Recordpub.com - Flashes Ready for Big Stage

LAWRENCE, Kan. " Kent State takes on its biggest challenge of the season tonight when the Golden Flashes visit the University of Kansas and storied "Phog" Allen Fieldhouse for a nationally-televised game with the defending NCAA champions.

It's a similar challenge to the one KSU took on last season on a trip down "Tobacco Road" to face then-No. 1 North Carolina. The Flashes failed that test with an ugly 91-60 blowout loss in one of college basketball's most intimidating atmospheres.

Now, KSU head coach Geno Ford is eager to see if his team can build on tight losses to Illinois and Texas A&M over the weekend by hanging in a game while 16,000-plus fans at "the Phog" chant "Rock, Chalk Jayhawk."

"A year ago when we went to Carolina, we weren't competitive at all," KSU head coach Geno Ford. "We were run off the floor from the opening tip. So this will be a chance to see if we have improved and grown.
"This can be a great experience for our guys, a chance to play the defending national champions in one of the all-time best arenas in the country. Kansas has arguably as good a fan base as anyone in college basketball. It doesn't matter who they are playing, they show up and they get into it."

The Flashes got a taste of the KU atmosphere last season when Kansas opened its national-championship run by taking the court at Omaha's Qwest Center immediately after Kent State's first-round NCAA Tournament loss to UNLV.

"We were at the same site, and we would have played Kansas had we won," said Ford. "So we watched them a bunch last year while scouting in preparation for that second-round game that never happened."

Despite losing Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers, Darnell Jackson, Brandon Rush and Sasha Kaun to the NBA Draft soon after knocking off Memphis in last year's NCAA Tournament championship game, the Jayhawks haven't missed much of a beat early in the 2008-09 season. Kansas is 4-1, with its only loss coming in overtime, 89-81 to Syracuse on a neutral floor.

"They are very good," said Ford. "Their post play, which going into the year looked like it could be a question mark with all those players going to the NBA, has ended up being a strength. (Soph omore) Cole Aldrich has just improved leaps and bounds, and you could argue he is the best post player in the country. And at guard, Sherron Collins is obviously a very dynamic player."

Aldrich is averaging 15.8 points and 9.4 rebounds this season in his first season as the Jayhawks starting center. Collins, meanwhile, has gone from Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year as a sophomore to the team's go-to player as a starter in his junior year. The team's top returning scorer at 9.8 per-game last season, Collins has bumped that number to a team-best 18.2 so far this year.

"For us to have a chance, we are going to have to throw the first punch," said Ford. "We are not going to sit back on our heals. We want to make all of the hustle plays we usually make and be able to compete for all of the 50-50 rebounds and loose balls ... If we do those things, we can hang around. And if we do that and we can make some big plays down the stretch, who knows?"