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

I don't really disagree with anything Burden and Flashtastic have said. Dingle indeed needs to grow as a point guard. But if she's not KSU's first member of the all-freshman team since Chenel Harris in 2008, I'll be astonished. (I think Thall has a shot, too.)

If you take Dingle's driving — even in half court — away from her, you take away who she is as a player. She has to learn to drive more judiciously, for sure. She has to learn to finish better, but so does the rest of the team. Their awful two-point percentage I wrote about earlier this week is the reason they're not 11-5 or 12-4 in the league.

Both Dingle and Carter are at their worst when they dribble for a while, then go one-on-one. The coaches know that, too, and have tried to preach ball movement in practice. The team had eight assists Saturday. When they have 12 or so, they're a much better team. Dingle is averaging 2.5 assists a game; that's way too low for a point guard.

Thall leads the MAC in 3-point percentage at a little over 49. She averages about seven-and-a-half shots a game, which includes give-and-a-half 3-pointers. She took six shots Saturday. She ought to shoot more, and I've heard coaches say that, too. They run plays for her. But a player needs to get open from those plays, too, and teams certainly are focusing on her outside. Thall also is taking more shots and averaging more points than either Jordan Korinek or Lindsey Shearer did as freshmen.

(Dingle is averaging three points more than Zerman did as a freshman, though Zerman was a more complete player.)

I definitely agree with Flashtastic that seedings aren't going to make much difference now that KSU has lost the chance at the bye. None of the bottom three teams has won more than three games. Of course, one of them is BG.

Right now Kent would play Western Michigan, which they beat twice by four points in less-than-overpowering games. If they won, they'd get Ohio or Miami in the quarterfinals.

I suppose I may sound like an apologist for the team. But they are going to have a winning record despite having lost three starters, including one of the best players in KSU history (Korinek). They've done it with four freshmen in their top eight players. They've done a lot of good things this season.

We all want championships, and I think there's a very good chance this group (with another excellent set of recruits coming in next year) will bring us one. Just not this year.