After its most successful season since making the transition to a Division I program, the Oakland men’s basketball team picked up more post-season honors when Collegeinsider.com announced that senior Vova Severovas and head coach Greg Kampe have been selected as the Mid-Continent Conference most valuable player and coach of the year respectively. It was the second time that Kampe has been honored as Mid-Con Coach of the Year by the Web site. In addition, Oakland freshman men’s basketball player Johnathon Jones was selected by Collegeinsider.com to its Freshman Mid-Major All-America team.

A first team, All-Mid-Con selection this season, Severovas leads Oakland and is seventh in the Mid-Con with his 14.3 scoring average. He also ranks among the top-10 in the league in rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage. He has made his mark at the free throw line this season, ranking among the national top-10 in both free throws made and attempted for most of the season. Eight times this season he has reached the 20-point mark in a game and has led the team in scoring a team best 11 times. At the Mid-Con Tournament he averaged 15.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and was named to the all-tournament team.

Kampe guided Oakland to its best season in its Division I history as the Golden Grizzlies made it to the Mid-Con championship game for a second time in three years and finished with a 19-14, 10-4 record. A preseason pick for fifth in the conference standings, the 19 victories are the highest total for OU since becoming a Division I program and is an eight-game improvement for the team over last season. Earlier this season, Kampe moved into the top-10 in the Mid-Con record book for conference wins, with his total of 68 the ninth-highest total in league history.

Jones is the first Oakland basketball player to be named to the honor and is the only player from the Mid-Continent Conference this season that is among the 16 honorees.

Jones, who was also selected to the Mid-Continent Conference All-Newcomer team, developed into one of the top freshmen in the Mid-Con this season. He started all 33 games for the Golden Grizzlies and set a school record for assists by a freshman (119), becoming just the second freshman to record more than 100 assists in the history of Oakland basketball. Jones finished the season fifth on the Oakland squad with his 9.4 points per game scoring average and was among the top-10 in the Mid-Con in assists, assist/turnover ratio and three-point shooting percentage.

For more information on OU’s men’s basketball team, visit the OU Athletics Web site.