Jack Gohlke had a beautiful message for his Oakland teammates after the loss to NC State.
We got just two games from Oakland in 2024 March Madness, but we’ll never forget Jack Gohlke joining the all-time great performances from players who emerge in the men’s NCAA tournament.
Gohlke said he told his teammates — who really wanted to move on to the next round, of course — “the thing I wanted the most, really, was to see everyone at practice on Monday. That’s the thing I’ll miss the most.”
“The thing I wanted the most really was to see everyone at practice on Monday"
In the NIL era, that means he’s already getting endorsement deals and filming commercials at the team hotel in between practice, media appearances and prep for Saturday’s second round game against No. 11 NC State.
Up first is a deal with TurboTax, which makes complete sense since we’re in the middle of tax filing season. Gohlke filmed an admittedly low-budget, but high-comedy ad in what looks like the team hotel ballroom.
But there’s one simple reason his TurboTax deal is even more perfect than it looks on first glance: Gohlke already has his degree in accounting.
Good for Gohlke getting his money — and even better that he can figure out all the tax implications himself without having to ask his new sponsor for help.
So you can understand the desire of Cardinals fans to hold onto any good feelings at the moment and on Thursday that arrived in the form of Oakland and Jack Gohlke.
The Golden Grizzlies don’t seem to mind Cards fans joining the bandwagon at all. The Louisville Courier-Journal reached out to Oakland vice president Mike Westfall, who thanked UofL fans for their support.
“What a game last night against your arch nemesis! I serve as a vice president for Oakland University. I wanted to share my appreciation to your fantastic fans. We have been getting merchandise orders and donations from them since the game. The donations have all had a similar theme, thanking us for beating the University of Kentucky. March madness is the best, as are your basketball fans! We are preparing to send a thank you out to the U of L fans on our socials.”
That right there is college sports at it’s finest. Hold onto this feeling, Louisville fans. It may be a while before it becomes a regular occurrence again.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win! Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate y’all giving us a bit of your time here.
Is your bracket busted like mine is? Because mine is definitely busted. I haven’t checked it, but I know it is because I had Kentucky riding pretty far in this one. And, well, uh, that’s over. That’s exactly what I get for trusting John Calipari in 2024.
Oakland’s 80-76 win over Kentucky has been most people’s shock of the tournament so far.
Actually, spectacular might be a better word than shocking here. The Golden Grizzlies knocked the SEC powerhouse out of the tournament behind a historic performance by Jack Gohlke, who hit 10 3-pointers while playing the game of his life. He was one 3-pointer shy of a single-game NCAA record. That’s how good he was. He shot the leather off the ball.
As much as this game profiles as an upset, though, I’m just not quite sure I feel the same way here.
This has become par for the course for John Calipari’s teams in March. High seeds and early exists. His teams just aren’t really built for March anymore. Jay Wright perfectly explained it here — having teams full of freshmen just doesn’t quite work the way it did 10 years ago. Not when the transfer portal spreads experienced talent around. That’s how we got here. More on Cal in a second, though.
Let’s talk about Oakland. Because, man, this win was an impressive one.
Plus, Oakland isn’t necessarily your typical 14 seed. Greg Kampe has coached the Golden Grizzlies for 40 years. He’s seen it all. He knows what type of talent he has and what he needs to do to get the most out of it. No, the Golden Grizzlies hadn’t won in March since 2005 before Thursday. But the team already had 13 all-time wins against Power 5 teams coming into that game. Kampe’s experience there was invaluable.
Ultimately, that experience helped his team overcome a more talented side in Kentucky. All it takes is one game in March and Oakland seized it. Good on them.
Now, they get to keep dancing.
John Calipari’s seat has to be scorching
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
There shouldn’t be a seat in college basketball hotter than John Calipari’s.
As I said above, failure in March has been more of a calling card for coach Cal in recent years than anything else. Sure, he’ll send great players to the NBA, and his teams will rack up regular-season wins. But he’ll let you down when it counts the most.
Kentucky has just one NCAA tournament win in the last four seasons. The Wildcats haven’t made it beyond the round of 32 since 2019. That isn’t getting the job done at Kentucky, to put it simply.
So, will he lose his job? Probably not. There are about 35 million reasons why, our Cory Woodroof writes.
“However, thanks to the 10-year contract that Kentucky gave Calipari back in 2019, the school would reportedly owe Calipari $34,968,749 to buy out his contract through a firing without cause, per The Courier Journal.
That is a lot of money to fire a coach, which is probably why Kentucky will ultimately stomach yet another March Madness misfire and keep Calipari on for the 2024-25 season.
Losing to Oakland stings, but firing your coach and paying more than $34 million to do so stings even more.”
That would be a lot of money to pay to a guy for failing at his job. So it sounds like Cal will be back for at least another year. Good luck, Kentucky. You seem to need it these days.
The hip-drop tackle simply isn’t that big of a deal. The players don’t mind it and it doesn’t lead to injury as often as you might think. So, with that in mind, when the players say there’s no need to ban it, you’d think the league would listen.
But nope! It looks like they’re moving forward with a ban anyway. Here’s Robert Zeglinski on why that’s so shameful.
“Banning the hip drop isn’t about improving player safety at all. It’s about the league finding another avenue to streamline and protect its financial investment in offensive players. Even if that comes at the expense of the quality of the game or what the players themselves actually desire, the NFL wants to eliminate all contingencies to protect its broadcast (as well as fantasy and betting) money — the talented offensive players who light up NFL RedZone every Sunday. I can think of many, much more efficient ways to improve NFL player safety — as much as one feasibly can in a brutal sport like football — before I ever even entertain the subject of hip-drop tackles. That should tell you everything you need to know.
This is virtually the league’s skill-player version of the old rule that bans hits on quarterbacks below the knee. And, if passed, it will be applied in the same byzantine manner. The NFL doesn’t care that defenders will struggle to adjust. You either eat the flag and fine in a situation that often isn’t even in your control, or you simply can’t be part of the fun anymore. Because it’s not about the defense or sanctity of the sport, and it never was.”
The numbers on this are staggering. It’s really not a huge issue. It’s just the NFL being the NFL.
Upsets are fun for us, but always devastating for the loser. Here’s Trevin Knell and the rest of BYU’s team walking off the court after being upset by Duquesne.
Quick hits: Bold predictions for the women’s tourney … Bye bye, G League Ignite … and more
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading TMW this week. We appreciate you. Have a fantastic weekend and enjoy the basketball. We’ll talk more next week! Peace.
Taking a look at Kentucky’s first round opponent in the NCAA Tournament
The college basketball postseason has arrived, and the Kentucky Wildcats will begin the NCAA Tournament as a three seed in the South Region. Their opponent will be the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
The 14th seeded Golden Grizzlies were the champions of the Horizon League in both the regular season and the conference tournament. Their 23 – 11 record includes a 1 – 5 record in quad one games.
Oakland is helmed by Greg Kampe, who has been the coach there since 1984. Their leader on the floor is Junior Trey Townsend, who leads the team in most categories, including scoring, rebounds and assists.
The Wildcats are 13.5 point favorites going into the game, and will be expected to win handily. Oakland ranks 166th in KenPom defense, and Kentucky’s offense should be able to score. As always, Kentucky’s defense will be key, and if they let the Golden Grizzlies get hot, anything can happen.
The game will be played in Pittsburgh on Thursday at 7:10 PM, with the winner playing on Saturday in round two.
What were your takeaways following the Buckeyes opening game? #GoBucks
[autotag]Ohio State men’s basketball[/autotag] kicked off its season with a win over visiting Oakland, 79-73, on Monday.
The Buckeyes struggled for much of the contest; the Golden Grizzlies just wouldn’t go away. Ohio State was not able to create enough separation to feel comfortable; Oakland fought for the full 40 minutes.
It’s a small sample size for this season’s basketball Buckeyes, but there were still things we learned about this team in its first official game of the season. Find out below what was learned about the 2023-24 Ohio State men’s basketball team following a much closer than expected win over Oakland.
If the first week of college golf is any indication, we’re in for a doozy of a season.
Rose Zhang and Stanford dominated in the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach. Teammates at Holy Cross recorded albatrosses on the same hole in the same group. In an inaugural event, the Frederica Cup, multiple team scoring records were set and even an NCAA record was broken.
Nevertheless, college teams are back in action across the country for the fall season with plenty of big tournaments slated for the remainder of the calendar year, as well.
Golfweek takes a loop around the country to update you on all the latest news in the college game.
In the Frederica Cup at Frederica Golf Club in St. Simons Island in Georgia, which counted the five best scores from six golfers (as opposed to the normal four-count-five scoring format), top-ranked Vanderbilt blistered the field to the tune of 69 under to record a victory at the inaugural event, winning by three shots against No. 9 Oklahoma. William Moll won the individual title at 19 under, beating teammate Cole Sherwood by one stroke.
There was a weather delay with three holes to play, and the teams were tied at 67 under. Then Vanderbilt pulled away once play began again.
Texas Tech’s Ludvig Aberg, the 2022 Ben Hogan Award winner, finished in third at 17 under, and Oklahoma freshman Jase Summy shot 15 under, along with teammate Drew Goodman and Mississippi State’s Ford Clegg.
Meanwhile, Wright State picked up right back where it left off last season. The Raiders won the Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational, the second straight season Wright State has won the event. Mikkel Mathiesen won the individual title after a playoff.
At the Fighting Irish Classic, Florida came away with the victory but mid major Georgia Southern finished only a stroke behind the Gators. Ben Carr, who finished runner-up at the 2022 U.S. Amateur, finished in solo fourth at 8 under. Teammate Mason Williams was a shot better at 9 under in third.
Colorado’s Dylan McDermott captured the title in a playoff, finishing at 10 under and tied with North Carolina’s David Ford.
Missouri won both the team and individual titles at the Tiger Turning Stone Intercollegiate. The Tigers defended their title from last year with the 11-stroke victory over runner-up, Stetson, and Jack Lundin finished at 13 under to win the individual crown.
Sarah Burnham got off to a great start in her head coaching career at Oakland.
In her first tournament as coach, Oakland captured the A-Ga-Ming Invitational in Kewadin, Michigan. Oakland won by three strokes over host Central Michigan. Freshman Bridget Boczar tied for first at 4 over but lost in a playoff to Eastern Michigan’s Alyssa DiMarcantonio. Paige Scott finished tied for third at 5 over for Oakland.
Western Kentucky freshman Sydney Hackett earned her first collegiate win in her first start for the Hilltoppers at the USA Intercollegiate at Magnolia Grove Crossing Golf Course in Mobile, Alabama. The freshman fired a school-record 10-under 206 for her 54-hole total, including a final-round 4-under 68, to claim the championship.
In just one collegiate start, Sydney Hackett is already a champion! 🏆
It is the first time a Lady Topper has taken home an individual championship since Megan Clarke won the Little Rock Golf Classic in Fall 2018.
Arkansas State won the event at 14 under par, beating South Alabama by five strokes.
On Monday, the ANNIKA Intercollegiate gets underway in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, right outside of St. Paul. The 54-hole event features some of the top women’s college golf teams in the country, including Wake Forest, Oregon and defending champion South Carolina.
Players were competing for second at the Horizon League Championship because first place was reserved for Amalia Shahzan.
The Oakland grad student ran away with medalist honors at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, by an astounding 15 shots at 7 under as the lone player to finish the week under par following rounds of 72-70-70.
Shahzan was placed on the All-Horizon League First Team list and propelled Oakland to the team title, as well, with contributions from Nateda Her (7th, 10 over), Ashley Chin (T-20, 16 over) and Veronica Haque (T-27, 23 over).
Michigan State basketball used an offensive explosion in the second half to cruise past Oakland, 109-91, on Sunday afternoon.
[jwplayer ToMWO6Jz]
Michigan State basketball used an offensive explosion in the second half to cruise past Oakland, 109-91, on Sunday afternoon. The game was tight up until halftime, but the Spartans were able to outscore the Golden Grizzlies 65-51 in the second half to pick up the easy win.
The Spartans were led offensively by junior forwards Gabe Brown (20 points) and Aaron Henry (15 points). Five other Spartans also reached double digits in points, including junior forward Joey Hauser, who had a double-double.
Oakland used the deep ball to keep up with MSU for most of the game, hitting 18-of-34 three-point shots. Juniors Rashad Williams and Jalen Moore led Oakland offensively with 36 and 26 points on Sunday.
For a third straight game, MSU got off to a slow, sloppy start with the Spartans committing 10 of their 18 turnovers in the opening frame. Combine that with an incredible shooting performance from Williams of Oakland — who scored 23 points in the first half — and it was a close 44-40 game at halftime.
The second half got off to a much better start for MSU, with the Spartans using a 13-0 run early in the half to build a double-digit lead. Oakland never completely faded, but that early run spearheaded the Spartans’ convincing win in the end.
MSU finished the game shooting 51.3% from the field in what was their best offensive outing of the season. The Spartans shot a season-high 37 three-point attempts, hitting 15 (40.5%).
Sunday’s win against Oakland for now completed a perfect non-conference schedule for the Spartans at 6-0. MSU is looking to add another non-conference game this week to replace this past Wednesday’s canceled match-up at Virginia.
As of right now, MSU is scheduled to next play on Dec. 20 at Northwestern in their first Big Ten game of the season.
Check out the game details, keys to the match-up, and my game prediction in this Michigan State-Oakland preview.
A familiar program will return to the Breslin Center on Sunday, with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies next up on Michigan State basketball’s slate.
For the ninth straight season, MSU and Oakland will battle it out on the hardwood. This will be the 18th all-time meeting between the Spartans and Golden Grizzlies, with MSU winning each of the previous match-ups.
The Spartans will be returning to the court for the first time all week after Wednesday’s game against Virginia was canceled. Oakland is also well rested with their last game coming on Dec. 5.
Let’s take a look at this match-up against the Golden Grizzlies, with game details, things to watch, and last but not least my prediction for this game.
