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

I'll try to hold the excitement under control.

But it's like being a Browns fan, when Draft Day is the day when fans can be optimistic.

It does look like a good group though. Last good class was the Korinek-Stephens-Cross-James group, and they did pretty well.

(05-01-2018 09:48 AM)burden Wrote:  

(04-30-2018 08:49 PM)cschierh Wrote:  It may be the best recruiting class in Kent State women's basketball history.

I wrote the coaches of the five players the Flashes signed in November, or sportswriters who covered them. On the blog at http://wbbflashes.com I have their senior statistics and comments for the coaches or the writers.

It's a post worth looking at. The group played as advertised their last year in high school:

Point guard Asiah Dingle was the Boston Globe player of the year in Massachusetts. She averaged 19 points, 5 assists and 5 steals in leading her team to its third state championship in four years.

Guard-forward Hannah Young was first-team all-state in Virginia for the third year in a row. She averaged 19 points and 8 rebounds a game.

Post player Lindsey Thall of Strongsville averaged 13.5 points and led her team into the regional finals for only the second time in history. At 6-2, she led her team in three-point shooting.

Guard-forward Annie Pavlansky, a third-team all Stater from Lakeview High in Cortland who averaged 21 points a game.

Point guard Mariah Modkins, who averaged 9.6 points on a Solon team that lost in the state championship game.

As impressive to me is that every coach or writer, unprompted, talked about what good people the players were beyond the basketball court.

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In late signing period in April, Flashes added two 5-10 transfers from strong junior college programs and a 6-2 post from Long Island.

Two players are transferring out -- 5-11 guard Tyra James and 5-9 guard Kasey Toles. James, who would have been a redshirt senior, had surgery on both knees in her time at Kent State and missed two full seasons. Toles, a rising sophomore, played some in the preseason but not at all over the last eight or so games.

I like to see them play before I get too excited. I remember more than one player who showed up with a stellar reputation and turned out to be bad apples. They also were members of a “great recruiting class”. Unless they have criminal records they are always team players at this stage. Eight new players this year will be interesting. Toles wasn’t going to play and James injuries apparently took away some of her abilities.