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

Crowds were real weak today due to the nasty weather. Going down to 1F tomorrow morning and it's March 13th!! My golf clubs are ready though. No more than 300 in the afternoon (even Toledo fans did not show up for their womens team) and maybe 1000 or so tonight. Of course they will count the no shows and as all the Miami and Ohio fans filed out a few EMU and NIU fans were coming in so the announced numbers will be higher. Unfortunately there is less incentive to stay for both games on Wednesday and Thursday as the winner of the second game would not be who Ohio (in this case) is going to play next anyway. Again this format makes the games seem like individual games and the tournament feel really doesn't start until at least Thursday if not Friday. They should consider playing Wednesdays games on the campuses also. Maybe end the season on Friday and have a round of home games on Sunday and Tuesday coming down to Cleveland on Thursday. Just a thought. I like the format from a competitive sense in that it makes the regular season worth something but a lot of the basketball on Wednesday is mediocre at least for the fans with no rooting interest.

I'd really like to be at Flannery's tonight. This is not cool.

Ohio was 4 to 8 ahead all night and then Akron caught them at around 3 minutes and they blew them away. Akron was shooting 60% at halftime and ended up at 61 for the game. Ohio did not play bad defense either. The Zip women did the same against Toledo scoring 58 in the first half. The shooting guard had 25 in the first half and 31 for the game. She might be the best pure shooter I have seen on the women's side ever. She doesn't create shots but she gets her threes off very quickly. They have a way to go but they are the only school that still has both teams alive. I hope they don't repeat our 2002 run.

I dislike Ohio but really hate Akron. But, that was as good of a MAC game that I have ever seen. The play was of a very high standard by 2 teams. For a BB fan, it was terrific. Dambrot, unfortunately is the best coach in this conference.

(03-13-2014 09:10 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  I dislike Ohio but really hate Akron. But, that was as good of a MAC game that I have ever seen. The play was of a very high standard by 2 teams. For a BB fan, it was terrific. Dambrot, unfortunately is the best coach in this conference.

Yes it was a great game. Akron got a break last night with EMU upsetting Buffalo. Buffalo is a tough match up for them and now they don't have to face them in the finals if they get there. Also I just heard (although it happened Tuesday in practice) that the womens POY Crystal Bradford is out with a knee injury. That makes Akron a favorite in my eyes this afternoon against CMU even with Tecca only at 60-70%.

i know what i'm about to say will be unpopular on this board.. but i'm rooting for akron to win mac tournament. i like keith dambrot a lot. i like listening to steve french doing the games on the radio. i HATE ohio u. very glad akron beat them (sorry jim christian.)

yes, akron caught a break with emu beating buffalo.

There women might be catching a huge break. BG is down to Ball St. and Brady Sallee by 10 with 12 to go.

Well Ball St. did it. Up by 14 with one minute left. I know BG is 17-2 in the MAC but the two times I have seen them they have looked down right lethargic.

mmucha,

I enjoy Coach Dambrot's teams too. But man was it nice watching Akron go down this evening. The Gonzaga of the east is going to have to begin a new streak I guess.

How did Akron blow that one?? Up 17 at halftime, 18 during the second half and lost by 4 in OT. Dambrot has to be talking to himself.
Toledo and EMU will have to do without me. I'm out of gas. Only game missed until this one was EMU and NIU but that was by choice. This one is due to being too old. WMU is solid. They don't look that impressive but they get it done. I wouldn't bet against them tomorrow.

Oh by the way those two young bigs of Akron's are starting to come on. We better get some bigs very quickly or we will be in trouble for a few more years, They are just out recruiting us.

(03-14-2014 08:01 PM)burden Wrote:  Oh by the way those two young bigs of Akron's are starting to come on. We better get some bigs very quickly or we will be in trouble for a few more years, They are just out recruiting us.

This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to a coach that's loyal to his school. High school kids will even go to a dump like Akron because of that foundation.

(03-14-2014 12:04 PM)mmucha Wrote:  i know what i'm about to say will be unpopular on this board.. but i'm rooting for akron to win mac tournament. i like keith dambrot a lot. i like listening to steve french doing the games on the radio. i HATE ohio u. very glad akron beat them (sorry jim christian.)

yes, akron caught a break with emu beating buffalo.

I will tell you how akron lost this one. When I saw that one of our own was paying homage to the zits, I rushed to make plans to drive to Cleveland just to root heavily for WMU. I did so to the top of my lungs. KD may be ok but I for one can not image a Kent State fan pulling for anything in that program. Thanks for the heads up. I really enjoyed the game plus the casino action.

Good for you gflash68. By the way could the real reason why Dambrot gets no attention by the big schools is that he seems to lose a lot of important games?

He gets the attention and turned down a much bigger payday last year. I think at this point he's a hometown guy and content with where he is so long as he's putting good teams out on the floor and getting paid decently. Of course it's hard to turn down millions but that would probably the job after the next one, and I just don't see him hopscotching jobs to get there.

Sadly, I think KD stays in Akron as long as JC stays in Ohio. That just antes up to my worries about our own program

You know how we always made fun of the MAC West and complained about how they dragged us all down? Guess who'll be representing the MAC.

(03-15-2014 09:57 PM)AlphaFlash Wrote:  You know how we always made fun of the MAC West and complained about how they dragged us all down? Guess who'll be representing the MAC.

And 3 of the 4 teams in semi's were from the West!!

I read where there hasn't been a final without an Ohio team in 20 years or so. With only half of the league from Ohio that is really pretty amazing. All things being equal it should happen once every 4 years. Obviously the talent has not been equal.

Attendance was only about half of last years. The weather hurt on Wednesday but that day is pretty light in attendance anyway. No Kent, Ohio and Buffalo not making it to Friday, the BG women one and done, no Akron men on Saturday and a somewhat disappointing Toledo contingent all contributed. I also sense the once a year college fans are growing tired of the tournament.

Boy the difference in game flow between televised games and non- televised games was striking. They still have media timeouts for the non-televised games but they are so much shorter. Those games were so short (1:45 to 1:50) they actually had to delay starting the in between game clock so the next game wouldn't start too early. Friday and Saturday you could walk a lap around the Q during the timeouts.

Maybe I would be singing a different tune if Kent State had earned a bye into the quarterfinals, but this is where the new format is risky for the conference.

Lets assume that the big money comes from attendance and folks hitting up local establishments for food and drinks. (and I am not sure that is the case).

Things started to go bad when:
1) Kent State lost to Miami. But at least Miami has a nice alumni base in Cleveland.
2)Bowling Green lost to NIU. Not only does losing the BG fan group hurt, but the casual fan couldn't have been too pumped to see EMU vs. NIU.
3) Akron lost to WMU. Thank goodness their women were around because otherwise you lose the whole of both local participants.

I am not suggesting that teams like WMU and UB didn't earn their seeds, but if the MAC Tournament is going to remain an important annual event in Cleveland I think the conference needs to consider moving back to the four game Thursday to get people in town. Of course, the event will stay through 2017 regardless.