(10-15-2014 11:20 PM)ilovegymnast Wrote:  I grew up in Kent surrounded by college kids. My first crush was on a whole apartment of coeds and that swayed me towards Kent. What really pushed me over the edge was during the summer of 2001. There is a basketball court right outside the dorms by the ice arena where we would go to play pick up games. During that summer a few of the basketball players came out and played with us. It was the most fun I have ever had losing. Those games really drew me into the basketball team and solidified my choice of schools.

I was looking for a University that suited my needs as I was soon going to graduate from a high school in upsate NY. NY has many fine schools but there is a catch with them as the vast majority are in the large cities or in the middle of nowhere (SUNY Geneseo at the time was excited because they had a Subway and soon a Walmart in town woo). There was one major exception in SUNY Binghamton but unfortunately for me while it was perfect in most every way it was far too close to home only being 20 minutes from my house and my parents and I thought I needed to get away from home to learn to live on my own (turned out to be a good thing anyway no marching band at SUNY Binghamton).

I think I know the court you are talking about. I think they are outside twin (Beall and McDowell Halls).

My Uncle just moved to Kent for a job at a United Methodist Church in the area and invited me to see the campus. I did not know much about the school at the time but I went anyway. When I got on campus I fell in love with it as it was the sort of campus I was looking for. Larger school, live on campus, decent number of activities, marching band+music programs, not in an urban area, it was a fair sized sub urban sort of area, good to excellent academic programs where I needed them, and friendly people.

So I went and never looked back. KSU is about the only I follow in college sports now and my parents are fans now too (though they are still Florida fans and Alumni but I don't blame them for that heck I cheer for them too when they don't play Kent...or a MAC school we need the love). I also enjoy following the rest of the MAC (well maybe with one key exception) so that has been a big change from before.

Heck today I would be even more excited to be at Kent the new buildings, renovations, and especially the new downtown is amazing. Seriously if you have not been in Kent since a few years ago go back and check out downtown Kent and you will not be disappointed. It is so different that I could not recognize a lot of the place. I am so jealous of the current students and it is not funny.