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?

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.

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?

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.

– Alex Grimsley and Frank Henry-Ala are signed, filling the the two scholarships that were vacated by the departure of Mike Scott and Haminn Quaintance. Yet Geno Ford isn't done signing kids just yet.

A third scholarship has become available by the departure of Gabe Garcia and Ford plans on using it wisely, possibly on another Brazillian. Rodrigo Peggau, a 6-foot-8, 230 pound forward from the Patterson School in North Carolina is one player that has been offered a scholarship by the Flashes. Ole Miss, the College of Charleston, Marshall and St. Louis have also offered.

Peggau initially signed a letter of Intent to play basketball next season at James Madison, but a coaching change and a knee injury altered his plans. The injury knocked Peggau out of all but five games last year.

Kentsportsreport.com's Steve Hare said that Peggau is scheduled to have his torn meniscus repaired on Monday. He will have four weeks of rehabilitation.

His games sounds like a good fit for the gritty, hard-nosed Kent State style of basketball…

"I'm more hustle than technique," he told Steve Hare. "I'm the guy that sees a dead ball and it's not dead for me; I'll jump on it. I don't care if I bust teeth; I'm going to jump on it. A lot of college coaches tell me that they appreciate how I play hard."

You can read Steve Hare's story in entirety over at kentsportsreport.com.

Other Notes…..

– Jim Christian added his first assistant coach at TCU Tuesday. Former Iowa State assistant Jean Prioleau will join Christian on the bench. You can read about that here.

– Although the Horned Frogs haven't said one word about the possibility of Eric Haut joining Christian, it has all been confirmed by Christian himself.

"Eric Haut will be the new director of basketball operations, coach Jim Christian said. Haut spent three seasons at Kent State with Christian." the Star-Telegram reported at the bottom of this link.

Kent State men's basketball coach Geno Ford signed two players to the program for next season: Frank Henry-Ala and Alex Grimsley.

Henry-Ala is a 6-foot-7 forward originally from Pasadena, Calif. He comes to Kent State after averaging 10 points and 10.4 rebounds per game last season at Motlow State Community College (Tenn.).

"Not only is he a versatile player who can do several things well, he is an extremely high character kid that I expect to excel as a student-athlete in our program," Ford said.

Henry-Ala began his collegiate career at Big West Conference member University of California-Davis, playing in 21 games in the 2006-07 season.

Grimsley is a 6-foot-7 forward from Batesville High in Indiana. Last season he averaged 19 points and eight rebounds.

"Alex is a blue collar type of player who has a high skill level and is deceptively athletic." Ford said. "He is a cerebral player who will have a very good career at Kent State."

The Kentsportsreport.com is reporting that Geno Ford has inked his first recruit.

Six-foot-five 210 pound Alex Grimsley, a senior at Batesville (Ind.) High School, will be joining the Flashes for next season. He averaged 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists as a senior helping lead his team to the Indiana Final Four.

Grimsley will be expected to play the three or the four (forward) for the Flashes.

"It was getting down to the nitty-gritty and it was between UNF and Kent State," Grimsley told Steve Hare of the Kent Sports Report. "I figured Kent State was the best place for me; it's only four hours away and it's close to my family so they can come watch me play."

The Rivals story is here.

Geno Ford's new basketball coaching staff is coming about quite well. Armon Gates is already in and from everything I have heard, Rob Senderoff isn't far behind. Senderoff is really a key for me. Sure, many people know him as the fall guy at Indiana. If you don't know about that you can read some about it here.

Anyways, Senderoff was at Kent State before hand. I do not know the man personally. I do not know if he is a dirty recruiter. I do not know if he is clean recruiter. All I know is Senderoff was responsible for bringing Mike Scott, Rodriquez Sherman and Chris Singletary to Kent State. Arguably three of the most important players on Kent State's roster last year.

If Senderoff can continue recruiting to players of that caliber to a MAC school then why wouldn't you want him on the staff? Unless he really is that dirty, which I am not ready to judge him for one year under Kelvin Sampson. Last I heard, the hire was up to University President Lester Lefton. hopefully it gets done soon enough.

Another interesting story is that of assistant coach Eric Haut. Haut played at Kent State. Haut likes it here, but he also likes coaching with Jim Christian. It is no secret that Christian would like to take Haut with him to TCU and I heard an offer is on the table. The decision could go either way.

Kent State basketball coach Geno Ford announced Tuesday the return of former Golden Flashes player Armon Gates as an assistant coach. Gates comes back to KSU after spending last season on the coaching staff at Western Kentucky.

"This is exciting for me to have a former player in the program, someone who understands what the tradition is all about," Ford said in a statement. "Armon was a very good player and is a guy who did everything right when he was here, on and off the floor. We want kids just like Armon. Our players will relate to him very well."

A MAC All-Academic selection at Kent State, Gates’ first season in the coaching profession was highly successful. After capturing the Sun Belt Tournament championship, the Hilltoppers earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the to the Sweet 16 before losing to UCLA.

"This is a great situation for me,” Gates said in a statement. "I will always appreciate coach Ford for giving me this opportunity, and I want to thank Kent State’s administration. They have welcomed me back with open arms."