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

The Flashes will hear tonight whether they make the WNIT.

I spent much too long researching the tournament yesterday and figure they're likely to get in. Coach Todd Starkey also told me the same at the men's MAC finals Saturday.

First-round games would be Wednesday through Friday at campus sites. All WNIT games through the finals are played on teams' home floors.

Could Kent State host a game? Maybe, if it's willing to pay. It cost Toledo about $11,000 for a first-round game about five years ago (Rockets actually won the tournament that year.) That $11,000 is gross expenses. The Toledo Blade figured the school lost about $2,000 on its first-round game.

Toledo kept buying games that season and actually made money as the tournament went along and its crowds grew. But Toledo can draw more than 4,000 for a game. Biggest crowd at Kent State this season was about 1,000; average was about 550.

The WNIT schedules early games based on geography and a sort-of seeding system that ranks teams in high, low and middle tiers. But a big emphasis is to keep travel costs down.

I figured Kent State was toward the bottom of the middle tier.

My best guess on opponents would be Penn State, Virginia Tech and Drexel. I list another half dozen possibilities on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

Check back tonight.