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

(03-03-2017 11:58 PM)AlphaFlash Wrote:  First, what a sad showing by the Akron fans. I wasn't at the game at Akron, but we aren't the #1 seed too. I'm guessing 40 people made the 20 minute drive.

Now I'm sick of watching a coach that only wins enough to stay around another year or two. I've never seen a coach do so little with so much. We had their backs to the wall. 12 minutes left and we had the bonus. Yet we never intensified our play; never attacked. We didn't even take the lead with this advantage. More sloppy offense and terrible shooting. We have really good players, but they aren't poised. Sendy will get his contract extension for another decade and we will continue to be mediocre in the MAC.

+1 and sadly I have to find other ways to occupy time during the MACC -might have to take up gardening

Mitch rushed every shot. Jalen gets no respect from the defense and he deserves none. Damn, jalen and Zabo have to be the worst shooting guards we have ever had in uniform.

Akron tends to fill up two sections every year, one in the bowl and one upstairs, both right behind their bench.

AlphaFlash, I agree. While the winning streak was great, and the coach deserves credit for that, the bottom line is that for the fourth time in his six seasons they finished either below .500 in conference regular season (once), or not much better than .500. (three times). This year, they finished with the 6th best MAC regular season record, which is, again, essentially middle of the pack. There were times in Kent State's basketball history, like in the 1970's, when we would be elated by that. I think we would all be elated if the football team had a six-year run like that! The question is, though, is that good enough for Kent State BASKRTBALL, given its history over the past 20 years?

(03-04-2017 07:29 AM)Muskrat Wrote:  AlphaFlash, I agree. While the winning streak was great, and the coach deserves credit for that, the bottom line is that for the fourth time in his six seasons they finished either below .500 in conference regular season (once), or not much better than .500. (three times). This year, they finished with the 6th best MAC regular season record, which is, again, essentially middle of the pack. There were times in Kent State's basketball history, like in the 1970's, when we would be elated by that. I think we would all be elated if the football team had a six-year run like that! The question is, though, is that good enough for Kent State BASKRTBALL, given its history over the past 20 years?

My answer to that. No. Sure, if the football team won 6 conference games, we'd be elated. Yes, last year's div championship is a large improvemt from the 90s. However, the bar was raised. Laing Kennedy raised it for this program. Yes, the win streak and win at Akron was great. However, it doesn't put us in the hunt. It just gets this guy another extention. Even Geno could get keep us in the mix AT THE TOP.
Also, being in the middle of the MAC is overall pretty sad in the larger, NCAA spectrum. No, this guy needs to be held accountable. The bar was raised. This administration needs to hold to that. Right now I see us accepting mediocrity.

(03-04-2017 07:29 AM)Muskrat Wrote:  AlphaFlash, I agree. While the winning streak was great, and the coach deserves credit for that, the bottom line is that for the fourth time in his six seasons they finished either below .500 in conference regular season (once), or not much better than .500. (three times). This year, they finished with the 6th best MAC regular season record, which is, again, essentially middle of the pack. There were times in Kent State's basketball history, like in the 1970's, when we would be elated by that. I think we would all be elated if the football team had a six-year run like that! The question is, though, is that good enough for Kent State BASKRTBALL, given its history over the past 20 years?

For me a disappointing performance on the home court this season - if that continues the fan base will shrink like BGs appears to have

(03-04-2017 07:44 AM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(03-04-2017 07:29 AM)Muskrat Wrote:  AlphaFlash, I agree. While the winning streak was great, and the coach deserves credit for that, the bottom line is that for the fourth time in his six seasons they finished either below .500 in conference regular season (once), or not much better than .500. (three times). This year, they finished with the 6th best MAC regular season record, which is, again, essentially middle of the pack. There were times in Kent State's basketball history, like in the 1970's, when we would be elated by that. I think we would all be elated if the football team had a six-year run like that! The question is, though, is that good enough for Kent State BASKRTBALL, given its history over the past 20 years?

For me a disappointing performance on the home court this season - if that continues the fan base will shrink like BGs appears to have

Sure was. We were 6-3 on the road and only 4-5 at home.

Alpha Flash. That is truth. If that is good enough for your "flagship program" then save the fan base the bologna about the commitment to mens basketball. But, given the excitement of March Hoops...Monday should be fun.

Last night didn't seem as rough as the home losses to Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Buffalo and Bowling Green. Akron is pretty good. Yes, I have heard the general consensus that they are the weakest conference champ in years. I really don't know about that one way or the other and I don't care. The fact remains they are the conference champions.

At times Kent State looked poised to take last nights game over. Hall got it going and looked really good on both ends of the floor. KSU had some nice run outs early in the second half and I thought maybe the momentum would shift back to Kent for good.

At other times, the Flashes seemed heck bent on giving it away. The cross court passes to get out of double teams are okay once in a while but my goodness was that tough to stomach. It was also tough watching the Flashes get beat on the boards and Akron taking advantage of second and third chances.

I enjoy reading Elton Alexander and I think he hit it on the head in his blurb yesterday...depth is an issue for KSU. When Jimmy Hall is not on the floor; holy moly does the inside get exposed. And that "is what it is" and its why when Jaylin Walker is 3-17 or whatever this team isn't going to beat Akron (or Ohio, or Buffalo). Can they beat Central Michigan? I think so. I think a track meet is a bad bad bad idea though. I sure hope so because it would be nice to attend a night game at Quicken Loans on Thursday.

We have some depth at guard (even when we play 4). The bigs are Jimmy Hall for 30 minutes or so and then cross your fingers. Adonis or Danny have to improve significantly over the summer or we are in for a replay next year or maybe worse.

(03-04-2017 08:54 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  Alpha Flash. That is truth. If that is good enough for your "flagship program" then save the fan base the bologna about the commitment to mens basketball. But, given the excitement of March Hoops...Monday should be fun.

Last night didn't seem as rough as the home losses to Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Buffalo and Bowling Green. Akron is pretty good. Yes, I have heard the general consensus that they are the weakest conference champ in years. I really don't know about that one way or the other and I don't care. The fact remains they are the conference champions.

At times Kent State looked poised to take last nights game over. Hall got it going and looked really good on both ends of the floor. KSU had some nice run outs early in the second half and I thought maybe the momentum would shift back to Kent for good.

At other times, the Flashes seemed heck bent on giving it away. The cross court passes to get out of double teams are okay once in a while but my goodness was that tough to stomach. It was also tough watching the Flashes get beat on the boards and Akron taking advantage of second and third chances.

I enjoy reading Elton Alexander and I think he hit it on the head in his blurb yesterday...depth is an issue for KSU. When Jimmy Hall is not on the floor; holy moly does the inside get exposed. And that "is what it is" and its why when Jaylin Walker is 3-17 or whatever this team isn't going to beat Akron (or Ohio, or Buffalo). Can they beat Central Michigan? I think so. I think a track meet is a bad bad bad idea though. I sure hope so because it would be nice to attend a night game at Quicken Loans on Thursday.

POint well taken about Jimmy Hall - I was at the BG game last Tuesday and they were lost without him - which I guess is why Sendy kept him in to the end of the first half and he picked up his third PF - there were times in the 2nd half when he was obviously gased and slow to get down the court as well. High minutes or foul trouble worry me for the MAC tournament - if we can get to Cleveland

I think we can save some of this gloom and doom until if/when we get knocked out of the MAC tournament. We lost last night because we couldn't knock down threes and Akron got too many second chances. We do a little better in both categories and I think it's a different outcome.

A few comments on last night.

1. Jaylin Walker played a pretty nice all around game. I've commented many times in the past that he's essentially just a scorer and when he's not on, he adds little to nothing. Well he wasn't on last night (5-15 shooting) but he added 9 rebounds, many of them in traffic, and 2 big steals. Both rebounds and steals have gradually become a part of his game. Walker becoming a multi dimensional player is a really exciting thought. With his jumping ability, he really needs to commit himself to rebounding ever night. If you look at his last 5 games his rebound totals are 9, 1, 9, 0, and 6. Gotta learn to bring that effort every night.

2. I was happy with how Avery played again as well. His stat line wasn't overly impressive but he had a couple nice looking dribble drives when we needed a bucket.

3. Peterson needs to dial it back a little. He's 3-23 from three in the last 6 games and shooting 28.7% on the season yet he's tied for second on the team in three point attempts. At some point that has to stop.

4. Got some good minutes from Pippen last night. He was real aggressive around the basket and out battled Akron for a few loose balls. Should've had an offensive rebound and put back early on but Cheatham bated the ref into a loose ball foul with the classic Anderson Varejao move where the rebound goes over his head and he jumps at an angle away from it to create the illusion of a push off.

5. Wish we would've fed Hall more. He looked like he was in for a huge night early.

6. I don't want to pile on the coaches, but I thought we mismanaged our timeouts during Akron's 10-0 run late. We had three of them and didn't take one until 1:30 with Akron up 13. At that point it's too late.

7. There were a few big calls that went against us that I disagreed with live. I rewatched today to see if I still disagreed with them. First, the scramble play that ended in a foul on Avery was a massive call, and watching the replay, I still think it was a total bogus call. Something I didn't pickup live though, Akron kicked the ball before the foul ever happened. The Akron player that initially picked the ball up after the turnover lost it on his own as he tried to turn up court. Well he fumbled his dribble than kicked it ahead to mid court. Didn't look intentional so maybe that's why it wasn't called, but I don't think it has to be intentional. The other big one was the and-one Johnson got during their 10-0 run. Live it looked like he was in the key for a long time. On replay it wasn't as long as I thought, but it was 4 seconds.

Finally, it sucks that we have to play CMU. Any time you're facing a guy that can go off for 50 on any given night, it makes you nervous about playing an elimination game. But hey, I think we're the better team, so let's bring it.

I was impressed by our defense last night. The 3 for 22 on 3-point shooting killed us, but we've seen lousy shooting all year. We really needed a bit more out of De La Rosa and the bench (again)

Good stuff anti-zip. I have the game on dvr and may go back to look for that call you mentioned. I thought pippen was aggressive but not an impact player.