John Calipari has strong ties to Oakland coach Greg Kampe, setting up intriguing first-round tilt in NCAA Tournament

John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats punched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in his tenure with the program on Selection Sunday. Earning the No. 3 seed in the South Region and a matchup against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Thursday in the first round of March Madness.

Many fans may not be familiar with Oakland, but not Calipari, who actually has strong ties with their head coach Greg Kampe. Opening up about their relationship on Sunday after he learned about his team’s draw against the Golden Grizzlies to open up the NCAA tournament.

“Greg Kampe and I are really good friends, we go way back,” Calipari said. “He’s not a good coach, he’s a great coach. He’s been doing it there for a long time.”

A long time is an understatement for Kampe, who is currently the longest-tenured head coach in college basketball dating back to his first season with Oakland in 1984. Staying with the program from their transition from Division II to the Summit League to the Horizon League. Leading to the program to their first regular season and conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011.

“It’s funny, I watched their championship game because it was Greg Kampe and I watched the second half and they won, And I was cheering. And I told him, he and I have already gone back and forth, and I go look, I’m happy I watched half of that game. But I’m not gonna cheer the way I cheered that day,” Calipari smiled and said.

The Wildcats did not have as much luck in their conference tournament, eliminated in their very first game against Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament. But Kentucky still boasts one of the strongest offensive attacks in the nation, which will make for an intriguing matchup between two coaches that share some offensive philosophies.

“But he does a good job, he’s got good players. He put in the dribble drive after I put it in and had us get together because he wanted to use it, and then they ran it better than we ran it,” Calipari explained. “So he’s good at what he’s does.”

“He could be coaching anywhere. I mean there are all these jobs open right now, I don’t know why someone wouldn’t say let’s go get Greg Kampe. So he’s good.”

Kentucky and Oakland tip off this Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET in a first-round NCAA Tournament matchup airing on CBS.