More Than Just A Flash In The Pan?

If there’s a drawback to the kind of pedigree Kent State basketball has built in the last decade it’s this: getting to the NCAA Tournament is seen more as a beginning than as a culmination. When a program has won four times in the Big Dance in the previous seven years, it’s expected to do a little more than just show up.

The question is; does this Kent team have what it takes to make a run?

First things first: regardless of what happens from here on out, it’s been a great season for Kent State basketball. Winning the outright regular-season and Mid-American Conference tournament titles is no mean feat. The MAC might be a little down from its late-90’s salad days, but it’s still a deep, rugged league, studded with excellent coaches, physical players, and tough road venues like BGSU’s Anderson Arena where, in the words of former Marshall player J.R. Van Hoose, the fans are so close “they can pick the hair off your legs.” The league is a grind, and when you’ve dominated it in the fashion that Kent has this season, it’s a worthy accomplishment.

Now back to the topic at hand. My belief is that the most important ingredient to NCAA Tournament success is guard play, the more experienced the better. It’s the guards who coolly handle the rock through presses and traps, step up and hit the big three-pointers, and knock down the pressure free throws to put games away. Kent’s early-2000’s powerhouses were led by the backcourt combo of Andrew Mitchell and Trevor Huffman. On any given night you could shut down one of those guys, but never both, and since Mitchell and Huffman each had a complete skill set- shooting, penetrating, passing, and handles- it made Kent extremely difficult to beat.

The 2007-08 backcourt isn’t at that level. The feisty Jordan Mincy is a good ball-handler and a superb man-on-man defender, but not much of a scorer. Al Fisher has a nose for the big shot and the ability to take over games, but he’s also prone to forcing the issue, with sometimes disastrous results. Both are solid players, but they don’t have the consistency or the experience of their illustrious predecessors. That isn’t a knock. Fair or not, the comparisons are inevitable.

If you can match outstanding guard play with a legitimate scoring presence down low, you’re equipped to do major damage in the Tournament. The 2001-02 Kent team might have advanced a round or two just on the strength of its backcourt and team defense, but the x-factor that enabled it to make a serious run at the Final Four was the deluxe offensive skill set of Antonio Gates. Haminn Quaintance, the be-dreaded ex-Jacksonville Dolphin, has great athleticism and instincts, can guard just about anyone on the floor, and is a very good passer out of the high post. But he doesn’t have the scorer’s mentality. Mike Scott is a tremendous athlete with nice range on the jump shot, but he’s a little too spindly to bang down low.

Defensively, the 2007-08 Flashes are above reproach. They are airtight on the perimeter, especially against the three-pointer. Kent’s defense routinely shut down excellent long-range shooters all season, culminating in the MAC Tournament, when Miami’s Michael Bramos and Akron’s Nick Dials were held to a combined 1-of-9 from downtown. In “Q”, Kent also boasts an intimidating, shot-blocking presence down low. With great athleticism, quick hands, and a defense-first mentality that has been a program constant ever since the Gary Waters era the Flashes are close to being a complete team on that side of the ball. All they lack is bulk in the frontcourt.

Offensively, there are some issues. Turnovers have been a problem all season- even in Kent’s otherwise-superb dismantling of Akron in the MAC title game, the Flashes turned it over fourteen times, including seven from Al Fisher. Kent has had its problems handling pressure, as evidenced by the near-catastrophe at Akron, when the Flashes blew a 13-point lead in the last two minutes thanks to a meltdown at the hands of the Zips’ late press-and-trap defense. It isn’t that this is a bad offensive team- you can’t win 28 games and be that. Efficiency is the question. Against MAC opponents with inferior talent, the Flashes could be sloppy and get away with it. In the NCAA Tournament, you will pay for your carelessness sooner or later.

Above all, the seeding and bracket placement is critical. Kent’s ninth seed is the highest for a MAC team since Eastern Michigan received a nine in 1996. But the heightened respect for the program comes at a cost. If the Golden Flashes can get by eighth-seeded UNLV in Omaha on Thursday, they’ll get an almost-certain second-round pairing with top-seeded Kansas, playing a three-hour jog up I-29 from Lawrence. It’d be great to see a Sweet 16 run. But any such run would have to include a win over one of the top three teams in the country, playing at their Phog away from Phog. That is a tall order.

All that can be asked is for the Golden Flashes to play well, represent the Mid-American Conference honorably, and hopefully win a game along the way. It’s fun to be a part of the Madness, for however long. It never gets old.