Although I heard TCU rumors while I was still in Omaha, it wasn't exactly the school I imagined Christian would be heading to. I guess Daily Kent Stater Assistant Sports Editor Joe Harrington's column didn't appeal to him.

While I can understand why Jim Christian jumped ship, it still leaves me scratching my head.

He will be paid better, deal with better facilities and be able to get to the NCAA tournament easier (The Mountain West can get two, three and sometimes four bids in the dance).

Yet, will he be able to win? The Horned Frogs have never been known for basketball and gave its last coach six years to prove his worth and he did little. Christian will also have to deal with recruiting in a much tougher basketball area that Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and any other southern midwest team that has a better reputation has already sifted through. Its not impossible to win, but it seems an odd choice for an East coast guy. Another concern I have about Christian's choice also has to deal with recruiting.

The administration at TCU has preached about his program building ability and how he has developed players at Kent State yet when I look at his body of work I notice teams that were heavy on JUCO kids that were simply plugged in (Jae Youngblood, Omni Smith, AL Fisher, Haminn Quaintance, Rashad Woods and Julian Sullinger just to name a few) instead of four year players that were developed. Sure you can win faster with JUCOs, but Christian openly admits he never even saw Fisher or Smith play, he got lucky. Christian took over the Flashes the year after the Elite Eight run and has maintained the program. he didn't develop it, he simply kept it going. If he were as good at developing programs as TCU may think; Parks, Knight and McKee would have seen the court much more the past few seasons.

(On a side note, where does giving Parks and Knight a cup of coffee this season leave the team for the upcoming season at the forward positions? Not that either are great players, but both could be serviceable with more experience.)

Perhaps Christian developed a win now attitude to earn his way out of Kent and maybe he will actually settle down and develop players now. I guess time will tell on the truth of that.

When I look at Christian's decision to leave I feel as if he rushed out of here when a better job could have still been out there. Who knows what jobs will open up when Indiana fills its position. I am sure it will open another mid-major job. The same thing can be said with the Providence job. Yet, Christian is obviously more plugged in than I am about that.

Although I do wonder what Gary Watters thought when he jetted to Rutgers after building the Kent State program and was quickly shoved out the door after just a few seasons. He now coaches at Cleveland State. Or Stan Heath's thoughts as he parlayed the Elite Eight run (his only season at the helm of KSU) into a terrific job at Arkansas. A job he lasted at for just four years (Although he did have a winning record at 82-71). Heath is now at South Florida in rebuilding mode.

Last year Christian's resume was good enough for him to be in the running for nearly $900,000 a year to coach Utah (a job he barely missed out on). Does an even better season and another bad tournament loss, drop him to a fledgling program that he must rebuild? It almost seems like he was just desparate to get away from Kent State and the one-bid Mid-American Conference and we all know desparation is a stinky cologne.

I would love to hear what everyone thinks about the move. In fact, I have had some pretty good talks with a handful of other Kent beat writers throughout the day who have differing opinions on the matter. It is all pretty interesting banter.

I have really looked at it both ways. I can see how the move is beneficial for him as far as furthering his career (although I think he could of got a better job with a better chance to win) amd I can also see how it could be considered career suicide (Has TCU ever produced anything other than Ladainian Tomlinson?) So let me know what you think in the comments section.

Either way, I wish Jim the best and hope he can turn around the fledgling Frogs. Thanks for a good six years.

…. For anyone who missed the press conference, Christian said that he hopes his top assistant (Geno Ford) gets the Kent State job and he would like to bring atleast one assistant with him (presumably Eric Haut, but time will tell).

It's that time of year where the Jim Christian circus will begin to take shape. it's not like there hasn't been grumblings all season about his possible departure. Heck, last year he was all but gone to Utah. Yet in the end was beaten out by former Michigan State assistant and NBA assistant Jim Boylen and forced to stay with the Flashes.

Not like that was a bad thing. Christian earned his sixth straight season of 20-plus wins or more in his sixth year as a head coach. That's pretty impressive. Before the ugly loss to UNLV I heard more of a debate of where he is heading then whether he is staying. It is funny how quick 20 minutes of bad basketball can change things.

Despite his impressive resume, Christian has never won a tournament game outside of the MAC Tournament and that may scare away some suitors. After taking over the Flashes in 2002 he lost three straight years in the NIT Tournament (College of Charleston 66-71 in 2003, West Virginia 54-65 in 2004 and Western Kentucky 80-88 in OT to end the 2004-2005 season.)

He then failed to beat No. 15 Pittsburgh in the NCAA Tournament in 2006, yet I can't really blame him for that one, the 7-foot Aaron Gray dominated. Finally the UNLV game is what really hurt.

His name is popping up for certain interviews though and rightfully so. His impressive regular season and conference record is too good to overlook. After all he does have a career winning percentage around .700 (138-58) and dominates in conference play at a .728 clip (76-28)

his name has been mentioned with Providence here and here as well as, Oregon State . I will tryo keep up to date and see if any interviews come to fruition like they did last year. I am sure they will though.

Although that ugly, ugly first half of the NCAA Tournament is the last we’ll see of the 2007-2008 Kent State men’s basketball team, let’s not forget how good of a team they were getting to the tournament. Here is a short list of just some of the accomplishments:

 Kent State earned its first ever in-season ranking by knocking off No. 23 St. Mary’s 65-57 in an ESPN Bracketbuster game Feb. 23. The road win propelled them to 23rd in the Associated Press Poll and 24th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

 By capturing the MAC Title, the Flashes earned a fifth trip in 10 years to the NCAA Tournament. They previously never made it to the tournament before the current 10-year run.

 They were undefeated at the M.A.C. Center (16-0) for the first time in school history. Yet that was only a part of the new school record 25 regular season wins.

 Not many Division I basketball programs can say they have 10 straight seasons of 20-plus wins. In fact, only five other Division I programs can say that. Kansas, Duke, Gonzaga, Florida and Creighton join Kent State in the elite group. To keep things in perspective, Kent State only has thirteen 20-plus win seasons in school history.

 Awards were aplenty with this group.

Jim Christian claimed his second MAC coach of the Year honor in three years.

AL Fisher is only the second Kent State basketball player in school history (DeAndre Haynes- 2006) to earn MAC Player of the year. He has a shot to get another next year too.

Haminn Quaintance picked up a MAC Defensive Player of the Year. “Q” is the only player in NCAA Division I history with more than 1,300 points, 850 rebounds, 250 blocks , 250 assists and 200 steals in his career. One of the very few college players to even come close to those numbers was Duke’s Shane Battier who won National Player of the Year honors in 2001.

I could do entire post on the impact of Fisher and “Q” and all the other accolades this team earned and maybe I will, just not today. The ride to Omaha was a lot of fun for everyone involved. It’s just disappointing that the Flashes have the dubious distinction of the team that had more turnovers (17) than points (10) in that first half against UNLV.

CBS analyst, and Cleveland native, Clark Kellogg pegged the Flashes as his most disappointing tournament team and I would have to agree. This team was simply too good to bow out the way it did.

With that being said, of the eight games at the Qwest Center Omaha over the weekend, Kent State did tie the USC-Kansas State game for the closest deficit. USC and Kent State both lost by just 13 points Thursday. Kent State’s ugly first half disguises the fact that it outscored UNLV 48-40 in the second half, only committed three turnovers and shot nearly 46 percent from the field.

Kent State wasn’t alone in ugly first halves over the weekend either. Winthrop could only muster 11 points, one better than Kent State, in its 71-40 loss to Washington State in Denver. Cornell scored just 17 in the first half in its 53-77 loss to Stanford. Perhaps the most lopsided score of the entire tournament goes to Mississippi Valley State who was absolutely crushed by UCLA, Just 16 points in the first half and only 13 points in the second. The 70-29 Bruin victory was downright brutal.

And here are my other random Notes from a weekend in Omaha:

 If Kansas is not a Final Four team than I don’t know what is. The Jayhawks are loaded at nearly every single position. Forward Darrell Arthur and guards Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush are scary good. Never in my life have I seen a player shoot as smoothly as Rush does. He has a long lean, body that translates well to the next level. His extremely long arms also make him arguably a better defender than a scorer. I am really excited to see how he does in the future. In Kansas’ blow out win over Portland State in the first round Rush had 15 points on 6-11 shooting just in the first half. He finished with 18 points, but only played half of the second half.

 Kansas State was also fun to watch, but for completely different reasons. They offer very little once you get past Player of the Year Michael Beasley and fellow Freshman Bill Walker (yes the same Bill Walker who was OJ Mayo's best friend and running mate at North College Hill High School in Cincy), but man, are those two exciting. Before K-State played Wisconsin, Beasley worked his way around the arc launching balls high into the air and still swishing them. He shot with the back of his legs against the fold out chairs on the bench. Swoosh. He really is a talent and is no doubt the first pick in the draft, I just worry about his demeanor. He seemed to be shook fairly easily and, from what I saw, wasn’t nearly as passionate as teammate Walker was on the court. Beasley dominated the first half against the Badgers (17 points) and showed why he will be the first over all pick. Yet the second half he only had six points and seemed to collapse a little under the Badger pressure.

 Perhaps one of the funniest moments over the weekend was when I ran into CBS Play-By-play analyst Kevin Harlan in the bathroom between the Kansas State-Wisconsin game and the Kansas- UNLV game. Harlan seemed to be all fun and games as he decided to start quoting movies such as the 1985 Chevy Chase flick “Fletch” than asking everyone how much they would give him to get the movie references on air.

 Former Charlotte Hornet and New York Knick Larry Johnson, a UNLV alum, was in the house repping his Runnin’ Rebels. For my own humor I will refer to him by the moniker “Grandma-ma” after his early 90’s converse commercial where he dressed as an old woman. Anyways Grandma-ma received a standing ovation form the Rebel crowd during the second half. He even snapped a few photos with fans and was present at both games. Also present for the weekend was current MLB.TV and former ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst Harold Reynolds. Miami Heat coach Pat Riley was there, presumably scouting players.

 While I am on the topic of the Runnin’ Rebels fan base I loved their “Reee-bellls” chant. I almost thought they were chanting airball at first until I realized what they were saying. Cool Chant.

Kansas’s “Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk.” Chant was awesome as well, if not down right eerie. It was almost something you would hear more at a church, but considering Kansas basketball is a religion to a lot of folks, that makes sense.

Akron Firestone graduate Jermail Porter went to St. Louis in hopes of becoming the first Kent State wrestler to earn All American Status since 1986. Unfortunately, It will be atleast another year before any Kent State wrestler can try again.

After losing in the Championship bracket the heavyweight earned two consecutive victories in the wrestleback bracket placing himself one win away from All America status (the top eight in his weight class).

Porter (No. 9 seed) then fell by decision to Iowa State's David Zabriskie (No. 7 seed) 3-2.

By nine o'clock the Kent State men's basketball team was well on its way back to Ohio. Unfortunately, they were unable to stay and watch two former Flashes battle Wisconsin as members of the 14th-seeded Cal State-Fullerton team. Wisconsin held on to win 71-56 in the nightcap at Qwest Center Omaha.

Fullerton senior forward Scott Cutley was a starter on the Kent State 2004-2005 team that went 20-13 and earned an NIT bid. He was a two year letter winner for the Flashes, who averaged 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in the 2004-2005 season before transferring.

Fellow Titan, junior Marcus Crenshaw, was also a member of that Kent State 2004-2005 team averaging 4.7 points.

The Kent State transfers were integral parts of a Titan team that went 24-9 in the Big West Conference this year.

Cutley started the game Thursday and splashed an early 3-pointer to open the scoring. He also had the unenviable task of covering Wisconsin's Brian Butch all evening. He finished the game with nine points and three rebounds. Crenshaw was held scoreless as he was playing behind Fullerton guard Josh Akognon, who went off for 31 points last night.

The transfers didn't hurt Kent State too much though. I believe one of the open scholarships went to this year's MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Haminn Quaintance.

Well, Kent State dominated the Mid-American Conference this season. They dominated the MAC Tournament. They beat St. Marys in ESPN's BracketBuster game. Kent State earned the right to go dancing Thursday.

If the NCAA Tournament is the "Big Dance" then one could say Kent State must have two left feet. Kent State got absolutely crushed 71-58 by UNLV at the Qwest Center Omaha. The 10-point first quarter the Flashes labored through earned Kent State the dubious honor of tying a modern day NCAA Division I record for futility. It was just as painful, if not more painful, to watch here in person.

Some are attributing the ugliness to a stellar UNLV defense or Kent State playing in a weaker conference. But Kent State simply didn't show up. They missed shots at or near the basket. 3-point shots clanked out. It was downright ugly in those first twenty minutes.

“We couldn’t seem to buy a basket,” senior forward Mike Scott said. “They weren’t doing anything to sophisticated that we couldn’t stop. They shot (39 percent) in the first half. We were a little too wound up for the game.”

UNLV only had 31 points at the half, which means Kent State's defense was there. The offense was just on another planet.

Even if Kent State would have won, Kansas would have been waiting in the wings for a Saturday night date. UNLV can worry about them now.

Anyone who made the 13-hour drive to Omaha for the Kent State game has to be disappointed at halftime. The Flashes can't buy a bucket. The are playing so poorly that when sophomore guard Chris Singletary spun his way inside and connected on a basket with three minutes and 53 seconds left in the first half the crowd became uproarious. After all, it was Kent State's first basket in nearly seven minutes. The Flashes shot a dismal 5-24 (20.8 percent) in the first half, 0-7 from 3-point range and 0-2 from the free throw line. It's downright ugly in Omaha.

31-10 Runnin' Rebels at the half.