Players, coaches and fans of Oakland University’s men’s basketball team are still on cloud nine following the 83-76 victory over Milwaukee in the Horizon League Tournament Championship Game, which secured the team a berth in the men’s Division I NCAA Tournament.
Trey Townsend scored a career-high 38 points in the victory as he carried the Golden Grizzlies to their fourth-ever Division I National Tournament appearance.
Now, Oakland awaits its placement in the tournament. By next week, the Golden Grizzlies will be just 40 minutes away from the program’s second-ever NCAA Tournament victory and its first appearance in the Round of 32.
But one big piece of the puzzle has yet to present itself: the opponent.
Early projections have Oakland slated to be a No. 14 seed in this year’s tournament, which would pair it up with a No. 3 seed.
Here’s where some of the most respected bracket experts currently have Oakland falling come Sunday at 6 p.m.
Joe Lunardi (ESPN)
ESPN’s Lunardi has Oakland as a No. 14 seed, taking on No. 3 seed Iowa State in the Midwest (Detroit) Region. The projected matchup would take place in Omaha, Nebraska.
Iowa State has been one of the best stories of the college basketball season to this point. The Cyclones, which started the season unranked in the AP Poll and without any votes in the poll, have slowly risen up the college basketball ranks this season. They are currently ranked as the seventh-best team in the country according to the latest AP Poll, but are projected as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, at least according to Lunardi.
The Cyclones’ season has been highlighted by a win over Houston — the current No. 1 team in the nation — and a win over Kansas.
Should Oakland pull off an upset in Lunardi’s projection, it would face the winner of No. 6 seed Washington State and No. 11 seed James Madison in the second round.
Jerry Palm (CBS)
Palm agrees with Lunardi on Oakland’s seed (14) and location (Omaha), but CBS’ bracket expert currently has the Golden Grizzlies facing a college basketball blue-blood in the first round and in the East (Boston) Region. He projects Greg Kampe to take on Bill Self and Kansas in the first round of the tournament.
Two college basketball coaching icons and two coaches who have been around the game longer than almost anyone, facing off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament would be must-see-TV.
And, luckily for Oakland, the Jayhawks are terribly banged up at the moment, so if this scenario comes to fruition, it could set the Golden Grizzlies up with a solid first-round matchup. Jayhawk starters Hunter Dickinson (shoulder) and Kevin McCullar Jr. (knee) will miss the upcoming Big 12 Tournament with injuries.
Kansas began the season as winners of 13 of its first 14 games, but the Jayhawks have faltered late, having lost three of their last four. They earned the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, which has proven to be the deepest conference in college basketball.
Mike DeCourcy (FOX)
FOX’s DeCourcy also has Oakland currently listed as a No. 14 seed, but he has the Golden Grizzlies in the West (Los Angeles) Region, playing No. 3 seed Baylor. The Bears won the national championship just three seasons ago, and they are still among the best teams in the sport.
DeCourcy doesn’t give a location for the potential matchup between the Golden Grizzlies and Bears, but based on geographic proximity to the highest seed in the group of four, the game would likely follow the pattern of the other two predictions and take place in Omaha.
In its first 16 games of the season, Baylor secured 14 wins and proved to be one of the best teams in the country. Like Kansas, though, Baylor has struggled as of late, posting a 3-3 record in its last six games. According to DeCourcy’s projection, if Oakland were to advance to the Round of 32, it would face either No. 6 seed Washington State or the winner of a First Four game between Texas A&M and Indiana State.
What does it mean for Oakland?
Not a whole lot. These are simply predictions based on what has happened so far this season. All the major conferences still have to complete their league tournaments, and anything could happen in those games.
The official bracket won’t come out until Sunday at 6 p.m. ET, and until then, Oakland can only work on improving as a team.
What can be gleaned, though, from these Bracketology projections is that Omaha, Nebraska, appears to be the most likely location for the Golden Grizzlies to play. With how deep the Big 12 Conference is this season, there are a lot of potential opponents for Oakland, of which Omaha would be the nearest site to its campus.
Of course, this is March. Anything can happen. Iowa State, Kansas and Baylor could all lose prematurely in their conference tournament this weekend and all fall in terms of seeding. It’s then likely that Oakland could see Marquette in Indianapolis or Duke in Brooklyn or Kentucky in Pittsburgh.
No one will know until Sunday.
After Tuesday night’s championship win, though, Kampe made a case for why his team should be “a 13 seed, and maybe a 12.”
“The NCAA, I hope you people realize, especially the media people that saw this team for two nights, maybe you hadn’t seen us before, but you saw us for two nights. We’re not a 16 or 15 seed,” Kampe said. “Alright? And we did everything the committee asked us to do. We played the schedule you’re supposed to play. We played one of the top 15 schedules in the country.
“We did not lose a Quad 4 game. We won a Quad 1 game. We won a Quad 2 game. We led for 34 minutes at Ohio State, we were tied with Illinois with seven minutes to go. I think we’re a 13 seed, and maybe a 12. I hope the committee watches that and I hope they agree with me. And I hope they put us really close to Detroit so our fan base can get to it.”