Senior Megan Carter (31) was the top scorer on last year’s team, averaging 15.9 points per game. (Photo by Austin Mariasy.)

Kent State’s first two games this season could give us an excellent signal on just how good this team is.

The Flashes open at Duquesne on Tuesday. Four days later they play at Youngstown State.

The games may be the most important of the non-conference season.

Yes, KSU plays three Big Ten teams — Michigan, Ohio State and Purdue. But any win there will be an upset.

But those first two games are winnable. They’re definitely not easy; both Duquesne and Youngstown State have well-established winning programs. Both are on the road, where  statistics say winning is more than twice as difficult as winning at home.

But Kent State beat YSU 62-34 in Kent last season in its best non-conference game. The Flashes lost to Duquesne in Kent 77-72 in a game they led going into the fourth quarter.

Both Duquesne and Youngstown State lost significant strength to graduation. The Dukes graduated four starters and their top three scorers. YSU lost its top two scorers.

But the team’s programs are strong. Duquesne of the Atlantic 10  has won at least 20 games in nine of the last 11 years, and 18 and 19 in the two other years. Youngstown of the Horizon League has averaged 18 wins a season over the last seven years.

Kent State has at least its top three scorers, all starters, back from a team that went 20-13 a year ago. Senior Ali Poole, who started 19 of KSU’s 33 games last season and was its fourth-leading scorer, has missed almost all of the preseason with a knee injury.

None of that guarantees victories. But it should give us a quick look at how competitive the 2019-20 Flashes will be. 

The non-conference schedule game-by-game:

AT DUQUESNE, Tuesday, Dec. 5

Last season: 19-13 overall, third in Atlantic 10 at 11-5. Won seven of its last eight games, losing in the A10 semifinals. 10-6 at home. Missed postseason play for the first time since 2007-08. Picked ninth of 14 teams in A10 this season. Beat Kent State 77-72 in Kent last season and has won four in a row against Flashes and five of seven overall.

Last season RPI: 137. Power Ranking: 71.

Lost four starters and top three scorers. Has 6-4 freshman center and four other players taller than 6-2, though none of the returnees have been major contributors. Recent teams have been guard-dominated.

Game will be at about 8:30 at PPG Paint Arena, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s the second game of a doubleheader with Duquesne men, who play Princeton.

AT YOUNGSTOWN STATE, Saturday, Dec. 9

Last season: 22-10 and third in the Horizon League at 13-5. Was 16-1 at home. Lost by two points to Green Bay in conference tournament semifinals. (Kent State beat Green Bay in WNIT). Lost to Cincinnati 76-62 in WNIT. Picked fourth in Horizon this season. Lost to Kent State 62-34 in Kent. KSU has beaten Penguins three straight years and leads 27-14 in the series overall.

YSU’s last year’s RPI 122. Power Rating 113.

Lost two starters, who were the team’s top scorers. Top returning scorer is 6-3 forward Mary Dunn, who averaged 12.6 points and 5.7 rebounds last season. Has 6-4 junior transfer from Western Michigan. She wasn’t a starter there.

Vs. MICHIGAN at Akron Classic, Friday, Nov. 15

Last season: 22-12 and fourth in the Big Ten. Lost to Louisville in second round of NCAA. Picked second in the Big Ten by conference coaches and fourth by media. Kent State is 0-5 against the Wolverines.

Last season’s RPI: 46. Power Rating: 61.

Returns two starters plus Naz Hilman, a 6-2 forward who was Big Ten freshman of the year, all-Big Ten first team and conference sixth player of the year last season.

Vs. PURDUE FORT WAYNE at Akron Classic, Saturday, Nov. 16

Last season: 7-22. tied for sixth in Summit League at 3-13. Picked last in nine-team conference this season. Is 1-1 against Kent State.

Last season’s RPI: 337. Power Rating also 337.

Returns three starters but lost two two scorers.

Vs. OHIO STATE at M.A.C. Center, Thursday, Nov. 21

Last season: 14-15, fifth in Big Ten at 10-8. Lost to Morehead State in first round of WNIT. Not in the top five in preseason picks in Big Ten (preseason rankings only include five). 5-0 all-time against Kent State, but teams haven’t met since 1982.

Last year’s RPI: 101. Power Ranking: 125.

Lost three starters. Returns Dorka Juhasz, a 6-4 sophomore forward who was second- team all-Big Ten last season and member of all-freshman team. She’s a preseason all-Big Ten selection. Recruiting class includes five players ranked in top 65 in the country by ESPN, headed by Kierstan Bell of Canton McKinley, Ohio’s Miss Basketball last season.

Vs. ROBERT MORRIS at M.A.C. Center, Sunday, Nov. 24

Last season: 22-11. First at 16-2 in Northeast Conference. Lost to Louisville, at that point No. 1, in first round of NCAA. Unanimous pick to win conference again. Kent State leads 6-5 in series and has won two of three in last three years.

Last year’s RPI: 179. Power Rating: 134 .

Lost three starters but returns five of top six scorers.

Vs. SAINT BONAVENTURE at M.A.C. Center, Tuesday, Dec. 3

Last season: 6-22, finishing 5-12 and 11th in Atlantic 10. Picked 13th this season. Kent State won at Saint Bonaventure last season, 76-64, but trails 7-5 in overall series.

Last year’s RPI: 262. Power Rating: 267.

Returns four starters but lost leading scorer. Added Division II junior college player of the year

AT PURDUE, Sunday, Dec. 8

Last season: 19-15, thing for 10th at 8-10 in Big Ten. Was 13-4 at home. Picked fifth in Big Ten by conference coaches. 2-2 all-time against Kent State with KSU wins coming in the early 1980s.

Last year’s RPI: 90. Power Rating: 94.

All five starters and five leading scorers back. Top returnee is Ae’Rianna Harris, two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Also returns first-team all-conference guard Karissa McLaughlin. Both are preseason all-Big Ten picks.

Vs. GEORGIA SOUTHERN at Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, Thursday, Dec. 19

Last season: 7-22, last in Sun Belt Conference at 2-15.  Picked 11th in Sun Belt this season. 2-2 vs. Kent State all time.

Last year’s RPI: 287. Power Rating: 299.

Three starters return, including leading scorer. New coach Anita Howard had 66-25 record at Division II Columbus State.

Vs. TROY at Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic, Thursday, Dec. 19

Last season: 22-9, fourth in Sun Belt at 13-5. Lost 93-89 to Alabama-Birmingham in first round of WNIT. Picked second in Sun Belt this season. First meeting between two teams.

Last year’s RPI: 93. Power Rating: 84.

Returns three starters and four of five top scorers.

Vs. HIRAM at M.A.C. Center, Monday, Dec. 30.

Hiram was 10-16 in Division III last season.

PREDICTION: Somewhere between 5-6 and 8-3

Unless the Flashes completely fall apart, they should beat Purdue Fort Wayne, St. Bonaventure, Georgia Southern and Hiram.

On their home court in Kent, they should be favored over Robert Morris.

That would be five wins.

It sure would be nice to beat a Big Ten team, but it would be unexpected at the least.

So that leaves the first two games at Duquesne and Youngstown State, plus the matchup against Troy in Las Vegas, as the keys to the preseason.

All should be good games. Kent State could win them all. It could lose them all, though I’d think that would be less likely.

That adds up to a non-conference record between 5-6 and 8-3. I’d lean toward the 7-4 or 8-3 end of the scale.

More on this year’s team

Flashes’ Megan Carter named to preseason all-MAC East team.

The team’s preseason media day: Flashes are talented, young and exciting.

Kent State senior Megan Carter is a preseason all–MAC East selection, and the Kent State women’s basketball team has been picked to finish third in the division.

The preseason poll and all-MAC teams, voted on by the league’s 12 coaches, was announced Wednesday.

Ohio, which returns four starters from a team that went 30-6 last season, was picked to win the East, the overall MAC championship and the conference tournament.

The East Division predictions, with vote totals.

1. Ohio 72 (unanimous selection).
2. Buffalo 56.
3. Kent State 50.
4. Miami 32.
5. Akron 28.
6. Bowling Green 14.

Defending champion Central Michigan was picked to win the West Division, despite the fact that it lost two all conferences players in guard Presley Hudson and Reyna Frost. The full west predictions, with vote totals and first-place votes in parenthesis:

1. Central Michigan 60 (4 first-place votes).
2. Northern Illinois 59 (4).
3. Toledo 50 (2).
4. Eastern Michigan 35 (1).
5. Ball State 30 (1)
6. Western Michigan 18.

The All-MAC East team (alphabetical order):

• Megan Carter, redshirt senior guard, Kent State.
• Lauren Dickerson, senior guard, Miami.
• Summer Hemphill, senior forward, Buffalo.
• CeCe Hooks, junior guard, Ohio.
• Erica Johnson, redshirt sophomore forward, Ohio.

The All-West team:

• Nakiah Black, junior guard, Toledo.
• Oshlynn Brown, junior forward, Ball State.
• Corrione Cardwell, redshirt junior guard, Eastern Michigan.
• Micaela Kelly, junior guard, Central Michigan.
• Breanna Mobley, redshirt senior forward, Western Michigan.
• Courtney Woods, redshirt senior wing, Northern Illinois.

The team has six players because of a tie vote.

MAC release on the preseason selections

Analysis: After Ohio, who knows?

The Bobcats are loaded and were the certain choice as favorite.

After that, it’s really anybody’s guess.

• Buffalo lost a great senior class but had a deep team and has added a good freshman class.
• Kent State has 83 percent of its scoring back, plus three good freshmen. The Flashes lost to Ohio twice last season by just two points.
• Miami has a new coach but two outstanding players as a nucleus (Lauren Dickerson and senior forward Savannah Kluesner, who may be the best player not on the preseason teams).
• Central Michigan lost an awful lot but it always deep and recruits well. Kelly was the Chippewas’ third best player and probably would have been the best on about eight other teams.
• Northern Illinois, which was only one point behind Central, has four 2018-19 starters back plus Courtney Woods. She was a first-team all-MAC player who missed most of last season with an injury.
• Ball State also has a lot of players back from injuries and a good freshman class. I suspect they’re underrated.
• Toledo is always good but lost some key players.

Among those teams, almost nothing would surprise me — except Ohio not being one of the best teams in the league.

And of course teams can come out of nowhere. Kent State did in 2015-16, winning the East after being picked last. Miami did the same thing a year later.

 

 

 

The seniors at Media Day: forward Sydney Brinlee, guard/forward Ali Poole, guard Megan Carter, with coach Todd Starkey. (Photo from team Twitter feed.)

Every college basketball coach, Kent State’s Todd Starkey told the Media Day Wednesday, is saying the same thing at this time of your.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said. “We’re at that time of the year when you’re not really sure of what kind of team you have.”

His team is young, he said. It’s also talented.

“The question is,” hew said. “‘What’s going to win out this season?’ Is it going to be talent, or is it going to be youth? That’s the kind of the yin and yang we have right now in practice.

“There are times we look really good, and there are times we’re very average. That’s what we’re working through, but the middle of October is the time to be working on that.”

The Flashes are coming off of a 20-13 season and their first postseason win in 23 years — a 64-59 victory at Green Bay in the WNIT.

They have a lot of returning firepower. Senior Megan Carter was KSU’s leading scorer last season and third-team all-MAC. (“We’re looking for her to stake a claim as one of the top players in the league,” Starkey said.) Sophomore guard Asiah Dingle (“a nightmare to stop in transition”) and sophomore forward Lindsay Thall (“shooting very well” were members of the league’s all-freshman team.

Senior Ali Poole started 19 of Kent’s 33 games last season and 48 games in her career. She was KSU’s fourth-leading scorer last season. She also is still recovering from a knee injury (“progressed a lot quicker when we’ve hoped,” Starkey said). But it’s still unclear when she’ll be able to go full speed in games.

Two more sophomores — guards Hannah Young and Mariah Modkins — were among the first players off the bench last season.

That’s four sophomore and two seniors.

Add three freshmen who have played big roles in practice and the team’s exhibition tour of British Columbia this summer, and you have the team’s youth.

“We’re still trying to figure some things out,” Starkey said, “but we definitely can be better than last year. This has the opportunity to be our most exciting team to watch.”

A chance to play ‘risky’ defense

“We’ve been fairly plain vanilla,” Starkey said. “We’re looking at trying to expand that, take some calculated risks and try to generate more offense from our defense.

“I think we have the athletes on the roster this your to take risks. With some of your younger players in the wing positions, we’ve got players who can cover more ground more quickly and who have length and athleticism.”

The players who are back

A non-comprehensive list from Starkey:

ASIAH DINGLE, the 5-4 point guard who averaged 12.9 points a game: “Everybody knows how good she can be at times. Her level of consistency has continued to rise.” In earlier interviews, both she and Starkey said she had worked to develop her 3-point shot (just 16.4% last season) and create opportunities for her teammates. She averaged 6.7 assists a game during Kent’s Canada trip; she averaged 2.3 last season.

CLARE KELLY, 5-8 freshman guard from Olmsted Falls: “At times, the best shooter on the planet. Like she can’t miss.” She was 9 for 18 on 3s in Vancouver.

KATIE SHUMATE, 5-11 freshman guard from Newark, and NILA BLACKFORD, 6-2 freshman forward from Louisville, Kentucky: “They’re just making plays all over the court.” Shumate was second on the team in scoring in Candada. Blackford led the team in rebounding.

SYDNEY BRINLEE, 6-foot senior forward from Allen, Oklahoma. She was the third senior with Poole and Carter at media day: “She is going to fill some significant minutes for us because of her energy, her voice, her improvement.”

HANNAH YOUNG, 5-10 sophomore guard from Brookville, Va.: “Much improved. Worked very hard in the off season on her footwork. Is shooting the ball very well.”

Carter, Thall and Poole were covered earlier in this post.

The players who left

Kent State lost two players — guard Alexa Golden and center Merissa Barber-Smith — to graduation. They averaged a total of just 10.6 points a game, but their impact was more than points.

“What Alexa meant to our team from a leadership standpoint was significant,” Starkey said. “And you don’t have that voice on the court any more. She’s not going to be able to cover up for people’s mistakes on the court defensively like she did last year.”

(Golden is still with the team as a graduate assistant.)

“Merissa was the most dominant rebounder in the country last year per minutes played,” the coach said. “She had some huge rebounding games down the stretch and really helped us win.”

The WNIT glow

All of the players and Starkey said the Flashes’ WNIT win in Green Bay gave the program a big boost.

“We’ll sit and talk in the locker room,” Poole said. “The freshmen will kind of hop in. They’ve never done any of this before. So we’re like, ‘This is what happens. Now this is what we have to do next year.'”

“It gives us confidence,” Brinlee said. “It pushes us to want more, and we feed off of each other.”

The fan base grows

Season tickets, Starkey said, are running ahead of last year. Attendance grew through last season, hitting 1,928 against Miami in late February. This season’s home highlight, of course, is KSU’s Nov. 21 game against Ohio State. It’s the first time the teams have met since 1982.

Link to ticket site.

A chance to play another team

The Flashes get their first look at outside competition in two closed scrimmages over the next two weeks. They’ll play Cleveland State of the Horizon League and Pittsburgh of the ACC.

The NCAA allows a combination of two closed scrimmages and exhibition games. Exhibitions are usually against Division II or Division III team. More schools have gone to two scrimmages to face better competition. KSU’s men’s team has done that for years.

When’s the first game?

The Flashes open at Duquesne on Tuesday, Nov. 5. The game will be at the PPG Paints Arena, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s the second game of a double-header, so it will start about 8:30.. (First game is Keith Dambrot’s men’s team against Princeton. Dambrot is the former Akron coach.)

Flashes will play at Youngstown on Saturday, Nov. 9.

Then they play Michigan at the James A. Rhodes Arena at Akron on Friday afternoon,  Nov. 15. It’s the first game of the “Akron Classic,” in which Kent State and Akron play the same teams on successive days. On alternate years, it’s the “Kent State Classic at the M.A.C.C. KSU will play Purdue Fort Wayne Saturday in Akron.

Home opener is the Ohio State game Nov. 21.

I’ve got some leftover material from media day and earlier interviews I’ll try to post in the next few days.

 

 

 

Coach Todd Starkey and team after victory last season. (Photo from KSU website.)

A 6-3 forward from suburban Pittsburgh who averaged a double-double as a junior is Kent State’s third verbal commitment in the class of 2020.

She is Lexi Jackson of Gateway High School in Monroeville, who averaged 16 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks a game last season. In one game, she had a triple double of 37 points, 16 rebounds and 11 blocks.

She tweeted earlier this fall that she planned to attend KSU. Coaches can’t comment on recruits until they’ve received signed letters of intent. The earliest that can happen is Nov. 13.

Jackson was a third-team member of the Pennsylvania Sports Writers Class 5A All State team and is taller than any other player on the first, second or third team. One recruiting service ranked here as the third best power forward in the state.

Her team finished 19-4, won its league title and lost in the regional quarterfinals.

Jackson had offers from at least four other mid-majors, including Western Michigan and James Madison.

In an interview with TribLive, a Pittsburgh online news site, she said she was sold on Kent State’s coaching staff.

““You can tell the coaches really care about the girls (on the team),” Jackson told the site.

Her high school coach, Curtis Williams, said KSU coach Todd Starkey was “really, really genuine” in the recruiting process.

“He appeared to care for her as a person, not just a player,”  he said in the TribLive article. “That was most critical to her decision making.”

Williams was very high on Jackson as a player.

“She’s a young player in terms of her growth and development over the last 18-24 months,” he said. “She is scratching the surface with how good she can be. Most people aren’t aware of what is she capable of.”

Jackson joins two-time all-state guard Casey Santoro from Bellevue High School in northwestern Ohio as an announced KSU commit. Kent Coaches tweeted another commitment in June but couldn’t name the player because of NCAA rules. I hear she is a 6-4 post player from Ohio who isn’t active on social media, which is the only way I can learn her name.

Santoro was district player of the year and first-team all-Ohio in both her sophomore and junior seasons. She and averaged 22 points last year, once scoring 40 points in a game where she made 10 three-point shots.

Casey is the sister of Carly Santoro, who started three years for Bowing Green, then graduated early and transferred to Ohio State. She also started there. The Santoro sisters’ father, Kory, is Bellevue’s head girls coach.

The two incoming post players and 6-4 Indiana transfer Linsey Marchese will give Kent State as much size in the front line as it has ever had. Marchese will sit out this year because of NCAA transfer regulations. Marchese scored in double figures in all three of Kent’s exhibition games in British Columbia in August. She was a highly ranked high school recruit out of Georgia who was recruited by Starkey when he was an assistant for the Hoosiers. Marchese was a backup at Indiana, averaging about 11 minutes a game over two years.

From my conversations with Starkey, I’m pretty sure that’s all the recruits he’ll sign in November.

He and his assistants are working hard on the class of 2021. Starkey was in Texas last month for an open high school practice to see a 6-2 forward rated one of the best in the state. Assistant Morgan Toles was at another open gym in Michigan, where she watched one of that state’s best junior guards, who later tweeted that KSU (and MAC rival Central Michigan) was one of the six final schools she’s considering.

(Central, by the way, landed 2020 forward Rachel Loobie, who seemed to have offers from most teams in the MAC. I mentioned her earlier when she posted (in a single tweet) photos of her visiting Kent State, Miami and Bowling Green.)

“We’ve been very active on the 21 class and the 22 class,” Starkey said in an interview earlier this month. “Those are the two classes that are going to replace the young talent (on the current roster) moving forward.”

When the class of 2022 arrives at Kent, the team’s current six-person sophomore class will be seniors. Two players from that class made the MAC’s all–freshman team last season. Two more were key reserves. Marchese will become a member of that class, and she’s very likely to be a starter next season.

Kent State will lose three players to graduation in May — last year’s leading scorer, guard Megan Carter; guard/forward Ali Poole, who was KSU’s fourth leading scorer last season, and forward Sydney Brinlee, who was the second post player off the bench last season.

The Flashes’ current junior class, which will graduate in 2021, has only two members, neither of whom played significant minutes last season.

Director of basketball operations moves on and up

Alison Seberger, KSU’s director of basketball operations since Starkey arrived, has become an assistant coach at North Alabama.

It’s an expected move for someone in that job. Director of basketball operations is sort of a junior assistant coach. She handles many of the mechanics of the team, especially travel arrangements and scheduling for recruit who visit Kent State. She  helps in practice but can’t recruit off–campus.

Seberger’s busiest time at Kent State came during the Flashes’ two-game run in the WNIT last season. She had to schedule travel arrangements for both games on two- and three-day notice. I heard one player tease her during the trip that the phone grew out of Seberger’s ear.

In a goodbye tweet, assistant Mike McKee called her “one of the best DOBO’s to ever do it!”

No replacement has been announced.