Ravenna record Courrier beat writer Dave Carducci recently posted this intriguing story about Athletic director Laing Kennedy and his support of Rob Senderoff over on the the NCAABBS board. I thought it would pass it along, it's a pretty good read.

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=425522

It comes as quite the surprise that Ohio University Head basketball coach Tim O'Shea jumped ship earlier this week. He accepted a position as the men's basketball coach at the newly established, in D1 atleast, Bryant University.

Although O'Shea did win 20 games last year (20-13), he has a home in Rhode Island and strong ties to the New England area. It sounds like this decision had to be driven by personal reasons. Why else would anyone leave Ohio for Bryant, who is not tournament eligible for a few years?

I am anxious to see how this plays out because I think it could be a winning situation for the Mid-American Conference. Although O'Shea recruited some of the top talent in the MAC (Leon Williams, Jerome Tillman), his teams always seemed to underachieve.

If Ohio can replace O'Shea with a coach who can maximize Ohio's talent it would improve the competitiveness of the Mid-American Conference as a whole. That could mean more revenue, more notoriety and eventually more bids to the NCAA tournament.

It will be an interesting year in the Mid-American Confererence due to so many question marks. Conference stables Ohio, Kent State and Toledo all have new coaches while Charlie Cole's health is always a question mark at Miami. Bowling Green's Louis Orr and Northern Illinois' Ricardo Patton both enter their second seasons with a certain optimism.

Ford has had to completely rebuild his frontcourt after the departures of MAC Defensive Player of the Year Haminn Quaintance and All league forward Mike Scott. The impact of losing those two individuals will hurt a lot more than people realize. Scott was a coach on the court and was highly motivated off of it. Both players did a lot of intangibles that could not be taught.

There were a few instances early last season where Christian said that Scott's defensive adjustments and rotations prevented easy baskets on blown defensive coverages.

Offseason questions about Rodriquez Sherman's knee doesn't bode well for the Flashes either. If he can't go this season then Ford truly has his work cut out for him.

Akron coach Keith Dambrot must prove that he can continue the success he has had the last few years now that The LeBron James Akron contingent has moved on (Dru Joyce, Romeo Travis and Jeremiah Wood). The Zips were a different team last year when Wood went down with an injury lacking any type of strength and presence on the inside. They must also find someone who can run the point, incoming freshman Humpty Hitchens perhaps?

Kent State junior right hander Chris Carpenter was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the third round (97th overall) of the 2008 First Year Player Draft. This marks the third time Carpenter has been selected in the draft, but the highest he has ever been taken.

Tomorrow morning I am hitting the road for the State baseball championships in Columbus. My original plan was to cover the Walsh Jesuit game Thursday morning, the Canton Central Catholic game Friday afternoon and then jump into a car with the Rivals guys, Steve Hare and Joe Harrington from Kentsportsreport.com, to watch Kent State basketball recruit Alex Grimsley play in the Hoosiers' Reunion All-Star Classic in Knightstown, Indiana, then make my way back to Columbus for baseball championships Saturday morning.

Unfortunately I have to fill in and do some high school track and field coverage Friday in Columbus instead. So, no Grimsley for me and no blog post about it for you.

I do get to watch Walsh Jesuit play baseball again. I've covered the last three Walsh games. they are impressive to watch, as they appear nearly machine-like as they dismantled both teams in regionals and beat Tallmadge in the district final. What does that have to do with Kent State?

It turns out that Walsh’s best player, shortstop Ross Brunello, is a Kent State commit.

“Ross Brunello is probably one of the best shortstops I have ever seen at the high school level… he just makes plays all over the field all the time,” Tallmadge coach Kenny Linn said after Brunello made countless defensive plays to beat his Blue Devils in the District Final a few weeks back.

His fielding is definitely enough to get him into any lineup. In that game against Tallmadge he got to many balls that are typically singles through the hole in high school games.

The kid can hit too. The Warriors were limited to four hits against Tallmadge, Brunello had two of them. He also reached on an error and had a deep SAC fly to left. In two games of regional play last week he tripled to deep centerfield and had two singles.

Kent State also inked Walsh left-hander Brannon Belair for next season. Walsh is absolutely loaded. One would think that a left-handed pitcher going to a Division I program would be the ace of the staff. Not at Walsh Jesuit. Their ace, sophomore Tyler Skulina, a 6-foot-5, 235 pound right-hander, could jump to pro ball after high school. He hits 92 on the gun already.

Senior David Starn, a left-hander, is next in the pecking order, although I am not as high on Starn as others are. He seems to throw with all arm across his body, using little leg drive, which cost him velocity (he was low to mid 80’s on the radar gun in the regional final) and makes me wonder if an injury is down the line. Cleveland State and Tiffin have shown interest. Kent State would like for him to walk on.

As for the Kent State recruit, Belair, I don’t know much. I finally saw him pitch in the fifth inning of the regional final. Walsh already had a 17-run cushion. Imagine that, a Division I caliber pitcher in mop-up duty, only at Walsh Jesuit. He did have a curve with some nice break, that’s about all I can tell you.