Oakland University basketball head coach Greg Kampe called out the team’s student section for not attending games.
“Our student section is terrible,” Kampe said. “ESPN called our student section the best mid-major student section in the country, and where are they?”
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Oakland is off to a 4-5 start this season. The Golden Grizzlies have had a tough schedule to begin the year. They opened with Michigan, Purdue and Houston, with the latter teams being ranked No. 1 in the country at the time that they played. They lost each game by double figures, including the Michigan and Houston games by over 30 points.
Despite the slow start, Oakland has now won three straight games. Kampe thinks playing ranked teams and how they played in close losses should be enough to convince fans to come to the games.
“You watched us play Purdue and play the way we played, you watched us just play Houston, you watched us go to Central Florida and it be a one-possession game until the last minute,” Kampe said. “You’ve seen us score 100 points per game, you’ve seen dunks, great plays and a point guard that’s unbelievable. Where are you? I’m pretty upset about that.”
Kampe also said that Utah State’s head coach, Jerry Calhoun, admired Oakland’s student section a few seasons ago when Calhoun was at Youngstown State.
“He told me three years ago, we just want to be like you guys,” Kampe said. “We want to be just like Oakland because we never want to play at Oakland. It’s not like that right now.”
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Two seasons ago, Oakland pulled off an NCAA tournament upset, beating Kentucky in the first round as a 14 seed. The Golden Grizzlies lost in the next round in overtime to North Carolina State. The Golden Grizzlies did not make the NCAA tournament last season and have been 20-24 since the Kentucky game.
Kampe is the longest tenured coach in college basketball. This is his 41st season coaching at Oakland University.
He’s not the only coach noting absent student sections, either; Missouri basketball head coach Dennis Gates also called out the lack of Notre Dame fans when the two teams met.
