Men’s Basketball Chooses Not to Participate in 2016 Postseason
3/13/2016 9:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
KENT, Ohio – Kent State University men's basketball head coach Rob Senderoff announced Sunday afternoon that the Golden Flashes will not participate in a postseason tournament this season.
"We were invited to play in multiple postseason tournaments, and it is an honor for any school in a league that typically only gets one bid to the NCAA Tournament to be invited to any postseason event. Ninety-nine percent of the time that we receive an invitation to one of these tournaments, we would choose to play, but after taking the last few days to evaluate what is best for our program and student-athletes, we have decided to decline those invitations," Senderoff said. "We are appreciative that the selection committees decided that our team was deserving of an opportunity to continue our season, but thought the best decision for our program is to not move forward with the season. While I am disappointed that we are not playing deeper into March, I also feel like it is the best decision for our program at this time."
Postseason participants in 15 of the previous 17 seasons, Kent State concludes the 2015-16 season with a 19-13 record after falling to Bowling Green, 70-69, Monday night in the Mid-American Conference Tournament first round. Senderoff has guided the Flashes to three postseason appearances since taking over as head coach for the 2011-12 season and his three postseason victories are tied for the most in program history.
"After talking with our seniors, I thought that it is best for our year to come to an end," said Senderoff. "Having participated in these tournaments in the past, it makes it really difficult to have success if your seniors are not 100-percent committed to extending their college careers."
Injuries have plagued the Flashes over the past few months and would leave them with a decimated backcourt for the postseason. Kent State was in great position to repeat as MAC regular season champions at 15-5 overall and 6-1 in the conference when guard Xavier Pollard suffered a left foot at Ohio on January 29 that ended his season. Guard Jaylin Walker was already sidelined with a foot injury and missed nine games before returning to the lineup on February 27. Guard Deon Edwin played the final half of the conference season with a knee injury. Additionally, guard Galal Cancer will be seeing a doctor this week for a finger injury that he sustained late in the season.
Senderoff, who moved into third on Kent State's all-time wins list, won his 100th game as head coach against Bowling Green on March 1.
In four years at Kent State, seniors Chris Ortiz and Khaliq Spicer helped the Flashes to 79 victories and two postseason appearances. Spicer, who earned MAC Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive Team honors this year, finished second all-time at Kent State and is 15th in MAC history with 163 blocked shots.
The Flashes will return three starters from this year's team. The group is led by two-time All-MAC First Team selection Jimmy Hall, who is one of only four players in school history to score 1,000 points during his first two seasons. Kellon Thomas also returns at point guard and led the team in assists (81) while finishing second in scoring (12.3 ppg)
