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It's tough when no one will play you...

Kent State basketball
Christian draws up first play -- schedule
Flashes will face Boston College, play ESPN game
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal staff writer

KENT - Among the toughest things first-year Kent State basketball coach Jim Christian has had to deal with was creating a nonconference schedule.

It is hard enough to piecemeal one together for any mid-major team, much less one coming off a 30-6 record and an appearance in the Elite Eight. Christian released his schedule Wednesday after months of tinkering.

The two highlights are a neutral-floor match with Big East power Boston College and ESPN's Bracket Busters at home on Feb. 22.

But it was not without twists and turns. Christian pulled his team out of a two-game tournament in South Padre Island, Texas, scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. That tournament held a potential game with Western Athletic Conference power Tulsa, but event organizers changed the make-up of the event and Christian decided to withdraw. The result is a schedule with just nine nonconference games, two short of the 11 the team is allowed to schedule.

The Flashes will open play at home against Urbana on Sunday, Nov. 24. Also on the home nonconference schedule are Missouri Valley Conference members Southwest Missouri State and Illinois State. The Bracket Busters opponent will be determined three weeks before the date, with Detroit, Fresno State, Hawaii, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin-Milwaukee as potential opponents.

Kent State had tentatively agreed to a rematch with Pittsburgh, the team it beat in last March's NCAA Sweet 16, in the Rock-N-Roll Shootout at Gund Arena in late December. But the Panthers changed their mind and Boston College was named as a replacement.

The Flashes play nonconference road games at Tennessee-Chattanooga, Cleveland State and St. Bonaventure, three teams they defeated last season, and start a new contract on the road with Rhode Island, which is Christian's alma mater.

The team's defense of its Mid-American Conference crown starts Jan. 4 when Kent State hosts Eastern Michigan.

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" /> Too bad--a mighty weak OOC for this year. It might pad the record in a tough year but it sure won't help strength of schedule. Has to be one of the weakest in the MAC, esp. for one of the better programs.

Yeah....I'm a little dissapointed on that schedule also. I remember earlier that a potential rematch against Pitt was trying to be put together.

Could have been a chance to get the program more exposure.

BC replaced Pitt after they backed out of the Shootout at the Gund. Chicken sh*&$%ts, afraid to lose again!