Kent State Sports

Well, I hope that’s not the case, actually.

We’ll see what the Summit County court system has to say about it.

I just received a summons to report to jury duty at the Summit County Court of Common Pleas on the week of the Mid-American Conference tournament … which, obviously, is the most important week of my work year.

I have to believe they’ll allow me to switch the date, although the letter they sent doesn’t give any information on how to do that.  To be honest, I’d love to serve on a jury.  I was the foreman of a jury in federal court back I think in 1998, but the case was thrown out of court before we had a chance to deliberate.

Any of you been successful at getting the jury commissioner to switch a jury-duty date and have any suggestions?

There was thought the Flashes would be forced to wear the blue road unis tonight … long road trip with the “lucky” gold uniforms in action on Thursday at Eastern made a quick turnover for the equipment staff… Also, Central Michigan often wears gold at home.

Well, they were able to get the golds cleaned and pressed (ok, maybe not pressed)…

And Central chose to wear whites at home.

So, the Flashes just trotted out onto the court at the Rose Center only to see Bo Boroski standing on the sidelines.

Something has to give, right?

I’ll be here courtside through the final minute or two for anyone who has any questions or comments about tonight’s matchup between the East leaders and the West leaders.

By far the biggest key for Kent State in tonight’s game at Eastern Michigan is slowing the Eagles’ Brandon Bowdry. The redshirt junior is averaging 16.0 points and 9.8 rebounds. He’s big and strong at 6-foot-6 … a little bigger and stronger than Chris … Not quite the basketball IQ of Chris … but a bit better touch from the perimeter than Chris.

It’ll be a tough matchup.

It looks like there is no video available for the game, so I’ll be available sitting here at courtside next to Tom Linder if anyone has any questions or comments they want to post on the blog.

Geno Ford and Larry Hunter will be reunited (again) in the ESPN BracketBuster.

Western Carolina will play at KSU in an 8 p.m. game televised on ESPNU.

In case you haven’t noticed, KSU has worn only its gold uniforms during its current winning streak.

Some of us have our lucky pennies.

Kent State has its gold uniforms, and you can bet they Flashes will continue to wear them at home and away until the winning streak comes to an end.

The gold uniforms have been deemed lucky before.  During Jim Christian’s first season the Flashes wore gold almost exclusively as they won 11-of-12 during the middle of the season. Christian and his staff were notoriously superstitious. I remember Rob Senderoff wore the same lucky socks on gameday during the win streak.  I wonder if he still has the same socks.

“I don’t do that anymore,” Senderoff said.

On a different note, I’m looking forward to tonight’s game in part to see Xavier Silas.

He is a big-time talent with NBA potential … like his dad.

James Silas was one of my favorite players when I was a little kid with aspirations of being a pretty good point guard. I was sure he was going to be the one to turn around the Cavs forwards when he came to Cleveland from San Antonio. Unfortunately, Silas spent most of his time with the Cavaliers on injured-reserve.

Former Massillon guard Mike Porrini committed to Kent State during an official visit to campus on Saturday.

The 6-foot-2 Porrini is averaging 10.7 points per game at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla. He spent his freshman season at Western Carolina in 2007-08, averaging 11.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game  for the Catamounts.

Porini, who can play both the point or the two and has a reputation as a tough, defensive-minded guard, will have two years of college eligibility remaining.  He will take over the scholarship spot previously held by forward Greg Avila.

In 10-plus years covering Kent State basketball, I’ve never seen a finish like Saturday afternoon’s… your thoughts?

As a longtime hockey fan, I love the idea of the plus-minus stat.

It’s become a popular number in basketball during the last few years where it may be even better than it is in hockey at showing the impact an individual has on the game.

Chris Singletary’s recent plus-minus numbers are especially telling.

(for those unfamiliar, a plus-minus number is a team’s score minus the opponent’s score for the time a particular player is on the floor. For example, if someone plays five minutes and the visitor outscores his team 7-5 during those five minutes, his plus-minus number is minus-2.)

For all of last year, Singletary had a plus-minus of plus-122, which is pretty good.

He already has a plus-130 number this season with 11 games remaining in the regular season. In the last three games alone, Singletary is plus-74… that’s having an impact.

Frank Henry-Ala is second on the team with a plus-73 plus-minus number for the season.

Tonight is my first visit to Savage Arena since the University of Toledo rennovated the old Savage Hall.

If you haven’t been here yet, it’s very impressive – and it could be used as a blueprint for what the M.A.C. Center could be when Kent State finally gets around to remodeling its basketball home.

Basically, Toledo gutted the old building. The school had more space to work with than Kent State will with the M.A.C. Center, but the use of new bleacher design could be used in Kent to create a bowl effect in the lower level.

The last plan I heard for KSU included the removal of the blue-and-gold loge, opening it up and turning it into three or four individual lodges. At Toledo, they’ve taken one of the upper decks and completely remodeled it, adding loges at the top along with club seating. I’d like to see KSU consider gutting the M.A.C. Center and adding club seating to one of the upper decks. That would allow for more student seating in the lower deck… the trick obviously would be to get enough students to come to games to make it worth while, but that change could improve the atmosphere and make the M.A.C. Center a tougher place to play.

This visit to Toledo has me thinking about the possibilities for the M.A.C. Center. Old Savage Hall had very little personality. Now, new Savage Arena is a beautiful venue that would fit in just fine in the ACC, SEC, Big Ten or any of the other major conferences.

No bandwagon here…

I’ve been a New Orleans Saints fan since I was a little kid … back when they had great names like Guido Merkins on the roster.

We spent a lot of time in New Orleans during my childhood. I had Saints hats, t-shirts, even a Kevin Arnold-style jacket with the Saints logo.

It’s such a forlorn franchise. They deserve this!

So here’s hoping for an Usama Young (Saints) vs. Daniel Muir (Colts) battle in the Super Bowl.

I have a bad feeling it will be Vikings-Colts, though.

As much as I’d love to see the Saints play for a title, the real show on Super Bowl Sunday will be at halftime… How about one more guitar smashed into a amp for old times, Pete?