Kent State Ranked For First Time In School History
2/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio - In a season full of historic accomplishments, the Kent State men's basketball team can add another milestone to the list: being ranked in the top 25 in the regular season for the first time in school history. The Golden Flashes are 23rd in the Associated Press poll and 24th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll, both of which were released on Monday afternoon.
The only previous time that the Flashes appeared in a national poll was following their Elite Eight run in 2001-02 when KSU was 12th in the final ESPN/USA Today rankings.
"I am proud of how hard our kids have worked all season and this really gives us a sense of pride now that the program is starting to get some respect on a national level," KSU head coach Jim Christian said. "However, as nice as it is, it wasn't one of our goals for the season. We've said all along that our focus the entire year has been to win the MAC Championship and nothing has changed."
In recent weeks, the Flashes (23-5, 11-2 MAC) earned their 10th consecutive 20-win season in addition to picking up the 1,000th victory in the 92-year history of the program.
The last time the MAC had a team appear in the top 25 during the regular season was in 2001 when Ball State was ranked for four straight weeks (Nov. 26-Dec. 17), with the Cardinals climbing as high as 15th in the AP poll on Dec. 3.
After upending No. 20 St. Mary's on Saturday for the program's first regular season victory over a ranked opponent, Kent State is off until Saturday (Mar. 1) when it travels to Bowling Green for a 12:30 p.m. tip.
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