March Madness is here and this year's tournament has a ton of questions, including whether or not UConn will repeat. One mid-major team that earned an automatic bid was the Oakland Grizzlies, who won the Horizon League title. The Grizzlies face John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats in the first round in a tough 14-3 matchup on Thursday evening. Ahead of the game, Oakland coach Greg Kampe, who has been there for 40 years, dropped a perfect take on mid-majors making the Big Dance, per Kyle Tucker of The Athletic.
“We have a chance to change my players' lives. If we win tomorrow night, it will change my players' lives…This is the holy grail for mid-majors. The NCAA basketball tournament, and PLEASE don't change it, is one of the three greatest sporting events in the world…And my players are a part of it and get to cherish that for the rest of their lives.”
The Oakland team has been on fire, losing just three games since New Year's Eve and winning the last four to get into the Big Dance.
Oakland has a tough task against Kentucky
The Grizzlies have a daunting first-round matchup against Kentucky, The Wildcats surprisingly lost to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament but still earned a high seed in the Field of 68 after a strong season. Prior to that, Kentucky had won five straight and seven of eight, so they are rolling in all the right ways going into the Big Dance.
Every year, Calipari's team has a chance to make the Final Four with loaded rosters every single season, and this year is no exception.
Kentucky enters as a 13-point favorite for the Round of 64 game in Pittsburgh on Thursday. The winner ended up facing the winner of Texas Tech and North Carolina State.
Greg Kampe is a legend at Oakland
Greg Kampe is a name that Oakland fans (and college basketball fans) have heard for a long time. Kampe has been the head coach for the Grizzlies since 1984 and has a 698–536 record. He has only been a head coach at Oakland after spending four years as an assistant at Toledo before coming to the Grizzlies.
While people might be thinking that the 68-year-old is headed for retirement, he shut down those talks on Wednesday, per Kyle Tucker:
“As long as Oakland wants me, I'm going to do this. There's nothing else in my life that I would want to do but this.”
The last time Kampe and Oakland were in the NCAA Tournament was the 2010-2011 season, and the Grizzlies are hoping they can pull off a huge upset against the Wildcats. Either way, Kampe is happy his players get a chance to participate in this tournament.
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