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

The Crusaders come into the MAC Center at 2-1 after falling to Nebraska on Thursday night. Valpo is considered one of the favorites in the Horizon League after a 22-12 (14-4) season in 2011-2012. Nobody has scored has more then 54 against them so far. This includes the loss to the Huskers, and wins over Northern Illinois and Georgia Southern.

The big gun for the Crusaders seems to be 6'8/240 pound senior Kevin Van Wijk from the Netherlands. He is averaging 13 points and 4 boards per game and shooting nearly 55% from the field. His 6'7 senior teammate Ryan Broekhoff from Australia is averaging 14 and 8 through two games. Both are pre-season 1st Team All Horizon League players.

Three other things stand out about the Crusaders. First, they obviously play some good defense. They also have some depth with eight players averaging 15 minutes per game or more. Just as impressive, the Crusaders seem to spread the scoring out nicely. In addition to Van Wijk and Broekhoff, Valparaiso has players averaging 9.0, 8.7 and 7.7 points per game.

Kent State can't afford to come out cold on Sunday. No matter what kind of crowd shows up, the Flashes will need some energy against Valparaiso. It would be nice to see the Flashes FINISH in transition and put together long stretches of quality defense to get the crowd behind them. Do that, and find a guy or two who is hitting from deep and I think this one can fall in the W column.

Kent State 67
Valpo 60
Ortiz and Henniger with 12 a piece

(11-17-2012 10:34 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  Kent State can't afford to come out cold on Sunday. No matter what kind of crowd shows up, the Flashes will need some energy against Valparaiso. It would be nice to see the Flashes FINISH in transition and put together long stretches of quality defense to get the crowd behind them. Do that, and find a guy or two who is hitting from deep and I think this one can fall in the W column.

Exactly....they can't come out a step too late on defense like they did vs. Chicago St. It won't be easy and I expect a battle from Valpo, but it will be another great early season which could bode well in preparing us for conference play.

Friday night games are a tough crowd draw, but Sunday should be much better, especially since the Browns are not playing good football! Brewer and Ortiz come back alive and Tabb steps up on defense...Kent Wins!

joepa,

You mentioned Goodson in another post. I like his game. He has a nice mix of strength and athleticism. His fg% has been a bit disappointing. I have got to figure he can finish, especially considering the moves he shows on his way to to rim. With a little touch on his part, Kent State would have a much needed offensive weapon. The other thing I notice with him is the short leash he seems to be on. I figure Senderoff is sending the message that if he is going to free - lance, he is going to sit. But I have yet to see him have a chance to get into a flow due to his lack of extended minutes.

(11-17-2012 01:54 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  joepa,

You mentioned Goodson in another post. I like his game. He has a nice mix of strength and athleticism. His fg% has been a bit disappointing. I have got to figure he can finish, especially considering the moves he shows on his way to to rim. With a little touch on his part, Kent State would have a much needed offensive weapon. The other thing I notice with him is the short leash he seems to be on. I figure Senderoff is sending the message that if he is going to free - lance, he is going to sit. But I have yet to see him have a chance to get into a flow due to his lack of extended minutes.

DGoodie is on a short leash. He's very strong and make nice moves but seems to get caught too close to the rim. I've also seen him lack the motivation to run the floor after missing a shot.

joepa66:

When do the Browns play good football?

Stream jumps around and has no audio. Typical.

Check if your volume level is down on the video itself. I had to turn mine up as it was muted on the video.

(11-18-2012 02:12 PM)ilovegymnast Wrote:  Check if your volume level is down on the video itself. I had to turn mine up as it was muted on the video.

Well the audio problem is solved. Thanks.

Now all they need to do is keep the score updated sheesh... The score was stuck at 11-9 for 3 minutes

So does my broadband suck or is it the stream? Can't go more than 10 seconds with out jumping around.

Ive only had a couple problems mostly on commercials nothing during the game. But you aren't missing much, just super sloppy play with no one looking like they want to win this one.

Damn FTs are going to cost us games.

Just watched the last minute of regulation. WITW! Don't agree with fouling at the end of regulation. I understand why they would, but its just too iffy.

Someone open the back doors of the MACC and let that stench we left on the court out. That OT was a HOT MESS!

Valpo is a good team, but I really hate losing to the Horizon League. I thought that if you foul on the last possession you do it latter but I don't fault the decision. FTs are going to really hurt this team.

At 2-2, I'm actually a little more optimistic for the rest of the season. Drexel win is huge, close lose to Valpo is ok. Chicago State and Temple went as expected.

This one was hard to swallow. It's one thing to follow the "foul when up by three" strategy but its another thing to do that and then not box out on the miss.

The thing that really frustrated me watching this game was the reoccurring theme of reaching on defense. Add to that guys getting beat off the dribble and there is reason for concern. For now I guess I will mark that down to a learning thing/growing thing/effort thing. But it can't continue if this team is going to have any sort of success this season.

I don't have the box in front of me, but there were some bright spots on offense. The scoring was balanced and Kent State is going to need to keep that up. Pope was impressive, Brewer was impressive at times and even Tabb got in the mix. If Pope and Brewer can find a little more touch, I will feel much better when Evans has an off night. Speaking of Evans...

Right now he is the biggest concern I have. Or maybe I should say the fact that KSU is not finding ways to get him the ball headed to the basket is my concern. I don't like when he stands in the corner and points for the lob.

Whatever the case, Valpo is a good team, no doubt. But that was a home game that Kent State should win, I don't care what the bright spots were. Hopefully in a few weeks (and I think its okay to give them a few weeks) we will be talking about a team that finds ways to finish games, especially home games, like that. Go Flashes!

The bigs are killing us. Other than mark H. they can't make a free throw. Goodson has to stop driving to the basket every time he touches the ball. I don't think he has made one yet. I know they are young and will get better but I hope its sooner than later. Our free throw shooting cost us this one. It was exaggerated as this referee crew must have called 10,000 fouls. In the second half both teams were in the bonus after about 7 minutes. Turned the game into a foul shooting contest which we will always lose this year.

I pin this one 100% on Coach. A coach worth anything knows that is absolute horse$hit strategy at the end.

- Your 2 bigs in Tabb and Henny are both fouled out so getting a RB on a miss FTwould be challenging.

- Say Valpo makes both FT's. i wouldnt exactly call us clutch FT shooters so we get fouled with 4secs no guarantee we make both and then you could lose at the buzzer.

-You play presssure defense and if they make a great 3 at buzzer you shake their hand and say great shot and you play OT.

Like someone else noted our defense blows. Coach has had 35 plus games now. I'm not impressed AT ALL. His constant clapping is approaching the Dave Grube type level. With Stricklin and Hazell maybe i'm just spoiled now.

(11-18-2012 07:00 PM)ksu315 Wrote:  I pin this one 100% on Coach. A coach worth anything knows that is absolute horse$hit strategy at the end.

- Your 2 bigs in Tabb and Henny are both fouled out so getting a RB on a miss FTwould be challenging.

- Say Valpo makes both FT's. i wouldnt exactly call us clutch FT shooters so we get fouled with 4secs no guarantee we make both and then you could lose at the buzzer.

-You play presssure defense and if they make a great 3 at buzzer you shake their hand and say great shot and you play OT.

Like someone else noted our defense blows. Coach has had 35 plus games now. I'm not impressed AT ALL. His constant clapping is approaching the Dave Grube type level. With Stricklin and Hazell maybe i'm just spoiled now.

Take it easy. Ask Memphis in the NCAA title game up 3 about fouling or not. It's a good play. All you have to do is box out. Or smack a rebound to the other end of the court. It backfired but it is absolutely very sound strategy.

(11-18-2012 08:25 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-18-2012 07:00 PM)ksu315 Wrote:  I pin this one 100% on Coach. A coach worth anything knows that is absolute horse$hit strategy at the end.

- Your 2 bigs in Tabb and Henny are both fouled out so getting a RB on a miss FTwould be challenging.

- Say Valpo makes both FT's. i wouldnt exactly call us clutch FT shooters so we get fouled with 4secs no guarantee we make both and then you could lose at the buzzer.

-You play presssure defense and if they make a great 3 at buzzer you shake their hand and say great shot and you play OT.

Like someone else noted our defense blows. Coach has had 35 plus games now. I'm not impressed AT ALL. His constant clapping is approaching the Dave Grube type level. With Stricklin and Hazell maybe i'm just spoiled now.

Take it easy. Ask Memphis in the NCAA title game up 3 about fouling or not. It's a good play. All you have to do is box out. Or smack a rebound to the other end of the court. It backfired but it is absolutely very sound strategy.

Maybe with less time on clock 3-4 secs trying to go length of court but not with 8 secs and bigs out and were a poor FT shooting team. How much time was left when Chalmers hit that shot?