Oakland basketball's Greg Kampe finds JUCO gems in Jalen Moore, Daniel Oladapo

Mar. 7—Sometimes, it's the little things that make the difference.

In Jalen Moore's case, that's a literal statement. He's 5-foot-11, and that's on a good hair day.

In Daniel Oladapo's case, it was the smallest of gestures from Oakland men's basketball coach Greg Kampe that lured the eventual double-double machine to Rochester, over Power Five interest from Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, Iowa and Rutgers, plus a handful of HBCUs.

It was all that interest — plus the option of returning for a second season of junior college, possibly raising his stock even more and ending up at an even bigger secondary stop — that led Oladapo to commit to Oakland and decommit from Oakland, twice, before finally committing for good. One foot in, one foot out, he describes it.

So, what was the deciding selling point?

"Kampe drove me back to the airport. No other coach did that," Oladapo said, speaking of his official visit to campus. "I was surprised by that. I knew he really wanted me."

Oladapo arrived at Oakland two years ago and Moore this season, both coming from the JUCO ranks — a recruiting outpost Kampe has rarely tapped into in his nearly four decades as head coach, mostly because his offense is so complicated (it can go 100 plays deep), he always has felt a player needs more than a couple of years in the program to really get it. And in the handful of times he has brought a JUCO player aboard, he's usually been proven correct.

But Kampe needed help, instant help, with a whopping 12 players transferring out of the program over the last two years, including one, Braden Norris, now at NCAA Tournament-bound Loyola Chicago, leaving Oakland without a point guard for all of last season.

Moore's taken over the backcourt and Oladapo the frontcourt in a monster way, as the only teammates in Division I who rank in the top 25 nationally in double-doubles — Moore has 10, Oladapo nine — entering Monday night's Horizon League semifinal against No. 4 seed Northern Kentucky in Indianapolis.

Two more wins and No. 3 seed Oakland (11-7), which had a two-week program shutdown because of a massive COVID-19 outbreak just before the season, and then started the season 0-9, will be NCAA Tournament-bound for the first time since making it back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011.

"In my 37 years, I've had probably five JUCO kids before these two, and then it was always just a last-minute thing where we needed something. I had two on my team once, and one didn't make it to the end of the season," Kampe said. "I never went and looked unless we were in a real bind.

"We need to start looking at this more because of the success of these two."

'Unbelievable chemistry'

Both could've played Division I or Division II basketball out of high school, Moore out of Indiana, Oladapo out of Maryland. But for different reasons — Moore procrastinated, took the last SAT, and missed qualification by a few points; Oladapo thought it'd be best for his development — they went JUCO, Moore to Olney Central College in Illinois, Oladapo to Chipola College in Florida.

Moore played two years of JUCO, and was a third-team All-American last season. Oladapo played one year, and was his conference's freshman of the year.

They've carried that over to Oakland, where Moore (17.9 points, 8.5 assists, 1.75 steals) was a first-team all-Horizon League selection, and Oladapo (13 points, 8.9 rebounds, 43% of those offensive) was third-team.

And it could be just the beginning. Because of the NCAA "free" year of eligibility amid the COVID-19 pandemic, both can stay two more seasons, if they want. Kampe, of course, hopes they want.

"Because of the exodus of players, we decided we wanted the best point guard we could find and we didn't care if he came from Mars," Kampe said. "Dan ... we were looking for a rebounder, a guy that could get us not so much the basket, but second opportunities. We had to find an offensive rebound, and I didn't care where he comes from.

"Together, they have unbelievable chemistry."

The transition, of course, was not without its ups and downs — not unexpected, given the jump to Division I, even at the mid-major level. Moore could do whatever he wanted, at will, at the JUCO level. Oladapo's 6-7 frame plays big for the Horizon League, but obviously played a lot bigger in JUCO.

For Moore, part of the adjustment was getting used to Kampe's ways. Kampe's ways, among other other things, include a whole lot of yelling. Moore doesn't like to get yelled at.

It resulted in a hilarious clash Jan. 2 against Wright State. Oakland had lost the previous night, 90-51, but rebounded to win the second game, 81-71, a 49-point swing. Late in the second game during that series, Moore took a shot Kampe didn't like — a right-handed floater; Kampe likes Moore taking shots left-handed — and started to let Moore have it. But Moore just put his arm around Kampe, and the screaming turned into hugging.

Both say that moment was the turning point in their relationship.

"Early on, it was him yelling and screaming, and I'm like, 'This dude's really crazy,'" Moore said. "That was a pretty good moment that made both of us smile and laugh. I think that was a huge turning point."

Said Kampe: "That's part of the process. He's a head-strong kid that's had a lot of success, and I'm a head-strong coach who's had success, too. Yes, I want it done my way, but I want you have to a have paint brush, too. You're the one making the strokes. I just want you to use the technique. Once he accepted that, this is working, and when I saw he would accept it, I had to adjust also. It's a give-and-take thing."

Oakland won its first games in late December, in a series sweep at Detroit Mercy. Splitting with Wright State the next weekend was a huge momentum builder, given how the first game went.

It hasn't exactly been completely smooth sailing since. There've been OT losses and late leads blown.

But Moore and Oladapo, they've handled adversity better than most, perhaps because of where they've come from — and perhaps as much because of what they've done off the court than on it.

Moore, for instance, doesn't use the bus ride home after games to kick back, relax and binge Netflix. He gets on the bus, fires up the laptop, and watches film.

"He's the only player I've ever seen do that," said Neal Ruhl, the team's longtime broadcaster.

Moore said it's a habit that goes back to high school, when in a marketing class, he would get chewed out every day for watching film rather than paying attention to the teacher. He got a C+.

"I probably should've ended up with a D," Moore, the nation's leader in assists, said, with a laugh, during a conversation last week. "It's just always been a habit of mine. You've gotta study film. It's not just all about going out there and working hard. You have to know what to work on.

"No matter how good you play, there's always room for improvement.

"I don't care who you are, or what you do."

Oladapo, likewise, is a student of the game — specifically, the history of Oakland basketball. He knew Kampe took three teams to the Division I NCAA Tournament. He knew all about the good players, all the good teams.

He also knew, earlier this season, Oakland had gotten destroyed at Xavier's multi-team event, losing all three games by a combined 93 games. In the opener, Oakland trailed Xavier, 53-12, at halftime, at lost, 101-49.

So he called Ruhl. It was Nov. 27 or Nov. 28. Oladapo asked:

What did those great Oakland teams have that we don't?

Ruhl responded:

All those other teams had dogs, guys who weren't scared to compete against the top teams.

(For the record, Ruhl also said Kampe is going to scream at you, so you best get over it.)

Oladapo pulled out his cell and texted the team's group chat:

We have the pieces. It's just up to us.

The next game, at now-No. 2 Michigan, Oakland took the game to overtime, before losing. It was the first sign that Kampe had something, even though it was loss No. 4 of nine straight to start the season — including to Purdue, Oklahoma State and Michigan State.

"Oh, man, it was terrible. You're 0-9, everybody in the country thinks you're the worst team in college basketball," said Oladapo, 11th in the nation in offensive rebounding, acknowledging some players on the team openly questioned Kampe's scheduling — until Kampe asked those players if they'd rather he schedule Rochester College over Michigan and Michigan State. "We knew as a team, I kind of knew, once we got into conference, we'd pick it up a little bit. Going 0-9 at the beginning of the season was bad, but it helped us a lot, too. A lot of those games, we competed and could've really won.

"We started to pick it up, and look where we are now."

Said Moore: "I was just questioning if I loved the game still, you know what I mean? I've never been a loser."

'We can win this thing'

The last time Oakland had a point guard as dynamic as Moore was Kay Felder, and interestingly, Moore remembers watching Felder's most memorable game. It was Dec. 22, 2015, and Oakland was playing then-No. 1 Michigan State at The Palace. The game was nationally televised, watched by millions, including Moore, who watched Felder score 37 in the 99-93 OT loss.

At the end of regulation, Felder's layup to win it rolled around all the way around the rim, but didn't fall.

In watching Felder, Moore saw himself — an undersized point guard who had the skills to compete, and dominate, at the Division I level. That's a big reason why he chose Oakland.

Oladapo, meanwhile, shows flashes of former Oakland center Keith Benson.

Both Felder and Benson were NBA Draft picks. Just imagine if they had played together. Oladapo and Moore don't have to imagine.

"He's definitely one of the biggest pieces to our team," said Moore, who had Oakland's first triple-double since Felder in 2016, back in January against Detroit Mercy (18 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds). "If he doesn't have a good game, I feel like our team is basically going downhill. He's been really huge in helping me with pick and rolls. He's the perfect fit for me. I need guys to catch the bounce pass, chest pass. He can, and go up and score with his little floater. He's underappreciated by a lot of people. But I appreciate him."

And vice versa, of course. Oladapo averaged 9.2 points last year, when there was no point guard to consistently get him the ball.

Now, Moore, Oladapo and Co. are singularly focused on doing something Felder never did, and something Benson did twice: Get to the NCAA Tournament.

"I think everybody's excited, everybody just doesn't want to show it," said Oladapo, whose high-water mark this season is a 20-rebound, 25-point game against Robert Morris last month. "Everybody is just trying to stay level-headed, cool, calm and collected.

"It's just a matter of staying together, loving each other and going out there and competing.

"We know we can win this thing."

Horizon League men's tournament

At Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis

MONDAY — No. 1 Cleveland State (17-7) vs. No. 8 Milwaukee (10-11), 6:30 (ESPN2) — No. 3 Oakland (11-17) vs. No. 4 Northern Kentucky (14-10), 9:30 (ESPN2)

TUESDAY — Championship, 7 (ESPN or ESPN2)

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984