Must-win-of-the-week No. 1… KSU vs. Ohio live blog…
Rob Senderoff is expected to make a few changes he hopes will light a fire under his Golden Flashes and bring an end to their three-game slide.
A win to get to 20 would solve a lot of problems.
I’ll have more information on the changes as it gets closer to tip.
Keys for tonight … Value the basketball… Play unselfish basketball… Know your defensive rotations… and most of all, don’t try to do too much.
The officials for tonight are Glenn Mayborg, Chris Beaver and Joe Tyburski. Mayborg and Beaver are pretty good and experienced. Tyburski has experience, but he has little-to-no experience with the MAC. This will be his first MAC game after working Colonial and Northeast games this season.
UPDATE 7 PM … Starters: Gaines, Evans, Guyton, Jackson and Manns.
That’s the shakeup I was eluding to … but we had an embargo on reporting it until now.
Related posts:
- KSU at Ohio, live blog from the Convo…
- Kent State at Eastern Michigan live blog …
- Back to the East … KSU vs. Buffalo live blog…
- KSU at Ohio University blog, or the return of Scootie Guyton
- KSU vs. Bowling Green, live blog from M.A.C. Center…
Category: General Discussions
So its Greene of all players to get benched? That was the shake up?
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Greene, Porrini and Holt all benched … that’s three-fifths of the starting lineup… That’s a pretty big shakeup.
And seemed to generate a spark of energy.
Also, Brewer in the rotation, going small with Greene, Holt, Porrrini and Guyton after the first timeout…
Tweaks in the defense as well.
Some different combinations of lineups.
OU trying to quick double Greene on every touch … Pretty clear how much trouble he had with it at BGSU, and so far having trouble with it again.
Why do you think manns wasnt part of the benching?
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Hi kentflashes,
I think it was because in reality Manns was doing the things they expect from him against BG… The others were underperforming.
Looks like Guyton may go all 40
Flashes wearing red shoelaces out of respect for what happened in Chardon
No idea what the deal was with Porrini there
Pretty good first half
The messages of this week seems to have hit its mark.
First the effort is there – to the tune of 14 steals in the first half… 14!!!
Just as important, nobody is trying to do too much with the basketball. For the most part, they are making easy plays. There’s no over-penetrating. Greene is hurting and not moving as well, so he’s not trying to overdo it on offense, shooting just three times in the first half, but getting four rebounds in 10 minutes.
Just a heck of a team effort.
Now, can they finish it?
Ohio has a run in them. How will KSU handle it?
Just got word …
Technical foul on porrini was officially for “talking” … Seems pretty over-officious by Chris Beaver.
Never seen anything like that in my life. Player initiating the offense from just inside the logo at half court, dribbling to his right, and gets T’d up.
Nice balance in production tonight.
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Yes, and just think if we were hitting a higher percentage of shots. Great job, now we need just as strong of a 2nd half.
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Let’s see the same intensity in the second half to put this game on wraps. Dave, I’m still trying to figure out why Porrini got called for the technical??
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Leave it to the Beaver!
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Maybe Porrini was too hard on the Beaver!
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haha!
I hate everything I’m seeing from KSU’s offense here in the first 4 minutes …
Settle down. Quit the quick 3′s. Make the easy passes.
KSU is running a whole lot more of a play they call Detroit … probably in an attempt to possess the ball… Detroit is where they keep running guys off of screens, wave after wave coming to the top to get the ball. Runs some clock, safe.
Must score here after the 7:24 timeout … OU won’t keep squandering opportunities
This is pitiful
KSU deserves to lose this… they may win… but they deserve to lose right now with the way they are playing
That’s where D.J. Cooper kills a team… Need a bucket, and he settles for a 3 that would be deep in the NBA.
KSU fans cheer the Akron loss to Buffalo … but thats bad for KSU
Yeesh … KSU fans can finally take a breath. 20 wins in the books. Bye secured.
Would have been nice for them if they could finish the win strong and go into Akron really on a roll … but in the end, it was a much needed win that no KSU fan really could have expected and it was against the hottest team in the league.
We witnessing a shootout between Cooper and Holt?
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9:30 without a field goal, before the dunk by Evans!
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This is just like the BG game at home only against a much better team.
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The one time I’m rooting for Akron, and it figures, they lose. Dave, didn’t we clinch at least the fourth seed?? Any chance of moving up at least to three? Thank God we won this game!! See you Friday!!
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I’ll take it.
Congratulations, Flashes. And, congratulations Coach Senderoff.
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Good at some points,horrible at others.i am just happy for a W! Now,let’s DOWN the zips
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Congratulations to the Golden Flashes on their 20 win season. It never gets old. Now keep it going against the Zips.
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The Flashes win and a secure a bye, the effort was there on the defensive end and ALL is right with the world.
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Nice to get that W but we’ll need to play closer to 40 minutes the rest of the way.
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I thought Guyton was going to score 30 after dropping 9 points in the first 4:11, then had zip the rest of the night.
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So far I haven’t seen anyone mention that there were only about 2900 people in attendance. For OU! Sad.
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Yeah and I guess we can throw out the weather excuse everyone seems to want to use.
63 degrees at tip time.
I’d almost rather NOT have the “Akron game only fans” show up tomorrow.
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Sadly, the bulk of KSU fans aren’t like you guys. When things are going well, they will show up … sort of.
When things aren’t going well, they find other things to do. After the three-game losing streak, I was wondering if they’d even get 2,000 last night.
Michale Porrini
where do we start…. he is having a strange weird season.. he is hurting the team more often than not.. so wish he was last year’s michael porrini.
crazy had passes. brain dead sloppy passes. give-away passes.
takes 3′s early in shot clock – thinks he’s the man (the go to guy for scoring) when he’s not. holt is the man for outside 3. greene & manns are the ones for baskets close-in. guyton & evans can do it all. michael.. stick to being a point guard & let the others work their magic.
Porrini is ruing the season.. but its not too late. please wake-up & be a teammate. please wake-up for the mac tournament. please.. if you continue your selfish play.. we will go-down in the semi’s versos buffalo, akron or ohio. do you want the season to end i the semis??? i don’t.
GO FLASHES!!!!!!!
mike
’86
ps i’m going to ksu baseball game sunday versus pepperdine. going with socal alumni group. should be fun!
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Dave…last night was a good example of the problem I have with your general criticism of the fans. I agree that we need more butts in the seats, and a large part of that goes hand in hand with the lack of a true marketing plan to both students and the community concerning the product and value offered by Kent State basketball. But I do take issue with what I believe you are saying when you want the fans to carry the team.
Last night, the team played with energy, intensity, passion, enthusiasm — and that got the 3,000 fans there to buy in totally into supporting them. The first TO of the game brought that crowd loudly to their feet with no hesitation, including the often attacked chairback residents {BTW…those are usually the only ones making any noise when things aren’t going well!].
Like it or not, every season, a team needs to win the fans over. There is a core of season ticket holders and loyal fans who come ready to support the program regardless, but even they bailout quickly when things don’t go well — indicated by a large portion of the absurd postings here and elsewhere by the most-loyal supporters.
I believe it is reverse thinking to believe the fans are there to lift up the team. The fans are there to promote the team when they rise and stand on their own feet — to then give them extra energy and a push through tough times.
We may need more fans, and especially even more student support, but the excitement in that gym needs to be ignited by the team, and fueled by the effort and energy of the team.
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I’m sorry Gman,
I respect your opinion, but I don’t agree with you.
For one, I thought last night’s crowd was pretty mediocre. The student section closest to the KSU bench was loud and into the game. The student section below me … well, you couldn’t get them to cheer or stand if the team went on a 30-0 run keyed by 15 steals leading to 15 alley-oop dunks.
For the most part, the fans in the chairbacks help this team only with the money they spend on tickets and by occasionally showing up. Those things are important. Those fans are are a non-factor on game day, though. Part of the reason they aren’t a factor on game day may be because that group is getting older. I know when my mom, who is in her 70′s, came to games and sat in the chairbacks, she wasn’t going crazy and adding to a hostile environment either.
The one thing I agree with you is that in general a team has to win over a fan base. But thinking that fans should not be there to lift up a team to me is the big problem. It’s not backwards thinking. It’s what a good fan base should expect to do, especially at the college level.
I’ve been doing this for a pretty long time now, and I’ve covered games all over the country at the pro and college level. I’ve seen how crowds can get a team through tough times. This crowd traditionally doesn’t do it. And it’s probably in large part because the traditional KSU fan doesn’t get it.
A good fan base embraces that football idea of being the 12th man. They see themselves as a part of the game. It’s their responsibility to make the home court a difficult place on an opponent, no matter what their team is doing.
I’ve been to places where the fans make an impact. They’ll make an impact here on Friday when Akron comes to town. But for the most part, this fan base is mediocre at best even by the MAC’s own standards of mediocrity. The atmosphere KSU’s fans create on game day doesn’t even come close to Buffalo or Ohio, or even Akron.
I’m sorry. I take no pleasure in having that opinion.
There’s nothing I’d like more than for KSU to have an engaged fan base. Having a large engaged fan base would be good for my beat.
akron game tomorrow:
re. seeing.. game doesn’t mean a whole lot on our end.. except that it will be senior night & we need momentum going into mac tournament. i would love to see the team play a very good complete game (1st half vs. ohio u x 2!)
akron has a lot more to play for (mac regular season championship.) they also want to build momentum & break a 2-game losing skid.
if we can win (play a complete game too) it will show me that we have what it takes to win mac tournament. if we lose and/or have bad stretches of sloppy play.. will be same old, same old with our flashes
so want us to snap-out of the selfish play funk & play like we can.
akron is scary good when they’re on. i’m very much looking forward to the game tomorrow night!
GO FLASHES!!!
mike
’86
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The lesson that I hope Coach takes from this game is demand ultimate effort to get into the game or sit down. If a player expects to play 36 minutes with few breaks, he is not playing hard enough for me. It takes 9-10 players at the mid major level to compete with the big boys. Sit the seniors when they hurt the team and at least next years team will be better. Good effort last night and it paid off. Should have been doing this from the beginning of the season, so congrats to Coach for the adjustment and the contract extension. Now, for the Roo Safari.
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Went home and watched the game and reran several plays that needed explanation. The first T on Jackson was OK. He did taut the OU player in a ugly fashion. On view and review, I am completely puzzled by the T on Porrini. Steve Mix said it was a crazy call. Porrini was dribbling the ball and going to his right. OU was hand checking but I could not see Porrini talking at all. That is nuts. Late in the game, Jackson was called for fouling a 3 pt shooter. Play and replay showed that Jackson never touched the shooter. It was a very bad call.
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Gman,
don’t worry yourself too much about the fans. it is what it is. this is a pro sports town. also, we don’t have a large # of fans because kent is located in somewhat of a rural area.
also, this year’s team has been frustrating to watch. personally, this has been the most frustrating season i can remember (i modern/winning era of ksu basketball.) its not too late guyton is playing at a very high level right now. evens is a bonafide superstar.
dave, do you think coach sendy will have the same starting 5 for akron game? i think porrini should be benched for 1st half.
mike
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I’m with you Dave, no question about it. 90 percent of the fans who do come are just completely disinterested. For instance, last night the in-game folks played a pretty cool video of some Anthony Wilkins highlights against OU a few years ago. It totally good my blood pumping but there was NO REACTION by anyone. People just sit there with their hands comforting their rear ends. They usually have no reaction with anything on the video boards.
Dave has said it time and time again, during times like our 10 minute drought last night is when the fans are important. You could hear a pin drop in there last night.
If we tried new things like turning off the lights and using strobes for starting lineups I bet a handful of pacemakers would stop.
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One other quick thought…
While I agree that each year a team is responsible for winning over or capturing the imagination of the fan base … KSU fans should be at the point where they want to show up, be engaged on game day and do their part simply by the success of the program over a long period of time.
It shouldn’t be a season-by-season thing at this point.
It should be a desire by the fans to do their part to help the program. Showing up and being loud and into the game in a down year might just capture the attention of a recruit on a visit who thinks “hey, look at this place and what they are like when this team is struggling. I wonder what it’d be like when I get here and we start winning?”
Plus, going to a game and cheering or harassing an opponent with some energy … or some organization (which is something we haven’t talked about) … can be a whole lot of fun!
Agree about the fan base. Think what you want about the team, but they are much better than we deserve.
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I disagree the team is “much better than we deserve”. This is MAC Country people; keep it real. No team in the MAC draws that well at all, even OU. OU is the best and they average a whopping 6,000/game. Great compared to the rest of the conference, but paltry compared with most other D-I conferences, even conferences like the Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley. Why? Many reasons including saturation of the market, lack of marquee names (when was the last time a MAC team was ranked? When was the last time a ranked team played in the MAC Center?), lack of tradition, etc.
The idea that Kent being on the edge of a rural area plays into attendance doesn’t hold up either since KSU’s attendance is right on par with Akron’s and even Cleveland State’s. It’s higher than Buffalo’s too, all much larger cities than Kent. And OU draws much better despite being in a FAR more rural and isolated area than Kent is.
Bottom line: KSU just came off two UGLY losses at Miami and BG; games they should’ve won. OU was favored. When the interest level was high in November after KSU beat West Virginia and Cleveland State beat Vanderbilt (and the NBA was still in a lockout), we saw the MAC Center full. What happened? A very ugly basketball game that cost us a ton of those “casual” fans (“I guess Kent State isn’t that good after all…”) followed by a schedule of opponents that no one cared about. Don’t forget too the team hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2008 and hasn’t won a game in that tournament since the famous run 10 years ago. Every team has a core of season ticket holders and loyal fans and then they have to capture the imagination of the casual fans. Every MAC school has to deal with this to some level.
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Hi Jon,
I think this latest discussion was more about the fans who do show up than the ones who don’t.
I do, however, find attendance disappointing in that it keeps dropping year after year.
But with the KSU fans who do show, for the most part, I don’t think they understand the role they could play when they are at the games. It’s a crowd that reacts rather than leads the way or takes any real initiative in creating a game-day atmosphere or making it difficult for opposing teams.
For example, it’s the norm for opposing fans to wave their arms or do something to try to distract free throw shooters from opposing teams.
That only happens at the M.A.C. Center in the first halves of games when the opponents are shooting at the basket in the north end. That’s where the real student fans sit. In the second halves of games, when shooting at the basket in the lobby end, well, those fans don’t even get out of their seats.
I’ve been told by a KSU official that’s because the south student section stands are usually filled with student athletes, and they aren’t interested in cheering. I think that’s too bad.
It’ll probably be different tonight against Akron because in general fans and students show up for that one and they are into the game from the opening tip. That’s the one game of the year where you can pretty much count on a pretty good college game day atmosphere.
I just don’t understand why students wouldn’t want to get that excited and have that much fun on a regular basis, especially if you are already coming to the games.
As for overall attendance and the argument that KSU may not deserve this team…
Just to play devils advocate (because I don’t really know that I actually believe all of what follows), the argument could be made that KSU shouldn’t spend more money on men’s basketball and renovate the M.A.C. Center or build the practice facility the team needs, or buy home games … Those are the things that are needed for KSU basketball to take any steps forward or even to keep up with rival schools … But why do it if so few fans care? If KSU can’t average better than an almost half-full arena now, why build or upgrade to something new? Growing families usually expand a home or move to an entirely new house when they’ve outgrow their old place. I’ve had fans say that KSU should dump football or drop it to I-AA/FCS and focus only on basketball, possibly moving to the Atlantic 10 … But why? The program is good enough to compete in the Atlantic 10, but the fan base isn’t. Filling a tiny arena like the M.A.C. Center to half capacity doesn’t support a reason to try to upgrade to a better basketball conference. So in that case, maybe it is true that the fans don’t deserve the “program” rather than the team. Just a thought. Like I said, I’m not saying that it’s a thought I believe.
Jon that argument is fatally flawed. One of the biggest games of the year and worst crowds came Feb. 14 when Buffalo was in town. KSU entered play on a seven game winning streak and yet 2600 people showed up. Sorry but the back-to-back road losses had NO effect.
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