Huge win to start the conference slate.
I sat right behind the Kent bench. I’ve watched them in person twice this year and they just strike me as a team full of individual talent, but lacking in cohesion. When shots are falling and things are going well, they could beat anyone in the league, but they seem to wilt under adversity.
It was great to see us win despite not playing well on offense. Agree that Nick is on POY trajectory, but Jon Smith was the MVP last night in my book. He’s become a tremendous shot blocker. They gameplanned for Ndour, and he seemed to press a bit. He also had some bad luck with good shots rattling out. Though he blew several assignments that led to easy buckets, I thought Hall played well and stayed out of foul trouble. Stevie needs to be the main point guard, which has been obvious all year but was painfully obvious last night. Setty still looks like a potential-laden freshman. I think he’ll develop nicely, but he has to play smarter (stop hoisting threes and stop trying to score in the paint while triple teamed). Fantastic to see Wilkins finding his groove. This team could frustrate us a few times this year, but they have a ton of potential.
I thought that the officials were fair, but I was shocked with how much they let slide. There was a ton of contact not called on both ends, and both teams were affected by non-calls.
I’m pretty sure the Superfan has some type of mental impairment. The telltale scream is indeed annoying, but it sounds like the Flashes are the biggest thing in her life: http://susankirkman.com/MMS/kent-state-university-super-fan/