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

The Golden Flashes and the Gaels tonight. Happy New Year and Go Flashes!

What was the tournament that Kent beat SMC college in? The game was at the pavilion and I believe St. Mary had an Australian in the backcourt who could play….

No Hornbeak or Gillespie. Gonna be rough. Hopefully they're not long term injuries or we may need to start talking about pulling the redshirt off Hunter. Rollins and Freeman will likely step into big roles tonight.

(12-29-2023 08:55 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  The Golden Flashes and the Gaels tonight. Happy New Year and Go Flashes!

What was the tournament that Kent beat SMC college in? The game was at the pavilion and I believe St. Mary had an Australian in the backcourt who could play….

Wasnt it the Bracket Buster?

No. That was after the bracket buster. The bracket buster win is a sacred basketball memory. As is the tournament win with which I am referring to. But as for the bracket buster. And dannyb I believe was there…that was good old fashioned basketball. And man did Kent just flat out win that game.

The other one, It must have been the NIT. Fairfield was the next opponent I believe.

As for tonight…it’s gonna take a strong strong effort. Good game so far.

(12-29-2023 08:11 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  No Hornbeak or Gillespie. Gonna be rough. Hopefully they're not long term injuries or we may need to start talking about pulling the redshirt off Hunter. Rollins and Freeman will likely step into big roles tonight.

Rumor is, they aren't the only two injured ... just the only ones definitely OUT.

Why pull the redshirt? Unless he's a 15/20-minute guy who can produce solid and consistent numbers. Yes, he's 6-8 or so. But he's not a banger, and he's more of a perimeter guy, not an inside guy like 'Beak and Ricco.

When those guys come back, Hunter's on the bench again, not playing much if at all, and a year of eligibility wasted.

I'd rather see four guards w/Rollins/Freeman/Bass getting more minutes, not to mention more minutes for Moss. (Kent's smallest guards are actually the starters Gio/Sully. The rest of these guys are 6-5 or better except Bass, who is a thick 6-2).


Not the best case scenario, true, but w/Payton inside, and VCD now playing behind him, that's a lot of talent.

Instead of worrying about matching up w/other teams (Akron), maybe they would have to worry about matching up w/Kent.

Discombobulated.

(12-29-2023 08:19 PM)luckyflash Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 08:55 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  The Golden Flashes and the Gaels tonight. Happy New Year and Go Flashes!

What was the tournament that Kent beat SMC college in? The game was at the pavilion and I believe St. Mary had an Australian in the backcourt who could play….

Wasnt it the Bracket Buster?

Yes, it was Bracket Buster ... an 11 p.m. Saturday night game that Kent won after Al Fisher went off in the second half. Following Monday Kent was nationally ranked (No. 25) for the first time in school history.

Only to follow it up with a clunker loss on the road at Bowling Green.

Kent also beat St. Mary's in a NIT game as well.

NBA guard Patty Mills played on the St. Mary's Bracket Buster team ... and Matt Dellavedova (sp?) played on the NIT team.

Q had the GD flu

(12-29-2023 08:42 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 08:19 PM)luckyflash Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 08:55 AM)fallsdog Wrote:  The Golden Flashes and the Gaels tonight. Happy New Year and Go Flashes!

What was the tournament that Kent beat SMC college in? The game was at the pavilion and I believe St. Mary had an Australian in the backcourt who could play….

Wasnt it the Bracket Buster?

Yes, it was Bracket Buster ... an 11 p.m. Saturday night game that Kent won after Al Fisher went off in the second half. Following Monday Kent was nationally ranked (No. 25) for the first time in school history.

Only to follow it up with a clunker loss on the road at Bowling Green.

They've always had an Australian pipeline. The two big time Aussie backcourt players I remember them having were Patty Mills (who definitely went head to head with Fisher in that bracket buster game and the next year) and Cavs legend Matthew Dellavedova. I wasn't thinking we ever faced them when Delly was there though.

Bad halftime score

Give an injury report….

(12-29-2023 08:39 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 08:11 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  No Hornbeak or Gillespie. Gonna be rough. Hopefully they're not long term injuries or we may need to start talking about pulling the redshirt off Hunter. Rollins and Freeman will likely step into big roles tonight.

Why pull the redshirt?

Specifically answering this question, I'm saying if both are long term injuries they might have to consider it. I don't know what the injuries are or how bad they are. Trying to go long term with Payton as the only big isn't going to work because of rebounding. See the 10 rebound half we just had (4 of which were from Payton).

Seems like we're likely to get some garbage time in the second half here. We should get Entenmann some run. Not that he's likely to be an answer, but he is tall.

Camera shot of them coming out of the locker room looked liked Gillespie on crutches, Hornbeak without crutches or a boot.

This is a really rough watch. 2 points off the bench. 15 rebounds as a team with under 7 minutes remaining.

For what it's worth, I see Hunter is in uniform. I believe that's the first time all year.

(12-29-2023 09:37 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  This is a really rough watch. 2 points off the bench. 15 rebounds as a team with under 7 minutes remaining.

For what it's worth, I see Hunter is in uniform. I believe that's the first time all year.

If Hunter is in uniform, then redshirt is likely coming off ... and the injuries are likely 4-weeks or more rehab

This game was hard to watch. I would say that it is the worst performance I have seen from a Sendy team.

(12-29-2023 10:15 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  This game was hard to watch. I would say that it is the worst performance I have seen from a Sendy team.

For all the talk about guards .... at Kent, especially under Sendy ... his best teams have post players that keep the defense honest.

Payton is a glorified 4-man. Hornbeak is a solid (not great) post guy, but invaluable to how Sendy's teams usually play, and key to making Payton successful. If Hornbeak could make free throws, he'd probably play 5-minutes more a game.

All this to say ... w/o 'Beak and Ricco, a performance like this is not surprising. The big issue is Gio/Sully did little or nothing in this game. Mandatory those two show up every game, or what now looks like a tough season could get a whole lot tougher.

BTW/FWIW ... Kent was punched in the mouth the first half at both Oregon and SMC, but played even the second half in both. If that means anything or not.

GFlash68, I'd have to go back through each season, but you could well be right.

Cleveland, it has been my experience that that playing even the second half rarely means anything.

(12-29-2023 09:49 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 09:37 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  This is a really rough watch. 2 points off the bench. 15 rebounds as a team with under 7 minutes remaining.

For what it's worth, I see Hunter is in uniform. I believe that's the first time all year.

If Hunter is in uniform, then redshirt is likely coming off ... and the injuries are likely 4-weeks or more rehab

Well not playing him in a game like last night though indicates there's still a chance they redshirt him. If they were set on pulling the redshirt they'd want to get him experience in a non conference blow out. My assumption is they're on the fence waiting to see if they get good news on the injuries.

Last year's team could survive if a big or two went down because the guards were plus defenders and plus rebounders. This year's team doesn't have that. You need the bigs to rebound and you need them covering for the guards defensively. You need the right combination of players to successfully go small and this team doesn't have it.

Also playing Rollins 14 when you need size and rebounding makes no sense.

(12-30-2023 10:30 AM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 09:49 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(12-29-2023 09:37 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  This is a really rough watch. 2 points off the bench. 15 rebounds as a team with under 7 minutes remaining.

For what it's worth, I see Hunter is in uniform. I believe that's the first time all year.

If Hunter is in uniform, then redshirt is likely coming off ... and the injuries are likely 4-weeks or more rehab

Well not playing him in a game like last night though indicates there's still a chance they redshirt him. If they were set on pulling the redshirt they'd want to get him experience in a non conference blow out. My assumption is they're on the fence waiting to see if they get good news on the injuries.

Last year's team could survive if a big or two went down because the guards were plus defenders and plus rebounders. This year's team doesn't have that. You need the bigs to rebound and you need them covering for the guards defensively. You need the right combination of players to successfully go small and this team doesn't have it.

Also playing Rollins 14 when you need size and rebounding makes no sense.

All of this is true ... (Rollins also banged up, or he would have likely been starting over Freeman).

To 'go small' ... all the 'big' guards on the bench need to take on a defensive/rebounding mentality. Rollins shows it at times, but Freeman, Bass, Moss seem much more interested in offense over defense/rebounding (which is why they are on the bench).

I think it's really telling the two smallest players on the team (Gio/Sully) are Kent's starters and neither is really a plus defender. That's just not the way a Kent team is usually made up.

(12-29-2023 09:01 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Camera shot of them coming out of the locker room looked liked Gillespie on crutches, Hornbeak without crutches or a boot.

Both on crutches,
Return ? Maybe Feb not before
Rico meniscus knee
Hornbeck stress fracture in foot from Clev state game.
He has tried to tough it out. Now out.

Hopefully we can secure a tournament berth and get hot in CLE.