One of March Madness’ biggest stars is getting a chance to keep his NBA dream alive.
Jack Gaulke, a standout in the 2024 men’s NCAA tournament for Oakland University, signed a non-guaranteed NBA Summer League contract with the Thunder on Friday after going unselected in the 2024 NBA Draft, the university’s team confirmed to The X on Friday.
The 24-year-old Gohlke took the college basketball world by storm in March, scoring 32 points and making an NCAA Tournament record-tying 10 3-pointers to lead the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies to an upset of the third-seeded Kentucky Wildcats.
After that game, Gohlke downplayed his NBA prospects and ruled out going pro in the future.
“They have draft picks and I know I’m not going to the NBA,” Gohlke said. “On any given night, I know I can compete with those types of guys and I know our team can compete with those types of guys.”
The shooter also had a great game in the second round of the tournament, scoring 22 points on six deep passes, but Oakland lost to North Carolina State, which advanced to the Final Four.
Gohlke spent the first five seasons of his college basketball career, including a redshirt season, at Division II Hillsdale College in Michigan before transferring to Oakland University ahead of the 2023-24 season.
He became an instant social media star after the big game against Kentucky, with his Instagram followers growing from about 500 to more than 17,000 in a single day.
Since then, Gohlke has signed NIL contracts with Buffalo Wild Wings, TurboTax and Barstool Sports, among others.
Gohlke’s legacy will continue when the Thunder open summer league play against the Jazz on July 8 in Salt Lake City.
