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

I'm don't generally like to speculate about what underclassmen might transfer. You can usually get a pretty good idea who might just by looking at PT and watching body language. I'll say this though. This year is probably going to be different than every year we've seen. Currently the NCAA is not allowing coaches or players to go on recruiting trips/visits. That ban could last for some time. I think the uncertainty could make guys uneasy about giving up their current spot. I could also see it causing grad transfer eligible players to be more likely to bolt later on during the summer than normal because there could be spots on good teams staying open later.

ksu315 pointed it out above that we don't know who is in the players ears. That's especially true right now with all college students being sent home. Normally right now Kent would either still be playing or their season ended within the last day or two. Instead the players have been back home for several days.

As far as Roberts goes, I have no idea one way or the other and like I said, I don't like to speculate. But I'll say this. He should be the #1 backcourt scoring option on next year's team. He'll likely spend a lot of time running the point as well. If his motivation is trying to make a run at the NBA what is more likely to get him there? Getting 15+ shots per night in the MAC and having the ball in his hands a lot. Or redshirting for a season at a middle to bottom tier Power 5 school where it's probably unlikely he ends up running point the next year? There are two big factors here. 1) Being in college 5 years instead of 4 will certainly hurt your draft stock and 2) at 6'4" NBA teams are more likely to take notice if they think he can run the point. The PG position has definitely been evolving in the NBA in recent years, but at 6'4" playing PG in college still gives you some advantages. Before anyone jumps on me for thinking Roberts could play in the NBA, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying as a D1 college player that scored 12.5 PPG as a Soph. I would bet the NBA is his goal. So any decisions he makes would likely be with that goal in mind.

Last comment on Roberts. He's on track to end up pretty high on Kent's all time scoring list. Through two seasons he's scored 563 points. Our all time leading scorer (Huffman) scored 673 through his first two seasons. Kent normally plays around 33 or 34 games a year so let's say Roberts plays 33 games each of the next two years he would need to average 19.1 PPG to catch Huffman. That's obviously no small task, but like I said, I believe he's going to have a greatly expanded role next year. Between his late season injury and the tournaments being cancelled he probably missed out on at least 4 or 5 additional games this year. If that didn't happen he could be awful close to where Huffman was after two years.

(03-18-2020 10:06 AM)FlashPan Wrote:  I seriously doubt that DP is going anywhere. I heard knee surgery after this season, and who wants to take a chance on a player with two bad knees. At best he would be another DeLaRosa.

And DeLaRosa left ...

Pippen is actually pretty intellectually smart from all I have heard ... so whatever decision he makes will likely have a solid foundation behind it ... knee surgeries to both knees IS a ??? for a perimeter forward. And the reality is, unless he goes to a bad team, he will not be the feature player on that team as he would at Kent.

Also, Kent/Senderoff's history of getting guys jobs overseas is pretty solid. And those gigs are generally stats driven. Again, doubtful Pippen has the stats on another team as he would at Kent.

As for Roberts, who knows. He has good numbers that would draw attention from A-10, C-USA and low level power conference teams. But is he really an Alpha?

If anybody (including Roberts) looks close, they'll see he was a much better producer and Kent was much better when he was a sixth man. In that position, he probably had the ball in his hands more than when he was a starter.

But the ego wants to start. So again, who knows.

The front court is in trouble

(03-18-2020 07:00 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  The front court is in trouble

Honestly it's been several years now where we've only had a couple true "big" men in the rotation. This year having 6'8", 6'9", and 6'7" stay in the rotation all year is bigger than most years. Last year Whittington and Frederick were the only guys over 6'6" that got more than 10 mpg. I'd love to see us have a post rotation where Pippen, Beck, Bainbridge, and Bennett all play heavy minutes next year and we see two true bigs on the court most of the time but I'd be surprised if it happens. The more likely scenario is we see someone that we think of as a perimeter player today spending a lot of time as a small lineup 4. Edwin, Peterson, and Williamson have all spent a lot of time doing that in recent years. So here's a reason for optimism fallsdog. Currently I'd say the player that profiles the best for that role is our 6'5" HS recruit that averaged double figure rebounds and won Ohio Mr basketball. Always good when one of the more obvious holes left by graduation figures to be filled by the most exciting recruit.

(03-18-2020 07:16 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(03-18-2020 07:00 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  The front court is in trouble

Honestly it's been several years now where we've only had a couple true "big" men in the rotation. This year having 6'8", 6'9", and 6'7" stay in the rotation all year is bigger than most years. Last year Whittington and Frederick were the only guys over 6'6" that got more than 10 mpg. I'd love to see us have a post rotation where Pippen, Beck, Bainbridge, and Bennett all play heavy minutes next year and we see two true bigs on the court most of the time but I'd be surprised if it happens. The more likely scenario is we see someone that we think of as a perimeter player today spending a lot of time as a small lineup 4. Edwin, Peterson, and Williamson have all spent a lot of time doing that in recent years. So here's a reason for optimism fallsdog. Currently I'd say the player that profiles the best for that role is our 6'5" HS recruit that averaged double figure rebounds and won Ohio Mr basketball. Always good when one of the more obvious holes left by graduation figures to be filled by the most exciting recruit.

I'd expect the same ... but don't be surprised if 6-5 looks more like 6-3 on the court. Much like BJ Duling, who was listed 6-7, 6-8 but was more 6-5.

Cleveland, it has annoyed me for decades how basketball players have their height inflated. Antonio Gates was later revealed to be actually 6'3 1/2", for example. I'm sure Duling gave 100%, but he has to be the biggest Kent State bust in my memory. I just hope VonCameron Davis is the real deal. Another "bust" was Tyree Evans. I liked him and he was real asset to the team, but when Kent State signed him many talked as if he would was the best player ever to sign with a MAC team! To clarify, when I say "bust" I only mean how good they actually were in comparison to the hype.

Up until this year NBA players have had their height listed as "height in shoes". I don't think college had an official stance on this but most teams seem to follow suit as an "industry standard" of sorts. So Gates being a 6'3 1/2" football player actually does equate to roughly a 6'5" basketball player. This year the NBA switched to listing height without shoes. So for example, Kevin Love went from 6'10" his whole career to 6'8" (somehow LeBron stayed 6'9" though... lol). To my knowledge this hasn't been adopted at lower levels though (at least I haven't seen Kent player heights shrink) so ultimately it just makes heights confusing. So Davis could be 6'3" and his HS team lists him at 6'5" because that's what he is wearing shoes. Or he could be legitimately 6'5" and Kent ends up listing him at 6'6" or 6'7" (probably pretty unlikely). I'd say in videos he looks well built and he looks to have a nice game around the basket. His rebounding numbers are really good too. It does look like he's primarily a below the rim player though. That could change when he gets into our weight lifting regiment. But as for his actual height, I have no idea.

I wish the games would start again. I just finished filling out the US Census form and watching a Biathlon race. Where’s live bowling when you need it.

(03-19-2020 07:29 AM)anti-zip Wrote:  Up until this year NBA players have had their height listed as "height in shoes". I don't think college had an official stance on this but most teams seem to follow suit as an "industry standard" of sorts. So Gates being a 6'3 1/2" football player actually does equate to roughly a 6'5" basketball player. This year the NBA switched to listing height without shoes. So for example, Kevin Love went from 6'10" his whole career to 6'8" (somehow LeBron stayed 6'9" though... lol). To my knowledge this hasn't been adopted at lower levels though (at least I haven't seen Kent player heights shrink) so ultimately it just makes heights confusing. So Davis could be 6'3" and his HS team lists him at 6'5" because that's what he is wearing shoes. Or he could be legitimately 6'5" and Kent ends up listing him at 6'6" or 6'7" (probably pretty unlikely). I'd say in videos he looks well built and he looks to have a nice game around the basket. His rebounding numbers are really good too. It does look like he's primarily a below the rim player though. That could change when he gets into our weight lifting regiment. But as for his actual height, I have no idea.

I agree based on videos ... He does look well built, ... he does a lot of work around the basket... does get his share of rebounds ... but like you say also plays below the rim which would be my only concern with him.

That's not going to translate much, particularly early on, at the MAC level. Here's hoping his mid-range and ball skills (including passing) translate quickly, along with his defense.

Gates played below the rim and he was fine. I have no idea what percentages he shoots but the highlights of VCD do show a lot of threes.

(03-17-2020 09:10 AM)cleveland Wrote:  

(03-16-2020 10:17 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  Well, the one walk-on, Nalls, was a "preferred" walk-on so it would be unethical not to give him one, assuming he wants to stay. I don't know what the deal was with Castillo. I guess he is just another on a long list of guys that come and go in a year or two without leaving any mark at all. That's not just true for Kent State. It's college basketball in this era.

THIS IS A REAL PUZZLE FOR ME, ALSO .... nothing about Castillo's bio, his JC stat line, his measurements for the position, Nothing, indicated he would be anything worse than a role player or top 6/7 guy.

Don't know if it was a language barrier??? ... or perhaps not knowing the plays ... but for a short-handed team, in particular, even with whatever shortcomings he had, it seemed he was worth 5-10 minutes a game.

Oh well ... cei la vie.

I was hopeful that Castillo would be the great defender that his JUCO numbers seemed to show. But seeming him on the court, he seemed like he was undersized to defend forwards and oversized to defend guards. 195 is too small to fight for rebounds in DI.

Gates, Sullinger, Cutley, Rashaun Warren and Isaac Knight. Undersized dudes that went hard in the paint.

Also Geoff Vaughn, fallsdog, and going further back Eric Glenn and Marvin Robinson

Being bigger and taller than your opponent will always help in rebounding and shot blocking, but in my opinion it's actually becoming a negative on offense and sometimes even on defense. It seems like anymore if you have the size advantage you cannot attempt to go "hard in the paint" or the smaller man will fall and they will call a charge. I could rant for a while about how I think offensive fouls have become poorly officiated and have ruined post players ability to play in the post. There was a play later in the season (maybe against OU) where a Whittington got called for a foul that sent him to the bench with foul trouble that is a great example of this. He was actively trying to avoid fouling so he literally was standing completely still hands straight up. The opposing team's guard drove into him. The problem was Whittington walled up and the guard fell (because he was the smaller guy). It was actually picture perfect rule of verticality defense and had he decided to fall he would've almost surely got the charge called.

I feel like the NCAA needs to make a push for the intent of the defender being considered in block charge calls. I'm really tired of seeing defenders who are making no attempt to play defense but rather just occupy space before there is contact be rewarded with a charge while other times defenders are making an effort to wall up and by not flopping after contact they're penalized.

Since the NCAA probably won't change I do think that's something that really needs considered in recruiting. Post players that can hit a high percentage of hook shots with one or zero feet in the paint are insanely valuable right now because you can't get called for an offensive foul on that.

Geoffrey Vaughn. Oh yes. Played his senior season with knee brace/braces??? Strong as a bull

ant-zip, wasn't there a rule change several years ago that penalized players who faked falling? Is that rule still in effect? If so, is it ever called?

fallsdog, as I recall the only reason Kent State was able to sign Vaughn was because "bigger" programs backed off after he had a major knee injury in high school. Cleveland Glenville, I think.

(03-19-2020 06:26 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  ant-zip, wasn't there a rule change several years ago that penalized players who faked falling? Is that rule still in effect? If so, is it ever called?

Yeah. They can review a call to see if it's a flop. I think if they call a foul then change it to a flop after review it's a tech. I think if they see a flop in real time and don't fall for it they issue a warning then the second time is a tech. I'm not sure if this is exactly how the rule works just seems to be how I've seen it applied. There was the funny instance this year where Mitch flopped, play continued, then he drew an actual offensive foul. So at the dead ball they announced a charge and a flop warning on the player who drew the charge and the fans were dumbfounded.

The type of play I'm referencing about wouldn't be likely to fall into the flop rule though. I think I've really only seen the rule applied where it's clear there wasn't contact. I'm more talking about the plays where contact does occur (it's a contact sport) and the defender falls down instead of actually attempting to play defense.

(03-19-2020 06:28 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  fallsdog, as I recall the only reason Kent State was able to sign Vaughn was because "bigger" programs backed off after he had a major knee injury in high school. Cleveland Glenville, I think.

All true ... best recruit Dave Grube (Garland Mance) ever had.

A Tarblooder!! Those guys are tough as nails. Good stuff.