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

(11-06-2013 03:53 PM)Screwtheroo Wrote:  What does everyone expect the starting lineup and the rotation to be? I think the guaranteed starters will be Brewer, Henniger, and Goodson. Jackson looks like he will be the 4th starter, but who will be the 5th? Will we run a 3 guard set the majority of the time? How big will the rotation be? 10? 11? 12? Will Scott and Lawrence get playing time? There always seems to be a player every year who really takes the jump to the next level and contributes more, such as Justin Greene, Randall Holt, Kris Brewer and who will that be this year? These are the questions I'm curious to see get answered.

This could be a potential rotation:
PG-Brewer/Thomas
SG-Jackson/Simmons
Other Guard-Manley/Carter
PF-Goodson/Ortiz
C-Henniger/Tabb/Spicer

Quick. Everyone. Lay the 35 points.

Does anybody know why Tabb didn't play tonight?

(11-08-2013 05:22 PM)bball4me Wrote:  I heard the wall pictures are not going back up.????????

That's what I would guess. I liked the pictures.

Are we going to pop bad 3's ad nauseam again this season?

(11-08-2013 09:04 PM)delflash Wrote:  Does anybody know why Tabb didn't play tonight?

Yes.

Sounds like he will be good to go Monday.

(11-08-2013 09:04 PM)delflash Wrote:  Does anybody know why Tabb didn't play tonight?

TABB SITS OUT

Senior forward Melvin Tabb was not in uniform, as he served a one-game suspension according to Senderoff.

"In September there were a couple of academic things that I had asked Melvin to do that he didn't take care of, so I told him at that time that he wasn't going to play in the first game," said Senderoff. "Nothing major, he's fine academically. It was more like sending a message. He'll be back on Monday, and I told him he will not be penalized moving forward. Since that point he's done everything we need him to do."

I was at the ONU game last night. Jackson obviously can play! The most improved player I saw was Spicer. Have no idea what his stats were but he was very aggressive on both ends. He's hit the weights & is much stronger than LY. Maybe it was because he was playing against shorter players but Spicer was looking to dunk every time he touched the ball. I like that attitude!

Over the years the best MAC teams has been those with stellar guard play. With Brewer, Jackson, Manley, Carter, Simmons and Thomas on hand, I think we'll be fine there.

They looked good last night. We seem to have a lot of quality depth which should help as the season progresses. Only negative was Manley missing a bunch of three pointers.

(11-09-2013 08:57 AM)burden Wrote:  They looked good last night. We seem to have a lot of quality depth which should help as the season progresses. Only negative was Manley missing a bunch of three pointers.

If that is your only negative, we are going to be just fine. That kid can shoot the hell out of the ball. He will find his stroke.

Did Lawrence impress those in the crowd last night? Sounds like he did some good things with his minutes.

Fallsdog,

Here are the after game notes from Stephanie Storm of the ABJ:

Game notes from KSU's 84-48 season-opening win over DIII Ohio Northern

By Stephanie Storm Published: November 8, 2013


FRIDAY POST GAME NOTES:



* TABB OUT -Kent State senior forward Melvin Tabb didn’t play in Friday’s 84-48 season-opening victory over Divison III Ohio Northern due to a coaches decision.



The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Tabb didn’t even bother dressing for the game after being told by head coach Rob Senderoff that he was benched for not doing some things class wise that Senderoff asked him to in order to ensure he’s able to graduate in May.



“In September there were a couple academic things that I had asked Melvin to do that he didn’t take care of,” Senderoff explained. “So, I told him at that time he wasn’t going to play in the first game. It’s nothing major. He’s fine academically and in good shape, it’s nothing like that. It was more that he’s a senior and I want him to graduate and there were a couple loose ends he let go. He understood that and he’ll be back playing Monday. It’s just I need him to understand you gotta graduate from here. That was important, so it was a sort of a message.”



* YOUNGSTERS LOOK GOOD IN SPURTS –With all 13 players on the KSU roster getting playing time in the blowout and all but one figuring into the scoring column, a lot of newcomers enjoyed some early-season action.



Two that stood out in particular for their play were 6-foot-8 freshman forward Marquiez Lawrence and 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Khaliq Spicer.



“They both had moments where they played really well,” Senderoff said. “Marquiez is active, he’s gonna fly around. He did that and had that tip dunk in the game. He’s gotta learn to play without fouling a little bit. Some of that’s him, some of that’s the (new) rules, some of it’s anxiety. But hopefully he’ll get better as he continues to move forward.



“Khaliq, normally if one of guys dunks then walks back on defense, I’m gonna get mad at ‘em. He was even flexing or something. But because he was showing the emotion he was showing, I was actually sorta happy he did it because he’s such a mild-mannered kid. He doesn’t always show that type of fire. So I’ll probably show that in film tomorrow and make a comment that you gotta get back because the game hadn’t ended.”



* UP NEXT – It’ll be quite a swing in talent level, but Kent State’s next game comes at Temple Monday as part of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon. The road trip then continues with a game at Seton Hall Wednesday before the Flashes return to Kent for the start of a seven-game home stand Nov. 17 against Saint Peters.

Here are further notes from Stephanie Storm:
Junior guard transfer Derek Jackson leads KSU to season-opening 84-48 win over DIII Ohio Northern
By Stephanie Storm Published: November 8, 2013

Derek Jackson came to Kent State six months ago with a defensive reputation that preceded him.
But in his first game with the Golden Flashes Friday night, the junior guard showed he could be counted on just as much for his offensive abilities. Jackson scored a game-high 18 points to lead Kent State to an 84-48 season-opening victory over visiting Ohio Northern.
For a Flashes team that will need offense from every starter on the court night in and night out after losing its top two scorers from last year’s squad, Jackson’s well-rounded effort that included two assists and three coast-to-coast baskets off four steals in a team-best 22 minutes likely induced a sigh of relief by many of the team’s supporters.

The 6-foot, 175-pound native Clevelander was a standout player at Benedictine before passing on Kent State out of high school to play with the Chippewas - another Mid-American Conference school.

But after two seasons at CMU, Jackson left the program when former head coach Ernie Zeigler was fired, then sat out a required season last year under NCAA transfer rules before enrolling at Cuyahoga Community College. After getting his grades in shape at Tri-C, the redshirt junior joined the Flashes in April.
Friday, Jackson held Ohio Northern’s top scorer – senior guard Branden Rushton (who averaged 15.1 points last season) to six points on 3-of-9 shooting in 27 minutes.

Despite KSU head coach Rob Senderoff not wasting any time in mixing in different combinations of reserves, the Flashes pushed their lead to double digits with 8:06 to go in the half and never looked back.

The 10-point cushion was punctuated by an emphaticone-handed dunk by Jackson, who paced his new team with nine points and two steals in 13 first-half minutes to help Kent State cruise to a 41-20-halftime advantage.

As impressive as Jackson’s debut was, returning starters senior forward Darren Goodson (11 points, six rebounds) and junior point guard Kris Brewer (team-high eight rebounds, seven points, four steals and two assists) also had solid performances.

Weird that this was a regular season game for us and a exhibition game for ONU. I have never heard of that before.

(11-09-2013 03:41 PM)KentKrazy Wrote:  Weird that this was a regular season game for us and a exhibition game for ONU. I have never heard of that before.

That is bizarre to me. If a game doesn't count for your opponent, why should you get credit for a victory?

(11-09-2013 03:20 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  Did Lawrence impress those in the crowd last night? Sounds like he did some good things with his minutes.

I thought Lawerence looked good. You always have to wonder about the level of competition in a game like this, but he looked good.

(11-09-2013 05:35 PM)burden Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 03:20 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  Did Lawrence impress those in the crowd last night? Sounds like he did some good things with his minutes.

I thought Lawerence looked good. You always have to wonder about the level of competition in a game like this, but he looked good.

He is a super athlete but is so thin that at this point that I'll be surprised if he helps much this season. +20lbs of muscle and watch out!

(11-10-2013 08:11 AM)Flash Freak 3 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:35 PM)burden Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 03:20 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  Did Lawrence impress those in the crowd last night? Sounds like he did some good things with his minutes.

I thought Lawerence looked good. You always have to wonder about the level of competition in a game like this, but he looked good.

He is a super athlete but is so thin that at this point that I'll be surprised if he helps much this season. +20lbs of muscle and watch out!

I'm surprised he's not being redshirted. Looked decent though.

(11-10-2013 11:49 AM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(11-10-2013 08:11 AM)Flash Freak 3 Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 05:35 PM)burden Wrote:  

(11-09-2013 03:20 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  Did Lawrence impress those in the crowd last night? Sounds like he did some good things with his minutes.

I thought Lawerence looked good. You always have to wonder about the level of competition in a game like this, but he looked good.

He is a super athlete but is so thin that at this point that I'll be surprised if he helps much this season. +20lbs of muscle and watch out!

I'm surprised he's not being redshirted. Looked decent though.

When was the last time we redshirted anyone? Antonio DiMaria?

I don't see a lot of benefit to the team to redshirting a freshman - sure, they'll contribute more in the 5th year as opposed to the 1st year, but you have 1 less scholarship player available that 1st year.
Also, how frequently do players hang around for 4 seasons? Over the last 3 seasons, out of all the freshmen we signed to those classes, we only had 3 players play their 4th season, Rod Sherman in 2011, Justin Greene in 2012, and Randall Holt last year.

Wouldn't an extra year of Mike Scott and Justin Greene have been nice? Wouldn't 4 years of eligibility remaining for Kaliq Spicer look really good right now?

So what's the benefit of having a freshman ride the pine his first season? Sure he'll get a little bit of experience and he'll have a better idea of what he needs to improve on to contribute the next year but it hardly seems worth it to me. You have 13 scholarships available and the rotation usually ends up being 9 or 10 guys. In our case we only have 12 scholarship players available because Jimmy Hall is a transfer so I'm sure this played a big role in the decision.

You also have to know a player is committed to your program before redshirting him because it ruins his ability to transfer later. I remember when he first committed they said he was likely going to redshirt though, so I imagine that wasn't an issue. We also could have let it play out and not actually play him until a rotation is settled then the option to redshirt him would still be on the table if he's not going to be in the rotation. A few meaningless minutes against a division 3 team ruined that option though.