Oakland coach Greg Kampe stands with (from left to right) Sherron Dorsey-Walker, Martez Walker and Kahlil Felder during media day on Wednesday. Kampe hopes his team can finish atop the Horizon League this year and make some noise in the postseason. Stephanie Sokol/The Pit
[dropcap]“T[/dropcap]alent wise it’s the best I’ve ever had,” Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe said.
In his 32 years as Oakland University men’s basketball coach, Kampe has coached two NBA players and more than 30 who have played professionally. He’s also led three teams to the NCAA tournament and has three regular season league titles to his credit.
Kampe didn’t hesitate on his reaction on Tuesday at Oakland’s official media day, as he gave a confident assessment on what his thoughts were about his squad heading into the 2015-2016 season.
“I’ve had some great, great teams. One through 11,” Kampe said. “I’ve never had the level of talent that we have at every one of those spots, all 11 of those players could start.”
After finishing third last year, Oakland was recently picked to finish second in the Horizon League preseason polls to Valparaiso, who are the defending league champions.
The Grizzlies will return three starters from last year’s unit, led by Horizon League preseason Player of the Year Kahlil Felder, Jalen Hayes and Max Hooper. They also return rotation players Nick Daniels and Femi Olujobi.
Hayes and Daniels were Horizon League all-freshman team selections last season. Along with Felder, the trio was Oakland’s first Horizon League recruiting class and he considers them the core of the team.
But perhaps the x-factor in it all will be the added help from the offseason with transfers Percy Gibson (Iowa State), Sherron Dorsey-Walker (Iowa State) and Martez Walker (Texas). Kampe also couldn’t express enough on how high he is on his freshmen class of Brad Brechting, Jaevin Cumberland and Xavier Hill-Mais.
The new approach of integrating transfers and freshmen into his rotation is a bit out of the box then years past and adjusting on the fly is a challenge he more than welcomes.
“The philosophy is get the best players you can and try and figure out how to play,” Kampe said. “We want shooters, we want athletes but if a guy isn’t that, we’ll take him and figure out how to play with him.”
With the high expectations for the team – and individually as Felder is expected to be the driving force behind it all – Kampe’s confidence seems to be rubbing off when dealing with the pressure that comes with it.
“It’s not really pressure,” Felder said. “It’s more of you have to work hard to succeed and uplift, but I don’t really pay attention to all of that. I’m more focused on getting Oakland attention, that’s who I do it for.”
The junior guard Felder is a stud at the mid-major level and has garnered national attention after being named No. 73 on CBS Sports Top-100 after averaging 18.1 points, 7.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds. He Played 95.7 percent of his team’s minutes last season (38.5 mpg, the highest of any player in the nation.)
So Felder may not feel any pressure from the outside world, but how about his own coach?
Sherron Dorsey-Walker (left) guards Martez Walker (35) during practice before Oakland media day on Wednesday. Stephanie Sokol/The Pit
“I feel like coaches should get on their best players,” Felder said. “I feel like that’s the way it should be at all times.”
After entering league play and adjusting to the slow, grind-it-out style of the Horizon League, the Grizzlies led the Horizon League in scoring offense at 74.2 points per game last season. And even though you still have to outscore your opponent, that wasn’t Kampe’s concern this summer.
“All we talk about in practice is playing defense,” Daniels said. “We have 10 guys in our rotation that could start on this team, but it has to start with our team defense. We can get the ball up and down the court and score, but our focus is on getting stops.”
Don’t get it twisted though, Kampe would still rather push the tempo and run teams out the gym.
“We’re going to shoot it, we’re going to run, we’re going to press,” Kampe said. “That’s one of my biggest goals. I was told when we got in this league you can’t win in this league playing that way, this is a football league. Telling me you can’t do something, I’m a stubborn man.”
Even after leading the league in scoring, the abundance of athleticism the team will possess with guys like Walker, Dorsey-Walker and Brechting spices things up just a bit more.
“I feel like it gives us a little flavor,” Walker said. “Now that we got that, I feel like it’s just about doing what Kampe is asking us and perfecting what we got in athleticism on the floor.”
Over the summer, Kampe took his team to Spain to get a jump on developing chemistry with his squad that brings six new players to his rotation.
They spent 10 days overseas, traveling to places such as Barcelona and getting the opportunity to play against three professional teams. The Grizzlies averaged 89 points per game in a 24-second shot clock and defeated all three of their opponents. (Horizon League rivals Valparaiso and Youngstown State also visited overseas during the summer.)
While everything was all good on the court, it didn’t have the biggest effect on the team.
“I feel like playing was not the biggest part in us going to Spain,” Dorsey-Walker said. “Off the court was the biggest thing because it gave us time to gel and develop continuity while getting to know each other.”
While they are projected to finish near the top of the Horizon League this season, Kampe has put a strong emphasis on his team to do two things this season: Crack the top-25 in the country and advancing in the second week in the NCAA tournament.
And with those things, all he looks for is a piece of mind.
“Those are two things that if I can get those done as a coach here, then I can walk away having accomplished everything that I ever wanted to,” Kampe said.
The Grizzlies will unofficially kick off their season on Saturday, as they host Adrian in a exhibition game. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. at O’rena.
