[dropcap]D[/dropcap]rawing conclusions from the score of an exhibition game against a school that sounds like Walter White’s alter ego would be fruitless; Oakland had already doubled up Heidelberg, a liberal arts school from Tiffin, Ohio, with more than five minutes left in the first half, and eclipsed 50 points quickly thereafter.
This one was about evaluating personnel for Greg Kampe and the fans watching from under the new lights and on the fresh blacktop hardwood of the O’rena. Two starters from last year’s team (Corey Petros, Dante Williams) are graduated, and Tommie McCune isn’t back this season. That would be real cause to question who will be the fill-ins in the past.
Some daunting games will overshadow the opponents of the exhibition games, but Max Hooper‘s night from outside (8-for-11 3-pointers) was part of another showcase for how good this Golden Grizzlies team is about to be. I was trying to nit-pick: Hooper aside, who’s going to shoot it if defenses try to pack it in? Nick Daniels made almost half his 3s last year, and when he becomes eligible, Martez Walker is going to become a serious weapon from beyond the arc. That answers that; this team can score in a variety of ways.
Kampe talked about this being his deepest team he’s coached going into this 32nd year with the program, and he wasn’t kidding. Here are some observations from Wednesday night’s victory:
1. There’s enough guards to handle the rock. This has been a real issue in the past. Using combo guards like Matt Poches or having a Ryan Bass go down may have meant that only the primary point guard was left with love for the handles. For a player who nabs as many steals as he does, Khalil Felder does well to stay out of foul trouble, and he played over 38 minutes per game last season (Kampe indicated he sees him playing 33-34 mpg this season), so you know he’ll run the offense in general. When he’s out, Sherron Dorsey-Walker appears like he’ll slide over and bring the ball up plenty, while Nick Daniels and another newcomer in Jaevin Cumberland can facilitate the ball despite scoring being their primary function.
2. And there’s enough bigs, too. It’s a sign of the stability of the program, along with the coaching staff utilizing the platform of the Horizon League. Time after time since Oakland last appeared in the NCAA Tournament, it’s been Ilija Milutinovic or Kyle Sikora or someone else greener than the summer lawn being counted upon to be even serviceable in the middle. Remember Korab Imami? No? Kampe has had to play undersized — even when those guys were great players for the program — and that’s played against the odds of slaying a giant or two, but it’s not an issue this year with Jalen Hayes and Percy Gibson, then Femi Olujobi having another small layer of polish on from his first season. Also…
3. Brad Brechting gives Kampe something he hasn’t had in a long time. With more than a couple transfers from high-major programs, it could be crazy to figure the 6-foot-11 freshman as the pivotal factor in this group. I remember thinking sometime around halfway through last year, as just a frosh, Hayes has a great shot at being the best power forward to wear a Golden Grizzlies uni. Brechting should have his shot at unseating everyone but Keith Benson at the five. Everyone knows the value of having someone of his size at the mid-major level with even above-average athleticism and skill, but considered one of the top seven or eight players in Michigan’s Class of 2015, he’s got the ability to run the floor, block shots and get in the right place to score inside.
“His motor is unbelievable, and when you’re that big and long…and he makes a lot of mistakes out there, but he overcomes them with how hard he plays,” Kampe said. “He’s active, he blocks shots, gets rebounds above the rim, and he can finish. He can make free throws — and he’s going to have nights where he goes 2-for-8 from the free-throw line, all freshman do — but the stroke looks good.”
“I think about his future and the way he can shoot the ball, I can see him pick-and-popping, making 3s. I just see he’s got a heckuva future.”
While Kampe admitted he would have redshirted 6-foot-7 freshman forward Xavier Hill-Mais if Walker was eligible instantly — and said a decision still has to be made on the wide-bodied North Carolina native — he said he’d be “crazy” to do the same to Brechting after what he’s shown already.
4. Free throws shouldn’t be an issue for this team. The Golden Grizzlies have had some really good shooters from the stripe in the past decade with Larry Wright, Reggie Hamilton and Travis Bader. Felder, nearly an 83 percent free-throw shooter last year, will get to the line, but he should be able to count on some other guys to make Oakland a team you don’t want to foul. In their two exhibition games, Oakland made a combined 73 of 90 (81.1 percent) from the charity stripe. There may not be a player on this roster that breaches the top 10 in Division I, but there’s also no forwards who will skew the numbers and be a potential liability for foes to hack late in games.
“I think it could be the difference between being great and just being good this year,” Kampe said. “If we’re a great free-throw shooting team this year, I think that could be what gets us over the top.”
5. There’s never been a better set of athletes at the O’rena. Kampe has stressed that this team will like to run. In the first half Wednesday night, he implored his guards to get the ball over half court even quicker, and acknowledged post-game that they could have pushed the tempo even harder.
Some incredible athletes have come through Oakland, whether they started on arrival, or developed like a Keith Benson. There hasn’t been a more impressive collection of players for Kampe as this, one that could a domineering force with the addition of Walker mid-season.
“Through our D-I history, we’ve always had three or four guys that can play on any team in the league, and when we had great teams, our five through eight were good,” Kampe said. “Martez isn’t eligible until the 19th of December, and if you had to line the kids up talent-wise, he’s one, two or three from a talent standpoint. So you’re going to inject an 11th player in there now that’s way up at the top. We’re only going to get better.”
6. And it was supposed to be only five, until Kay Felder did this:
We see your @stephencurry30 @warriors, and raise you @2kayzero! #WearTheBear pic.twitter.com/CiF9Cgrsai
— Golden Grizzlies (@GoldenGrizzlies) November 12, 2015
