The University of Louisville’s basketball teams are having a rough go of it.
On the men’s side, the school just fired head coach Kenny Payne after two truly ugly seasons (12-52), while the sixth-seeded women’s team suffered a stunning upset to Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday.
So you can understand the desire of Cardinals fans to hold onto any good feelings at the moment and on Thursday that arrived in the form of Oakland and Jack Gohlke.
The No. 14 Golden Grizzlies handed No. 3 Kentucky a massive upset in the first round that has fans in Lexington calling for head coach John Calipari’s job.
In Louisville, they’re calling for expedited delivery of something else: T-shirts.
According to Oakland coach Greg Kampe, the school sold $8,000 worth of merch to fans with Louisville zip codes.
Oakland coach Greg Kampe said the school sold $8,000 worth of T-shirts to people whose credit cards matched Louisville zip codes.
“I don’t know if when Louisville and UK play next year the Louisville ppl are gonna show up in Oakland shirts or what.”
— Will Graves (@WillGravesAP) March 22, 2024
The Golden Grizzlies don’t seem to mind Cards fans joining the bandwagon at all. The Louisville Courier-Journal reached out to Oakland vice president Mike Westfall, who thanked UofL fans for their support.
“What a game last night against your arch nemesis! I serve as a vice president for Oakland University. I wanted to share my appreciation to your fantastic fans. We have been getting merchandise orders and donations from them since the game. The donations have all had a similar theme, thanking us for beating the University of Kentucky. March madness is the best, as are your basketball fans! We are preparing to send a thank you out to the U of L fans on our socials.”
That right there is college sports at it’s finest. Hold onto this feeling, Louisville fans. It may be a while before it becomes a regular occurrence again.
