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

Obviously Starkey's new contract is great. None of us would have expected this much success this fast when he was hired three years ago.

Starkey has been a great coach to cover -- accessible and quotable. My limited contact with Senderoff also has been good, but Starkey's postgame interviews give more insight and far fewer cliches.

I remember how awful the X's and O's coaching was under O'Banion. Starkey's teams are much better prepared, and players seem to listen and make adjustments during games. Stuff we complain about -- like guards trying to do too much on their owns last season -- is something the coaches see, too, and keep trying to correct. In an interview with Allen Moff this summer, Starkey said he thought they got about as much out of last season's team as there was there, and as I think about it, that sure rings true. They lost games they should/have/might have won; they also won some they could well have lost. But at the beginning of the year, I would have thought 20 wins would have been on the distant edge of possibilities.

So are we set for four years? Well, not necessarily. Remember Nate Oates signed an extension at Buffalo, then left for Alabama two weeks later. (Buffalo did get a $750,000 buyout out of it.). We had a discussion here a few weeks ago on the likelihood of Starkey leaving, and most of what we said is still true. I'm pretty that if a Power Five school called tomorrow, Starkey would at least answer the phone. But the new contract is to some extent a renewed commitment from both sides.

The university's announcement had no details on salary or incentives. I'm also curious if part of the deal was more money for his assistants. Coaches often make that part of a deal, and Starkey is very loyal to his assistants. All of that is public record. It should come out eventually.

There's more on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.

In other women's basketball news:

-- All of the incoming freshmen and the transfer from Indiana are on campus. Starkey tweeted at the end of the first week of summer workouts, "It’s super early but I’m lovin’ this group."

-- Jordan Korinek was rookie of the year in her for first professional season in Greece.

-- The NCAA approved a change in the shot clock for next year (for men and women). If the clock resets after an offensive rebound or foul in the front court, the time will go to 20 seconds, not 30. It's supposed to speed up the game. Biggest effect, I think, will be at the end of games when teams will be able to burn less time when they're leading and pull the ball out after an offensive rebound.

The women will also experiment moving the 3-point distance to the international line in next year's WNIT. The men are going to that distance -- 22 feet. 1 3/4 inch -- for all games next season. That's about 15 inches farther than it is now for men and women. I suspect the women will go to that distance in 2020-21.