The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

It seems clear he's playing because he's viewed as a better defender than Bass. I thought he looked active on defense last night and seemed like he could be a decent defender. We'll see if him being a defensive specialist is enough to keep him ahead of Moss in the rotation. I watched Moss hit about 7 straight threes in half time warmups. He's got a nice stroke. I hope we get a chance to see more of him.

Great game guys and a great point in regards to the clock operator, though they may have blew the whistle there to make sure the time was correct either way.

Not that you can blame your coach or the player, but if you just miss the 2nd FT up 4 and the game is yours. Not sure in that situation considering the likelihood of what happened, but still a decent question.

(11-10-2023 02:28 PM)pono Wrote:  Kent played pretty well, although your perimeter defense is less effective without carry and jacobs. Payton is a beast.

On the end of game. That's a coaching error. There is no way to lose if you just heave the ball toward your end of the court. Basically impossible for the opponent to steal a pass, get a shot up and hit it from 75 feet in 1 second. No reason for any action under the JMU basket. just send 4 guys to your free throw line and lob the ball down there. Doesn't even matter if they catch it. And if you commit a dumb foul they have to go the length of the court, not inbounds onder their basket.

Looked like Sendy used Bekelja for defensive energy. not sure why he would be in the game at the end though. there is 1 second to play. even if you draw a foul you don't want to make the free throw because there is not enough time to rebound a miss and get off a make able shot. coaches always tell kids to make the easy play. sometimes coaches need to remember to call the easy play.

True, but somebody has to touch the inbounded ball. The clock doesn't start until somebody touches it, and if it goes out of bounds untouched, JMU has the ball out of bounds where they did last night. But yeah, the proper play is to throw it about 3/4 court. If JMU gets it, they have a 75 foot shot to make. If the Flashes get it, or just deflect it, game over.

(11-10-2023 02:07 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(11-10-2023 01:53 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(11-10-2023 10:40 AM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-10-2023 09:12 AM)cleveland Wrote:  

(11-10-2023 09:00 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  Happened to me too…twice!!

The way that one ended…almost ended again…then finally ended…stinks. Saturday will be quite telling. Multiple choice test….

A) played really hard against a good JMU team but didn’t have enough in the tank to beat Fresno State

B) I feel really bad for Fresno State because the Golden Flashes are locked in on one thing only….WINNING

I think what we're seeing is the hint of an issue in the backcourt when it comes to depth. Bekelja is the last rotation player in the backcourt and I'm not sure exactly what he is ...

Is he a ballhandler-distributor who can run the offense for 5 or 10 minutes a game. Is he a defender. Or is he a shooter. I'm guessing he was put in for his foul shooting at the end, but that's only a guess.

It looks like Kent has its 3 best ballhandling guards in the starting lineup. But not much after that. Not sure about Moss, but he seems more like a wing-guard than a combo guard.

Kid was in offensive/defensive rotation with Bass. Bass when we were on offense and Bekelja when we were on defense. Honestly, and I am not judging Coach, but he looked and played unathletic and scared to me. He got a rebound and couldn't get it out of his hands fast enough. I just don't understand why you even need to touch the guy at that point. Put your foot in the ground and change directions and it's game over.

At the end of the day, while a frustrating loss, the reality is the game means nothing. Nobody from the MAC has gotten an at-large bid in 24 years so all that matters in the end is the 3 days in Cleveland in March. (especially w/ the NIT abandoning regular season champs auto-bids) Play well leading into that, and all will take care of itself.

I thought the same, he even looked out of place against Malone. First time I saw him out there he seemed like a walk-on and I was wondering why Coach Sendy would have him out there.

He's on scholarship, and has been for the last two years. I believe he was on scholarship at Duquesne his freshman year as well.

I’m fully aware of that, my comments were about how he’s looked in competition.

Between this game and the Akron game it's been a rough 8 days here. Especially rough for people who go to bed early.

The crazy thing is if he had missed that 2nd FT up 4 with 3.8 left then the clock would run out after that 3 point make because they had 0 timeouts and no chance you can score a 3 off a rebound and have time left.

I have said for years up 1 you miss that FT on purpose with 3 seconds left but never thought you would have to miss it up 4 with 3.8 left.

Also the loss does matter for seeding purposes should Kent St make it to the dance.

(11-10-2023 03:30 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Between this game and the Akron game it's been a rough 8 days here. Especially rough for people who go to bed early.

Preach!!

I think analyzing the free throw strategy at the end is kinda pointless because it shouldn't have mattered. The questionable decisions in my mind are 1) taking Payton out after the free throw (even that one is understandable though because it shouldn't matter and he has 4 fouls) 2) Bekelja not thinking and 3) having Payton guard the ball on the inbounds instead of sticking him in the paint. You can basically play 5 on 4 there because there isn't enough time for them to pass it back to the inbounder. So let Payton be free in the paint basically means they have to get a jumper to beat us.

Well it took this to get Kent State on to PTI on ESPN. At least our 23 game home winning streak was mentioned. Of course they told everybody James Madison ended it. Of well, I suppose bad publicity is better than no publicity.

Saw that.

And although I know our senses of humor are somewhat aligned, I wouldn’t call it bad publicity. That was one heck of a ballgame between two darn good programs and what I expect to be two darn good teams.

All right. Time for HS football and some crown Royal. Back to hoops Saturday.

Go Publics!

(11-10-2023 01:51 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Will make for an interesting rematch if they draw each other in the second half of the MAC/SBC series.

Pretty sure that wont happen. But yes it would be fun

(11-10-2023 07:49 PM)luckyflash Wrote:  

(11-10-2023 01:51 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  Will make for an interesting rematch if they draw each other in the second half of the MAC/SBC series.

Pretty sure that wont happen. But yes it would be fun

Why wouldn’t it? They matched up teams based on the same metrics they’ll be using for the follow-up game. The only difference should be the teams that were home for the first game go on the road in the second game.

Quote:The second MAC-SBC Challenge contest for each team will take place on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, with the matchups set based on real-time NET rankings and announced in January. The MAC women and Sun Belt men will host the February matchups.

Bekelja was in on defense at end. When they made that 3 it wasn’t a timeout they were fixing a clock issue. Neither team had a timeout so subbing wasn’t an option as it’s treated as if play hadn’t stopped.