Grizzlies At #14 In Poll

Oakland University sits at number fourteen in College Insider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25 Basketball Poll.  The poll, which was released today, has anointed Butler as college hoops’ best mid-major team heading into the season.  Butler is followed by Gonzaga, Siena, Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky.

Old Dominion, Creighton, Akron, Wright State and Niagara fill out the top ten.  Also coming in ahead of the Grizzlies are VCU, George Mason and Northeastern.

This is about where I expected OU to land — between ten and twenty.  Now it’s up to them to move up the rankings.

Media Day Review

Paul Kampe of The Oakland Press covered OU’s Media Day.  Here’s a link to his column which includes some video.

Sweet Sixteen

Just when I thought the hype couldn’t get any greater.  GGH reader Lenny offered up this link to a non-BCS primer courtesy of Searching For Billy Edelin.

This Is A Secret?

Jeff Goodman over at Fox Sports provides us with a list of this weekend’s “secret” scrimmages.  Other than knowing the days, teams and locations these are highly confidential workouts.

At some point on Halloween, Oakland will be hosting Bowling Green.  Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly when.  Of course, I don’t think we are invited to watch. It’s a secret after all.

New Recruiting Rules?

While I think all of the measures proposed in this column by ESPN.com’s Dana O’Neil are well worth implementing, I tend to share Seton Hall’s Bobby Gonzalez’ opinion.  People will find a way around these measures shortly after they are enacted.

Nonetheless, these appear to be some rather basic steps to cut off a few of those who skirt around the current rules.

Adding To The Preseason Hype

The October lovefest for Oakland basketball continues.  Here are a few more links of love for the Golden Grizzlies.

March Madness All Season begins the praise for Oakland.  First, MMAS has OU ranked in their non-BCS Top 25.  The Golden Grizzlies check in at number twenty-one.  Butler tops the standings.

Second, in his Mid-Majors Sleepers to Watch post, Jeff at MMAS has included OU amongst his “Potential First-Round Upset Threats”.  In the paragraph on Oakland he calls Johnathon Jones, Derick Nelson and Keith Benson “one of the best mid-major trios”.

College Hoops Net projects OU into the NCAA Tournament field.  The Grizzlies have a fifteen seed according to the still-developing bracket at CHN.

While on the subject of projecting the future, NBA Draft.net has Keith Benson taken as the last player in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft.  This leaves me with alternating emotions.  At one moment I think it’s great for both Benson and the program’s visibility, then I quickly switch to hoping he doesn’t leave early and doesn’t get distracted by this kind of hype.

Summit Coaches, Media Pick OU

In what’s become a familiar refrain this preseason, Oakland University was selected by the Summit League to win the conference title.  The league polled their coaches, sports information contacts and selected media and the Grizzlies grabbed all but one of the first-place votes cast.

The Summit League survey echoes the sentiment held by nearly every other publication and pundit — Oakland is the heavy favorite to capture their conference crown.

In addition, Golden Grizzlies’ point guard Johnathon Jones was selected as the conference’s Player of the Year.  Jones has also been tabbed for the same award in numerous media predictions.  The only variation comes when fellow OU star Keith Benson was selected as the Summit League’s Player of the Year.

Add Anderson To Recruit List

Here’s another name to add to the list of high school recruits linked to Oakland.  Courtesy of Best of the Best Scouting:

-Michigan will have two big time D1 wings on campus this weekend. 6′7 2010 Wing Devin Oliver from Kalamazoo Central, and 6′4 Wing Dwaun Anderson of Suttons Bay. Schools like Utah, Oakland and others have offered Anderson, and Oliver is being recruited by high majors, mid majors, and low majors.

BOTB went on to state that Central Michigan could also be a strong player for Anderson.

I guess we shouldn’t rule out interest in Oliver, either.  If he’s being recruited by “high majors, mid majors and low majors”, OU would certainly fall into one of those categories, right?

Trying Out A New Feature

More TV Time

Looking over Oakland’s schedule again this afternoon, I see that a few more games have been picked up by regional television outlets.  The December 12 Michigan State affair, not surprisingly, will be on the Big Ten Network.  Fox Sports Detroit grabs the Wisconsin-Green Bay tilt (12/13) plus IUPUI’s visit (1/2) to the O’Rena.  FS-Detroit will also be on hand when North Dakota State (2/20) comes calling.

The Oregon game on December 19 will be seen on Comcast SportsNet Northwest.  Metro Sports will air OU trip to UMKC on February 13.  (What makes a better pre-Valentine’s Day gift than a road win?)

I would like to believe that the contests versus Kansas, Memphis, Syracuse and Wisconsin would be picked up by regional providers, as well.  Although, I admit that’s just speculation on my part.  I view the first three has basketball schools, so I just presume they would have the majority of their games on local TV.

And one would think Wisconsin’s fan base is such that Badgers’ hoops would garner more than their fair share of Nielsen ratings, thus someone should be willing to televise a large portion of their games.

However, if no other games are added to the television schedule, those with cable TV in Metro Detroit are slated to see the Grizzlies a minimum of four times this coming season.  No, not overwhelming, but it might be better than any in-state MAC program.  (Although, I haven’t looked at any of their schedules to confirm.) I’ll take four games over zero.

Even in the instances where an OU game will be televised, but might not be seen here in Michigan, getting more regional TV exposure can’t help but boost the program’s visibility and credibility around the country.