What a way to start off the the 111th Men's Division I NCAA Championships at kampen Golf Course at Purdue. The Flashes, behind a strong performance from senior David Markle, find themselves six strokes off the lead and tied for fourth place after one round of golf (13 over par 301).

Markle birdied the sixth, seventh, 13th and 17th hole to shoot a 2 under par 70 on the day. He is currently one shot behind the individual lead. Still three rounds to go, but wow what a good start for the Flashes and especially Markle. See for yourself.

It is now official. Eric Haut is the Director of Basketball Operations for TCU, the official TCU athletics Web site announced May 16th. It is far from a shocker, in fact it has pretty much been a done deal since Jim Christian headed south.

Former Kent State recruit Ronnie Moss is also officially a Horned Frog as well. Yet again, not exactly a shocker. Moss became a matter of paper work the moment Christian bolted as well.

ESPNU listed Moss as the top recruit in the Mid-American Conference on signing day a few weeks back. It shows how much attention is paid to the MAC by the so-called world leader in sports.

I can't help to be bothered a little bit by losing Moss. This was supposed to be a Kent State coup. A point guard that was highly touted and highly recruited. Now he is gone. Although I like the work that new coach Geno Ford has put in with the recruit signings this year, letting a point guard of that caliber walk hurts.

Al Fisher and Jordan Mincy are both seniors. Who will play point when those two depart a year from now? With Moss it would of allowed Fisher to play more off guard where he could not turn the ball over as much. It would also have pushed Mincy to a diminished role. His defense is great, but other teams didn't have to bother guarding him.

Questions on the availability of Rodriquez Sherman because of his creaky knee also make me wonder how much losing Moss could haunt the Flashes. I guess we will wait and see.

It is a pretty slow time of year for Kent State athletics. The baseball and softball teams are now done. As is women’s golf. Although It should be a fun watching the Kent State men’s golf team takes another shot at the NCAA Championships in the next few days.

The Flashes are set for an 8:07 a.m. tee time tomorrow on the 10th hole of Purdue University’s Kampen Course. Kent State is one of just 30 teams vying for the Division I title. It is the first time they have been to the championships since 2004 and 13th trip overall.

On a day when the Kent State baseball team begins its quest for its seventh Mid-American Conference Tournament title, awards from its regular season began to accumulate. Juniors Greg Rohan, a power-hitting first baseman, and Chris Carpenter, a right-handed pitcher, were selected as the MAC Player of the Year and MAC Pitcher of the Year.

Rohan led the conference in home runs (19), RBI (58) and slugging percentage (.772). He also tied former Flash Eric O’Brien (2001) for second most home runs in a single season at KSU.

Carpenter, who has been selected in the MLB amateur draft in two different seasons, held opponents to a .206 batting average and struck out 10 plus batters for every nine innings he pitched. His 6-2 record and 3.82 ERA anchored the KSU staff.

The MAC also announced this year’s All-MAC First and second teams. Joining Carpenter and Rohan on the first team is sophomore teammate Kyle Smith and Akron senior Kurt Davidson.

Smith compiled a league best 8-1 record and struck out 61 batters in 69 plus innings. Davidson earned his second-straight selection by hitting .322 and clubbing 12 home runs. Davidson holds Akron career records in at bats (807), home runs (41), RBI (180), and total bases (430).

Kent State senior Doug Sanders, junior shortstop Chris Tremblay and sophomore outfielder Anthony Gallas were All-MAC Second team selections.

Tom Gaffney had a good preview story on today's first round play off game against Central Michigan and how the Flashes turned their season around. Check it out here. The scouting report for the game is here.

It appears Geno Ford is on the verge of putting the finishing touches on his recruiting class. Justine Greene, a 6 foot 7 inch power forward from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY is expected to sign a lter of intent to play for Kent State next fall according to Kentsportsreport.com. Greene averaged a double-double last year and joins three new big men on the Flashes.

Kudos to Ford for having a desparate need for big men and only having two scholarships at the end of the season. He now has four new bigs, two JUCO and two high school, to join Julian Sullinger and Brandon Parks.

I am anxious to see what this equates to on the floor next season. Haminn Quaintance and Mike Scott were too special athletes that had the size, strength and athleticism to dominate in the Mid-American Conference. I don't believe one can expect the new guys to even come close to filling those shoes.

The Kent State softball team's season came to end Sunday in NCAA Regional Competition at Alumni Field in Ann Arbor, Mich. After eliminating Wright State and Notre Dame Saturday The Flashes fell to fourth-seeded Michigan 5-0. The Wolverines (51-6) advance to NCAA Super Regional competition.

Michigan pitcher Jordan Taylor threw complete game one-hit shutout striking out 11 of the 22 batters she faced. Senior Gabrielle Burns took the loss. She pitched four plus innings giving up two hits, two runs and walking five.

The Flashes (46-12) held the Wolverines to two hits the entire game and trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Sophomore pitcher Kylie Reynolds, who relieved burns in the fifth inning, walked three consecutive batters to load the bases for freshman first basemen Dorian Shaw. Burns reentered the game at pitcher and served up a grand slam home run to Shaw. Reynolds and Burns walked a combined eight hitters.

Sophomore second basemen Heather Duhon got the lone hit for the Flashes, a single in the third inning. Kent State would have had to beat the Wolverines twice Sunday to advance in the double-elimination tournament.

The Kent State men’s golf team shot an 11 over par 295 to move into a tie for 11th place heading into today’s final round of the NCAA Central Regional play at the Scarlet Course on the Campus of the Ohio State University.

The top 10 teams and top two individuals will advance to the NCAA Championships May 28-31 at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind.

After two rounds senior David Markle is tied for 15th place in the individual competition. His 4 over par 176 is seven strokes behind tournament leader Kevin Tway, of Oklahoma State.

Pretty horrible timing on my earlier post, Whoops….

Kent State basketball coach Geno Ford signed his third recruit of the summer by inking 6-foot-8 forward/center Anthony Simpson. The Illinois native averaged nine points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots on the season last year at Highland Community College in Freeport Ill. He has spent the last two seasons there.

Jucojunction.com rates Simpson as the 49th best junior college recruit. He joins 6-foot-6 Frank Henry-Ala, the 71st best recruit according the Jucojunction.com, and incoming freshman Alex Grimsley in the recruiting class.

It looks as if one more scholarship has opened up as well as forward Isaac Knight has left the program for personal reasons. This kind of dissapoints me because I felt like Knight did have some potential but regressed more and more as he ended up in Christian's dog house. I am not sure why he left, but I'll see what I can find out.

Next year's Roster now looks like this:

Julian Sullinger F 6-5 235 Sr.
Antonio DiMaria F 6-7 200 RFr.
Rashad Woods F 6-5 235 Sr.
Frank Henry-Ala F 6-6
Alex Grimsley F 6-6 Fr

Chris Singletary G 6-4 225 Jr.
Al Fisher, Al G 6-1 185 Sr.
Jordan Mincy G 5-10 175 Sr.
Mike McKee G 6-5 185 Jr.
Rodriquez Sherman G 6-2 185 Jr.

Brandon Parks C 6-10 290 Jr.
Anthony Simpson F-C 6-8 230

One more scholarship left who can they get?

The Kent State men’s golf team finished in a tie for 15th place after one round of play in the NCAA Central Regional at the Scarlet Course on the Campus of the Ohio State University.
The Flashes are 18 over par 302 as a team, 12 strokes behind leader Wake Forest (6 over par 290).

Senior David Markle is tied for 17th place in the individual competition. He currently sits four strokes back of leader Brendan Gielow, of Wake Forest. Markle’s first round score is 2 over par 73.

The Flashes begin the second round of the three round tournament early tomorrow teeing off at 8:05 a.m. on the sixth hole.

The top 10 teams and top two individuals will advance to the NCAA Championships May 28-31 at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind.

I haven't heard much lately about the third and final scholarship that Geno Ford is looking to fill. It has just been the same two names that have been floating around for a while:

6-foot-8, 230 pound center Rodrigo Peggau and 6-foot-7, 220 pound power forward Anthony Simpson. Peggau is out of high school and just had knee surgery. Simpson is a JUCO player.

I would lean toward the latter, but it is still up in the air. Over on the NCAABBS board Simpson is described similar to "Q" because of his athleticism and quickness. You can read about that here.

One guy that I wish Kent State would pay more attention to next season, when six scholarships come off the books, is Canton Timken's Johnie Davis. Davis has signed a Letter of Intent to play basketball next season at Vincennes University. The junior college in Southwestern Indiana is where Shawn Marion began to his ascent to the NBA and is regarded as one of the better junior college programs in the nation.

The 6-foot-2 guard led the Trojans to a 24-1 season last year and the schools first district title since 1978. Davis is an explosive offensive player who is a good shooter and can attack the basket. He averaged 18.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.1 steals, while shooting 45.6 percent from the floor last year.

Getting out of inner city Canton could work wonders on Davis, who needs better test scores to qualify for Division I basketball. Hopefully, Davis will use the year intelligently and prepare himself for the next level.