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Well there might be some hope. They beat Ohio Christen 100-45. Now that doesn't win the MAC championship but it sure beats losing to Walsh by 10 like they did last year. One of the freshman Korinek (from SVSM I believe) was an impressive post scoring more than 20. Chinn, Stubbs, Lurken and Shannon were the other four starters. Lurken scored more than 20 and Shannon scored 14 or so and looked good. The weakness I see is Chinn the point guard has no offense so it will be 4 on 5 in the offensive end. The second team was sound and there was a freshman Ridout that was shooting fairly well from 3 pt. If it wasn't a fluke she will give us another 3 point threat other than Lurken. The bad news was Mendelsohn was out with a knee injury that is week to week and our best freshman from Cincinnati, James tore her ACL in practice and is out for the season. Overall they appear to be much improved. We'll have to see.

I thought I read that Mendelsohn was out for the year also. I was impressed with the ball movement and the potential depth shown last night.

29 assists on 39 baskets (19 or 24 in the first half).

58 percent shooting. (There were times in the last years I've wondered if they could shoot 60 percent warm-ups.)

Korinek looked as if she could be really special. Lurken, who was sound last year, looked much improved.

Lurken started put hot last year and then struggled. She looked she had the touch last night and I hope he outside shooting stays strong. It will help in establishing an inside game.

Lurken actually faked a 3 and drove by her defender for a 12-15 footer a couple of times. I am not sure she did that all last year. That will help her if she can do it consistently.

Lurken was hurt for about six games at mid-season.

I could see her averaging 12 points plus this year, which would be great. Team hasn't had anyone average in double figures for three years.

Ridout can also shoot some 3s. She was a big scorer in high school.

I've started a blog on Kent State women's basketball at http://www.wbbflashes.com. Twitter is @wbbflashes. You might want to follow. I'll still post here, and I may ask some of you to contribute or to let me repost what you post here.
Carl Schierhorn

Today was Media Day. Some highlights.
1. Coach Danny O'Banion and captains Mikell Chinn, Melanie Stubbs and Larissa Lurken were pretty upbeat.
2. They emphasized that O"Banion's players and system were firmly installed. (This is her third year.) Only Stubbs is left over from the Lindsay era, and she wasn't a huge factor in his last team.
3. The team wants to play up-tempo offense and pressure defense. They think they have the depth to do that for the first time. (In Friday's exhibition, nine players played more than 15 minutes, eight more than 20. Five scored in double figures.)
4. The team knows it needs to boost its offense, which has been at the bottom of the MAC for three years. To do that, they've spent "hours and hours" on footwork, which O'Banion said was the key to good shooting. She said 6-4 center Cici Shannon had done especially well, "simplifying" her game. (Example: She's learning not to dribble when she gets the ball in the low post.) Shannon is one of the best shot blockers in the league and was second on the team in rebounding last year, but has never been a consistent scorer. O'Banion says that could change. Shannon had 16 points and eight rebounds in the exhibition.
5. Lurken said she had worked a lot on her three-point shot (she was already best on the team). She's also worked on a move faking a three pointer, then driving toward a pull-up jumper.
6. O'Banion said freshman Madison Ridout gives the team a second three-point threat. (She had 13 points, including three three-pointers, Friday.)
7. The team also expects good contributions from freshmen Jordan Korinek (23 points and 10 rebounds Friday) and Naddiyah Cross, the back-up point guard.
First game is at North Dakota State at 1 p.m. Friday.
There's a lot more on my new women's basketball blog at wbbflashes.com. Twitter is @wbbflashes.

The women announced their fall recruits. They are:
-- Savannnah Neace,a 6-3 forward from St. Henry High School in Hebron, Ky. She was her team’s leading scorer (10.5 points per game) and rebounder (8.8 per game) last year and averaged 4.4 blocks per game.
-- Merissa Barber-Smith, a 6-3 center from La Follette High School in Madison, Wisc. She averaged 15 points and 15 rebounds per game last year and was selected as one of the top 50 basketball players in Wisconsin.
-- Taylor Parker, a 5-7 point guard from Cass Technical High School in Detroit. She averaged 15.2 points, 6.5 steals, 3.4 assists 3.5 steals and 2.1 rebounds per game.
-- Alexa Goiden, a 5-9 guard from Chartiers Valley High School in Pittsburgh. She missed her junior year with a knee injury. As a sophomore, she averaged 8.9 points, 3.9 assets, 3.8 steals, 2.6 blocks and 7.9 rebounds and was considered one of the best sophomores in the area.
-- Megan Carter, a 5-7 point guard from North Farmington High School outside Detroit. She averaged 16.7 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists per game as a junior. Her AAU coach called her “definitely one of the top two guards in the state in that class.”
As always, there's more on the blog at http://wbbflashes.com.
Kent State's story is at http://www.kentstatesports.com/news/2014...1318.aspx.

Kent State and North Dakota State look pretty even for Friday's opener in North Dakota.
Kent was 7-23 last year and returns four starters. North Dakota State was 6-24 and returns three starters. Each team returns its top scorer and rebounder.
The Bison's best player is 5-6 senior guard Brooke LeMar, who was Summit League Newcomer of the Year last season as a transfer. She averaged 15.1 points and 5.3 assists per game. 
Marena Whittle, a 5-foot-11 junior forward, was the Summit League's second-leading rebounder (7.1 per game).
North Dakota plays up-tempo and shoots a lot of three-pointers -- 18 a game last year. Kent State shot about 10.
The game starts at a very weird time -- 1 p.m. Friday -- because the school's main arena is undergoing renovation. The volleyball team is playing in the secondary facility at night.
The game is on Kent State's iHeart radio channel, which is at http://www.iheart.com/live/Golden-Flashes-Radio-6068/. (There are also apps for smart phones and tablets.)
You can watch video through North Dakota State's feed at http://www.gobison.com/watch/?Live=360. It will cost $6.99.
There's more on the game on the blog at wbbflashes.com.

Kent State lost is opener at North Dakota State, 74-68. It led by nine points with eight minutes to go, then NDSU scored 15 straight points, including 10 off of turnovers. Kent had 27 turnovers, leading to 33 points.
The team outshot and outrebounded North Dakota State, but the turnovers and fouls killed it.
Before that last eight minutes, Kent State generally looked very good.
Cici Shannon had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. Larissa Lurken had 14 points.

Impressions from the women's game:
-- Kent State has led the MAC in turnovers the last three years. It wasn’t any better Friday. That was especially true in the second half, when North Dakota State had 19 points off 13 Kent turnovers. Five of those turnovers came in a 15-0 NDSU run.
-- A lot of the turnovers led to breakaway baskets. NDSU had 12 fast-break points; Kent had zero.
-- Three Kent players had four fouls; a fourth fouled out.
-- North Dakota State shot 34 free throws, making 26. Kent hit 13 of 18. That's more than double the margin of defeat.
-- Before than last eight minutes, Kent State was clearly the better team. It led by as many as 12 points in each half.
-- Kent shot 48 percent from the field. It averaged 38 percent last year.
-- The 67 points were 12 more than Kent averaged per game last year. It scored more than 67 only four times.
-- Cici Shannon had 17 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocks. But she played only 20 minutes because of foul trouble.
-- The team ran its offense really nicely with 16 assists on 26 baskets (11 on 16 baskets in the first half).
-- Larissa Lurken scored 14 points, including Kent’s only three three-pointers. Madison Ridout, a freshman who the team hopes will add a second three-point shot, missed her only shot.
-- Freshman Jordan Korinek, the who led the team with 23 points and 10 rebounds in its exhibition, had seven points and five rebounds in the first have but just two points and two rebounds in the second.
-- The starting lineup was point Mikell Chinn, guard Krista White, Korinek, Lurken and Shannon. Korinek started ahead of Johnson, last year’s leading scorer. Melanie Stubbs had started ahead of White at guard in the exhibition. Everyone except Ridout and Janae Peterson, who's had physical problems, played at least 12 minutes.

As usual, there's more, including quotes from Danny O'Banion, on the blog at http://www.wbbflashes.com
Box score is at http://kentstatesports.com/boxscore.aspx...l&id=3263.

On the blog at http://www.wbbflashes.com, I’ve got my six keys to the season. VERY briefly, they are:
-- Cut down turnovers. They’ve been dead last in the MAC for three years. But two of their weakest ball handlers graduated. We’ll see how the new people do.
-- Score more. They were dead last in the MAC in points and shooting percentage last year. But in the exhibition, they scored 100 points and shot 58 percent. In the opener, they scored 68 points and shot 48 percent.
-- Find a scorer. No one has averaged in double figures in three years. Possibilites: sophomore wing Lurken, center Shannon, freshman forward Korinek, senior forward Johnson.
-- Get a good year from the seniors. If Shannon, Johnson and point guard Chinn don’t play well, there’s not much hope.
-- Get 40 points a game from the post. All the players there have been good scorers at one level or another.
-- Hit at least a few more three pointers. They shot only 10 a game last year, making just 27 percent. Lurken is a good shooter. The rest of the team is a combined 1 for 24 in college. The freshmen have to come through.
-- And there’s a season prediction.

Kent State opens at home against Youngstown State sat 5:30 at the MACC. The game is the first of a doubleheader with the men, who play Malone about 8. One ticket gets you in both games.

Youngstown beat Niagara by 22 Saturday. (Kent State beat Niagara by 23 last year.)

The Penguins return three starters but only six players from last year’s team, which was 15-16.

Their star is a very good one -- 6-foot senior forward Heidi Schlegel, an all-Horizon player last year. She averaged 20 points and 8.0 rebounds last year, scoring more than 20 points 19 times and having 10 double-doubles. She had had 18 points, 14 rebounds and five assists against Niagara.

YSU freshman guard Nikki Arbanas scored 25 points and made all five of her three-point shots Friday.

YSU forced only 13 turnovers a game last year (18 against Niagara), good news for Kent State.

More on the blog at http://www.wbbflashes.com.

Please forgive me for having hope for this team. Tonight they reduced their turnovers from 27 to 11. That meant they had to shoot more which was pretty pathetic. They were leading 25-21 near the end of the half mainly because YSU was shooting terribly. When they woke up they outscored us something like 18-5 and never looked back. Our 1's and 2's have no ability to shoot from outside. They don't even try. It's going to be another long season.

"Bob Lindsay Fired By Kent State, And We Can Only Wonder"
Hustlebelt, Mar 16 2012,

Is this ever true. Obviously O'Banion is out of her league. Time to pull the plug.

I'll give her a few more games but I'm getting close to agreeing with you. If we had been playing BG tonight we would have lost by 40+. When the MAC teams develop a scouting report on this team look out.

Starting center Cici Shannon scored two points. Starting forward Jordan Korinek scored four.

The loss is pretty much as simple as that. If Kent State can’t score inside, it won’t win.

Shannon and Korinek were a combined 3 of 16, and Kent State shot 33 percent for the game.

Kent State was awful in the second half, making just 25 percent of its shots, even being outscored 16-9 in the paint and 11-3 on second-chance points.

Coach Danny O’Banion said after the game that in the second half that Kent “got just about any shot we wanted; we just didn’t make them.” And then the team got frustrated and stopped playing defense, she said.

Youngstown shot 50 percent, 58 percent in the second half. It made 10 three pointers to Kent’s four, and two of Kent’s were in the last three minutes.

As always, there’s much more on the blog at http://www.wbbflashes.com.

The box score is at http://kentstatesports.com/boxscore.aspx...l&id=3264.

Starting center Cici Shannon scored two points. Starting forward Jordan Korinek scored four.

The loss is pretty much as simple as that. If Kent State can’t score inside, it won’t win.

Shannon and Korinek were a combined 3 of 16, and Kent State shot 33 percent for the game.

Kent State was awful in the second half, making just 25 percent of its shots, even being outscored 16-9 in the paint and 11-3 on second-chance points.

Coach Danny O’Banion said after the game that in the second half that Kent “got just about any shot we wanted; we just didn’t make them.” And then the team got frustrated and stopped playing defense, she said.

Youngstown shot 50 percent, 58 percent in the second half. It made 10 three pointers to Kent’s four, and two of Kent’s were in the last three minutes.

As always, there’s much more on the blog at http://www.wbbflashes.com.

The box score is at http://kentstatesports.com/boxscore.aspx...l&id=3264.


Starting center Cici Shannon scored two points. Starting forward Jordan Korinek scored four.

The loss is pretty much as simple as that. If Kent State can’t score inside, it won’t win.

Shannon and Korinek were a combined 3 of 16, and Kent State shot 33 percent for the game.

Kent State was awful in the second half, making just 25 percent of its shots, even being outscored 16-9 in the paint and 11-3 on second-chance points.

Coach Danny O’Banion said after the game that in the second half that Kent “got just about any shot we wanted; we just didn’t make them.” And then the team got frustrated and stopped playing defense, she said.

Youngstown shot 50 percent, 58 percent in the second half. It made 10 three pointers to Kent’s four, and two of Kent’s were in the last three minutes.

As always, there’s much more on the blog at http://www.wbbflashes.com.

The box score is at http://kentstatesports.com/boxscore.aspx...l&id=3264.

Comments on others' comments:

I'm not sure O'Banion's out of her league. She needs to recruit some outside shooters. She recruited Lurken and Madison Ridout, who may be one eventually.

In next year's class, she has two point guards who have scored big in high school. A third guard was a very good sophomore but hurt all her junior year. (They also have two 6-3 posts.)

Chinn will never be a scorer, but she is a better ball handler than they've had.

But I agree: Last year, other teams packed the inside and dared Kent to shoot. They'll do it again. Somebody has to help Lurken score from the outside, and Kent's bigs have to find a way to score anyway.

Cutting the turnovers to 11 was great, but Youngstown applied no pressure.

Kent did shoot 48 percent at North Dakota State. I take a little hope from that.

Would Lindsay have righted the ship by now if he hadn't been fired? Who knows? His last teams -- even the ones that had decent records -- weren't upper echelon. (And I liked Bob.)

A primary responsibilty of a coach is to have the team prepared. Coach Wooden said it best, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” Many of the observations made previously point directly to not being prepared. What "echelon" a player is, is secondary as I would think YSU & NDSU players are as the same level as KSU.

And not recruiting a quality shooter after multiple recruiting periods is also puzzling.