Recordpub.com - Leadership lacking for 3-5 Golden Flashes

It's not yet time to panic if you are a Kent State basketball fan.

There is plenty of reason to be concerned, however, by the Golden Flashes' current five-game losing streak.

Several other KSU teams have stumbled out of the gate during the last 11 years, only to right the ship in time to continue the program's string of 20-win seasons.

Those teams were always led by senior classes who were determined not to let that 20-win run end on their watch.

The 2002-03 Flashes won only four of their first eight games before seniors like Trevor Huffman, Andrew Mitchell and Demetric Shaw decided enough was enough and rededicated themselves to doing whatever it would take to win during a players-only meeting. They responded by winning 26 of their next 28 games in a historic season that ended in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

DeAndre Haynes took it on himself to turn his own game around after a horrible start to his senior year in 2005-06. He ended up earning Player of the Year honors on his way to leading KSU to another NCAA Tournament appearance.

The 2006-07 Flashes started the year at 7-7, leading to then-head coach Jim Christian's decision to pull seniors Omni Smith and Armon Gates from the starting lineup. Smith and Gates swallowed their pride and decided to lead by coming off the bench, sparking a 13-3 finish to the regular season that secured another 20 wins.

So now it's up to a new group of seniors.

The challenge has been placed at the feet of Al Fisher, Jordan Mincy, Julian Sullinger and Rashad Woods.

If their team is going to maintain Kent State's winning tradition and live up to preseason expectations as the favorite to capture another Mid-American Conference championship, it is up to them to lead.

"The tradition here has really been with our seniors," KSU coach Geno Ford lamented after an embarrassing home loss to Western Carolina on Saturday night. "We've had good seniors every year, and we've had all-conference seniors. We have won here because our veterans have stepped up and made winning plays after winning plays after winning plays. Right now, we aren't getting that from the older guys."

Ford was so frustrated with his seniors that he followed the script that Christian authored back in 2006-07 by bringing Fisher, Mincy and Sullinger off the bench for the first time against Western Carolina.

"The thought was, 'OK, let's really try to get these guys' attention,' " said Ford. "Let's try to wake them up. Let's try to really have them playing with fire."

KSU's seniors responded by shooting 7-for-27 from the field and 8-for-15 from the foul line in another disappointing effort.

"That's not the response we needed to get from these guys," said Ford.

So, what's the problem?

Some of the Flashes' poor start probably has a lot to do with an over-ambitious schedule that has left players more than a little leg weary. Playing four games against teams the caliber of Illinois, Texas A&M, Kansas and Saint Mary's in a stretch of seven days isn't easy. With only one more day off after a heartbreaking loss to Saint Mary's to get ready for Western Carolina, the Flashes seemed to have little left in their tanks.

There has also been the problem of practice time. Due to their brutal recent schedule, Ford hasn't been able to hold a single two-hour practice since before the Flashes beat North Carolina Wilmington back on Nov. 23.

While all of those issues may have played a role in KSU's disappointing start, Ford insists they do not excuse some of the mistakes the Flashes have made during their losing streak.

Kent State's defensive scheme is exactly the same as it has been for the last seven years, yet veteran players don't seem to either remember or understand their responsibilities.

"It's not the new guys making the mistakes, it's the guys who have been around for a while," said Ford. "This group right now doesn't care enough."

A statement like that from their head coach should cut this group of seniors to the quick.

Exhaustion and lack of practice time also shouldn't excuse foul shooting that has been dismal all season long. The Flashes have made just 102-of-166 free throws this season (61 percent).

According to Ford, those numbers offer more proof that this group doesn't take enough pride in its performance.

"We have spent countless hours in practice shooting free throws," Ford said in his postgame press conference Saturday at the M.A.C. Center. "The problem has been the guys who are struggling haven't really done a great job of coming in and being motivated to shoot on their own. In years past, you would have come into this building any time of day and you would have seen guys from the team shooting. We have some guys not committed enough to doing that yet."

It may be that players are too concerned with the frivolous than they are with working on their respective games.

A fan walked up to me during the loss to Western Carolina and asked when Allen Iverson joined Kent State's basketball team, referring to the shooting sleeves worn by a few Flashes seniors in the same fashion as the NBA All-Star.

Shooting sleeves are considered a silly and unnecessary affectation by most serious basketball players and coaches. Even for those who believe the skin-tight synthetic blend of nylon and spandex can help a shooter maintain proper form, the sleeves are often seen as a shortcut for players who don't spend enough time in the gym working on their shots.

For the next week and a half, the Flashes have no excuse for failing to get into the gym on their own. Kent State is heading into a nine-day layoff without a game, and after Saturday's loss, Ford asked his team to do some soul-searching during that time.

"If they are not committed to playing, by all means let us know because we can move forward at this point without anyone," he said. "There is nobody we absolutely have to have. We can lose with five guys from the Rec Center."

Hopefully, Ford's players spend some time looking in the mirror over the next few days. Hopefully, the soul-searching encourages Kent State's seniors to throw the shooting sleeves into the trash bin and lead by example by getting to the M.A.C. Center on their own during their breaks from studying for finals.

Players like Fisher, Mincy, Sullinger and Woods are simply too good and mean too much to their team to keep going the way they are going. There is still plenty of time for them to turn their senior seasons around, if they want to.

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This reporter can be reached at dcarducci@recordpub.com