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

Kent State enters one of the biggest weeks of basketball in recent memory at 16-6 overall, 6-3 in MAC. We are once again fortunate to be fans of a team in the thick of the race as we make the turn into the home stretch. I know that every single game from here on out is important, but man what a week this could be!

Getting to 8 - 3 while dropping the 5th and 6th conference losses on EMU and Ball State, respectively, is all this week is about. I have spent the last couple of weeks looking at other MAC games that may impact the standings. Not so much this week (okay so I'll look at ONE).

But first Eastern Michigan:
Road games are always tough. Eastern's size makes this one a tad tougher. EMU features four players 6'9 or taller that average 10+ minutes per game. Of that group, 6'9 forward Jamel Harris his the high scorer at 5.3 and high rebounder at 6.0 per. They also feature less than impressive numbers but big size and minutes from a pair of 6'10 guys and 7'0 Da'Shonte Riley.

Otherwise the leading scorer is 5'10 senior Darrell Lampley who scores 13.1 pg.

This one is simple. I could share more numbers with you but they are all less than impressive with one exception. EMU holds opponents to 59 ppg. I have heard Senderoff and Haut talk about bringing your defense on the road with you. If they do that Tuesday and put their running shoes on to FINISH FAST BREAKS, this one should in the win column.

Also take a look at BG. They are creeping right behind KSU in the East. The Falcons are at Ball State on Wednesday. Go Cardinals?

And as an added bonus...GO BRONCOS!

It's taking care of your own business from here on out! Every game is a must win for KSU bar none! When you look at it we are just one game from being in 5th place and also just one game from being in 2nd in our own division.

I'll be rooting hard for the West although it probably won't do much good in NIU's case, that team is gawd awful. And the only good news is that the West division is hosting all these mid-week games so I hope the road warrior-ness is taken out of the other East squads by the quick turnaround.

Akron at W. Michigan
Bowling Green at Ball St.
Buffalo at Central Michigan
Ohio at Toledo
Miami (Ohio) at Northern Illinois

We've really got to get EMU up and down the court. A slowdown, slow paced game favors them and if we get into a half court game with them rebounding will be paramount as well as outside shooting. We'd have to hit it at a pretty high clip to play in the half court with them and don't want to depend on our post game because they will stamp "return to sender" every shot down low. So we're going to have to turn them over and get out on them.

(02-06-2012 12:06 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  Kent State enters one of the biggest weeks of basketball in recent memory at 16-6 overall, 6-3 in MAC. We are once again fortunate to be fans of a team in the thick of the race as we make the turn into the home stretch. I know that every single game from here on out is important, but man what a week this could be!

Getting to 8 - 3 while dropping the 5th and 6th conference losses on EMU and Ball State, respectively, is all this week is about. I have spent the last couple of weeks looking at other MAC games that may impact the standings. Not so much this week (okay so I'll look at ONE).

But first Eastern Michigan:
Road games are always tough. Eastern's size makes this one a tad tougher. EMU features four players 6'9 or taller that average 10+ minutes per game. Of that group, 6'9 forward Jamel Harris his the high scorer at 5.3 and high rebounder at 6.0 per. They also feature less than impressive numbers but big size and minutes from a pair of 6'10 guys and 7'0 Da'Shonte Riley.

Otherwise the leading scorer is 5'10 senior Darrell Lampley who scores 13.1 pg.

This one is simple. I could share more numbers with you but they are all less than impressive with one exception. EMU holds opponents to 59 ppg. I have heard Senderoff and Haut talk about bringing your defense on the road with you. If they do that Tuesday and put their running shoes on to FINISH FAST BREAKS, this one should in the win column.

Also take a look at BG. They are creeping right behind KSU in the East. The Falcons are at Ball State on Wednesday. Go Cardinals?

And as an added bonus...GO BRONCOS!

I've been more worried about EMU than the other West teams this season. At first glance, it has to do with their size. But now it looks like they are still maturing. A force to be reckoned with in the future?
I do like how Ty mentioned on Saturday that he is looking forward to traveling to Ypsilanti to watch a game with 400 fans.
Finishing those fast breaks are a MUST for this team. And doing it consistently is needed. We can't just grab a fast turn over and rush the offense.
AND PLEASE STOP CHUCKING UP THREES!

Our remaining MAC schedule is interesting and unpredictable. We play the weaker teams BG, EMU and Miami on the road. We play the strong teams Akron, Ohio, Buffalo and BSU at home (before everybody jumps on me I know I probably should reverse BG and BSU but I am thinking in terms of how we saw the teams when the season began, besides with Ball St playing most of its remaining games in the West and BG in the East it is likely BSU will end up the same or better than BG recordwise).

When you think of it that way we can end up 7-0 or 0-7. There are no games that are almost sure losses and none that are almost sure wins.We are really going to find out where we belong in this league. By the way we probably need 7-0 to catch Akron. Baring injuries, I really don't see them losing to anybody but Kent and Ohio.

If we can speed the game up and make EMU play at our pace we will be fine, if we get into a slosh around affair (i.e their pace) we might have problems. EMU plays 2-3 zone which we stuggle with at times , see WMU game. but I think with two days of practice we should be fine. They arent on our level talent wise so I expect a victory.

GO FLASHES!!!!!!

Is that Ball State game still scheduled for 11:00 AM?

Yes. Tip time is 11. The game is on one of the ESPN networks and is being treated as a GOLD OUT

(02-06-2012 05:41 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  Yes. Tip time is 11. The game is on one of the ESPN networks and is being treated as a GOLD OUT

I am pretty sure the game is on STO.

ESPNU

Does anyone know if tonight's game is streamed anywhere?

The game against EMU? It should be streamed on the MAC website but isn't the game tomorrow?

(02-07-2012 02:39 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  The game against EMU? It should be streamed on the MAC website but isn't the game tomorrow?

Sorry about that, it is tomorrow.

No problem, just making sure I didn't have to replan my night lol.

It should be on the EMU streaming link on the MAC site.

I can't help but take a small look around the MAC tonight at games that will impact the "top 4."

Obviously Kent State @ EMU is first and foremost. Without a win, none of the remaining games will matter much. This is one the Flashes have to get. Eastern Michigan is improved, no doubt about it. Eastern Michigan is big, no doubt about it. But they haven't shown any grit so far against the East. If KSU wants to remain in the race, going to Ypsilanti and beating (the you know what out of) Eastern is a must.

Lately the hot topic is about how the wins ain't been pretty. No different tonight I would guess. Kent State 64 Eastern Michigan 51. Flashes pull away late behind 18 from Justin Greene.

Akron @ WMU. There is no reason to pick WMU in this game. Realistically, it may not be bad for WMU to get pounded right out of the picture. BUT, this is the last chance a West Division team has to beat Akron. Next up for the Zips is a home exhibition against NIU. The game tonight is on STO.

BG @ Ball State. In many ways this is a toss up (ASSUMING KENT WINS). I wouldn't mind BG getting loss number 5 tonight because the Flashes have their shot at Ball State on Saturday.

Ohio @ Toledo. Toledo was up big on Buffalo on Saturday at Sausage Hall. Again, there is no real reason to think Toledo can beat a Eastern Power other than the fact that I am a big homer. BUT, I don't think Toledo stinks that bad so I'll be watching the ticker closely on this one.

In summary: GO FLASHES, go broncos, go cardinals, go rockets, and for good measure...go zieglers!

Got the old laptop linked up to the home theater. Life is good. Looks like we should pull away. EMU does not look to have many weapons and they really cooled off after the hot start.

WMU up 31-22 on Akron at the half.

(02-08-2012 07:55 PM)axeme Wrote:  
Got the old laptop linked up to the home theater. Life is good. Looks like we should pull away. EMU does not look to have many weapons and they really cooled off after the hot start.

WMU up 31-22 on Akron at the half.

I bought a Sony TV at Christmas with Google TV. Awesome going online and watching the game on your TV!

Zips going into OT. Ohio is in hot water too.

Toledo takes Ohio!

Akron looks like they are going to make it out alive. OU LOST @ Toledo!