The college journey could have ended here, and Mr. Oakland would have been OK with that.
He was already the subject of storybook stuff, after all. Born in Michigan to parents who both played basketball for mid-major Oakland basketball programs, Trey Townsend grew up attending Golden Grizzlies games, participating in summertime youth camps and even fist-bumping longtime coach Greg Kampe after big wins.
He bled gold and black, basically. Had no choice in the matter.
“We’ve had season tickets as long as I can remember,” Townsend says.
Then, after drawing only Division II scholarship offers as a standout high school player, Townsend walked on to the Grizzlies — and barged his way into the starting lineup of every game he played in over four seasons, never leaving … until he committed to the Arizona Wildcats last week.
For a bonus year, the extra “COVID” season of eligibility that everyone competing in 2020-21 received.
Oakland’s Trey Townsend (4) shoots while defended by Kentucky’s Aaron Bradshaw (2) during the first half of the Golden Grizzlies’ first-round NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament upset of the Wildcats on March 21 in Pittsburgh.
“It’s an experience that I that I really wanted to have,” Townsend said. “I felt comfortable leaving after four years there because if I didn’t have a COVID year, I would be done with Oakland anyway.”
He would have, and with an ending that qualifies as a fairytale.
In Kampe’s 40th season at Oakland — yes, 40th — the Golden Grizzlies knocked off third-seeded Kentucky 80-76 in the NCAA Tournament’s first round. Guard Jack Gohlke drew most of the buzz by hitting 10 3-pointers but Townsend was the biggest reason Oakland made it there in the first place.
“It’s unbelievable,” Kampe said of Townsend’s story during the tournament. “I mean, if this was a Disney movie, people wouldn’t believe it. If you see the pictures of him when he was little in our building at games … his mom every couple weeks finds these pictures on Facebook from when he was young and sends them.”
It happened. The Horizon League Player of the Year, Townsend collected 17 points and 12 rebounds against Kentucky, then poured in 30 and 13 on Oakland’s second-round overtime loss to eventual Final Four team N.C. State.
For the season, he averaged 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds and, after it was over, he collected the Lou Henson Award as the best mid-major player in the nation.
He also picked up a nickname, even though Townsend says it’s Kampe who actually deserves to be called Mr. Oakland.
College basketball’s longest-tenured head coach at a single school, Kampe has won 698 games at Oakland while ushering the program from Division II into Division I and prompted the construction of a model mid-major arena, among other accomplishments.
He also coached Townsend’s dad there, and held Trey in his arms as an infant. Two things that suggest why Townsend, like it or not, is also Mr. Oakland: For 100% of his life, he’s been a Golden Grizzly.
Until now.
After entering the transfer portal and NBA Draft pool earlier this month — he’s not expected to stay in the draft — Townsend took a brief look around and visited Ohio State while also considering Michigan, looking for opportunities off and on the court
After four years of following his dream at Oakland, forward Trey Townsend is scheduled to spend a fifth college season at Arizona.
Arizona had both. The Wildcats needed Townsend to fill in for the departed Keshad Johnson but also potentially play an even bigger offensive role now that center Oumar Ballo and wing Pelle Larrson have also moved on.
Then there was the issue of NIL. Saying it would have been a “much shorter process” if he only considered money, Townsend found Arizona’s competitive NIL situation meshed with opportunity on the court. While NIL figures are not public, Townsend had leverage to pick up at least a mid six-figure deal this spring in the transfer market.
“I can’t sit here and act like that has zero influence on my decision,” Townsend said. “I got to a spot where I felt I’d be comfortable money wise, but also truly believing that if they’re offering me X amount of money, that they really valued me the way that they say they do.
“But I wasn’t just taking the highest amount. It ultimately came down to fit. That was the No. 1 thing and where my gut was really honestly telling me to go so.”
At first glance, the fit is pretty obvious: Arizona needed a veteran power forward to replace Johnson and start alongside center Motiejus Krivas, taking pressure off incoming five-star freshman Carter Bryant, redshirt sophomore Henri Veesaar and freshman center Emmanuel Stephen.
But Townsend might also add some subtle differences to the position. Johnson averaged 11.5 points and 5.9 rebounds a game, numbers that Townsend is expected to replicate. But in UA coach Tommy Lloyd’s offense, Townsend could also carve out more scoring away from the basket and even behind the 3-point line.
In an Oakland offense that routed most 3-point opportunities through Gohlke and fellow wing Blake Lampman last season, Townsend took just 32 3-pointers over 36 games.
It wasn’t lost on Townsend that Johnson’s 3-point attempts jumped from 1.1 per game at San Diego State in 2022-23 to 2.6 with Arizona last season.
That sort of increase is “a big goal of mine at this next stop,” Townsend said. “I want to expand my game and maybe do even a little bit more than they had him doing because of all the talent they had around him. But whatever the situation is, I trust what the coaching staff and the guys will have ready. I’ll be ready to fit in and help out where I can.”
Townsend said UA coaches have even discussed him playing some at small forward, a position that appears up in the air at this point. The Wildcats might need him to soak up minutes at the three if Caleb Love and/or KJ Lewis stay in the NBA Draft – or if Bryant and Veesaar warrant heavy time inside next to Krivas.
Whatever the case, Townsend said he considers himself a natural to play either forward spot. He said he actually grew up as a wing player who “shot a lot of 3s,” thanks to having parents who played the post in college and knew the value of having a guard’s skillset.
“In elementary and middle school, my parents knew I was going to be taller so they always wanted me doing guard stuff,” Townsend said. “I actually got all the footwork and post work skills from my mom. She taught me all that growing up because she was an undersized four when she played in college.
“As I got taller, I had all the post moves but I was also training as a guard so it kind of just worked out for both positions.”
The only problem was, Townsend didn’t grow enough to impress Division I coaches. His final growth spurt topped out at 6-6, and Townsend said he received just one full ride offer out of high school, to Division II Lake Superior State.
That wasn’t going to cut it. Not for Mr. Oakland.
“I’ve been around Kampe my whole life, so he always knew I wanted to play there,” Townsend said. “But honestly throughout my middle school, high school career was, I wasn’t a crazy good basketball player, I guess, in the eyes of college scouts.
“And I think Kampe kind of thought I would grow to be my dad’s height (6-8) at some point. That didn’t end up happening.”
But early in Townsend’s senior year at Oxford High School, Kampe threw out something of a compromise. The coach offered Townsend a preferred walk-on role, meaning he wouldn’t have to try out and would be treated like a scholarship player, but he’d have to handle the tuition.
The door was cracked open.
This time, Townsend didn’t listen to mom and dad.
“My parents wanted me to take one of the scholarships so I wouldn’t have to pay to go to school,” Townsend said. “I just wanted to play Division I basketball and go to Oakland. So I took that walk-on opportunity and ultimately made the most of it.”
Turns out, he only had to pay for his first semester. Townsend walked on to the Grizzlies and straight into their starting lineup, pulling down six rebounds against Xavier in the season-opener of the 2020-21 season.
With Townsend also fitting in well as the center in Oakland’s then-new 1-3-1 matchup zone, Kampe couldn’t take him out after that. He gave Townsend a full scholarship in his second semester.
“The reason I got kind of noticed when I started playing was I would just outrebound everybody in practice,” Townsend said. “I’d just try to do what I could control — effort things, and getting rebounds. Kampe loves people who can rebound.”
As a freshman, Townsend ranked among the Top 500 Division I players in offensive rebounding percentage (7.0) while averaging 8.4 points and 6.1 rebounds.
As his Oakland career progressed, Townsend became an especially featured offensive player. He took roughly a quarter of Oakland’s shots when he was on the floor in each of the past two seasons, averaging 16.5 points in 2022-23 and 17.3 in 2023-24.
He did well enough that, even a year ago, Townsend could have easily hopped into the transfer portal and found opportunity at a high-major program somewhere.
But not surprisingly, that wasn’t much of a thought.
“I always wanted to graduate and have my senior night here at Oakland,” Townsend said.
So he did. But now all that is over, ending with the NCAA Tournament success, and Townsend still has eligibility left.
It was time to go.
“Kampe kind of knew what was gonna happen and a lot of people on the team and staff saw it coming, that I would test the NBA waters and the transfer portal,” Townsend said. “We couldn’t have had a better season in Oakland than we did this year. So I can’t complain about leaving after that.”
Some others might. Johnson drew heat when he left San Diego State, despite regularly expressing appreciation for both his schools, and Townsend is already doing the same.
He’ll be wearing red and blue uniforms, but with a gold-and-black lining that won’t fade.
“In no way am I putting Oakland in a lockbox and never thinking about them again,” Townsend said. “Like Keshad said (about SDSU), it’ll always be my home. I’m a Golden Grizzly for life.”
Oakland defeated Kentucky in a stunning 80-76 upset led by Jack Gohlke's 32 points, including 10 made 3-pointers. Watch the extended highlights here. (March Madness YouTube)
