Kent State Sports

I just talked to Jarekious Bradley.

Sounds like a nice young man. He was admitted to Kent State this afternoon and will be on campus for the first day of class on Monday.

Here’s the story that will be in tomorrow’s Record-Courier:

—-

By David Carducci

Record-Courier staff writer

Kent State has landed Memphis high school basketball star Jarekious Bradley in the first major recruiting coup of first-year assistant coach Jordan Mincy.

Bradley, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Memphis East High School, was admitted to Kent State on Tuesday, but as a non qualifier. He will pay his own tuition and expenses for the 2010-11 school year and begin playing for the Golden Flashes the following year if he earns his eligibility.

Before choosing to enroll at KSU, Bradley had considered working towards his eligibility by attending prep school and then playing at either Kent State or Arkansas in 2011-12.

“I’m really excited to be coming to Kent State,” said Bradley. “I liked both Arkansas and Kent State, but prep school wasn’t for me … Kent really stuck with me through the process. They told me I had a chance to come in and start playing right away after I’m (eligible). I liked that. And I really liked the coaching staff. They wanted me. They are a big reason I made the decision.

“I’m excited. Kent is really far from home, and that’s exciting. I’ll be leaving Memphis and I’ll be in class in Kent on Monday.”

Mincy made the same trek from Memphis to Kent five years ago. After leading Memphis Ridgeway High School to a state championship, he spent 2005-09 playing point guard for the Flashes. Following a year as a graduate assistant at South Carolina, he was hired as an assistant on Geno Ford’s KSU staff in July.

It took Mincy less than two months to land his first big-name star from Memphis’ fertile recruiting ground.

In addition to Arkansas, Bradley was recruited by high-major programs like Memphis, Auburn and Oregon.

Bradley said Kent State can “expect lots of scoring when I start playing. I love to score, but I also love to rebound and play good defense and be a leader.”

Bradley averaged better than 21 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 61-percent from the field as a senior, according to MaxPreps at cbssportsline.com.

Kent State has now added non-qualifiers in back-to-back years. Former Bedford star Robert “Scooter” Johnson was admitted to KSU last year and earned his eligibility in two semesters. He will be a redshirt freshman this season. His success in the classroom may have earned the Flashes men’s basketball program some equity with the university’s admissions office.

The Golden Flashes football program is planning a tent sale for Thursday’s Fan Experience night at Kent State.

Fans can pick through uniforms, t-shirts and other gear – mostly from the last decade of KSU football – as soon as the gates open at 5:30 p.m.  The sale will be held under Dix Stadium’s south scoreboard and will continue to run during the team’s 7 p.m. scrimmage.

According to KSU, the gear will be sold at bargain prices. Now that the team has made the switch to Nike for the 2010 season, it is attempting to clear out some of its overflowing inventory.

Kent State’s football team arrives on Campus Thursday. First practice is Friday. The Flashes were picked third last week in the MAC media poll. What are your expectations?

Ben Curtis is playing at Firestone this week. He’ll be paired with Ross McGowan for a 12:40 tee time in Thursday’s opening round (personally, I’d rather watch Rose McGowan).

It was interesting to see the PGA offer Curtis a wildcard spot in next week’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. That’s a course I’ve wanted to play ever since it first hosted a PGA a few years back.

I know this is off the Kent State subject, but I’m sure many (if not most) of you are caught up in this ridiculous LeBron James free-agency drama.

I thought this column by Adrian Wojnarowski hit the whole thing right on the head for me….http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-lebrondecision070710

Wondering what you all think?

Well, not literally.

I’m off on vacation for most of July, but I’ll be breaking away from the golf course and the poker table every once in a while to check on the blog.

If anyone has any questions, comments, ideas, or anything really about any Kent State-related topic, go ahead and post them here, and I’ll get back to you soon…

Hope all of you had a good July 4 and are on your way to enjoying a great summer!

Dave

I talked to Herb Page on Tuesday, and the KSU men’s golf coach said Ben Curtis told him he was “very close” last week at the U.S. Open.

Curtis is confirming he really was close to finding his A game this week at the Travelers Championship.

After matching Saturday’s low round – a 64 that included a 50-foot bomb for birdie on the final hole – Curtis finds himself just three shots back of Justin Rose and alone in second place heading into today’s final round. Rose is at 16-under, Curtis is at 13-under, and Vaughn Taylor is in third at 11-under.

Curtis and Rose will be Sunday’s final pairing. Coverage on CBS is from 3-to-6 p.m. Looks like I’ll be postponing plans to go see the new Adam Sandler movie with friends on Sunday afternoon.

The first member of KSU’s 2010 men’s basketball recruit class has arrived on campus.

Eric Gaines has checked into his dorm room for the start of his summer classes.

Michael Porrini, DeAndre Nealy, Mark Henniger and Darius Leonard are scheduled to arrive Sunday.

Carlton Guyton and Patrick Jackson will move to campus later in the summer.

That’s obviously quite a few new faces. It will be interesting to hear how the newcomers gel with the returnees during open gym in the next two months. It’s going to be an important time.

(6:10 p.m.)

It looks like Ben Curtis will qualify for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

After a nice 69 on the first round to sectional qualifying at Lakes Golf & Country Club, Curtis fired an impressive 66 in his second second round at the Brookside Golf and Country Club.

His 9-under-par total put him in third place behind only playing partner Stuart Appelby and another Australian, Terry Pilkadaris, who are both at 10-under.

With about two-thirds of the scores in, Curtis’ 66 is currently the best score posted at Brookside.

His round at Brookside included birdies at 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 13 and 15, and one bogey at the par-four 7th. He did a nice job of taking advantage of the par-5’s, birding all four at Brookside.

The 9-under score should easily give Curtis one of the sectional’s 15 qualifying spots for the U.S. Open in two weeks.

The USGA has not yet posted results from Springfield, where KSU’s John Hahn is attempting to qualify.

—-

UPDATE (6:37 p.m.) … Curtis is now in fourth … Eric Axley shot 63 at Brookside, and with his 64 at the Lakes, his 17-under for the sectional is seven shots better than Appelby and Pilkadaris.

That’s fine, though… With most of the scores in, Curtis looks like a near-lock to get one of the 15 qualifying spots.

—–

UPDATE (7:33 p.m.)

Curtis is officially in, tied for fourth place.

John Hahn did not get one of the three qualifying spots in Springfield. He shot a 1-under-par 70. The playoff for the final two spots was at 5-under 135. Brian Davis shot 131 for the first qualifying spot. You may remember him as the British pro who called a penalty stroke on himself at Harbour Town during a playoff this year, and ended up losing to Jim Furyk.

Ben Curtis is on the golf course at Lakes Golf and Country and Brookside Golf and Country Club near Columbus, attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open.

He is in a threesome with Bubba Watson and Stuart Appleby in a fairly star-studded group for a U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier. They teed off at 7:40 a.m. at the Lakes for their first round. They play round two at Brookside at 1:40 p.m.

The field of 120 is competing for 15 spots at Pebble Beach in two weeks.

Fellow KSU alum Ryan Yip is also in the field. He played Brookside starting at 8:30 a.m. and is teeing off at the Lakes at 2:30 in round two.

KSU’s John Hahn is attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open at Springfield Country Club, where 59 players are competing for three spots.

I talked with Herb Page earlier, and Hahn was disappointed not to be playing in Columbus with pros like Curtis, Appleby, Watson, Rocco Mediate, John Cook, Jeff Sluman, Rickie Fowler, Davis Love III, Aaron Baddely, Andres Romero, Brad Faxon, Alex Dejka, J.B. Holmes, Jay Haas, Jeff Maggert, Charles Howell and Justin Rose. The battle for three spots in a tough 59-player field 2004 Big Ten medalist Kevin Hall, formerly of Ohio State, and 2010 Byron Nelson Award Winner Brendan Glasgow, of Wake Forest, is still a nice test in an important summer as KSU returning players have loaded up their schedules to prepare for a run at a national championship in 2011.  The Flashes return every member of last week’s NCAA qualifying team and have two big-time recruits coming in. Page told me he has a goal of being in the top 10-to-20 in the rankings all year, and the Flashes expect to return to the NCAA championships.

Attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open actually seems like an easier road to Pebble Beach than the one I followed in 2003.

I can’t imagine ever paying that much for a round of golf again… In fact, I haven’t spent as much on a round of golf as I did to pay off the starter that day just to get the tee time.

That was one long weekend. I covered Kent State’s game at Penn State on Sept. 20, filed my story, drove to Columbus, caught the early flight to San Francisco on the 21st, landed, drove to Candlestick Park, covered a Browns-49ers game, filed my story, drove down the coast, caught a nap, then up early on the 22nd to work on getting a tee time at Pebble.

————–

UPDATE (3:30 p.m.) … Curtis finished his first round at the Lakes at 3-under. Bogey at first, then birdies at 2, 5, 6 and 16… Where does that put him? Well, he’s in the hunt ( tied for 24th and one shot out of the tie for 14th), but he has some work to do.

It looks like the Lakes is playing easier than Brookside. Of the 23 players to shoot 4-under or better in the morning, 17 played the Lakes.

Ryan Yip shot 3-over at Brookside.

——-

UPDATE (5:55 p.m.)

Final scores are starting to come in. The top score is 8-under for two rounds by Aaron Baddely. Curtis’ score hasn’t come in, but with eight rounds already in at 5-under, it’s a good bet Curtis is going to need to post another 69 or better at Brookside.

———-

Patrick Jackson, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound former Rutgers starter, has committed to transfer to Kent State.

The New York City native from Boys and Girls High was a prized recruit of the Scarlet Knights two years ago. He started several games last season, but after posting 15 points against Marist in the opener, he never enjoyed another double-digit scoring game.

Jackson visited Kent State over the weekend, and according to a source close to the Golden Flashes, he committed earlier today. He will sit out the 2010-11 season under NCAA transfer rules, then have two years of eligibility remaining in Kent.