Oakland is one confusing school. First off, it’s not Oakland, California, it’s Oakland, Michigan. Wait, Oakland is not a city in Michigan, it is the county in Michigan where the school is located. In fact, OU is located in Rochester, but not Rochester, New York. To boot, their lettering looks awfully similar to another OU, Oklahoma.

Fortunately for SU, the Golden Grizzlies are without top scorer Derick Nelson, who averaged 17.3 ppg last season, after suffering a broken bone in his foot during practice about a week ago. It’s tough enough that Oakland begins the season with nine straight games away from home, but the Nelson injury just exacerbates the challenges.

Despite the loss of Nelson, Oakland dropped the Oregon Ducks Monday night, thanks to an inspired performance by 5’11″ guard Johnathon Jones, who went the distance in the overtime contest. Jones scored 32 points, including 10 of the team’s 14 in the extra frame. There was no one more upset on the Oregon sideline than coach Ernie Kent; not only because he lost, but also because the defeat denied him of the 60-year-old school record for wins.

Any time a team from a weak conference like the Summit League tops a decent BCS team, it’s notable, but the early struggles of the Pac-10 seem to have watered down those upsets in the early going this year. Just tonight, USC lost to Seton Hall and UCLA fell to Michigan.

Down low, Arinze Onuaku will continue to be bored by his matchups and should dominate yet again. Keith Benson will have the unfortunate task of containing AO. On offense, he averages nearly a double-double, with 12.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest. Still, the fact remains that on the other end, he’s giving up over 50 pounds to the big guy. AO’s going to require more attention than just one man, which should lead to lead to some open looks, and subsequently, the Orange’s continuing its long distance bombardment.

I imagine Oakland providing a challenge of a level somewhere between LeMoyne and Richmond, but closer to LeMoyne. The Summit League hasn’t sent a school apart from the conference tournament winner to the Big Dance since 1991 (when it was known as the Mid-Continent Conference), and its crowning moment is Bryce Drew of 13-seed Valparaiso sending Ole Miss home with a buzzer-beater in the first round ten years ago. While Oakland was picked to contend for the Summit League crown,  this game should be an easy win for SU. Should.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 12:03 am by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.