The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 254 is Kent State basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Kent State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 1
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 4
- Bids: 7
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.5
- Bids per season: 0.07
- AP Polls: 1
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 0
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 9
- Conference tournament titles: 7
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Kent State basketball
When you play 107 years at the DI level, you’re bound to have some history, and that rings true for the Golden Flashes!
The program definitely had some notable seasons very early on. Donald Starn coached them from 1933-43, going 111-96. Jim McDonald went 147-140 from 1982-92. But until 1999, Kent State basketball had never made it to the NCAA Tournament.
Gary Waters changed that, taking the Golden Flashes there as an 11 seed, falling in a tight, low-scoring battle to 6 seed Temple. Kent State would win 23 games the following season, losing to Penn State in the quarterfinals of the NIT. Then, in 2001, Kent State won the MAC regular season and tournament titles, and knocked off 4-seed Indiana in an opening round upset. They were no match for Cincinnati, but it got Waters the Rutgers job.
For Kent State, it brought in Stan Heath, who stayed one year in a season to remember. In 2001-02, Kent State won 30 games – the most in program history. Earning a 10 seed in March, they knocked off 7-seed Oklahoma State, 2-seed Alabama, and 3-seed Pitt in overtime to make an improbable Elite 8 run. They would fall to the Hoosiers of Indiana, for a little bit of payback from the season prior, but it was a season for the program to remember.
And do you know who was tied for the leading scorer and the overall leading rebounder? None other than future NFL star Antonio Gates!
Luckily for Kent State, the story doesn’t stop there. Jim Christian was the next coach, and also fared well, leading them to the big dance in 2006 and again in 2009. Geno Ford was next, and was a 2x MAC Coach of the Year, winning the regular season in 2011 and 2012 before leaving for Bradley. And since then, it has been Rob Senderoff, who, since 2011, has put together a 312-186 record with 10 20-win seasons and zero losing seasons.
So for Kent State, you can really look at the program with humble beginnings, decades of being a little bro in Ohio, to being arguably the top mid-major program in the state (not including high major Dayton) of the 21st century. Props to the Golden Flashes!