The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Unlike last year

I think J.C. hears you, nashville. He's playing a 9-10 man rotation. In the last five games, 9 guys got 15 minutes or more. That should keep the legs pretty fresh. Big John is averaging 25 minutes a game for the year and 27 in the last five games. Seems to me that this is about right- keeps him and the team in sync with a lessened chance of burn out.

The nice thing about the rotation is that there is not a big drop off on offense or defense. Brown brings a lot of defense intensity- second on the team on boards right after Big John. Turner and Cutley both have 5 or more steals. Offensivley, Edwin and Gates as showing up as strong perimeter shooters- both shhoting over .600 on the 3"s with ten or more attempts.

I keep reminding myself of the great start last year with the crash in February, and hope history doesn't repeat itself. (Why have I learned to be so fatalistic about Kent State sports? )

Go Flashes!

Don't worry about the burnout from last year. JC rode Gates and Haut hard last year because of a lack of depth. Recruiting appears to have solved that problem. After seeing them last week, this team looks deep and I look for a nice run into March. I expect either NIT or NCAA bid. March is starting to become my favorite month! :D

March is my favorite Sport! The one thing that JC has not tried and should, IMO, is to not start Haut, but bring him in off the bench. He was a real spark in his early years. He is not physically strong enough to play extended minutes. Last year was an injustice to him. He has not been the same since he hit the wall at mid year. He is a good 20 minutes a game player if the 20 is spread out. Just my humble opinion.

The MAc is mediocre this year so i think a 12-6 record could get us a MAC east title and a first round bye. Remember we've alrealdy stolen one on the road (even though its only eastern) so i feel pretty good about things. Protect the home court and split the road games and that gets us to 12-13 wins.

Go Kent. Looking forward to Saturday night

In last night's game against Marshall, only seven players had considerable playing time with Haynes and Haut providing the most minutes. Haynes played 38 minutes and Haut had 36 minutes. Bedford obviously contributed the most scoring 17 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in 29 minutes. Jakeway and Cutley each had 23 minutes. Edwin played 20 minutes and Edwards who got into foul trouble played only 19 minutes. Other team members who played were Brown with 6 minutes, and Gates, Howard, and Turner each had 2 minutes.

As previous stated by GFlash68, Haut is not physically strong enough to play extended minutes. If Christian continues to play Haut as much as he did last night, we may find Haut physically exhausted toward the end of the season much like he was last year. I realize that the Marshall game was very close all the way to end, but JC will need to find more confidence in his younger players. By giving his younger guys more PT, he will keep his starters fresh in the closing minutes of the game and also will give his younger players valuable game experience. Starting four seniors is fine with me but I just like to see more playing time given to the players who will be around next year. Cutley continues to get serious playing time and will obviously be a force next year.

With the OU game coming up on Saturday, I am hopeful that the bench will see more playing time and Haut will not have to play as many minutes as he did against Marshall.

I agree wholeheartedly. From the little i've seen from Gates he appears to have a nice jumper and when Haut is cold give Gates some extended minutes. JC did that for about 2-3 minutes in the BSU game but Gates didn't get a chance to shoot before Haut was back in.

I wouldn't mind seeing Meechie Johnson get some minutes as well. Not serious minutes but use Gates and Johnson and keeping Haut to no more than 30 minutes a game may pay huge dividends come March.