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We also still need to understand that you can't wait for NCAA tournament appearances to grow your program. Come next March, it will be 5 years since our last title. We probably can't change our schedule overnight. But unless we start challenging ourselves early in the season, we'll continue to have nights like this where everything we did for 4 months disappears in an instant.

I give Kent props for that. All year, we knew that when someone just picked up Kwan on the perimeter that he'd have no choice but to pass the ball back to a Guard because he can't put the ball on the floor out there. And knowing that his skills are limited in the post, he's then essentially negated to a few step back jumpers for an entire game. But that's not what lost this game. And yes, Kent is also skilled enough to get from the paint to the perimeter better than many teams that we play. but that's not what lost this game either. 1) A turnover-prone team like Kent was forced into only 6 turnovers. Same as the game at the JAR. 2) We allowed a Freshman guard who averages 7 p/gm. to score 30 points. Sound like a repeat of what happened in the Home Miami game? 3) Kent got an unbelievable blessing when their workhorse Hall who had been playing max minutes all week got a long unexpected rest in the first half when they had a lead and he got his 2nd foul. That kept him fresh for the rest of the game. 4) We're not going to probably win any game when Josh, Antino and Kwan shoot 1 for 9 from 3-point range, and we can only make half of our FTs. 5) Every (brief) momentum run that we got going offensively was stopped by a Kent basket in the 2nd half. It just wasn't our night.

All of those things, right there, are what will contribute to why it will be so difficult for them to to play well in their 5th game in 8 days. I see a frustrated Hall tonight who won't have much left to carry a team. And our 2nd thru 8th best players are just too much better than theirs. And much more rested.

I don't want him to go, but would be happy for him if he could get this job. I'm just curious why you think that being from the Youngstown area would be a deciding factor over a clearly much more experienced and successful guy with a lot of head coaching experience?

That's pitiful that our students are put up in a high corner.

Thanks for pointing that out. And that was a really fast-paced game. That many guys, playing that many minutes while playing 5 games in 8 days really should be taking its toll. I'm so fortunate that we got 20,20, 17 and 17 out of Josh and Daniel the last two nights. That should really help. And getting 11 out of Tavian last night might help also.

I'm actually alarmed when I really look closely at Kent's minutes last night. Playing the late game semifinal game on Friday, they played 5 guys more than 30 minutes. And 3 of them played 38,39.and 37 minutes. And that game was no slowdown half court contest.

I'll say it again here. He's played only 40 minutes total in the last 2 nights. He's the guy who should have to energy to be able to rebound and defend tonight. And that will be the key to closing this game out as early as possible. This is where you really reap the fruits of your labor all season long......earning that bye to Thursday, and getting to play the #8 and #4 enroute to the title game. That's been the mystery with this team every game this year. SOMEONE always shows up to make a difference. Last night, it was an incredible game by Antino at both ends of the floor. If we could ever get to the point where MULTIPLE people show up, we'd be able to kick a team like this Kent State team all the way back to Portage County by halftime.

It is funny. But not as funny as Kent believing that they have a "history of NCAA tournament success" for what they did 15 years ago. If OU fans want to focus on postseason success so badly, maybe they ought to remind everyone that the only time they have even made it to the MAC final since that NCAA tourney run resulted in a 20 point shellacking to a Zips team playing without a point guard.

Here's the deal. He's really no different than any other player who has to rely on his shot blocking ability, rather than his body strength, to stop people around the basket. It gets you out of position so often when you overplay someone because you are looking for blocks. He left his feet so bad one time biting on a ball fake and let a guy duck under him and score pretty easily. But there's still 2 good things that can come out of all of this. He might just become such a great shot blocker that we'll live with it. Or, he'll learn to be a little more disciplined with age/experience and gain another 20 lbs. and maybe become much more like of a prototype post defender.

Right. We were in the same dilemma both nights. We never had the luxury of playing the Kwan/Utomi front line because of Kwan's foul trouble. The good news? Kwan has only played barely 20 min. both nights so far. And we're going to need to lean on his fresh legs a bit more tomorrow night to defend and rebound.

Unbelievable. I had been thinking about this since Kent won tonight, and I didn't know how many people remember that we were following exactly the same path to the title that they are following this year. The roles are just reversed. I think the difference in the two games vs. Kent this year is that they asked some other guys to play great games at Rhodes, and those guys played remarkably. In Kent, they went back to relying on Hall to try to win the game for them. But tomorrow night, a tired Hall won't be able to carry the load for them after 4 games in 6 days, and their 2nd line people will prove again that their performance at the JAR was a total fluke. There will be nowhere else to turn for the Flashes. Zips by 18.

Yes, very disciplined offensively. They always rotated the ball well to get to the best option. And tonight, they made the shots too. Luckily, the space we created in the initial stages of this game kept them from completely climbing the hill to catch us.

Like I said, even MAC Officials weren't fooled. But I was holding my breath waiting for a whistle.

He gave up on doing that, and tried to flop. Even the MAC officials didn't buy it.

I'm looking at Player Minutes this morning: Maybe it was a blessing that Kwan got the 2 early fouls in a game that we won. He only had to play 20 min., and we got 20 min. out of both Utomi and Josh off the bench. However, I'm a little concerned that Big Dog played 37 min. last night. We were in a tough situation. EMU has some beef up front, so Poke wasn't going to be able to help us much. And Kwan's foul trouble prevented us from going to a Kwan/Utomi front line at any time to get Big Dog more rest. Luckily, we were able to "shut it down" a little bit over those last few minutes. I think it's a shame that the coaches couldn't find a way to get a couple of minutes out of Michael at some point. I think that's a real indication of where he stands on the totem pole right now.

I'm not going to even try to decide whether a Buffalo or Kent loss would be more devastating with our history with both teams. But I'm actually excited that WHEN we get to the title game, our opponent (OU or Kent) will have fans in the building that will make for a great atmosphere for a MAC Title game.

I'll take the win this time without the drama. But that was surely the most exciting ending to a game at home this year. That was the typical "can't put them away" game. We had a 7 point lead in the first half, and as much as a 9 point lead in the 2nd half. And also led by 8 with 5 min. to go. I hope we can repeat what we did to EMU today that we were not really able to do to them in the regular season.......get those key baskets and stops that turn single-digit leads into more commanding double-digit leads.

That upset would have been nice.

I had to go back and look at that again at home. It was 7 unanswered points in about 30 seconds total. That was a nice little spurt. Went from a 4 point game to an 11 point game. A game-changer for sure. But it was Josh on the steal and the wide open 3 at the end of the sequence, not Noah.

That was wild. And that was also a Quarterfinal game. One of my greatest memories of Steve McNees. I don't want a repeat of last year's EMU Quarterfinal either.

His predecessor followed a similar path. Initial success with a Final Four appearance in 1999 followed soon after by a complete implosion, and eventually 3 years probation for NCAA violations. But they don't care about basketball (that's why they spend over 8 MILLION on men's basketball). Just like they don't care about soccer either. That's why they bus students up here for soccer matches after a string of 12 years where they haven't been able to beat us.

Two straight years of not having a prayer of being in the NCAA Tournament, an RPI anywhere from 20 to 40 points lower than the best team in the MAC during that same period, finishing 11th in conference play, and just coming off of the previous off-season where you had a mass exodus of transfers leaving the program? Sure, I'll define that as "success" as well.

Amusing, if it's true. I guess this level of "success" is fine with them.

Chris Jent? The OSWho assistant? If that's true, here's his chance to get out before he's unemployed when Matta gets canned. I'm happy that Jeff saw his opportunity to get off the sinking ship.