Checking Out the Kent State Golden Flashes

photo: Associated Press

You might say this is long overdue, and you'd be right. Like the rest of the nation, I let the Kent State Golden Flashes sit under my radar until a hard-fought road victory over a very good Saint Mary's team. In a way, the Flashes are almost victims of their own success - they've been so consistently good for so long (20+ wins every season for the past decade) that I've begun to take them for granted.

It doesn't help that the Flashes sometimes suffer an unlucky break in the MAC tourney and don't get invited to the dance, either. Most pundits think there is very little chance of that happening this year, thanks to the marquee Bracket Buster win, and I hope they're right. The MAC overall has been excellent, and the NCAA tournament will be much better with two MAC teams in it.

Not that I'm wishing for KSU to lose in the MAC final, mind you, but if that's what it takes to get, say Western Michigan in as well, I suppose I'd take it. I do know for sure that I'll be watching the MAC tourney to catch a glimpse of outstanding players like Al Fisher (14 ppg, 4 apg), who has built himself into the keystone of Kent State's architecture during the conference run that has his team at 11-2, just ahead of those Western Michigan Broncs.

Second-leading scorer Mike Scott (13 ppg, 6 rpg) is one of those mid-major anomalies: a guy who's 6'7" and only 190 lbs., but who can score and rebound when he needs to. Also in true mid-major fashion, he's not afraid to step back for timely threes when the defense gives him space. Senior Forward Haminn Quaintance (10 ppg, 7.6 rpg) has been one of GMoney's players of note in the past few weeks, earning his keep with hard-nosed defense (2.1 blocks per game and a decided aptitude for the defensive rebound) and enough scoring to keep the opposing defense from ignoring him.

I won't lie - I'm not an impartial type, which is probably why I write blogs instead of newspaper articles. If the Golden Flashes are left out of the NCAA tournament picture this year, I am going to be pissed. They're exactly the type of consistent, dangerous team we all like to see (until they play against our alma mater, that is). So here's hoping that a televised road victory and a national ranking are enough to book their flight to the nearest regional. And heck, give us another MAC team, while you're at it, Selection Committee!

Checking Out the Portland State Vikings

Portland State has had some decent years in the Big Sky Conference, but has never won the auto-bid, and as such has no tournament record. Also "as such, per se", I must admit that I also know nothing about them at all. So we'll undergo this journey together.

But why? Why the sudden interest? Because the Portland State Vikings are on the cusp of their first big dance appearance. They are pillaging the nation's wide-open spaces, running up a 10-2 record in the Big Sky. Northern Arizona is their nearest threat, at a rather distant 8-5. Should the Vikes stay steady in the conference tournament, they'll probably be a low seed, maybe even a play-in game participant, but I think they'll happily take it.

There are a few cool things about Portland State right off the bat. First, their coach goes by the awesome name of Ken Bone, and this is his third season running the rain-soaked school. Their statistics are dominated by the high-low combo of 5'6" Sophomore Guard Jeremiah Dominguez, and 6'11" Senior Center Scott Morrison (seen above). The only other player who ekes into the superlatives is Freshman Guard Justynn Hammond, a three-point specialist who's shooting 44% from behind the arc in just 14 games played, mostly in-conference.

The Vikings have taken on some quality opponents, losing to most, but coming away with a couple of profile-freshening wins. In November, they beat high-performing mids Akron and IUPUI, and played gutsy ball in early losses to Pac-10 stalwarts Washington, Washington State, and UCLA.

The Big Sky is the type of league that rewards the regular-season champ with home dates in the league tournament, so keeping the wins coming is very important to the Vikings. It galls us mightily when dominant teams come up on the losing end of a championship game and have to sit home in March, so we'll keep an eye on the Sky around the 11th of that month, with the implicit assumption that the road to the NCAA tourney will go through The Rose Garden.

Checking Out the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Fair disclosure: I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, attended the University of Kansas, and have supported the Jayhawks since my childhood. As such, I have spit many an ear-curdling epithet at the televised images of Eddie, Sean, and Scott Sutton during my lifetime. That's what a worthy opponent will do to a guy.

As a more mature fan, I try to put aside my visceral reactions from time to time and accurately judge the people I'm watching. So this is my unbiased opinion on Oral Roberts head man Scott Sutton: the guy is one hell of a coach. Or, since he works for a televangelist, maybe he's a towering spire of heaven of a coach. The younger of the two Sutton boys followed Bill Self from Oklahoma State to ORU over a decade ago, and stayed on when Self moved on to bigger and better things. He has turned the Golden Eagles into the top program in the Summit League, and is running the table at 9-0 this season.

The Golden Eagles have made good use of their coach's connections, too. Sutton finagled a visit to his old mentor's home base last year and left with a signature win over the Jayhawks that rocked the basketball world. This season, he prevailed upon his brother at OSU, landing a neutral-court game in Oklahoma City that again ended with his troops pulling the upset. With this kind of resume, I'm not sure how much longer we'll be seeing Scott Sutton at Summit League meetings. A tournament victory could put him on the up-escalator.

The Golden Eagles are a guard-driven team, with upperclassmen Robert Jarvis and Adam Liberty handling the rock and leading the scoring. Jarvis is a welcome newcomer in Tulsa, and is dominating his first season in the big leagues after transferring from Seminole State College. The native of Humble, Texas is averaging seventeen points per game and providing a steady presence. Another transfer - Caribbean-born Shawn King - provides size up front: he contributes scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots.

The Summit, as a league, kind of stinks, and that's holding ORU back. If the Golden Eagles run the table but stumble in the conference tourney, do they have the profile to get an at-large bid? It depends on many other factors, but in that scenario, at least they'll make the selection committee sweat a bit, rather than dismiss them out of hand.

ORU isn't scheduled to be on television throughout the rest of the regular season, but I'm holding out hope that ESPNU will pick up a game or two along the way. If not, we can hope that they'll be on the televised Bracket Busters slate, which won't be announced until early February. Either way, if the Eagles make the dance, this could be their year to pull the major upset.

Checking Out the Austin Peay Governors

(Warning: cheap writer's trick ahead)

Dictionary.com has six definitions of the word "governor". The first is the most obvious, and also the one that fits the Austin Peay mascot.

1. the executive head of a state in the U.S.

This makes sense, as the Clarksville, TN school is named in honor the man who served as the Volunteer State's CEO between the years of 1923-1927 (fun fact: he signed the law that brought us the Scopes Monkey Trial). But when considering the university's basketball team, I find something of note in the following definition as well.

5. Machinery. a device for maintaining uniform speed regardless of changes of load, as by regulating the supply of fuel or working fluid.

Governor fans are definitely concerned with regulating the supply of working fluid. Readers of this site may already know of my juvenile love for the "Let's Go Peay!" chant. Maintaining uniform speed regardless of changes in load might describe the basketball team's relentless march through the Ohio Valley Conference, as well. They've gone 8-1, their only loss coming at Murray State. The Racers sit two games back and are the nearest competition for the Peay at this time.

APSU's early losses are mostly forgivable, as they played the buy-game shuffle: at Vanderbilt, at Utah State, at Memphis. As far as at Evansville goes, they might have a little 'splainin' to do on that one. Overall, however, the Govs played a tough schedule, and the experience gained seems to be paying off in league play.

Clarksville is home to a remarkably balanced offensive attack. Four players average double-figure scoring, led by townie legend Drake Reed (pictured) and his nearly sixteen points per. Several other options play significant minutes off the bench. Coach Dave Loos is a fixture at APSU - he's been there for nearly two decades and has been named OVC Coach of the Year four times (and counting? Someone ought to name a building after that guy).

The Governors play a couple of televised games coming up - at Jacksonville State tonight on ESPNU, and at Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) on the 29th. If they keep pouring on the wins, only one thing can stop them from taking their rightful place in the NCAA dance: the OVC tournament. The Governors had 20 wins coming into last season's OVC championship game, but went cold at the wrong time, letting the auto-bid slip away to the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Will the Govs hold serve this year and get an early-March shot at a money program? I don't know, but I'll be watching to find out, starting tonight.

Checking Out the Delaware Blue Hens

At a time like this, it's hard to know exactly what to say. They were due? The sun even shines on a dog's ass? I don't know. My tongue is tied in the face of the sudden surgence of the Delaware Blue Hens. (Yeah, I said surgence. You can't resurge if you never surged).

This it not even a case of "This year, they're suddenly good", it's like "This past five minutes, they've been really good". The Blue Hens started the season with four straight losses to less-than-stellar competition and entered conference play at 4-7. They looked poised to be the same old toothless birds that have built a nest in the CAA basement.

Then they won two straight on the road to begin their Colonial season. At William & Mary and at Drexel isn't likely to impress anyone this year, but it was still a nice start. Then it was a couple of home dates, in which the Hens used a lotta overtime to beat both George Mason and Old Dominion, picked to lead the league in preseason polls. The ODU win pushed them over .500 for the first time this season.

In searching for a catalyst for this recent improvement, the first thing that jumps out to a reader unfamiliar with the Blue Hens (and isn't that all of us?) is the fact that 6'6" Junior Guard Marc Egerson missed the first seven games of the season since transferring from Georgetown. Since he came back to his home state, the Hens are 6-2 overall. Egerson is playing 35 minutes per game and quickly became the second leading scorer for Delaware, with 14 per contest. In rebounding, he's tops, with a rugged 7 per game average.

Herb Courtney is throwing in almost identical numbers, with more than a block per game for good measure, and Sophomore Guard Brian Johnson is the rock, averaging over 37 minutes of floor time, distributing the ball with alacrity and scoring when necessary. Freshman G Alphonso Dawson has taken to the third scorer's spot with ease (just don't ask him to hit a three - ugh).

The Hens will be tested in their roadie vs. VCU tonight, but with the balanced attack they have going right now, they might be up to the task. I'm just not sure I'm ready to live in a world where we have to talk about the bubble prospects of cerulean barnyard fowl. I guess I'll just have to deal.

Checking Out the Vanderbilt Commodores

They've got a Machine Gun or two, scoring is Easy, and their defense is a Brick House. That's right, it's the Commodores.

Back in October, I tagged Vanderbilt as the #2 team in the SEC behind Tennessee. Even I will concede that it sounded like a reach, what with Kentucky and Florida in the conference, and Derrick Byars moving on to the NBA. But looking back, I feel dumber about putting the Vols on top than I do putting Vandy #2. They currently sit on a sterling 9-0 record, having beat decent teams such as Bradley, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, and Valpo.

My prediction of success for the Commodores was predicated in large part on the fact that they had suffered less turmoil than the rest of the SEC elite, and that they had experience returning. Kevin Stallings (a dead ringer for the Providence Friar) is still helming the ship with a steady hand, and senior wing players Shan Foster (20.4 ppg, 54% from three) and Alex Gordon (10 ppg, 3.7 apg) are carrying out the game plan to perfection.

The surprise element has been 6'10", 250-lb. Australian Andrew Ogilvy. A graduate of the elite Australian Institute of Sport, Ogilvy was expected to be good in his freshman campaign, but I don't think anyone saw this coming. The big man is averaging 19.6 ppg and snatching nearly 7 boards per contest. In addition, he's good for a block or two per game on the defensive end, along with countless altered shots. He hasn't fouled out once this season. He's been so good that Vandy has been able to survive without two other big men, senior Davis Nwankwo (heart condition) and freshman Festus Ezeli (redshirt).

Vanderbilt has made back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16, and yet many still sleep on their potential year after year. The program has often suffered under the weight of the school's rigorous academic requirements, but many forget that Stallings comes from the Roy Williams coaching tree, and Williams has always found a way to recruit brains and talent, a skill that Stallings has obviously mastered as well.

The Commodores are in Chicago to play DePaul on Wednesday (ESPN Classic, 8:30pm), they they stay home until a road date at Kentucky exactly one month later. They could very well still be undefeated going into that game, which will be nationally televised by CBS.

Chart a course for adventure, Commodore faithful. We'll see you in the Sweet 16. Again.