Oakland Coach Delivered Haunting 'Hoosiers' Hint Pre-Jack Gohlke's Jimmy Chitwood

Oakland University coach Greg Kampe had a premonition the day before the greatest night of his life.

READ: Unleash The March Madness - Oakland Upsets Kentucky

That night was last night when his No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies from Rochester, Michigan, and the lower tier Horizon League shredded the ultimate Blue Blood in No. 3 seed Kentucky, 80-76, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh.

"We changed our lives," Kampe said. 

Formerly Michigan State University-Oakland, the Grizzlies advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in their history. Their only previous NCAA Tournament win was over Alabama A&M in the 2005 First Four.

Oakland senior guard Jack Gohlke (3) basically became Jimmy Chitwood from the movie "Hoosiers" in the Grizzlies' upset of No. 3 seed Kentucky on Thursday night as he scored 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting from 3-point range. (Getty Images)

Oakland (24-11), which reached the NCAA Tournament by winning the Horizon Tournament for the automatic seed, will play another Cinderella in No. 11 seed North Carolina State (23-14) on Saturday (7:10 p.m., TBS). The Wolfpack upset No. 6 seed Texas Tech, 80-67, late Thursday night after reaching the Big Dance only because it won five games in five days and nights at the ACC Tournament last week to secure an automatic bid. 

Oakland Changed Its World With Upset of Kentucky

"This changed everything tonight," Kampe said. "There's nobody in the country that doesn't know what Oakland basketball is. And I'm really proud of that. It means the world."

And where it is, which isn't in California. Rochester is a Detroit suburb town of 12,000. But it might as well be Milan, Indiana - population 1,200, 83 miles south of Indianapolis.

Tiny Milan High beat the much larger Blue Blood-type Muncie Central High, 32-30, on March 20, 1954, on a jump shot by Bobby Plump that inspired the 1986 movie, "Hoosiers" with the fictional Jimmy Chitwood portraying Plump.

Kampe, 68, has been at Oakland since before "Hoosiers" as he started in the 1984-85 season and is in his fourth NCAA Division I Tournament. Oakland was Division II through 1997, and he went to four NCAA Division II Tournaments from 1994-97. But there's nothing like March Madness, and Kampe couldn't get enough even before Thursday.

"We're playing at prime time, seven o'clock, CBS," he beamed at a press conference in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. "We're not on TRU or whatever. We're on CBS at seven o'clock. Wouldn't you want the spotlight to play the best? I want the best, and we got the best in Kentucky. This is our time to step into the spotlight and shine."

Oakland's Greg Kampe Brought Up ‘Hoosiers’ Before Game

And suddenly, Kampe channeled the Milan coach in the movie, which was the fictional Norman Dale as played by Gene Hackman with fictional Hickory High beating South Bend for the state championship on a jumper by Chitwood.

Cinderella Oakland coach Greg Kampe (left), 68, is a grizzled coaching veteran, like undermanned Hickory High coach Norman Dale, played by Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers," which came out in 1986 when Hackman was 56. (Getty Images) 

"We're what make this tournament - the little guy," Kampe said. "Why does everybody love "Hoosiers," right? The greatest movie, why? Because of the little guy. And today (Wednesday, March 20) is the (70th) anniversary of the day that Jimmy Chitwood in real life (Bobby Plump) made the shot. I don't know if you knew that, but it is. Today is the anniversary where Milan won that turned into the movie "Hoosiers." That's what college basketball is. That's why it's one of the three greatest sporting events in the world."

Then Kampe instilled Jimmy Chitwood into his top players - senior forward Trey Townsend and his pair of senior 3-point aces Jack Gohlke and Blake Lampman.  

"Trey Townsend, Jack Gohlke, Blake - they could be Jimmy Chitwood tomorrow," he said. 

Oakland's Jack Gohlke celebrates one of the 10 shots he fired in from 3-point range Thursday night in the Grizzlie's 80-76 upset of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena in Pittsburgh. (Getty Images)

And Gohlke took the role with vengeance, hitting 10 of 20 3-point attempts to lead all scorers with 32 points after coming off the bench for dramatic purposes.

"Just go shoot it baby, you're the best," Kampe said Thursday night after the game of his instructions to Gohlke during the game once he saw he was hot. "And he's the best, and he proved it to the world tonight."

Gohlke hit 7 of his 13 attempts from 3-point range in the first half for 21 points as Oakland took a 38-35 lead.

"I'm just having fun, man," Gohlke said. "Tremendous crowd, tremendous stage. It's a dream."

Just like in the movies.

"It's unbelievable. I mean, if this was a Disney movie, the people wouldn't believe it," Kampe said. "They wouldn't believe that this happened."