On Wednesday afternoon, Greg Kampe, Trey Townsend and Blake Lampman met with the media ahead of Oakland’s primetime matchup with third-seeded Kentucky on Thursday night. The Golden Grizzlies joined the Wildcats, as well as South Carolina, Oregon, Akron, Creighton, Texas Tech and NC State, during Wednesday’s media and practice schedule for the NCAA Tournament’s Pittsburgh location.
With all eight teams appearing at PPG Paints Arena in downtown Pittsburgh throughout the day, energy and vibes were high as the squads begin their NCAA Tournament journey.
For Oakland, the journey starts against a blue-blood school in Kentucky and a legendary head coach in John Calipari. As has been discussed numerous times since the matchup was announced, Kampe and Calipari are good friends. Calipari congratulated Kampe after Oakland’s Horizon League Tournament championship last Tuesday.
When the matchup was first announced, Kampe wasn’t thrilled about the idea of playing another good friend of his.
“It’s sad because every time I get in this thing [the NCAA Tournament], I play a close friend,” Kampe said in an interview with WXYZ when the matchup was revealed. “Roy Williams in 2005, Jamie Dixon in 2010, Rick Barnes in ’11 and now Cal… I want to play against somebody I don’t know so that I can not worry about them.”
But in the roughly 70 hours since the matchup was announced, Kampe has come around to the idea of playing Calipari and the Wildcats.
“Getting Kentucky in this tournament is the greatest thing for Oakland because we cut the nets down in our league tournament. We got to stand under the confetti. We got our moment, and now this is all house money,” Kampe said during his media session on Wednesday.
“So we come into this tournament, wouldn’t you want the spotlight to play the best? The reason this is such a good matchup for us is because you’re the best. Kentucky is known as the best program — it’s arguable, but many, many people — you have the greatest fanbase in the country. There’s no argument with that.”
Kentucky is definitely among the best all-time programs in the country. The Wildcats boast a whopping 61 NCAA Tournament berths, 44 Sweet 16 appearances and an astonishing 38 Elite Eights — all of which rank first among Division I college programs in the nation.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats rank in the top five in Final Fours (T-3rd), NCAA Tournament championship game appearances (T-1st) and national championships (2nd).
Oakland will have its chance to take out arguably the nation’s most respected and decorated team on Thursday night, and Kampe continued soaking in the moment on Wednesday afternoon.
“[Tom] Izzo and he [Calipari] to me are the two best coaches in the country, and we’re playing at prime time, 7 o’clock, CBS. We’re not on TRU or whatever. We’re on CBS at 7 o’clock. Why wouldn’t Oakland want that? This is our chance to step into the spotlight and shine. Now, could we fall on our face? Sure, we could. But why would we want to run from that? Why would I want to play some team that we might have a better chance to beat, right? I want the best, and we got the best.”
