Kent State was picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference on Tuesday as the MAC preseason poll was released.
Most publications have the Golden Flashes finishing in the top four in the league, like they have been so often under Head Coach Rob Senderoff.
Last season, Kent State limped to an eighth place finish in the MAC and an under .500 record in league play. Injuries, inconsistent play and a number of other things contributed to those struggles, but the number one thing that lapsed last season was the defense.
Kent State went from ranked number 41 in the country per KenPom in 2022-2023, to the number 193 ranked defense last season. The Golden Flashes record under Senderoff in close games is remarkable the last 13 years, but some of that slipped last season and it had a lot to do with an inability to get stops late in games. Senderoff is hoping last season won’t be repeated.
“Last year I would call a defensive anomaly, I hope it was a defensive anomaly for us,” Senderoff said Tuesday as part of Media Day hosted by The Field of 68 podcast. “One of the things we’ve hung our hat on here for a long time is how we defend and how we compete on that side of the floor. There was a variety of reasons why we weren’t as good defensively as we had been the prior few years, I think we were first or second in the league for each of the three prior seasons.”
“We’ve really worked to try to fix that in terms of you know, some of it being personnel dictated, but some of it also being coach dictated and how demanding we are for what our standard is and making sure we live up to that so to put that on the players is not fair at all, and not accurate so we’ve tried to do a better job here in the offseason.”
The offseason is for individual player development and skill work. But once the season rolls around that is the time for team chemistry and cohesion to take place, along with understanding how to play together defensively. With many players returning with defensive qualities to them, along with several newcomers that have defensive dispositions, Senderoff and his staff have put a huge emphasis on defense in the preseason.
“We spent September in particular really working on our terminology, what we do, why we do it, how we do it,” Senderoff said. “Now starting in practice, just about everyday has been defensive first in terms of our focus and our commitment, in terms of energy wise on that side of the ball and hopefully you’ll see us get back to what we think we’re supposed to be and what we proud ourselves on at that end of the floor. We obviously have a challenging non-conference schedule but the hope is by the time we get to league play we’ll have what we need in place to be successful in the conference and it’s going to be a very good conference.”
Senior forward VonCameron Davis is entering his fifth season, and has appeared in the last three MAC Championship games and done a lot of winning. He’s also been on both sides of being on an elite defensive team and part of the team that slipped last year. Davis has defensive versatility to him as we’ve seen him defend wings, frontcourt players and even post players, using his athleticism at times to front them.
“He definitely preaches it a lot and it’s definitely our motto,” Davis said Tuesday. “I agree with it. Me being here as long as I’ve been, just seeing defense wins basketball games definitely so we got to make sure we listen to Coach Sendy. We’ve got to make sure we’re doing everything we need to be doing and our additions this year and a lot of our players coming back are definitely hungry and I think we’re ready for this year.”
SULLINGER ON SECOND TEAM: Jalen Sullinger was named to the All-MAC 2nd Team on Tuesday, getting the attention of a lot of fans. Back in August, we were the only publication to report that Sullinger was returning to Kent State, and would be redshirting for the season, per Senderoff. Senderoff also noted that just like any other redshirt, he could potentially compete this season at any moment. He is eligible to compete this year. Senderoff addressed Sullinger yesterday at Media Day.
“Jalen just came back in August,” Senderoff said. “He actually not only went into the transfer portal but signed and went to summer school down at Furman and for a variety of reasons decided that he wanted to come back to Kent. Me and him had a conversation, a couple conversations, so now he’s back with us this year. So, I did not expect him to be back here and the way we planned this offseason with who we brought in, that was not part of the equation, but to have a lot of guys back, a core of returners back is great.” Stay tuned.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: The MAC announced yesterday that Kent State’s game on Saturday, January 11 at Buffalo has been flexed for national television to Friday, January 10 at 6pm on CBS Sports Network. They’ll play at Ohio on Friday, January 24 at 7pm on ESPNU and host the rival Zips on Friday, January 31 at 7pm on ESPNU. There is the potential for more games to be selected as the season starts. The program has played on national TV 36 times in the last three years.
November 13th’s game at Auburn is on SEC Network Plus at 8:00pm, and the December 22 game at Alabama is set for 1:00pm on the SEC Network.
OPEN PRACTICE: The team will hold an open practice this Sunday, October 27 at 5:00pm for all Blue and Gold Collective members. Fans are asked join by calling 330-815-0747 or emailing at blueandgoldcollective@gmail.com to become a member today.
