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

The Golden Flashes open Mid American Conference play on Tuesday when they welcome the Cardinals of Ball State to the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.

The Cardinals do not have a win that jumps off the page, but they have defeated
a few familiar mid majors including Old Dominion, Detroit, USC Upstate and Arkansas Pine Bluff. Like Kent, they have also lost to a power 5 (Minnesota) and a darn good mid major (Indiana State).

Leading the charge for BSU is veteran forward Basheer Jihad. The 6'9 junior, who has played at Ball State since graduating high school, leads the team in scoring (18.3), rebounds (7) and blocked shots. Jihad is joined by fellow veteran Mickey Pearson Jr. in the Cardinals frontcourt. From what I can tell the 6'8 junior played one year at TCU but has been with the Cardinals since the 21-22 season.

After that, BSU has the popular mix of transfers, juco players and even a true freshman playing meaningful minutes.

But the real question around these parts is what is up with the Golden Flashes? Who is healthy? Who is injured? Are there enough consistent scoring options on offense? Is there a commitment to the defensive toughness that has defined Kent State's better teams over the years? Is there enough depth to help keep the Flashes in contention?


Big test tomorrow against a good BSU team looking to build off a solid 22-23 campaign. We shall see. [/b]

GO FLASHES!

Nice win KSU!

That was a really fun game to watch. Really enjoyed the style we played and the energy we played with. Everyone got after it on the glass, which did not happen at St Mary's. I wasn't overly impressed with BSUs bigs but Entenmann looked very capable in the minutes he got in. Eventually we're going to need another big to spend some minutes leaning on the Enrique Freeman's of the conference. So bringing him along is a good idea.

I had been thinking about the impact the injuries would have on our defense and rebounding but I hadn't really thought how it would affect the offense. Payton and Davis are going to absolutely feast in this offense without a true center. They had a ton of room to operate around the basket and they both pass well in and out of the post.

Note, Rollins appears to have a finger issue. Looks like the pinky and ring finger on his shooting hand were heavily taped together.

Lastly Freeman played really well tonight. Also, he authored quite possibly one of my favorite family friendly trash talk moments I've heard at a game. After Payton's emasculating dunk in the second half on #11, #11 immediately got fouled and went to the free throw line. While at the line before his first attempt Freeman did the SportsCenter sound. While the guy still made the free throw, it was a psych out attempt worthy of the legends like Joe Cooper or Doug Remer. Gotta love the Christmas Break games where you can hear things like that.

(01-02-2024 09:31 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  That was a really fun game to watch. Really enjoyed the style we played and the energy we played with. Everyone got after it on the glass, which did not happen at St Mary's. I wasn't overly impressed with BSUs bigs but Entenmann looked very capable in the minutes he got in. Eventually we're going to need another big to spend some minutes leaning on the Enrique Freeman's of the conference. So bringing him along is a good idea.

I had been thinking about the impact the injuries would have on our defense and rebounding but I hadn't really thought how it would affect the offense. Payton and Davis are going to absolutely feast in this offense without a true center. They had a ton of room to operate around the basket and they both pass well in and out of the post.

Note, Rollins appears to have a finger issue. Looks like the pinky and ring finger on his shooting hand were heavily taped together.

Lastly Freeman played really well tonight. Also, he authored quite possibly one of my favorite family friendly trash talk moments I've heard at a game. After Payton's emasculating dunk in the second half on #11, #11 immediately got fouled and went to the free throw line. While at the line before his first attempt Freeman did the SportsCenter sound. While the guy still made the free throw, it was a psych out attempt worthy of the legends like Joe Cooper or Doug Remer. Gotta love the Christmas Break games where you can hear things like that.

Agree w/Entenmen, even when (if) 'Beak and Ricco get back both will likely play less minutes than before, at least early on. The more comfortable the redhead gets the better. His 6-8 minutes a game could be invaluable going forward.

Really good effort last night. Everyone played hard, as a team and cut down on the turnovers! Out rebounded a taller opponent too.

That said, Ball State is not a good team.

Who ever came up with the idea to do a baby race at halftime... Well done. More ideas from that person please. One of the more entertaining halftime/timeout events I've seen.

My only complaint is the baby that just stopped crawling, sat up, and started dancing to the music should've also won because that was a cool baby.

How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

Just guessing ... but I think w/Sendy a move like that usually indicates either an 'issue' an 'injury' or a 'message.'

VCD didn't start, either.

Also, while I can't remember the year, in a comparable situation I do recall Sendy going with a mostly 'young' starting lineup while bringing several veterans off the bench. Considering the injury situation, that might be a part of the equation as well.

Like I said, just guessing.

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

New year, same pattern. I love it if there is really something to it. However I have a hunch it is hollow.

(01-03-2024 02:34 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

Just guessing ... but I think w/Sendy a move like that usually indicates either an 'issue' an 'injury' or a 'message.'

VCD didn't start, either.

Also, while I can't remember the year, in a comparable situation I do recall Sendy going with a mostly 'young' starting lineup while bringing several veterans off the bench. Considering the injury situation, that might be a part of the equation as well.

Like I said, just guessing.

Could be lots of reasons in addition to those already mentioned. Defensive reasons? Rebounding? Best matchups against BSU? Still trying to find the best combinations?

(01-03-2024 04:16 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:34 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

Just guessing ... but I think w/Sendy a move like that usually indicates either an 'issue' an 'injury' or a 'message.'

VCD didn't start, either.

Also, while I can't remember the year, in a comparable situation I do recall Sendy going with a mostly 'young' starting lineup while bringing several veterans off the bench. Considering the injury situation, that might be a part of the equation as well.

Like I said, just guessing.

Could be lots of reasons in addition to those already mentioned. Defensive reasons? Rebounding? Best matchups against BSU? Still trying to find the best combinations?

In addition to everything mentioned above…Ball State had a tall starting line up. Maybe Sendy playing best matchups defensively and trying to limit the minutes that Gio & Jalen share the court making them our shortest back court since 1952 (probably).

(01-03-2024 04:24 PM)Old Man Flash Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 04:16 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:34 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

Just guessing ... but I think w/Sendy a move like that usually indicates either an 'issue' an 'injury' or a 'message.'

VCD didn't start, either.

Also, while I can't remember the year, in a comparable situation I do recall Sendy going with a mostly 'young' starting lineup while bringing several veterans off the bench. Considering the injury situation, that might be a part of the equation as well.

Like I said, just guessing.

Could be lots of reasons in addition to those already mentioned. Defensive reasons? Rebounding? Best matchups against BSU? Still trying to find the best combinations?

In addition to everything mentioned above…Ball State had a tall starting line up. Maybe Sendy playing best matchups defensively and trying to limit the minutes that Gio & Jalen share the court making them our shortest back court since 1952 (probably).

And that just might be the "something to it" that I was referencing. Good call.

I do not question Sendy. Without his coaching last night, we could have lost that game. He is a master at match ups, as any surviving coach in the MAC must be. We were well prepared for our short bench and their height. No one was in foul trouble and that helped.

I tend to agree.

(01-03-2024 02:57 PM)fallsdog Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

New year, same pattern. I love it if there is really something to it. However I have a hunch it is hollow.

This one felt a little different than the typical "send a message" benching because he was one of the last reserves to get into the game. I think it was a full 10 minutes or more before he got in. I like Sully, but I think he and Gio playing together was always going to be difficult because of lack of defense and rebounding. Then when you lose your rim protectors and rebounders it makes it almost impossible to play them together. We'll have to see if last night was the start of a trend or not, but I was expecting some ugly games until they finally decided they needed to split the two up. So I'm pleasantly surprised and impressed that Sendy acted quickly. It takes guts to cut your second leading scorer's role in the first conference game. If it continues I hope Sully embraces the role and does exactly what he did last night and frankly most of last year. Be the microwave scorer off the bench.

(01-03-2024 05:09 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  I do not question Sendy. Without his coaching last night, we could have lost that game. He is a master at match ups, as any surviving coach in the MAC must be. We were well prepared for our short bench and their height. No one was in foul trouble and that helped.

I think, by moving starters Sully and VCD to the bench, that actually extends the bench. Instead of Sully and VCD playing 30-plus minutes as starters, they play 25 off the bench allowing the likes of Moss, Rollins and others to get more minutes as starters along with being more invested in setting the tone.

It might just be 15 minutes as starters, but it's more valuable and consistent than 5-10 minutes off the bench. Now Entenmenn and perhaps Hayes can get those 5-10 minutes meaning 'the bench' is now 8-9 players deep again.

(01-03-2024 02:34 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(01-03-2024 02:04 PM)onnieray Wrote:  How come Sullinger didn't start or play much? Is there an issue with him?

Just guessing ... but I think w/Sendy a move like that usually indicates either an 'issue' an 'injury' or a 'message.'

VCD didn't start, either.

Also, while I can't remember the year, in a comparable situation I do recall Sendy going with a mostly 'young' starting lineup while bringing several veterans off the bench. Considering the injury situation, that might be a part of the equation as well.

Like I said, just guessing.

Sullinger was 6th man of year, maybe he is going back to that role.