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

(02-08-2019 11:35 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  I don’t mind losing - even to them - what I do mind is when players wearing KENT STATE on their jerseys just flat out quits. KSU quit tonight. Flat out quit. And that is horseshit.

Repeat of EMU - ugh. Will be a dogfight to get that fourth place spot in Cleveland - ugh. Better get some road wins now or - ugh

Seems like this team isn't prepared for the intensity of new situations. First MAC game, 22 point loss. First MAC road game, 34 point loss. First rivalry game, 19 point loss.

Let's hope this trend doesn't continue with the first MAC tournament game.

(02-08-2019 11:04 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  We gotta do a better job of drawing up plays to get Walker space. We're expecting him to go one on one and create a possession out of nothing way too much. It's really hard to watch.

To illustrate this... In the last three games Walker is shooting 24.6% from the floor and 22.2% from three. His season percentages have went from great to fairly unspectacular and if this trend continues he'll be right back to the inefficient high volume low percentage numbers we saw the first three years. I'm not sure he got one clean look last night.

If we keep letting our opponents take away our best scorer, we won't go very far.

When he is off and Whittington is saddled with fouls...this group gets hit with the ugly stick.

We desperately need another offensive threat. Walker is relatively easy to take away when their is nobody else to worry about. Yeah other guys occasionally have a good game but nobody can do it with any consistency.

Game made me sick, and I am still sick. I just hate akron

Cheese is the man.

I decided to do some research because I had a bad feeling when this game was picked up by ESPNU and moved to Friday night.

Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct.

Since 2014, Kent State is 5-10 when either an ESPN or CBS network selects the game and has it played on Friday. And in those 10 losses the average margin of defeat is 14 points. There waa a 25-point loss at Buffalo, two 19-point losses to Akron and Ball State and an 18-point loss to OU in there.

Makes me feel all warm and cozy for next Friday at UB.

Have a great Monday.

(02-11-2019 09:34 AM)JimJoyce Wrote:  I decided to do some research because I had a bad feeling when this game was picked up by ESPNU and moved to Friday night.

Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct.

Since 2014, Kent State is 5-10 when either an ESPN or CBS network selects the game and has it played on Friday. And in those 10 losses the average margin of defeat is 14 points. There waa a 25-point loss at Buffalo, two 19-point losses to Akron and Ball State and an 18-point loss to OU in there.

Makes me feel all warm and cozy for next Friday at UB.

Have a great Monday.

Nice bit of research - I seem to recall watching most of those games. I also vaguely remember a game at Akron - possibly in Water's first year where we had scored like 25 points with about 5 minutes left in the game. And yes I will be surprised if we get a win at UB.

Just go ahead and prepare yourselves. We aren't winning in Alumni Arena. Hopefully it won't be a horror show. Let's stay positive and find a path to a top 4 seed (we still win a tb vs. Toledo).

For years I have complained that we were carrying the image of the conference due to poor coaches by our fellow members. It hurt our RPI for years. Then a little latter, it became apparent to me that Akron had the best coach in the conference with Keith Dambrot. When he got smart and left, I thought that clearly, our status at the top would resurface. Now I see that other programs have elevated their coaching and talent level. I am enjoying watching all of the MAC games as play quality is very high. Unfortunately for us though, it looks as if akron has scored a winner with Groce. He is doing a lot with a little. I am agreeing with danny73 and will add that trouble will be had at Oxford and BUGS. We are at a cross roads that will project even beyond this year. We are still pretty good when we are clicking and can beat anyone.

(02-11-2019 02:52 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  For years I have complained that we were carrying the image of the conference due to poor coaches by our fellow members. It hurt our RPI for years. Then a little latter, it became apparent to me that Akron had the best coach in the conference with Keith Dambrot. When he got smart and left, I thought that clearly, our status at the top would resurface. Now I see that other programs have elevated their coaching and talent level. I am enjoying watching all of the MAC games as play quality is very high. Unfortunately for us though, it looks as if akron has scored a winner with Groce. He is doing a lot with a little. I am agreeing with danny73 and will add that trouble will be had at Oxford and BUGS. We are at a cross roads that will project even beyond this year. We are still pretty good when we are clicking and can beat anyone.

I have been contemplating going to the BG game - I went two years ago and with their record they had little fan base and no home court advantage - still winning up there has never been easy for us going back to Anderson Arena days. If BG continues to win it will be a very noisy and difficult place to play. While it's early to think about next year I am not looking for us to be a better team with Walker and Avery gone, likewise I wonder if we'll see Pippen or or Duling return.

(02-11-2019 03:18 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(02-11-2019 02:52 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  For years I have complained that we were carrying the image of the conference due to poor coaches by our fellow members. It hurt our RPI for years. Then a little latter, it became apparent to me that Akron had the best coach in the conference with Keith Dambrot. When he got smart and left, I thought that clearly, our status at the top would resurface. Now I see that other programs have elevated their coaching and talent level. I am enjoying watching all of the MAC games as play quality is very high. Unfortunately for us though, it looks as if akron has scored a winner with Groce. He is doing a lot with a little. I am agreeing with danny73 and will add that trouble will be had at Oxford and BUGS. We are at a cross roads that will project even beyond this year. We are still pretty good when we are clicking and can beat anyone.

I have been contemplating going to the BG game - I went two years ago and with their record they had little fan base and no home court advantage - still winning up there has never been easy for us going back to Anderson Arena days. If BG continues to win it will be a very noisy and difficult place to play. While it's early to think about next year I am not looking for us to be a better team with Walker and Avery gone, likewise I wonder if we'll see Pippen or or Duling return.

I have the same concerns.

I forgot BG was also recently flipped to a Friday night.

We have five road games left. Assuming we go 3-0 in our remaining home games, I think two road wins in those five gets us a bye. Are we winning Thursday? And if so where do we get the other one? CMU? Miami?

(02-11-2019 04:31 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  I forgot BG was also recently flipped to a Friday night.

We have five road games left. Assuming we go 3-0 in our remaining home games, I think two road wins in those five gets us a bye. Are we winning Thursday? And if so where do we get the other one? CMU? Miami?

We MUST win on Thursday. Miami and CMU is what I was talking about with improved coaching and talent. Both of those venues will give us trouble. Not impossible.

What time is the BG game?

(02-11-2019 03:18 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  While it's early to think about next year I am not looking for us to be a better team with Walker and Avery gone, likewise I wonder if we'll see Pippen or or Duling return.

Don't forget we'll have two former high major rotation players in Simons and Felder stepping in. Whittington does worry me a bit though considering he should be able to bolt as a grad transfer if he wants. I'm not sure about Williamson's situation. This is his 4th year on a college campus but I don't think he finished his year at FGCU so he probably wouldn't be able to graduate yet. Sendy's had a very good track record of finding guys that can contribute right away after the season is over though, so I'm not too worried.

(02-11-2019 02:52 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  For years I have complained that we were carrying the image of the conference due to poor coaches by our fellow members. It hurt our RPI for years. Then a little latter, it became apparent to me that Akron had the best coach in the conference with Keith Dambrot. When he got smart and left, I thought that clearly, our status at the top would resurface. Now I see that other programs have elevated their coaching and talent level. I am enjoying watching all of the MAC games as play quality is very high. Unfortunately for us though, it looks as if akron has scored a winner with Groce. He is doing a lot with a little. I am agreeing with danny73 and will add that trouble will be had at Oxford and BUGS. We are at a cross roads that will project even beyond this year. We are still pretty good when we are clicking and can beat anyone.

Let's dial the Groce praise back a little bit. He was 14-18 in his first year at Akron and 14-9 so far this year. In regards to him doing "a lot with a little" Eric Hester mysteriously leaving shortly before the season and one of his players beating the living hell out of another one of his players in practice hasn't helped his depth. Top players not being around when the season starts and players getting in serious off court trouble are things we haven't seen much of under Sendy.

I understand he had a couple good years at OU and turned it into a promotion... but currently his record in 6 MAC seasons is 113-83 for a winning % of 57.6. Sendy is 156-104 for a winning percentage of 60.0 in 8 MAC seasons. If you take out the two seasons Groce made the NCAA tournament at OU he's 62-60 in the other 4 MAC seasons.

How much enjoyment do you think you would have watching Kent this year if 48.6% of our shots were from three and we were only hitting 31.7% of those? That's what they've done to this point and personally I think that would be downright miserable basketball to watch.

The Groce ain't always greener on the other side.

(02-11-2019 05:45 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  What time is the BG game?

6pm 2/1

(02-11-2019 03:18 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(02-11-2019 02:52 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  For years I have complained that we were carrying the image of the conference due to poor coaches by our fellow members. It hurt our RPI for years. Then a little latter, it became apparent to me that Akron had the best coach in the conference with Keith Dambrot. When he got smart and left, I thought that clearly, our status at the top would resurface. Now I see that other programs have elevated their coaching and talent level. I am enjoying watching all of the MAC games as play quality is very high. Unfortunately for us though, it looks as if akron has scored a winner with Groce. He is doing a lot with a little. I am agreeing with danny73 and will add that trouble will be had at Oxford and BUGS. We are at a cross roads that will project even beyond this year. We are still pretty good when we are clicking and can beat anyone.

I have been contemplating going to the BG game - I went two years ago and with their record they had little fan base and no home court advantage - still winning up there has never been easy for us going back to Anderson Arena days. If BG continues to win it will be a very noisy and difficult place to play. While it's early to think about next year I am not looking for us to be a better team with Walker and Avery gone, likewise I wonder if we'll see Pippen or or Duling return.

Don't think Duling is going anywhere as I believe academically, KSU is the right fit for him. Could be wrong, but I seem to remember that was the main reason he picked KSU to begin with. Pippen leaving, coming off injury, would also be somewhat surprising to me. Been wrong before, but just doesn't make a lot of sense. I understood the interest in DLR because he was a big body for Illinois. Just don't see a huge market with significant upside for a guy like Pippen coming off an injury. His best opportunity is right here in Kent.