Rochester, Mich. (Mar. 3, 2006) ???C Oakland???s men???s basketball team is set and ready to defend it Mid-Continent Conference title as the team heads out today to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the 2006 Mid-Con Tournament. It will be familiar feel for the Golden Grizzlies as they enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed, the same position they were in a year ago when they swept through the tournament to take the title. Oakland will be led into the tourney action by a pair of all-conference players, juniors Calvin Wooten (Detroit, Mich.), the Mid-Con Newcomer of the Year, and Vova Severovas (Vilnius, Lithuania). Oakland opens play tomorrow night starting at 9:30 Eastern when the Golden Grizzlies take on IUPUI. About the Golden Grizzlies Oakland finished off the regular season by winning two of its final three games, all on the road, in preparation for the Mid-Con Tournament. The Golden Grizzlies final 6-10 Mid-Con record placed the team in seventh in the final regular season standings and gives it the No. 7 seed going into tournament play. Oakland fell in its final game of the regular season to Chicago State, dropping a 91-80 decision to the Cougars in Chicago. Junior Vova Severovas finished the regular season strong, putting in a career-high 30 points against CSU. Oakland has won three of its last six on the road coming into Tulsa, where, with the No. 7 seed, OU will square off against No. 2 seed IUPUI in the first game of the tournament. UMKC and Chicago State will join the Golden Grizzlies and the Jaguars on their side of the bracket. Quick Shots Oakland is making a habit of heating up at the end of a season ... the Golden Grizzlies have won two of their last three regular season games in each of the last four seasons ... this will be the second straight season that Oakland has entered the Mid-Con Tournament as the No. 7 seed ... last season Oakland took the Mid-Con title as the No. 7 seed ... that was the only time a seventh seeded team has won the Mid-Con title ... Oakland is 1-1 in neutral site games this season ... overall it is now 5-10 away from home this year ... the five wins away from home are the most since the 2002-03 season when OU also had five ... a win in the first game would give Oakland four straight Mid-Con Tournament wins ... with its sweep through the tournament last season Oakland has not lost a game at the Hammonds Arena ... Oakland has turned up its offense over the last four games ... Oakland is averaging 81.3 points over the last four outings ... OU is 5-4 when it reaches 80 points ... Vova Severovas??? 30 points at Chicago State was a career-high ... he is the second OU player to reach 30 in a game this season ... Calvin Wooten has done it twice ... OU won only one of those games ... Oakland has four players ranked in the top-11 in rebounding and three in the top-10 in field goal percentage in the Mid-Con rankings ... that is the most in either category by any team in the league ... five times this season Oakland has placed two players above the 20-point mark, going 3-2 in those contests ... Oakland???s 29 points at the free throw line at Chicago State was the third straight game it has scored at least 21 at the line ... OU has had at least 20 points from the stipe in five of the last eight ... the Golden Grizzlies are 6-2 when scoring at least 20 at the free throw line this season ... over the last three games OU is 94-of-121 (.777) from the free throw line ... that is 91 points over the season average for the Golden Grizzlies ... OU is also on a five-game steak of out rebounding its opponent ... it has out rebounded its opponent 18 times this season ... averaging 12.4 assists for the season, Oakland has handed out 61 over the last four regular season games (15.3 average) ... after no blocks in the last meeting with IUPUI, OU has swatted away 13 shots over the last five games ... with 30 rejections this season Shawn Hopes is just the sixth player in OU history to record that many blocks in a season ... Calvin Wooten has led the team in scoring 16 times in his 27 games he has appeared in ... OU is 7-9 in those contests ... Vova Severovas is next on the list, leading OU seven times ... Oakland has been out scored by a total of 165 points over the last eight games from the three-point line ... OU has not had more treys than its opponent in 13 games ... Calvin Wooten still leads the Mid-Con in three-pointers per game with a 3.52 mark ... he is the only player on the team to have a trey in every game he has played ... his first trey at Chicago State set a new single-season record for OU ... he broke the previous mark of 93 held by Kevin Kovach (1996-97) ... Oakland is 7-3 when five players reach double figures in scoring ... the three losses were by a total of seven points ... all five starters in the current lineup did not play a minute for Oakland last season ... every player on the roster except for three has had at least one start for Oakland this season ... Calvin Wooten leads the team with 24 games in double figures ... Vova Severovas is second on the team with 15 games in double figures, reaching that 21 outings .... in addition to Wooten, Derick Nelson, Erik Kangas, Vova Severovas, Shawn Hopes and Brandon Cassise also have 20-point games to their credit ... OU has had a 20-point scorer 17 times this season ... the total of six 20-point scorers this season surpasses the three for all of last year ... 16 of Oakland???s games have been decided by 11 or more points ... four times the games have been decided by 20 or more, with OU going 2-3 in those contests ... Oakland has had 10 games decided by less than 10 points, going 4-7 in those contests ... five of those losses have been by three or fewer points ... Oakland is the only team in the Mid-Con with no seniors on its roster ... Oakland head coach Greg Kampe recorded his 350th career win with the victory over St. Peter???s ... he is one of 40 active Division I coaches with that many wins ... after having a pair of 1,000-point scorers on the squad last season, Oakland???s leading scorer at the start of the season was Brandon Cassise???s 267 career points ... Calvin Wooten now tops the squad with his 750 career points ... this is Oakland???s eighth season as a Division I program ... head coach Greg Kampe is in his 22nd season as a head coach, all at Oakland ... there are only seven other coaches at the DI level that have had a longer tenure with their current school ... only four of those have been with their school for their entire careers. For a complete set of game notes please click here.