Horizon League Postseason Bids 2016

[valpo64]

The Vegas tourney will be like a pre-season scheduled trip to Canada or wherever...who knows and who cares

[talksalot]

VEGAS8 tournament bracket
ALL PACIFIC TIME ZONE TIMES

Quarterfinals – Monday, March 28

1 Noon Tennessee Tech vs. Old Dominion  CBSSN 
2 2:30 pm UC Santa Barbara vs. Northern Illinois   
3 6:00 pm Oakland vs. Towson   
4 8:30 pm Louisiana Tech vs. East Tennessee State   

Semifinals – Tuesday, March 29

5 6:00 pm Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner  CBSSN 
6 8:30 pm Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner   

Championship – Wednesday, March 30

7 7:00 pm Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner  CBSSN

[valpo64]

I'm sure they will pack them in at Vegas!   NOT!

[VULB#62]

So what is the relative strength of this field and what are Oakland's chances of walking away with a trophy?

[talksalot]

1 Noon Tennessee Tech (RPI 134, 17-11. 11-5 OVC) vs. Old Dominion (RPI 141, 22-13, 12-6 CUSA) 
2 2:30 pm UC Santa Barbara (RPI 101, 17-13, 11-5 Big West) vs. Northern Illinois   (RPI 139, 17-12, 9-9 MAC)
3 6:00 pm Oakland (RPI 116, 21-11, 13-5 HL)   vs. Towson (RPI 153, 18-12,  11-7 Colonial) 
4 8:30 pm Louisiana Tech (RPI 121, 21-9, 12-6 CUSA)  vs. East Tennessee State  (RPI 84, 21-11, 14-4 Southern)

Hard to tell how it's seeded other than keeping the two CUSA teams away from each other...and it looks like King Kampe did get the best first round matchup...Towson averages 71 ppg; played two power 5 teams in the Charleston, SC tournament... lost to OK State by 17 and Ole Miss by 16... then beat Bradley by 2...

OH, Ticket prices range from $15 to $299 for the Monday night session.

[bbtds]

Oakland's chances are as good as their chances in the HL tournament IN DETROIT. I guess their chances aren't that great. 

[oklahomamick]

Kampe wanted to play games in a larger venue with few fans in the stands to emulate the Motor City Madness stage.  This will better help them for next year.

[HC]

I hope they win.

[talksalot]

play games in a larger venue with few fans in the stands to emulate the Motor City Madness stage.

I was surprised to see that Mandalay Bay Events Center holds 12,000... slightly less than the last 5 home games for Towson... Combined! They played @ Fairleigh Dickinson with a reported crowd of 547....I'm guessing the attendance at this "tournament" will not be reported in the box score...

[VULB#62]

The more I read about these other post season tournaments, and then compare them to the NIT with its preliminary rounds at campus sites and remembering how (way back when) the prelims in the HL were at campus sites, the more I think that the HL format SHOULD BE  all but the semi final and final at campus sites and (IF AND ONLY IF the HL really wants a "neutral" site in the first place) the semis and final should be. At that neutral site. However I still would like to see it back at the #1 seed site.

[agibson]

It's _very_ quite in the gym at the Oakland game in Vegas. Maybe the quietest basketball I've seen on TV. St. Mary's last home game (spring break, but probably otherwise a decent crowd, maybe not too far off their 3,500 capacity) was quiet. But this is another level.

Fans... in their dozens?  The fans probably outnumber the teams. It's not completely obvious that they outnumber "teams+coaches+refs+press", but probably there are some sitting out of view of the camera...

[agibson]

Under 12 media timeout in the first half. Oakland down 13-12. Felder does have two threes. Only one miss, couple of defensive boards. Just committed a foul.

Update: they just interviewed Kay _during_ the under eight media timeout! Now 7 min to play, Kay 13 of Oakland's 25, Oakland up six.  Kay 5/7, 3/5 from three. I think he even came out of the game at one point.

[mvandersee]

SVP opened the 11PM CT SportsCenter talking about Oakland and their participation in this tournament. One of the great lines he had went something like "This game is part of the Vegas 16 Tournament, with the 16 representing how many teams were supposed to play in it, but they could only find 8. Instead the 16 has become representative of the number of fans in attendance. Why go see Carrot Top in Vegas when you can watch Oakland-Towson" 

[justducky]

Oakland wins 90-72. If their participation helps develop the team for next years non conference season then I don't care if any fans are in attendance. They need some post season success to set their stage for 2016-17.

If everything falls their direction (many uncertainties) we could be chasing them for the HL regular season title.

[oklahomamick]

Update: they just interviewed Kay _during_ the under eight media timeout!

That means Kampe actually gave Felder a rest?  I thought he was a 40 minute player 

[agibson]

Update: they just interviewed Kay _during_ the under eight media timeout!

That means Kampe actually gave Felder a rest?  I thought he was a 40 minute player 

Right. They usually keep him on that stationary bike during timeouts, but they let him off for the interview.

In truth, he's "only" listed for 36 minutes. Fairly good stat line for him, if "only" seven assists.

The box score... seems not to list attendance.

[vu72]

Update: they just interviewed Kay _during_ the under eight media timeout!

That means Kampe actually gave Felder a rest?  I thought he was a 40 minute player 

Right. They usually keep him on that stationary bike during timeouts, but they let him off for the interview.

In truth, he's "only" listed for 36 minutes. Fairly good stat line for him, if "only" seven assists.

The box score... seems not to list attendance.

[/b]

That's because it was a complete embarrassment.  I watched the game and if there were 200 there I would be surprised.

[VULB#62]

But in the end and a few years from now the winning team's banner will not have attendance figures and the team will claim it won a post season tournament. 

[oklahomamick]

go 3-0 against some low majors on neutral court and the banner is yours.

[nkvu]

Hey, listening to the announcers I don't understand why Felder wouldn't just go pro immediately as he is the second coming personified!  I mean seriously who cares that he is playing in a virtually empty arena against a team that nobody cares about. If you believe the announcers the NBA desperately needs him. Please Kay go pro. America and the NBA can't survive without you.  Really coming back to play in the Horizon league would be like Steph or Lebron playing against grammar school teams. Please don't lower yourself.  Go pro or at least transfer to a power five team where you can show your superiority against the top competition next year.

[oklahomamick]

I'm more puzzled that Max Hooper is not participating in the 3 point contest. 

[bbtds]

I'm more puzzled that Max Hooper is not participating in the 3 point contest. 

I heard Kampe told him to work on his 2 point shots.

[oklahomamick]

And Max replied, what's that?

[valpo64]

In a radio interview this morning, King Kampe discussed their win last night in Vegas.  Felder had a triple double, something like 34 pts. and over 10 assists and rebounds.  I believe K said that was the 17th time this season that KF has had a double double or better.  Hooper had 9 3's scoring 28.  He still has not taken a 2 pt shot this season and K pretty much said he wont take one in their championship game either.  No one has ever gone the entire season without taking at least 1 two-pointer with a minimum of 30 shots total in a season, per the King.  In his normal fashion, he said the tourney at L V has been a success ever though very few attend the games however claims that CBS is pleased with their viewer numbers.  Really???

[VULB#62]

Here's the official release:

LAS VEGAS - One of the more popular television commercials during March Madness has viewers singing along with the catchy jingle "Meet the Hoopers."

Tuesday night in the second semifinal of the Vegas 16 Tournament, enthusiastic fans inside Mandalay Bay Events Center got a chance to meet Oakland's Max Hooper.

And they loved him.

Hooper, the Horizon League's Sixth Man of the Year who averaged 10.3 points per game during the regular season, scored 28 points and became an instant crowd favorite as Oakland defeated East Tennessee State 104-81 to advance to Wednesday's inaugural championship game, where they'll face Old Dominion for the title.

It seemed fitting Hooper shined in the moment, helping the Grizzlies advance, after he gained notoriety earlier this month, when his father died at the age of 53 after battling cancer.

"Max was awesome, and his whole family is here," Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. "I saw on the scoreboard he put a picture of his dad up, so I'm so happy for him because he now he can end his career like this after having the devastation of having your father pass away the night before the conference tournament."

Meanwhile, Kay Felder, the Horizon League's Player of the Year who celebrated his 21st birthday Tuesday night, registered a triple-double and led all scorers with 29 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing 10 assists. Also scoring in double figures for the Grizzlies were Percy Gibson (15) and Martez Walker (10).

"We came here and said we were going to win the whole thing, that's been our goal since we found out we were coming here," said Felder, who attempted to become the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in both points per game and assists per game. "We're going to keep believing in ourselves and keep having confidence and try and go and get a win tomorrow."

Felder, who scored 27 points in Monday's quarterfinal win over Towson, is looking to become the first player since Stephen Curry to average more than 34 points-and-assists per game.

The birthday boy had a rough time getting going in the first half, though, as he connected on just 3 of 11 from the floor while scoring just 11 points.

But after a close first half that saw the Grizzlies take a 39-37 lead into the locker room at halftime, Oakland flexed its offensive muscle over the final 20 minutes, during which it hit 15 of 32 from the field, a 46.9 percent clip, including a scorching 53.3 percent (8 of 15) from 3-point range..

"I told them (at haltime) we need to be smart because we weren't being smart," Kampe said. "I heard someone up in the stands yell 'I got next' and that's not what we're about, we're about execution and running our offense. We led the nation in scoring because we execute and I thought we really executed the second half."

After East Tennessee State took a 53-52 lead with 14:19 left in the game, Oakland took over, bolting out on a 20-7 run to pull ahead 72-60 with 8:47 left in the contest, then closed the game by outscoring the Bucs 32-21 to provide the final margin.

The Grizzlies took advantage of 17 turnovers by East Tennessee State, as they outscored the Buccaneers 20-5 with points off turnovers.

Tip off for Wednesday championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m.