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

New women's basketball coach Todd Starkey says we can expect to see a very different style of play from the team this season.

Starkey says to expect a more passing and screening and less emphasis on getting the ball into leading scorer Jordan Korinek in the post. (We can expect Korinek -- a good outside shooter in high school -- beyond the three-point line at times.) The dribble-drive that the Flashes used in last year's 6-23 season is gone.

Defensively the emphasis will be on the basis of a half-court man-to-man with versatility that makes KSU harder to scout.

Overall, Starkey said, the team is ahead of where he thought it would be after off-season practices.

Official practice starts Oct. 3. The Flashes open at home against Bradley Nov. 11.

The first of a series of stories on the new coach, his system and his players is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Now on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com are coach Starkey's early player-by-player and position-by-position analysis of his roster.

Among the highlights:

• Leading scorer Jordan Korinek might be more effective working less in the paint.
• 6-4 sophomore Merissa Barber-Smith is consistently leading the team in rebounding and post defense in practice.
• Illinois State transfer Zenobia Bess shows potential as a post player and as a screener, a key role in Starkey's offense.
• Use of screens is key to getting Larissa Lurken -- about to become a 1,000-point scorer -- a higher shooting percentage.
• Ali Poole, the only true freshman on the team, might be a badly needed second outside shooter.
• Redshirt freshman Megan Carter, who missed almost all of last season with injuries, is healthy and looks the best on the team at "creating her own shot."

In the last http://wbbflashes.com blog post from my interview with new coach Todd Starkey, he talks about national recruiting ("we'll look anywhere"), recruiting Ohio (already talking to 2019 prospects -- current sophomores) and the possibility of adding a point guard to the four 2017 recruits who have already verbally committed to KSU (whom he can't talk about).

Official practice for the 2016-17 season starts Monday. First game against Bradley is Nov. 11.

I was at volleyball game last Saturday and Jordan had a boot on her right foot. any updates?

(09-30-2016 12:48 PM)luckyflash Wrote:  I was at volleyball game last Saturday and Jordan had a boot on her right foot. any updates?

I'm out of town this week and will check when I get back. In my conversations with Starkey, he's been as skittish as any coach I've met on injuries, citing HIPPA. Coaches -- even at the same school -- seem to interpret what they can say about players' health very differently.

Coach Todd Starkey and assistant Morgan Toles were on Facebook Live, talking about point guards and other things.

Toles, one of the better point guards in the ACC when she played at Florida State, ran down the four on KSU's roster, and Starkey talked about what made a good point guard.

Story and link to the post is on the http://wbbflashes.com blog.

Starkey and Senderoff talk about about each other's teams and upcoming tipoff breakfast in this Facebook Live video from KSU Facebook feed.

Little news, but it's interesting to hear them talk about the other team.

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Junior forward Jordan Korinek was named to the preseason all-MAC East team by league coaches.

Korinek, who led KSU in scoring (15.5 points per game) and rebounding (6.8), is the first Flash to be named to any first team since 2010.

Kent State, 6-23 and last in the MAC last season, was picked last in the East again.

Ohio was to win the East, followed by Buffalo, Akron, Bowling Green, Miami and Kent State.

Central Michigan was a unanimous choice to win the West, followed by Ball State and Toledo (tied), Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan.

Central was chosen to win the regular season and tournament championship in close votes over Ohio.

Ohio and Central won their divisions last year, but Buffalo won the MAC tournament.

Kent State, under new head coach Todd Starkey, opens the 2016-17 season at home against Bradley Friday, Nov. 11.

Details on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

From a visit to Kent State practice:

Right now, the "white team" -- closest thing there is to a starting lineup -- is junior forwards Jordan Korinek, McKenna Stephens and Zenobia Bess, along with guards from all four classes -- senior Larissa Lurken, junior Naddiyah Cross, sophomore Alexa Golden and freshman Ali Poole.

Korinek, last year's leading scorer and a preseason all-MAC choice, missed the first two weeks of practice with an ankle injury but was moving fine last week.

Guard Tyra James, last season's third leading scorer, was on the sidelines with a leg injury. It did not sound good.

There's no exhibition game this year. Opener is at home Nov. 11 against Bradley. The team will have a closed scrimmage against Cleveland State.

More details and impressions from watching Starkey work with his team is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Notes from Press Day and beyond:

As I feared, redshirt freshman guard Tyra James is out for the season with a knee injury. She was KSU's third-leading scorer last season.

Coach Todd Starkey talks about making his half-court defense a "basic principle."

Flashes struggle to a 52-52 tie in an intrasquad scrimmage. Nobody particularly stands out.

Guard Ali Poole -- the only true freshman on the team -- is likely to have a significant impact this season. She shows a good outside shot and does not look like the youngest player on the court.

Leading scorers Jordan Korinek and Larissa are working to become more vocal leaders.

Team scrimmages this weekend against Cleveland State and opens next from at home against Bradley.

Details on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

If anyone is crazier than I am and wants an overdose of preseason MAC women's basketball, this link will take you to a bunch of three-minute video clips of interviews with players and coaches of all the teams. (You'll see green rectangles at the bottom of the first one. Click through them to get to other teams.

http://www.mac-sports.com/index.aspx?path=wbball&

KSU also posted an interview with Ali Poole, the only freshman on the team and a shooter who could make a different, and coach Starkey. There's a link on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

KSU has announced its 2017 recruiting class. It includes three players who had verbally committed earlier and a point guard from North Carolina who had been recruited by four power conference schools. A fourth player who had committed in September decided not to come to Kent.

I'll post more here when I can. There's a full story now on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

The women open their season against Bradley at 7 p.m. Friday in the MACC.

Bradley was 9-22 a year ago and beat Kent State 68-60 in Peoria. Like Kent State, the Braves have a new coach who's installed new offensive and defensive systems. Bradley returns three starters from a team that was fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference in defense last season.

Kent State will be playing its first game under new head coach Todd Starkey, who became the Flashes' sixth head coach after Danny O'Banion's contract wasn't renewed. She went 21-98 over four years.

Starkey's offense should feature more passing and more ball screens to get shooters open. You'll see a somewhat different use of leading scorer Jordan Korinek, who won't be camped as much in the lane as she was a year ago.

The defensive will start with a half-court man-to-man. Starkey is a very defensive-minded coach.

Every player from last year's 6-23 team returns except guard Tyra James, who's out for the season with a knee injury. The team has added a Division I transfer, a single true freshman and has a redshirt freshman who played only three games a year ago before being injured. Expect all three to play significant roles this year.

In a closed scrimmage over the weekend, the team went into overtime against Cleveland State, a team that beat KSU soundly a year ago.

Lots more, including a rundown of a the possible starting line-up and a guess at how good the team will be, is on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Lady Flashes up 18 at the half.

Say whaaaaa....?????

It got even better. A 77-52 win. Now Bradley might be the worst team in the country so we need to wait and see how the next few games go but that looked like a different team. The only freshman was Poole (who looked pretty good by the way, a little too aggressive at times but that can be fixed). However with Tyra James out for the season that was pretty much a wash. There were some issues from last year such as Korinek getting her 4th foul in the 3rd quarter and Lurkin scoring 22 when she could have scored 30+ by just hitting some 10 footers and layups but that's to be expected. We can't expect miracles.

The most noticeable thing was the offense had some flow. I doubt they scored 77 points more than handful of times over the last 3 years. Cross in particular looked like a different player. She got her 10 points or so and played with confidence and enthusiasm.

By the way the new chairbacks were great. Much more professional.

The women scored more than 77 points exactly three times in the last five years, going back to Bob Lindsay's last season.

They held a team to 52 points or less only eight times in those five years.

The last time they won a game by 25 points was in December 2010.

New coach Todd Starkey has preached defense since he arrived, and KSU held Bradley to 31 percent shooting. The Braves really struggled to run an offense in the first half.

Korinek scored 7 points and had 3 rebounds, and they still won by 25. I would never have believed that.

On paper, Bradley is hardly a great team but not the worst in the country. They were 9-22 last season and beat Kent State by eight. They were fourth in the Missouri Valley in defense (61 points a game) and were picked seventh in the 10-team league this season.

Kent State was 6-23 last season and picked last in the MAC.

On Monday, the Flashes host Eastern Kentucky, which should be a considerably better team, at 7 in the MACC. Eastern beat Bowling Green 57-55 Friday.

Much more, including player and coach's quotes and statistics, on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Great win to start the Starkey era. Congrats to the team. Hopefully this is 1 of many this year. Poole seems ready for action as a true freshmen, which is great. What happened to Tyra James that she is out for the season?

(11-12-2016 12:38 AM)cschierh Wrote:  The women scored more than 77 points exactly three times in the last five years, going back to Bob Lindsay's last season.

They held a team to 52 points or less only eight times in those five years.

The last time they won a game by 25 points was in December 2010.

New coach Todd Starkey has preached defense since he arrived, and KSU held Bradley to 31 percent shooting. The Braves really struggled to run an offense in the first half.

Korinek scored 7 points and had 3 rebounds, and they still won by 25. I would never have believed that.

On paper, Bradley is hardly a great team but not the worst in the country. They were 9-22 last season and beat Kent State by eight. They were fourth in the Missouri Valley in defense (61 points a game) and were picked seventh in the 10-team league this season.

Kent State was 6-23 last season and picked last in the MAC.

On Monday, the Flashes host Eastern Kentucky, which should be a considerably better team, at 7 in the MACC. Eastern beat Bowling Green 57-55 Friday.

Much more, including player and coach's quotes and statistics, on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Thank you so much for the updates on the womens team = really appreciate it as my distance prevent me from going to anything more than an occasional home game - but maybe this year that could hope to get to the Q - Thanks again

(11-12-2016 10:44 AM)GoFlashes7 Wrote:  Great win to start the Starkey era. Congrats to the team. Hopefully this is 1 of many this year. Poole seems ready for action as a true freshmen, which is great. What happened to Tyra James that she is out for the season?

James blew out her knee before official practice even started. She's had surgery and is moving well. She should be back next year.

Kent State looked great in blowing out Bradley by 25 in its opener, but we find out a lot more about the team Monday.

They play Eastern Kentucky at 7 at the MACC.

Eastern was 18-12 last season and has the Ohio Valley Conference preseason player of the year in 6-1 forward Jalen O'Bannon, who averaged a double-double a year ago. She had one Friday when her team beat Bowling Green 57-55 at home. So did 5-11 guard Shavantae Naylor, a transfer from the University of South Florida who sat out last year.

Even with three players with double-digit rebounds (5-5 point guard Mariah Massengill also had 12), the Colonels were outrebounded 47-40 by BG. Kent State outrebounded Bradley 46-38 in its win. They shot 36 percent; KSU held Bradley to 31 percent.

The Flashes will need a better game from Jordan Korinek, last year's leading scorer and rebounder. She had 7 points and 3 rebounds against Bradley. Last year she had only three games with less than 10 points.

Allen Moff of the Record-Courier points out that new coach Todd Starkey became the first women's coach in KSU history to win his or her first game. All previous five coaches lost their opener by at least 10.

Full preview on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.