Game Thread: OU vs. Northern Kentucky

[ougradbob]

I didn't see much heart out there today - I guess this team only cares about games against BCS schools and Detroit.

Jalen played his butt off - but he cant be our only scoring big man. XHM played like a freshman today - I was hoping the team would rally around him we he got the technical - but that didn't happen.

I tried really hard to cheer this team on in the second half, and every time it looked like we got a stop, we "POOPED OUR PANTS" because we either didn't get a clean rebound, or we'd basically hand the ball back to NKU.

I wasn't going to leave early - but once I saw Kampe's son get up and leave, I decided I'd follow with 1 minute left.

Maybe this team should shoot for the 10 seed in the tournament - that way they can be the underdog in every game.

[arsenal926]

I guess I'm just tired of trying so damn hard to be a good fan. 4 years I've been at this school and I've yet to see a team with a winning record. I'm tired of this. I don't even remember what made me care so damn much about Oakland Basketball.

I'm tired of making every possible effort to get other people into the O'Rena and watching Oakland play like crap. I'm tired of this outside perception that we're some type of elite mid-major when we so clearly aren't. I'm tired of wasting the potential of what may be the best player that will ever play at Oakland.

I think the worst thing is that feeling of being completely wrong. I watch A LOT of college basketball and I was convinced this team is for real. I watched us lose to Youngstown State and I was still convinced it was just a fluke. Maybe I was just wrong.

But here I am. And I'll continue to keep posting about Oakland games and going to every single game. At some point I'd like a little pay off.

[Blackbird]

ANyone ever hear of the Knucklehead Rule? As it goes, a team can have one knucklehead in the locker room and keep him under control, but once you get two, they start feeding off each other and soon become hard to handle.

I'm wondering if there's some corollary Transfer Rule: you can keep one power conference transfer on task, but if you get too many, the "I'm better than this league" starts playing off each other and magnifying. Look at our rotation. During these bad stretches, Kay and Jalen have continued to look good. Daniels has ping-ponged back and forth from solid to great. Pretty much everyone else in our rotation is either a freshman playing like a freshman or a transfer who looks like they think the HL is beneath them half the time.

Kampe mentioned it in his post-game: we think we're cool, we saunter in and don't play with intensity from the start. We did against Washington, we did against MSU, we even did against Georgia and Virginia and Colorado State. We led all of those games at the half. But we were down at the half today, because the guys come out there lazy and its like they don't care.

All the talent on this team means Sh*t if they just wander out there and throw up a dud. If I were Kampe, I'd bench all of our transfers and just run Brechting, Jalen, XHM, Daniels, Felder as our starting lineup until those four wake up. We wouldn't be as good, but at least we'd be more fun to watch.

As bad as it is to lose to NKU, it's worse that it happened because literally half our rotation couldn't be bothered to show up.

It's just sickening.

[oudrummer]

Still have nothing to add to this. It's just... *sigh*

These two games against NKU and YSU have a bigger impact than it can even appear. It will hurt attendance for years. All those students that were at those two games could EASILY decide "these guys suck. Why would I come back?" And nobody could blame them. You can't support a team that doesn't care.

[ouguy]

You know that mentality that 75% of Grizz Nation has, the "we play tough games early and our record doesn't matter because it's all preparation for March"? That's a bunch of bullSh*t. Please someone prove to me that I'm wrong.

If we can lose to YSU and NKU at home what makes you believe we will flick the switch in March at the tournament. We've proven we have the ability to lose to anyone, and I mean anyone, in our league.

We've made the tournament three times: one was a lucky hot streak we had, one of those lightning in a bottle moments that could be a once in a lifetime. The other two we had great, disciplined teams that beat everyone they should have beat and were prepared to win in March.

There has never been a single instance at OU where a talented, underachieving team has learned from their mid-season woes and gotten through the conference tournament. Is it still possible? Yes, but it sure as hell doesn't look like it. Plus, we will have the added pressure of needing to win the tournament to get into any respectable post-season tournaments. Oh well, I'm sure athletics will pay to drop us into the CIT again so we can have 1 or 2 more chances to show off Kay.

[arsenal926]

Jan 20, 2016 2:25:53 GMT -5 Blackbird said:

All the talent on this team means Sh*t if they just wander out there and throw up a dud. If I were Kampe, I'd bench all of our transfers and just run Brechting, Jalen, XHM, Daniels, Felder as our by Deal Top"> starting lineup until those four wake up. We wouldn't be as good, but at least we'd be more fun to watch.

As bad as it is to lose to NKU, it's worse that it happened because literally half our rotation couldn't be bothered to show up.

It's just sickening.

2012 recruiting class- Lloyd Neely,Mike Lewis, Jr.Viktoras Merkevicius
0-3  and not a single player still on the roster. 

2013 recruiting class- Felder,Hayes, Daniels
3-3 all great players that play hard 100% of the time. Only reason our program isn't a dumpster fire. 

2014 recruiting class- Olujobi, Weaver
0-2 with no players who look to be apart of Oakland's future.

I'll hold off on saying anything about the freshman because the centers look they'll be important going forward. But that's 2 of the last 4 classes that were complete wiffs. You can't build a good mid-major team with out continuity and we certainly don't have that. 

[toad5125]

I would like to know what has happen to SDW. Percy had issues at ISU that sounded like the same issues he is having here. Martez does not look confident. Last night when he hit that 3, in the first half I believe, that was off balance he turned and looked right at Kampe. There is a definite character issue with this team. They play as individuals. This could be a product of the constant rotation. I am beginning to think that the old 7 and 8 man rotations is a better route.

Daniels, Felder, Hayes, Hooper and HM are the only ones that play hard the entire time on the court. With that said, the only guy I feel that is always looking to get others theirs is Felder. Hayes and Gibson rarely pass the ball out of the paint. Daniels does a good job passing some times but other times tries to put on his best Felder impression and go one on one to the basketball and is often stuffed.

As far as fans, you need to give them something to cheer for, and that includes the Grizz Gang. Give the students a reason to come. I started in the days of Helms, Champagne, Covington, Buddenborg and Kelly Williams. Those guys caught my attention in my first game as they competed and played their butts off. This competitive team created fans. Then came the Rawle Marshall and Courtney Scott team. Competition made fans along with a tournament team. Then the Benson era with Nelson and Jones. Again, always competing and tournament helps.

What has this team done to win over the current students or even casual fans? There are hardly any non conference home games, and definitely no marquee names including mid majors. They have lost more at home this year in conference play then they have won. Give the fans a reason to come. If you build it they will come. If you tear it down, they will leave.

[Gary McCarrick]

My take on the past two weeks leading up to last night. This situation is the perfect storm for Kampe and team. At this level you have to recruit at a high risk/high reward perspective in order to set yourself apart from the other mid majors. We know where Jeff Konya and team want to take this Oakland brand and Athletics to the highest levels possible and as mentioned above, with some recruiting classes that are still here or not it makes it that much more difficult, as Kampe would state, "Consistency is the Hallmark of Greatness" to be consistent which is the name of the game. Actually I think the phrase should be "Extraordinary Consistency is the Hallmark of Greatness" otherwise you could have mediocre consistency and that's not the hallmark of greatness, but I digress.

I think recruiting needs to be consistent too and it hasn't, hence transfers from other programs that have played with Kay before and come here to thrive with a potential NBA player seems like a no brainer to me. It has to work, right? Kampe's program is built on repetition and processes that are not easily learned and could take a year or two to learn. It's harder to use a plug and play approach with transfers that are still learning the Oakland way. Are we impatient to see a team gel with all of the hype of this team, probably. But, I think we all saw the potential of what this team could be and the non-con proved that. I do think at times that this teams plays to the level of competition or perceived competition. But, one thing I think they haven't learned yet is that there is a target on our back being picked #2 in the conference and EVERY team we play home/away is looking to knock us off. I think our high-major hubris and preseason expectations have gone to our head and that coupled with expectations that haven't been met yet are at the root of our issues. From my vantage point at games, I see that the players actually take Kampe's coaching style very personally and it's become a "I'll show Kampe" or "How dare he raise his voice in displeasure when I just threw the ball away or didn't hustle because he called me out." I see a lot of talking back to the coach and I'm sure Kay's NBA potential may have produced some jealousy but I can't confirm that obviously. That, coupled with TWO new assistant coaches, I'm sure has some bearing here too. As I said, I feel like this is the perfect storm. I'll wait to judge after March, or April if they make it that far. I think we owe Kampe and his assessment of his team to play out. This is a roller coaster ride and one where we usually see the normal Kampe team struggle in the non-con but excel in the conference play. This team is not a typical Kampe team and has a ton of potential but that's not been realized yet. I'm going to take a wait and see approach. I do know this though, I'll never get used to getting blown out at home games. It's a struggle to work all day and then rush to the O'rena to watch what we did yesterday and unfortunately it's kinda become the norm. I think we all run the risk of working to get people to games when other things are going on and we witness what we did yesterday and having people say they may not want to come back to watch this. Kampe's 32+ years of coaching allow for the opportunity to see if he can turn this around. Our fanbase is starved for those 2010-2011 NCAA tourney runs again. Seems so long ago now. But on the brightside, Northwestern has never been to the tournament so.......

I think Kampe does a really good job of marketing and selling the Oakland brand and his team. In most cases it works out. In this case thus far it appears that it hasn't but, as coach has stated, it's what happens in March that matters. Although I'd argue it all matters otherwise what's the point, but I digress again.

So here we are, 3-3 after 6 HL games. Two bad losses at home and one loss against Valpo that I'd also put in the bracket of bad losses as it was a sold out arena, on ESPN2 (national tv) and Jeff and team really pulled it off with the white out, that looked great on tv. So where do we go from here? If your a fan I'd say tweet your questions to #askkampe on twitter and attend or listen to his radio show tonight at 7pm on WDFN. Continue to support the program and all of the positives coming out of Oakland Athletics right now. It really is a great time to be a part of the Golden Grizzlies family.

I wish I had a better take on what's happened over the past two weeks but it's in our coach and basketball team's hands now. I'm so glad they beat Mercy, otherwise, what a stretch of games.

[oufan6]

We always hear about the non-conf schedule and how it is preparation for the SL or now HL play....but that is Kampe and the staffs mindset. This season I think it shows that the players played for the big name games but a bottom HL team they could care less about. With backing down the schedule and playing more mid-majors will we lose a couple of kids in recruiting... maybe but I want to see a player that is going to be excited playing Valpo, Green Bay and teams like that not playing Virginia because its on ESPN2

[grizzland1]

*WARNING* Extreme frustration will follow this statement and there is the possibility of comments being made now that will be later reconsidered.

I have made an attempt to give myself time before I jump on here and lose it but honestly this team and coaching staff are lost right now. Kampe has lost credibility with the way he has talked about this team in the preseason and continuing into the season. After YSU and Valpo losses he spoke about going back to finding the identity of this team and changing the mentality that we can't just come out on any given night and depend on running out a team with no strategy. I want to attempt to give some clear examples of why my frustration has boiled over.

1. The Offense. I have watched Oakland basketball for 12 years now as a student an alum. Throughout that time I have missed probably 10-15 home games. I don't pretend to be a basketball guru that understands all the offensive sets and strategy but I can honestly say I watch a lot of college basketball and I played through high school.

- The same offensive set that works for some players does not work for all players. Oakland has seen its fair share of great pure shooters (Kangas, Bader, Hooper are just a few). While each have a great shot each are more efficient in different ways. Hooper does not get open running the same offensive play that looks to create 2 screens and have him run the baseline to then curl around and get an open shot. Why doesn't that work for him? Well issue #1 might be that the biggest guy on the court most nights for both teams (Percy) sets a Sh*tty screen with no intention of actually getting in front of a guy which easily allows the defender to run around it and stay on Hooper. Issue #2 may be that Hooper has no where near the speed and quickness that Bader or Kangas had so even when a good screen is set there is still time for the defender to catch up. We have had to rely on this play in the past because we had teams that don't have the athletic ability to drive to the basket and draw in defenders and then kick it back out to a player that is set and ready to shoot. Hooper is definitely better when he is set. I would argue that if a player like Felder was running off the same play he would have the ability to be effective in the play and get away from the defender giving him enough time to set himself and shoot or fake the shot and drive to the hoop. Hooper shot over half of his shots last night falling backward with a defender in his face even when we ran the stupid play.

- Next point. When the opposing team is signaling to their team our player after kampe taps his head it is obvious they know exactly what we are running. Kampe has talked about the multitude of plays we have on the offensive side yet I swear I watch us run the same 3 or so plays 90% of the game and guess what. It doesn't take long for a well coached team to know exactly what that play is and be able to defend it properly. Since the offensive sets don't work the majority of the time we are left with Felder or God help us Nick relying on dribbling all over and trying to shed a defender and get to the basket.

Why is Jalen effective? Jalen is effective because despite an inept offense he has a couple great post moves and he understands how to use his feet down low to create a space where he can get the ball and it is also helpful that he is a lefty with a move that allows him to elevate and shoot over most defenders. He hustles and understands that setting a good screen actually gives him a better opportunity to get the ball in the post.

- In game coaching and management is just as important as what you coach outside the game. The scenario has played itself out far too many times over the 12 years I have watched Oakland basketball. Kampe is a rollercoaster of emotions throughout a game. Last night I witnessed a coach that went from screaming at his players and benching 1 player in particular after one missed assignment for the rest of the game while letting others work through their mistakes. There is absolutely no consistency from the coach and yet we are surprised to see "The most talented OU team" reflecting the same rollercoaster that Kampe is on.

Consistencies - Through this horrible last few weeks we have decided to keep the same freaking starting 5 lineup, never call a time-out to alleviate a run or fix an immediate issue, bench the same 1-2 players for one mistake and not let them play through it while others appear to have a longer leash, run the same offensive sets 80-90% of the time even if it isn't working,not appear to make a half-time adjustment.

Inconsistencies - Kampe will go from an engaged coach that is encouraging the team and has positive intensity to the next half where I look down and see a deflated coach that appears to be pouting and spends more time arguing about a cheap shot on one of his players with the ref then one that takes the time to be in a huddle with his team for the 5 min. review to figure out what needs to be changed as far as the play on the court. Maybe in the past we had coaches like Sorrenson and Tungate that could step in during these times and get through to the players but it is obvious now that this team is follwing the same emotion of the coach and the rest of the coaching staff is not finding the way to coach as a team.

Defense - The loudest person on defense is me sitting in the front row trying to talk to the players. Guess who doesn't talk? The 5 freaking players on the court. The easiest simplest way to fix defense is to talk and put your hands up. If a bunch of guys with far less athletic ability can out rebound us, out hustle us and be better in every facet of the game it is obvious to me that they care more about it and on defense they understand why communication is so vital. Guess what I don't want to hear for the rest of the freaking year. That we hold the teams to less than 1ppp and we are better a defensive team then we get credit for. I don't give a Sh*t what the statistics show. I see it with my own eyes. We don't talk on defense, we don't have our hands up, and this team has never embraced an identity on the defensive end of the court. Biggest sign that we don't play as a team and understand what that means is seen when you don't talk, and you struggle on the defensive side of the ball. You can manage to be a good offense with playmakers but you are a team when you can play defense. We have a bench that sits on the sidelines for most of the game showing no emotion and not talking to the players on the court.

We have an athletic administration that wants to spend more time reminiscing of the days of old meaning a month or so ago when we LOST to MSU, as well as putting together the Felder show so we can make sure everyone knows about him. Guess what OU Athletics? I am pretty confident that Felder has said in every interview I have heard it is about the team and getting a ring. Guess what OU? I happen to know about another team just a few miles down 75 that likes to live in the past and talk about the good ole days. Kampe preaches that it is about winning the Horizon league and the goal is getting a championship but I saw a team last night coaches included that didn't seem to care about it.

Why do we suck at home this year? Great question thanks for asking. Well I am not sure we have an answer right now but I do know one thing. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. So... lets change it up a bit. How about we get the guys in a hotel room the night before home games I know that is what football programs do for their teams home games, how about we change up the starting line-up, how about we just do something different because obviously it is not sinking through to this team.

I am not even sure I feel better after what I just wrote but guess what it is called emotion. I can be a crazed fan that rides a rollercoaster throughout the season but if the team and coaching staff do the same thing it wont work. I have yet to watch the post-game press conference and honestly it might not be a wise choice for me at this point. Congratulations if you made it this far in my rant that did not pay any attention to sentence structure or grammar.