By Samantha Franz

Break out your bracket and set your TiVo to ESPN because

March Madness is upon us. But before teams begin to arrive at the Big Dance,

they first have to get through their conference tournaments.

Starting this Friday, eight teams from the Summit League will

hit the hardwood and duke it out in an elimination tournament for a chance to

represent the Summit League in the NCAA tournament, which begins March 18.

Oakland University (16-13, 11-7) finished the season as the

third seed in the tournament, and will take on sixth seeded Western Illinois

University (12-17, 7-11) this Sunday at 9:30 p.m.

The Golden Grizzlies defeated the Leathernecks in both

meetings this season, with an 85-71 victory Jan. 26 and a 91-82 tilt Feb. 23 in

OU’s last home game of the season.

But head coach Greg Kampe doesn’t think this game will be a

walk in the park.

“It will be a dogfight,” Kampe said. “Anytime you play the

first game of a tournament, anything can happen. You have eight teams with a

dream and it’s a flat-out war. We can’t play in the semi-final without this

first game and it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season.”

The Golden Grizzlies wrapped their regular season with a road

trip out west and split their matchups against Southern Utah University and

University of Missouri-Kansas City. The Thunderbirds of Southern Utah got the

best of Oakland for the second time this season with a 68-59 loss.

OU rode on the back of junior Derick Nelson’s fourth double-double

of the season to pull out an 85-75 victory to close out the regular season at

UMKC. Nelson had 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

Western Illinois, meanwhile, is riding a three-game losing

streak. In addition to its defeat at the O’Rena, they fell to fifth-seeded IPFW

and second-seeded IUPUI by losses of 18 and 23 points, respectively.

Oakland University will certainly not be given a welcome

reception, either. Like last year, the tournament will take place in Tulsa,

Okla., stomping grounds of the first-seeded Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. 

And the Golden Grizzlies are ready for the Oral Roberts fans

to come out in droves.

“[The tournament atmosphere] is something we look forward

to,” Kampe said. “You work all year long for these three days and we want the

pressure. That’s the fun of it.”