The Golden Flashes are in Ypsilanti today for a noon tip with the Eastern Michigan Eagles.

The Convocation Center is a nice looking facility that reminds me of a cross between Cleveland State's Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Center and KSU's Memorail Athletic and Convocation Center. Trouble is, I have been there as many times as some of the current coeds on campus.


EMU is 7-8 (1-1 in the MAC) and coming off a two point win at Ball State. It should be noted that Eastern scored only 36 against Rutgers earlier this season. The most impressive Eagle this season has been 6'9/210 pound senior Elijah Minnie. The Robert Morris transfer leads the team in scoring (13.2ppg) and steals. Of course, we are all aware of his frontcourt mate James Thompson IV. Although Thompson is having another solid season, he has never quite lived up to the hype that certain prognosticators built up for him.

Will Kent State be able to handle EMU's zone defense with their limited interior offense? Will the Golden Flashes get hot enough to force EMU to adjust that zone? Is a noon tip off in front of 436 fans (112 of whom may still be intoxicated from last night) going to inspire the Flashes the way it should to move to 2-1 in conference play? I think the Flashes get it done.

Kent State 60
Eastern Michigan 53
Jalen Avery comes up with some big "thee point gooooals" late in the game.

MAC East Standings
Buffalo 14-1 (2-0) vs. Miami (CBS Sports Network at noon)
BGSU 10-5 (2-0) @ Central Michigan
Kent 12-3 (1-1) @ Eastern
Akron 9-6 (1-1) @ Northern Illinois
Ohio 8-6 (0-2) @ Ball State
Miami 8-7 (0-2) @ Buffalo

The corners looks to be wide open in their zone so far.

We're lucky to be down 7 at half. Really lazy offense that's mostly passing it back and forth 5 feet beyond the arc and we're leaving their shooters wide open on the other end. Also, Walker hasn't been a factor at all. Has to be his worst half of the year.

Every pass around the perimeter we hold for a second before the next pass. You're not going to beat a zone if you're not moving it fast.

Game over. What a horseshit effort. I toyed with the idea of making the trip. Glad I didn’t.

Either we came with a pitiful game plan or we couldn't execute the game plan. No excuse for a three point shooting team facing a zone defense team that struggles to defend the three to have a hard time getting good looks. And the fact that Walker's only good look came on the first possession adds to the poor game planning. We let them take our best player out of the game.

Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan have kicked this team’s butt in the last 10 days. The flagship needs some changes at the top.

Well, on the positive side, at least we held them under 40. 40 point differential that is.

this Coach can't seem to focus/gameplan for MAC games..very disappointed in the leadership of the program...this is getting old and repetitive each and every year.... Agree with FallsDog.

We make the worst 3 pt shooting team in the league look like Golden State.

Has a D1 basketball team ever gone the Independent route?

We do better against P5 opponents than our own league opponents. So maybe we can leave the MAC and play P5 teams all year.

Awful. Two blow-out losses in the first three MAC games. I'm not going to any more games unless they turn this crap around.

I suspected this team wasn’t as good as beating Vanderbilt and Oregon St. might have indicated it was. Beating second division P5 teams doesn’t mean as much in basketball as it might in football. Especially when one lost its best player in the first few minutes of the game.

Losing Pippen and De la Rosa might be just too much for Sendy to overcome. The season isn’t lost yet but their backs are up against the wall for sure.

(01-12-2019 02:44 PM)burden Wrote:  I suspected this team wasn’t as good as beating Vanderbilt and Oregon St. might have indicated it was. Beating second division P5 teams doesn’t mean as much in basketball as it might in football. Especially when one lost its best player in the first few minutes of the game.

Losing Pippen and De la Rosa might be just too much for Sendy to overcome. The season isn’t lost yet but their backs are up against the wall for sure.

I hate to imagine what Buffalo might do to this team on their home court

Haven’t been able to watch any of the MAC games so far, but what’s been the difference between conference and non-conference play?

Less than a month ago, Kent had only a 13 point loss to Louisville.

(01-12-2019 02:44 PM)burden Wrote:  I suspected this team wasn’t as good as beating Vanderbilt and Oregon St. might have indicated it was. Beating second division P5 teams doesn’t mean as much in basketball as it might in football. Especially when one lost its best player in the first few minutes of the game.

Losing Pippen and De la Rosa might be just too much for Sendy to overcome. The season isn’t lost yet but their backs are up against the wall for sure.

I agree with this 100%. Part of me wants to add that it would probably be too much for any coach to overcome.

But part of me thinks that 95-61 or whatever it was to EASTERN MICHIGAN is cause for removal...especially with a returning starter at point guard and a player as talented as Walker. 95 - 61 to Eastern MF Michigan?????????

I would add EMU has as much talent as anyone in the league and got two record-breaking performances today.

Hell none of this matters anyway, this is a totally wasted year in thr MAC.

Just seems like a plateau with Senderoff, but don't want to sound like an NIU football fan lol

(01-12-2019 06:11 PM)thanksjim Wrote:  Just seems like a plateau with Senderoff, but don't want to sound like an NIU football fan lol

Maybe we can go 0.5OO in the MAC and have a 20 win season (thanks to playing weak non conference opponents) - isn't that the benchmark of a successful program - Oh wasn't that the KD strategy for our friends down the road. When Walker and Avery were freshmen I thought wow this team will be great when they're seniors - my mistake