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

(04-26-2022 04:56 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(04-26-2022 02:25 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(04-26-2022 01:28 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Wow, Mballa is leaving Buffalo too. I think that makes no one of significance returning?

Excuse me .... SINCERE CAREY!

I'm saying no one significant from UB. Obviously there are plenty of significant players returning for Kent and other MAC schools. Buffalo has now lost their top three scorers and 5 of their top 7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHVjs4aobqs

Per verbalcommits.com, Miryne Thomas has committed. He was a contributor at Ball State last season. I believe he has one season of eligibility remaining.

Solid 6'8" MAC player from Cleveland with one year left. Seems like there was serious interest in him from Pitt. On paper it looks like we filled the voids left by Garcia and Beck over the last couple days. Thomas looks like more of the stretch 4 (good three point shooter) while Payton looks like the better defender and rebounder.

I don't know. Started 30 games for one MAC team one season and then transfers to another MAC team for his senior year. Closer to home, sure. Kent State is on the ESPN family of networks more often than Ball State, I get it. But truth be told, I don't get it. Don't these guys understand how difficult these transfers make placing friendly wagers on games. Especially if you are into pulling a Pete Rose and betting on the home team.

I'm very much not used to this yet, where a player will play in conference for years then transfer in conference. It seems like it's here to stay though. As long as we stay one of the top MAC teams we should stand to be on good end of it at least. It's brutal for bottom feeders though. If they have a good freshman class rather than being the start of a turnaround they could just watch their guys jump up the standings.

(04-28-2022 03:44 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  I'm very much not used to this yet, where a player will play in conference for years then transfer in conference. It seems like it's here to stay though. As long as we stay one of the top MAC teams we should stand to be on good end of it at least. It's brutal for bottom feeders though. If they have a good freshman class rather than being the start of a turnaround they could just watch their guys jump up the standings.

I think MAC teams are more likely to get in-conference transfers ans JR/SR instead of freshmen, who still see themselves as P5 stars. This tells me the kid wants to play, and not just have his name on the jersey.

If the kid has some defensive chops ??? he could really help. See him more as a replacement for Beck. Payton actually seems like more of a true post guy - albeit undersized - based on his JC tape, which is probably why he didn't play much at Pitt. But he is definitely athletic.

Kent still needs a replacement for Hamilton, which might be much harder to find.

I wouldn't say they need to find a replacement for Hamilton. Our current group of bigs are Hornbeak 6'9", Odusipe 6'8", Thomas 6'8", Payton 6'7", and Gillespie 6'7" or 6'8". It'd be nice to add an experienced post near Hamilton's size to that mix but I think that group has potential and the MAC has had plenty of really good teams that didn't have anyone bigger than that. Heck our last NCAA tournament team didn't start anyone over 6'7". Payton is the wildcard with the current group. If he looks like the big time rebounder/shot blocker that he was in JC that group becomes much more solid.

I looked up the article from last year about Payton signing with Pitt. It said he had 3 years remaining so he will have 2 with us. That's awesome. Also, extremely annoying that that's what it takes to get details on KSU news.

I believe this means we have 1 spot left. (Beck, Hamilton, Garcia, Hernandez, and Johnson out. Moss, Gillespie, Payton, and Thomas in). With that last spot I suggest we go after Taj Anderson from Indian Hills. You could argue a 6'4" guard fills no need for us... but I would counter with the fact that he has a pretty low social media presence. Pretty sure he's the one I looked up mid season and saw his last post (at the time) was that he was going radio silent on Twitter until the season was over. If we gave our last scholarship to someone like that last year we might have had a happier ending.

Speaking of transferring Isaiah Wong’s agent just told Miami to improve his NIH agreement by the end of today or he is headed to the NBA or the transfer portal. This is getting to be pretty entertaining.

We are watching the death of college basketball.

(04-29-2022 11:42 AM)burden Wrote:  Speaking of transferring Isaiah Wong’s agent just told Miami to improve his NIH agreement by the end of today or he is headed to the NBA or the transfer portal. This is getting to be pretty entertaining.

Yeah, sickening state of affairs things have sunk to, the pendulum has swung too far and things are now out of control. State law prevents the school from being involved in or discussing the NIL agreement, but he’s jealous of another players new payoff from a Miami billionaire booster.

(04-29-2022 12:11 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  We are watching the death of college basketball.

It’s been dead because they don’t need the NCAA to go pro, but football is going that way as well despite the need to be out of high school 3 years to go pro. Add up the NIL + free transfer + free Covid year and you have the death of lower rung programs like ours. Think we have boosters out there like that who could ensure a recruit is taken care of financially? We can’t even afford the smoothie machines a P5 program has by the handful. Anytime one of our players that fell through the cracks and then we’re nurtured in our program to attain success will now look to a bigger program, whether it’s women’s golf, basketball or football. Players like Harrison, Cribbs, Nix, Connors, Hughes, Shaw, Lauer or Hermanson would be long gone.

(04-29-2022 01:34 PM)Polish Hammer Wrote:  

(04-29-2022 12:11 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  We are watching the death of college basketball.

It’s been dead because they don’t need the NCAA to go pro, but football is going that way as well despite the need to be out of high school 3 years to go pro. Add up the NIL + free transfer + free Covid year and you have the death of lower rung programs like ours. Think we have boosters out there like that who could ensure a recruit is taken care of financially? We can’t even afford the smoothie machines a P5 program has by the handful. Anytime one of our players that fell through the cracks and then we’re nurtured in our program to attain success will now look to a bigger program, whether it’s women’s golf, basketball or football. Players like Harrison, Cribbs, Nix, Connors, Hughes, Shaw, Lauer or Hermanson would be long gone.

NCAA has a death wish. Likely in 3-5 years it will only serve D-III schools
I don’t even think DII schools want any part of NCAA thieves moving forward.

Looks like the last scholarship goes to Mike Bekelja a 6'2" guard transfer from Duquesne with three years left. He's from Solon and the RC says he's Carry's brother. RC also said the current plan is for him to redshirt next year, which makes sense with our packed backcourt. He didn't do a whole lot in his two years at Duquesne so kind of tough to get a read on what to expect. This move seems like a big endorsement of Hornbeak and/or Odusipe as we didn't bring in a true center to replace Hamilton. We'll have options to play some smaller lineups using VCD at the 4 but Hornbeak and Odusipe have big minutes sitting right there waiting to be claimed.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pla...lja-1.html

(05-14-2022 07:28 AM)anti-zip Wrote:  Looks like the last scholarship goes to Mike Bekelja a 6'2" guard transfer from Duquesne with three years left. He's from Solon and the RC says he's Carry's brother.

His Duquesne bio:

Quote: Personal
-Mike’s sister, Dee, the former Gatorade Ohio Girls Basketball Player of the Year, finished here career at DePaul in 2022.
-His other sister, Jordan, was a four-year starter and 1,000-point scorer at Clarion from 2016-19.
-His parents, Melissa and Kevin, are legal guardians of former Dukes guard Sincere Carry (currently at Kent State).
-Mike and Sincere, who formed the backcourt at Solon (Ohio) High School, began playing together in second grade.
-Originally committed to play at Division II Fairmont (W.Va.) State following his senior season at Solon, but reconsidered when head coach Joe Mazzulla, a former standout at West Virginia, accepted an assistant coach position with the Boston Celtics.

22-23 schedule rumors I’m seeing

1/MAC going back to 18 game reg season schedule from 20 last year
Divisions returning . We play teams in East twice . West once , except for two western teams we play twice =18

2/. At Houston. Large guarantee. They were really good last year.

3/At Sun Bowl tourney. Mid Dec. Teams to be finalized. UTEP is host.
Great arena.

4/ S. Dakota St. at home. They were only 30-5 last year including undefeated in Summit League. Lost to Providence in NCAA 67-56.

5/ Clev St, likely at home.

Houston ranked #2 in the Way Too Early Top 25 on ESPN.

(05-20-2022 12:10 PM)axeme Wrote:  Houston ranked #2 in the Way Too Early Top 25 on ESPN.

Any word on on Carry and the NBA Draft????

(05-29-2022 02:58 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(05-20-2022 12:10 PM)axeme Wrote:  Houston ranked #2 in the Way Too Early Top 25 on ESPN.

Any word on on Carry and the NBA Draft????

Just saw that he is coming back.

https://twitter.com/kentstmbb/status/153...rsBKjOg7SA[/quote]