Kampe pointed out, Benson set a great screen. Benson deserves credit for the screen, especially considering the dumb foul he committed to put Ben Woodside on the line. Benson played a great game up to that point and thanks to his screen and Kangas’ shot nobody is talking about the foul, which is a good thing.

n Brett Winkelman really impressed me. The guy is just tough to guard. If you put a big guy on him he will use his speed to get to the basket. If you put a guard on him, he can post them up. And he has a nice outside shot. Apparently he was playing with some type of stomach virus and just a piece of toast to eat all day. That's a scary thought.

Oakland-North Dakota St. preview

2009-01-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

The opponent — North Dakota State enters Friday’s game 8-4 and 3-0 in Summit League player after a 67-60 win at IPFW on Wednesday. The Bison are considered one of the league favorites in their first year of postseason eligibility and have been picked by several publications to win the league.

NDSU is a very strong offensive team and is averaging 84.9 points per game, shooting 49.5 percent from the field, including 42 percent from 3-point range and have four starters averaging at least 9.5 points per game.

Summit League preseason Player of the Year Ben Woodside is living up to his preseason billing. The senior point guard is averaging 24.3 points, 7.6 assists. 1.5 steals, 1.9 3-pointers and is getting to the free-throw line an average of 9.5 times a game, where he shoots 83.3 percent.

Senior Brett Winkelman, a preseason first-team all-league selection, is averaging 18.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and is shooting over 50 percent from the field. Senior Mike Nelson is averaging 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 3-pointers and is shooting 49.5 percent on his 3-point attempts.

Michael Tveidt (9.5 points) and Lucas Moormann (4.5 points and 3.4 rebound) round out the starting lineup.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Johnathon Jones vs. NDSU’s Ben Woodside. Not only is Woodside one of the leading scorers in the nation, but he is also among the nation’s leaders in assists. Containing him will be a huge priority for the Grizzlies. Jones was able to contain Woodside in two Oakland wins over the Bison last season and if he could do it again this season it would be a huge boost for Oakland. Jones also scored 21 points in both games against NDSU last season so if he can make Woodside work on defense it may slow down his offense.

Matchup history — Oakland is 3-0 all-time against the Bison, winning both meetings last season. The Grizzlies won 73-71 at NDSU on Jan. 5, 2008 behind 21 points and four assists from Jones and then won 77-74 at home on Jan. 31 behind 21 points and eight assists from Jones. Mike Nelson led the Bison with 25 points last season at the O’Rena.

The skinny — It’s an early league game, but in the long-run could prove to be a crucial one. Both teams are among the favorites to win the league and could use a win in the first head-to-head matchup. The Grizzlies would like to protect their homecourt, where they are 3-0 so far this season.

A big concern for Oakland is limiting the Bison’s open 3-point looks. The Grizzlies allowed 15 3-pointers in a win over South Dakota State Wednesday. The Jacks' 3-point shooting kept them in the game. NDSU is a much better 3-point shooting team than the Jacks, averaging over seven a game and shooting 42 percent as a team.

The Grizzlies should have an advantage inside with Keith Benson continuing his spectacular play as of late. Oakland should look to get him involved early.

Grizz Talk 1-2-09

2009-01-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Press' Dave Pemberton sits down with Oakland freshman Drew Maynard and Associate Head Coach Jeff Tungate.

Nelson to redshirt

2008-12-30T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Oakland University Web site has confirmed in a press release that Derick Nelson will take a medical redshirt this season. Nelson played in two games after suffering a broken foot back on Nov. 13. He played just eight minutes at Eastern Michigan and nine minutes against Michigan State. He didn't score in either contest and didn't look to be 100 percent.

My thoughts
Obviously with a healthy Nelson next season the Grizzlies, who will also have St. John's transfer Larry Wright next season, will once again be a contender for the Summit League title. But that's a long way off. Oakland has proven it can win without him this season and is still among the favorites in the league. It's a shame Nelson had to suffer through a freak injury like this, but despite that the decision to redshirt him now is probably best for all involved. Hopefully Nelson's foot will heal 100 percent and he will be ready to go for the 2009-10 season.

Oakland-South Dakota State preview

2008-12-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Oakland is set to restart league play on New Year’s Eve when it hosts South Dakota State for a 4 p.m. game. The Jackrabbits are coming off what is likely the biggest win since it turned Division I, a 65-58 win at Iowa State.

“That’s a great win for them,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “They have been going through the transition and they found out how hard it is. It’s been difficult. (Scott Nagy) is a great coach. I’m telling you, the guy is really, really a good coach. You look at the guys record before they went Division I, it’s unbelievable. When we played them last year, I thought they were one of the best prepared teams in the conference. I thought they knew what we were doing, they ran their stuff well. I just think they are very well coached.

“They are going through the transition, they are learning how hard it is. They had a great win and that scares the hell out of me because that’s what it takes for the kids to start believing,” Kampe added. “You get beat, get beat, get beat and you don’t believe in what the coach says and you don’t believe in yourself. Now all off a sudden, their record is pretty decent and they go and win at a BCS school then the rose just blossoms so that scares me. I think you’re going to see South Dakota State have a good year and I think they’ll make the tournament. Then they will be home for the tournament so I think they’re the scariest team in the league.”

SDSU (6-8, 1-1 Summit League) has tweaked its starting lineup over the last few weeks and had a transfer student Griffan Callahan become eligible. Griffan Callahan, whose brother Garrett is the Jackrabbits leading scorer at 16 points per game, made his first start of the year in the Iowa State win.

“When (Garrett) Callahan’s brother (Griffan Callahan) became eligible, he’s played two games now, I think that’s going to change their lineup,” Kampe said. “What (Nagy’s) trying to do is toughen his kids and get them ready. He keeps moving people around. But when it’s all said and done, it doesn’t matter who starts. Kai Williams is going to play a lot of minutes, whether he starts or not. Callahan is going to play a lot. (Clint Sargent) is going to play a lot, (Anthony) Cordova is going to play a lot. Whether they start or not doesn’t matter, they are going to be out there. It’s winning time now. All the learning and all the excuses you don’t have now. Now you got to find a way to win games. That’s what they’re going to do. They are going to come in here and try to steal one in their minds and I’m sure after beating Iowa State, they believe they can.”

Oakland enters Wednesday’s game 8-7 and 1-1 in league play. The Grizzlies have battled injuries, started the season with nine-straight games on the road and Wednesday’s game will mark just the third time they have played at the O’Rena so Kampe is pleased with where his team is at right now.

“If you would have told me with the schedule that we played, that Derick Nelson got hurt the day before for the first game, that we would be 8-7, I would have told you, ‘OK, I’ll take that,’ ” Kampe said. “Now obviously, we wanted to be 2-0 in the league and we’re not. I’m OK with that. No team has ever gone through our league undefeated in the history of the league, since 1983 no one’s ever been undefeated. Where we play and how we travel, there is going to be a game or two people lose. Oral Roberts is going to lose one like that, everybody is going to lose one like that. We just can’t do it again now. We’ve got to win the games that we are favored to win.”

Notes
n Expect a major announcement from Oakland this week on Derick Nelson, who did not practice Tuesday.

“I will tell you that there will be an announcement within the next 24 hours about what we’re doing with Derick Nelson,” Kampe said after practice Tuesday. “We are not 100 percent, to where we can make the announcement. Within the next 24 hours there will be an announcement about Derick Nelson.”

n Kampe is hopeful Ilija Milutinovic can return from a sprained foot in about a week. Milutinovic was hurt back on Dec. 21.

“He came out (Monday), he was OK, he was OK and then he cut left on it and he fell to the ground,” Kampe said. “I’m hoping another week. It’s really weird. He sprained his foot. I’ve seen an ankle, but I’ve never seen a foot before. … The swelling is all down in the toes. I’ve never seen it before, but I’ve never had a 7-foot Serbian before.”

Oakland-Michigan State preview

2008-12-26T18:42:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Michigan State has established itself as the juggernaut of college basketball programs in the state of Michigan over the last decade. The Spartans (8-2) are currently ranked No. 11 in the country and are coming off a 67-63 win over then No. 5 Texas in Houston.
Senior center Goran Suton, who recently returned from a knee injury, had 18 points in the win and sophomore guard Durrell Summers added 14 points. Both came off the bench in win over the Longhorns, but have started games this season. Suton is averaging 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in just four games this season. Summers is averaging 8.3 points and 1.2 steals per game.
Junior forward Raymar Morgan (16 points, 5.6 rebounds per game) is the Spartans leading scorer and rebounder this season. Morgan is just eight points away from 1,000 career-points.
Sophomore guard Kalin Lucas (11 points, 6.5 assists) and senior guard Travis Walton (6.5 points, 2.9 assists) have started all 10 games for Michigan State.
Sophomore guard Chris Allen (10.9 points), freshman Delvon Roe (6.0 points, 5.5 rebounds) and senior Marquies Gray (5.6 points, 4.5 rebounds) are all key contributors for the Spartans this season.
Michigan State’s only two losses this season are to two ACC teams, Maryland and No. 1 North Carolina. The Spartans lost just two starters from last year’s team that reached the Sweet 16.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson vs. Michigan State’s Goran Suton. Suton had a huge game against the Grizzlies last season, finishing with 15 points and 20 rebounds. Suton (6-foot-10, 245) will likely look to use his strength advantage inside and be active on the glass. Oakland’s zone defense has allowed an average of 13.3 offensive rebounds per game and Suton is one of the better rebounders around, so the Grizzlies will need to get a body on Suton at all times or he will make them pay. Oakland has at times made an effort to get Benson the ball and he has responded when they do. If Benson is active and can get Suton in foul trouble, it would be huge for the Grizzlies.

Matchup history — Oakland is 0-6 all-time against Michigan State, with last year’s four-point loss (75-71) the closet game in the series. Saturday’s game will be just the second time the two team’s have met away from East Lansing. The Spartans defeated Oakland, 96-66, in Rochester Hills back on Nov. 17, 1998 in the only other meeting not at the Breslin Center.
Current senior Derick Nelson had 19 points and nine rebounds and graduated senior Brandon Cassise had 20 points in last year’s loss at East Lansing. Morgan led the Spartans with 20 points.

The skinny — Derick Nelson will be playing just his second game of the season after missing the first 13 with a broken foot. Nelson played eight minutes at Eastern Michigan on Monday despite not participating in a practice all season and as expected looked rusty. Nelson has went through several workouts and one practice this week so it will be interesting to see how many minutes he plays and how effective he is against the Spartans. Nelson, a Lansing native and high school teammate of Suton, wants to win this game badly and the Grizzlies will likely need Nelson to contribute to pull the upset. Senior guard Erik Kangas (17.2 points per game) and junior point guard Johnathon Jones (14.6 points, 5.6 assists) will also need to play well. Saturday’s game is the final non-conference game for Oakland, which hosts two league games next week. It is technically a home game for Oakland, but the Spartans fans will likely outnumber the Oakland fans. Michigan State is 8-2 all-time at the Palace.

Oakland-Eastern Michigan thoughts

2008-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

n It was good to see Derick Nelson on the floor Monday, but let’s be honest he didn’t look good. The thing I was most impressed with was his quickness was still there. Nelson’s quick first step and spin moves are a big part of his game and he showed them twice. Once he drew a foul and the second time he had a nice assist on a Dan Waterstradt layup. Nelson hasn’t run or jumped in six weeks so taking that into consideration he didn’t look horrible, but has some work to do to be effective against Michigan State Saturday. He is staying on-campus to workout over Christmas and get ready for Saturday’s game.

n I was impressed by Eastern Michigan’s big-men, who were able to get some strong baskets inside and had Keith Benson and Will Hudson in foul trouble (both fouled out). Oakland’s defense was very active though and didn’t allow many open looks from the perimeter.

n The Grizzlies picked up the win despite not playing their ‘A’ game, which is a good sign. Winning ugly is what good teams do and Oakland won by 13 on the road at a MAC school.
“Anytime you win a Division I basketball game on the road, you hug each other and you move on,” Kampe said. “You don’t worry about any of that stuff. Maybe North Carolina and people like that can get mad at their players, I can’t get mad at my players. We played two times in the O’Rena. We beat a MAC school on the road, a team we recruit against. … There was kids here both Eastern and Oakland are recruiting, and we won the game. I don’t care what it looked like, that’s good for Oakland.”

n Ilija Milutinovic will miss an undetermined amount of time with a foot injury. An X-ray revealed Milutinovic did not break his foot, but he will miss time.
"Our 7-footer (Ilija) got hurt in practice and he’s going to be out for a while," Kampe said. "He hurt his foot."

n Click here to see my game story.

Summit League power rankings 12-23-08

2008-12-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

1. Oakland (8-6, 1-1) — The Golden Grizzlies regain the top spot thanks to their road win over Green Bay, a solid second half in a loss to Michigan, which is ranked No. 24 in the latest Associated Press poll and a win at Eastern Michigan. Sophomore center Keith Benson scored a career-high 23 points against Michigan and is averaging 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks for the Grizzlies, who have won five of their last six. Oakland plays its final non-conference game against No. 11 Michigan State at The Palace on Saturday.
2. North Dakota State (7-4, 2-0 Summit) — The Bison lost by just four at USC, 61-57. NDSU led by five at halftime and for most of the second half before the Trojans rallied to win in the final two minutes. As impressive as the showing was, North Dakota State has yet to prove it can win on the road, with its biggest road win at Northern Arizona. The Bison were tough at home last season, but really struggled on the road. A good indication is NDSU beat Northern Arizona by seven on the road earlier this season, but then beat them by 22 at home on Monday.
3. IUPUI (6-4, 0-1) — Leroy Nobles hit a layup at the buzzer to lift the Jaguars over Seton Hall and to their first win in school history over a Big East opponent. It was just the second loss of the season for the Pirates, who have beat USC and Virginia Tech this season. Freshman Alex Young led the Jaguars with 18 points and six rebounds and Billy Pettiford added 12 points and 11 rebounds. I sat next to an NBA scout at Oakland’s game Saturday and one guy he brought up in The Summit League is Young.
4. UMKC (5-8, 1-1) — Sophomore Spencer Johnson's streak of five straight double-doubles came to an end in a, 76-72, home loss to Texas-San Antonio. Dane Brumagin scored 26 in the loss, but was the only player in double figures. The Kangaroos won at Eastern Washington last week and fell by 15 at Northwestern. UMKC will host SIU-Edwardsville Sunday in its final non-conference game.
5. Southern Utah (3-8, 2-0) — Picking a team to rank fifth was tough. Teams four through nine are pretty even when you look at their results, but the Thunderbirds get the nod because of their league record. Southern Utah has still not beaten a Division I team in its non-conference schedule. The Thunderbirds have two games left to try, at UNLV Tuesday and at home against Sacramento State Saturday.
6. Western Illinois (4-7, 1-0) — The Leathernecks fell by one at Southeast Missouri State. Josh Rivers led WIU with 17 points and five assists. The Leathernecks wrap up their non-conference season Saturday at Iowa then restart conference play with two home league games (Southern Utah and UMKC). WIU could put themselves in a favorable position in the league if it can protect its home court in those two games.
7. Oral Roberts (3-10, 1-1) — Do I think Oral Roberts is the seventh best team in the Summit League? No. But the Golden Eagles have really struggled in their non-conference season, going 2-10 so I can’t justify ranking them in the top half of the league. Oral Roberts has had just two home games and should fare well once the conference season starts, but there is no guarantees. The Golden Eagles salvaged their trip to Puerto Rico with a 20-point win over South Florida (4-7) after falling to Wright State and Murray State. Oral Roberts plays its final non-conference at USC Dec. 28.
8. IPFW (4-8, 0-2) — The Mastodons played No. 10 Purdue even in the second half, 33-34, in a 70-55 loss Monday. It was an improvement for IPFW, which got embarrassed in the second half at Nebraska, getting outscored 46-14 in the half before falling 75-48. Leading scorer David Carson has just five points total in IPFW’s last two games. The Mastodons wrap up their non-conference season at North Florida Sunday.
9. South Dakota State (5-8, 1-1) — Freshman guard Griffan Callahan, who transferred from North Dakota, had 14 points and six rebounds off the bench in his debut for the Jacks, but his team fell 72-55 to Northern Iowa. Kai Williams continues to come off the bench and had just two points against Northern Iowa. Second-leading scorer Clint Sargent came off the bench and scored 11 points. SDSU coach Scott Nagy has now started 10 players, two or more games this season.
10. Centenary (2-10, 0-2) — Twelve straight road games down, three to go for the Gents. Centenary fell 73-51 at Kansas State. Nick Stallings had 27 points and seven rebounds, Anthony Gatlin had seven points and no other Centenary player had more than four. The Gents play at Texas Tech Tuesday and then at Missouri on Dec. 30 to wrap up their non-conference schedule. Centenary’s final road game of 15 straight to start the season is at Oral Roberts on Jan. 2.

Nelson playing

2008-12-22T15:45:00.000-08:00

6:50 p.m. — Oakland senior Derick Nelson was out stretching and in uniform at Eastern Michigan. It's unclear if he will play tonight, but he is dressed. I'll have more as the game progresses.

Another note, freshman center Ilija Milutinovic is in street clothes and has a walking boot on his left foot.

7:15 p.m. — WIth 11:42 left in the first half Nelson is set to check in. Oakland leads 15-6.

7:30 p.m. — Nelson played a little over three minutes and didn't score. He missed a 3-pointer and was called for an offensive foul, but he had his quickness and made a nice move to the basket and was fouled on the floor. Oakland leads 21-12 with 7:20 left in the first half.

7:39 p.m. — Eastern Michigan has pulled within four, 25-21, with 2:19 left in the half. Oakland has missed four straight free throws. Derick Nelson is set to check back in the game.

7:46 p.m. — Oakland leads 29-25 at halftime. The Eagles are doing most of their damage inside, with 18 of their 25 points coming in the paint. Erik Kangas and Johnathon Jones each have 10 points for the Grizzlies. Keith Benson has four points and four rebounds. Justin Dobbins leads Eastern Michigan with eight points and four rebounds.

8:15 p.m. — The Grizzlies used an 8-0 run to take a 37-27 lead and now lead 42-31 with 14:14 left in the game. Oakland is looking to get the ball to Benson more inside. He made four free throws to start the 8-0 run.

8:31 p.m. — Oakland leads 52-42 with 7:50 left thanks to a four-point play by Kangas, who now has 17 points. Nelson played a few minutes, grabbing an offensive rebound.

8:40 p.m. — The Grizzlies lead 57-46 with 3:58 left after a Kangas 3-pointer. Will Hudson has fouled out of the game and Benson has four fouls. Eastern Michigan will likely try to go inside down the stretch.

8:53 p.m. — Oakland wins 66-53. Kangas leads the way with 25 points. Jones adds 15 points and five assists and Benson finishes with 10 points and five rebounds. Nelson was 0-for-3 from the field with two rebounds, an assist and two fouls. Not an eventful return, but good to see him back out there.

Oakland at Eastern Michigan preview

2008-12-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Eastern Michigan (2-8) is yet to beat a Division I opponent this season, with its two victories being over Marygrove and Wayne State. The Eagles have lost their eight games against Division I opponents by an average of 13.9 points. Eastern Michigan’s worst loss was a 31-point drubbing by Michigan and its closest game was a one-point loss at Georgia.

Sophomore forward Brandon Bowdry (6-foot-6, 229) is the Eagles leading scorer at 15.2 points per game and rebounder (7.0 per game), but is also averaging over four turnovers per game. Junior forward Justin Dobbins (6-8, 240) averages 11.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and is the Eagles tallest player that is averaging over 10 minutes a game.

Sophomore guard Solomon Farris (8.7 points, 4.5 rebounds) and redshirt freshman L.J. Frazier (8.2 points, 3.8 assists) have started all 10 games in the backcourt for Eastern Michigan. Farris (14-for-33) and Frazier (17-for-39) are also the team’s leading 3-point shooters.

The Eagles were dealt a critical blow in the preseason when senior guard and last year’s leading scorer Carlos Medlock was lost for the season to a broken foot.

Key matchup — Oakland’s Keith Benson vs. Eastern Michigan’s Justin Dobbins. Benson has strung together four solid games in a row and the Grizzlies need to get him involved early against the Eagles. Benson will have a distinct height advantage and should be able to dominate the inside.

Dobbins had his best-game of the season (22 points and seven rebounds) in the Eagles one-point loss at Georgia. Oakland will need to keep Dobbins and Bowdry off the boards.

Matchup history — This will be the third year in a row that these two teams will face off. Eastern Michigan leads the all-time series 6-3, but Oakland has won the last two and both games since it turned Division I. The Eagles last victory over Oakland was back on Nov. 26, 1996.

The Grizzles defeated the Eagles 86-71 last season at the O’Rena. Derick Nelson led Oakland with 21 points and nine rebounds and Johnathon Jones added 16 points and five assists. Erik Kangas missed the game last season with a broken collarbone and Nelson will miss this year’s game with a broken foot. Jesse Bunkley, who has graduated, was the only Eastern Michigan player in double figures, with 19 points off the bench.

The skinny — This could be somewhat of a trap game for Oakland. The Grizzlies are playing their third game in six days and coming off an emotional game against Michigan at The Palace. Oakland could come out inspired after the loss to the Wolverines or flat. If the Grizzlies don’t respect their opponent, they could let an Eastern Michigan team hungry for a victory catch them off-guard. If Oakland comes out and played like it did in the second half against Michigan, then it should roll to an easy victory.

Oakland-Michigan postgame thoughts

2008-12-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

n Right or wrong I have been critical of Oakland’s ability to allow so many 3-pointers this season. Saturday was a case where it likely looked much worse than it was. Michigan players hit several open 3-pointers in the first half, but they were from NBA range, late in the shot clock and caused by Manny Harris’ penetration. Harris is one of the leading scorers in the nation so Oakland’s defense had to collapse on him or he would make them pay. Michigan hit 9 of their first 13 3-point attempts and shot 10-for-18 in the first half. But the Wolverines were just 3-for-11 in the second half, which was caused by two things. One, Oakland playing better defensively in the second half and two, Michigan couldn’t keep it up its hot shooting.

n Keith Benson played by far the best game of his career. He was looking for his shot and active on the glass, finishing with a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. Benson didn’t just make a bunch of easy shots either. He made some really difficult shots and looked like he was playing with a purpose. He twice dunked on a Michigan defender and was fouled, and several times ripped rebounds right out of the Wolverines’ hands. He has the chance to be a real special player if he continues to play like he did Saturday at the Palace and did catch the eye of one NBA scout Saturday.

n This team can still accomplish its goals this season without Derick Nelson, if he is unable to play this season, but it’s tough when you imagine what they might have been able to do with him. Oakland coach Greg Kampe said that he cries himself to sleep when he thinks of what the team could have done with Nelson and just the fact that a senior had to get injured when he had hoped to accomplish so much. I talked to Nelson for a while at practice on Friday and he is really frustrated, and rightfully so. I’m sure if Kampe would have called his number, Nelson would have went out there with his boot on and in his sweat suit and did whatever he could to help Oakland beat Michigan. He’s got a great heart and it’s a shame a freak thing has caused him to miss these games he would give anything to play in. I was asked several times Saturday when he was coming back and I don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows, but hopefully it’s soon and he is 100 percent.

n Look for some extended coverage of Saturday's game in Sunday's Oakland press. There will be a column by Pat Caputo, a game story by Big Ten writer Paula Pasche and a sidebar by me.

Oakland vs. Michigan preview

2008-12-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

The opponent — Michigan (7-2) looks like it has made a remarkable turnaround this season and could equal its win total from last season (10) before the end of December. The Wolverines have two wins over top-five ranked teams (UCLA and Duke) and have one of the top 25 scorers in the nation in sophomore guard Manny Harris (20.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, four assists and 1.2 steals per game).

Michigan also features an athletic big man in DeShawn Sims (6-foot-8, 225), who can knock down the outside shot or score inside. Sims is averaging 16.6 points and eight rebounds per game, and has started the last three games after starting the season as a sixth man.

The Wolverines do lack a consistent third-scorer, with freshman guard Zach Novak the team’s third-leading scored at 5.9 points per game. But Michigan will receive a huge boost with Laval Lucas-Perry in the lineup against Oakland. Lucas-Perry, who is a highly touted point guard that transferred from Arizona, is eligible for the first time Saturday against Oakland.

It’s unclear if Lucas-Perry will be in the starting lineup Saturday, but will likely be there soon. Freshman guard Stu Douglass (4.0 points, 2.7 assists) and senior guard and West Bloomfield native David Merritt (2.8 points, 1.4 assists) have started all nine games for Michigan this season. With junior guard Zack Gibson (4.4 points) making six starts and sophomore forward Anthony Wright (3.9 points) seven.

Key matchup — Oakland big men vs. Michigan’s DeShawn Sims. A lot of attention will be paid to Lucas-Perry making his debut and Harris is one of the top scorers in the nation, but the Grizzlies should really be concerned with Sims. He is not only the team’s leading rebounder, but can score in a variety of different ways. He had 28 points and 12 rebounds in Michigan’s win over Duke and has forced coach John Beilein to put him into the starting lineup with his play. Sims is capable of hitting the 3-point shot so Oakland has to be aware of him at all times.

The Grizzlies big guys will also have to help shoulder the load offensively. Oakland needs to get Keith Benson the ball inside, Will Hudson needs to be aggressive on the offensive glass like he was against Green Bay and if Dan Waterstradt can keep up his hot outside shooting it will really help take the pressure off the perimeter players.

Matchup history — Oakland’s 97-90 win over Michigan back on Nov. 17, 2000 was at the time the biggest win in school history. But the Grizzlies have lost three straight to the Wolverines since then and trail the all-time series 4-1. Michigan scored over 100 points for the first time since 1998, in its 103-87, win over Oakland last season at Crisler Arena. Harris scored 24 points and Sims added 22 in the victory for Michigan. Derick Nelson, who remains out with a foot injury, scored 31 points for the Grizzlies, Kangas added 24 points and Johnathon Jones had 13 points and eight assists.

The skinny — Oakland is banged up with Jones and Kangas both battling injuries and Nelson sidelined for an indefinite amount of time. But it’s not time to make excuses. The Grizzlies found a way to win at Green Bay on Thursday and if they can play like they did in the second half at Green Bay then they will have a chance to win.

Oakland’s zone defense has to be active against Michigan, who will have 3-point shooters everywhere. The Wolverines broke the school record for 3-pointers in their win over Eastern Michigan last week and will have an extra shooter with Lucas-Perry in the lineup. The Grizzlies will allow a lot of 3-point shots in the zone, but if they are contested and Michigan isn’t hitting a high percentage then Oakland chances of winning will increase. If the Wolverines are hot from outside then it could get ugly.

Greg Kampe and company have worked hard to get games like this for the program so regardless of the outcome, Oakland needs a solid showing and can hopefully have a nice crowd out to support them.

"We got to play the game at our tempo," Kampe said after Oakland's practice at The Palace on Friday. "Last year, we played a brutal game against them, where they had not shot well all year and they made everything last year. I think the pace of the game was to there liking. It was very fast. We have to keep the tempo at our pace. We have to pick our stops on when to run. We have to use the shot clock. We have to defend them in the halfcourt, we cant’ give them transition points. Our turnovers can’t lead to touchdowns for them. We want them to play against our zone every possession. We got to contest 3-point shots and we have to rebound the misses."

Also check out my Kangas feature-game preview