The NCAA Tournament is finally here. John Calipari talks about Kentucky’s first opponent.
The 2024 NCAA Tournament is finally upon us.
And for head coach John Calipari and several UK basketball players, a homecoming is in the works.
Kentucky was given a 3 seed in the South Region of this year’s bracket, and will open March Madness with a game against 14 seed Oakland (23-11) on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Calipari, along with sophomore Adou Thiero and fifth-year Tre Mitchell, are all natives of the Pittsburgh area.
These connections, coupled with the fanfare surrounding an exciting, young Kentucky team (one that also has significant defensive shortcomings) has made for plenty of intrigue as the Wildcats get ready to pursue what would be a ninth national championship.
Ahead of Thursday’s round-of-64 matchup with the Golden Grizzlies, Calipari took part in his weekly radio show Monday night, where this week’s matchup with the champions of the Horizon League (both the regular season and the postseason tournament) was a main discussion point.
John Calipari previews the Oakland Golden Grizzlies
The NCAA Tournament selection committee gave Oakland the No. 55 overall seed out of the 68 teams in the March Madness field. But there’s plenty to note — and potentially be worried about — with the Golden Grizzlies.
Fourth-year star Trey Townsend, a 6-foot-6 forward, packs the most scoring punch for Oakland. Townsend averages 16.9 points per game and exploded for 38 points in Oakland’s biggest game of the season, last week’s Horizon League Tournament championship win over Milwaukee.
“What he does is he ball fakes, he gets to the foul line,” Calipari said, alluding to Townsend’s 79.5% free-throw shooting rate.
Townsend was the Horizon League Player of the Year.
Calipari also made note of a pair of sharpshooters from distance for Oakland: Guards Jack Gohlke and Blake Lampman combine to attempt about 19 3-pointers per game.
Gohlke — the Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year — shoots 37% from deep, and Lampman makes 36.9% of his 3-pointers.
“They’ve got a good group. They play zone, and it’s kind of a matchup,” Calipari said, noting this a different defensive style than what the Wildcats have seen during most of SEC play.
There’s also a longstanding relationship between Calipari and Greg Kampe, the 68-year-old now in his 40th season as Oakland’s head coach.
Calipari and Kampe are longtime friends, and Calipari texted Kampe after the Golden Grizzlies secured their fourth-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament last week.
“I’ve known him for years and years. He’s a great coach, a good man,” Calipari said of Kampe. “... He just gets a group of kids and coaches them, and every year they’re right there with a chance to do something great, at a small school now.”
Of course, Kentucky will be entering Thursday’s NCAA Tournament opener on the heels of a disappointing result in the SEC Tournament: The Cats went one-and-done in Nashville, losing to Texas A&M in the conference tournament quarterfinals and allowing a staggering 97 points in 40 minutes to the Aggies.
Calipari said one of his main takeaways from rewatching the tape of that Texas A&M game was that his team “fought like crazy.”
The UK head coach — who continued to lament Kentucky’s inability to win in front of a packed Bridgestone Arena crowd full of Big Blue fans — said there were tears shed by UK players in the locker room after Friday night’s loss.
How does Kentucky plan to attack Oakland’s zone defense?
A question submitted for Calipari via social media further got at the idea of how the Wildcats plan to continue their high-scoring ways against the Golden Grizzlies, and specifically a 2-3 zone Oakland uses.
“You’ve got to be aggressive, you’ve got to be strong with the ball,” Calipari said. “You’ve got to be able to attack at times. You try to screen it at times. ... And it’s a good zone, and they play it.”
Calipari, at various points, described the zone played by Kampe’s team as a “matchup,” “tandem” and “hybrid” zone defense.
In response to a different submitted question about freshman stars Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard potentially moving into Kentucky’s starting lineup for the NCAA Tournament, Calipari said any change to UK’s starting group would partially result from his desire to get out to a good start against a zone defense.
Per KenPom, the Golden Grizzlies rank 165th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. Kentucky’s much-maligned defense is 108th in the nation in this metric.
Ball security also figures to be a particular area that the Cats will hope to rectify following an uncharacteristically sloppy night in that SEC Tournament loss to Texas A&M.
UK committed 14 turnovers against the Aggies, more than three turnovers more than Kentucky’s per-game season average.
“When the ball moves for us, whoever touches it can play,” Calipari said while stressing the importance of ball movement to UK’s success at both ends of the court.
Kentucky’s tournament opener
No. 3 seed Kentucky vs. No. 14 seed Oakland
What: NCAA Tournament South Regional
When: 7:10 p.m. EDT Thursday
Where: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh
TV: CBS-27
Records: Kentucky 23-9, Oakland 23-11
ABOUT OAKLAND
Location: Rochester, Michigan
Enrollment: 16,000
Nickname: Golden Grizzlies
School colors: Black and Gold
Head coach: Greg Kampe (698-536 in 41 seasons at Oakland and overall)
Conference: Horizon League
NCAA berth: Automatic (Oakland won the regular season championship and the conference tournament title.)
All-time series: First meeting
Common opponents with Kentucky this season: Oakland beat Marshall 78-71.
Notable games this season: Oakland lost 79-73 to Ohio State, 64-53 to Illinois and 79-62 to Michigan State, beat Xavier 78-76 and split games with Northern Kentucky, winning 70-65 in overtime and losing 99-89 in OT.
