Bracketology 101

Hi again everybody!

The Golden Flashes baseball team took two out of three last weekend in a spirited MAC East series with Buffalo. With some help from some other league teams, KSU now sits one game back of Central Michigan in the race for another regular season championship and number one seed in the forthcoming MAC Tournaments. They have also opened up a two-game bulge over Akron in the MAC East.

The Flashes have won recent MAC regular season pennants in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Of those five instances, they won the accompanying tournament pennant twice. While it is nice to proclaim a regular season title, I have long said there is very little reward for the league’s top finisher from the regular year in the tournament.

Lets rewind to last spring.

KSU dramatically caught Buffalo on the season’s final pitch to win its third straight regular season league championship. The Flashes reward? They got to select their game time in the first tournament game, were the home team in that game and earned a number one seed.

They were also rewarded with Jordan Foley – arguably the MAC’s most MLB-ready arm.

While the record shows KSU had a phenomenal offensive approach in beating the power right-hander, it doesn’t make the lack of reward for being the league’s best team over 27 grueling games any less glaring.

The current structure of the MAC Baseball Tournaments – which were designed and approved by the league’s coaches and AD’s – isn’t terrible. It just needs some tweaking. Here are my top issues against the current format:

-       No legitimate reward for regular season champion

-       Poor solution for deciding home/away

-       Tournament doesn’t appeal to entire league

Since I’ve already touched on the lack of reward, lets focus on that second point. There have been some years where KSU – as the top seed – was the visiting team more than it was the home team! Should the league’s seventh or eighth place teams ever have home field advantage over the league’s best team over 27 games? I don’t think so. I think the top seed should be the home team throughout the tournament on one condition: as long as it remains in the winner’s bracket.

In 2007, only six teams (half the league) qualified for the MAC Tournament. It was expanded to its current format of eight teams in 2008 when the event moved off campus to a neutral site. When the Golden Flashes raised the conference standard in 2012 with their run to Nebraska, it also brought some national notoriety to a league, which had been dormant on the collegiate baseball scene for several decades. With that moment still fresh, the MAC could capitalize by attempting to grow the sport. In my opinion, it is very much on par with the neighboring Big Ten; and sometimes maybe better. Just yesterday KSU and BG picked up wins over Big Ten schools. There is no better way to grow baseball in the MAC than by expanding the tournament to include all 12 teams. Much like basketball, if a team is struck with injuries or doesn’t play well during the regular year yet gets hot for a week in March it can go dancing.

Without further adieu, I unveil my new and improved MAC Baseball Tournament format!

-     Under my proposed format, all 12 teams qualify. They are seeded 1-12 based on conference winning percentage (MAC games only), regardless of division. Appropriate tiebreakers would still be in place.

-       The MAC would have the option of playing the opening-round games on campus sites (higher seed hosts) or playing them at the main tournament site in Avon. These games would be single elimination. I have them set up to be in Avon. If they were on campus sites, they could obviously all be played concurrently.

-    Seeds 1-4 are rewarded with byes into Wednesday, which is when the previous tournament began. Further, they are rewarded by taking on opponent which had to conceivably use its best pitcher the previous day. The top four seeds are also the home team on Wednesday.

-        Higher seed is always home team. No coin tosses.

-    Two elimination games are played Thursday with two winner’s bracket games later in the afternoon/evening.

-       If two teams reach the title game undefeated, only one title game would be needed and played on Saturday.

-    There are several other title game scenarios which exist. For example, if a team from the bottom bracket is undefeated and a team from the top has a loss, that team with a loss must win twice – forcing play into Sunday.

So there you have it! My new and improved MAC Baseball Tournament. It gets more teams involved, rewards the top teams for their regular season accomplishments and eliminates any wacky ways of determining home/away.

Lets make this happen MAC coaches!

TL

Wagon Wheel Challenge Update!

Hi again everybody!

Recently, the Golden Flashes softball team came from behind to win two games at Akron's Lee Jackson Field over their arch rivals. The two wins on the road came in dramatic fashion for KSU, which was trailing late in both games! Due to the sweep, the softball team earned a full point for the Kent State in this year's PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge.

Their timing was impeccable as the good guys were trailing the third annual challenge by two points prior to the weekend.

Since we are once again coming down to the wire in the challenge, I decided to perform by best Ace Rothstein and handicap the remaining events. But first, lets recap how we arrived to the current score of Akron 5 1/2, Kent State 4 1/2.

FALL

While the Golden Flashes lost the coveted football Wagon Wheel trophy, head coach Don Gromala's volleyball team offset that flip by sweeping two intense regular season encounters from the Zips.

"Well both matches went the full five which is what you would want as a fan in a rivalry match-up," Gromala said. "I think winning in five at Akron sort of catapulted us to a good season and it wasn't just good for us, it was big for the whole department. Then in the second match we were kind of reeling a little and the importance of the weekend really helped to motivate us."

The Flashes also got a point for the second straight year when the soccer team protected Zoeller Field in a 2-0 shutout. Goals by senior Jessacca Gironda fueled KSU's triumph over Akron in October.

The Zips claimed two points by finishing ahead of Kent in both men and women's cross country at the MAC Championships.

AKR 3 - KSU 2

WINTER

Another dominating performance by head coach Bill Lawson's women's track and field team and a near-miss by the men's squad gave each school a point for indoor track and field. And Akron's best season in women's basketball history plus a regular season split on the men's basketball side gave the Zips a lead coming out of the winter sports season for the second year in a row.

Darren Goodson's miracle three-point shot against the Zips in early February may prove to be a critical moment in this year's challenge. Since the two teams' paths did not cross in tournament play, the point stands permanently as a split.

AKR 5 1/2 - KSU 3 1/2

SPRING

On back-to-back days in Akron, head coach Karen Linder's softball team rallied dramatically in the sixth inning. In the first game, a huge grand slam by Abbey Ledford highlighted a seven-run sixth inning which turned around a 2-1 score and gave KSU an 8-3 win. And the very next day the sixth inning magic was prevalent again. This time, Maddy Grimm - whom the Zips had elected to walk the previous day - smacked a three-run home run to left that supported rookie Ronnie Ladines on the mound and secured an emotional weekend sweep.

"I'm ecstatic about the weekend," head coach Linder said. "Obviously the sixth inning was huge both days and to have our players do their part in helping out in the Wagon Wheel Challenge is really exciting."

AKR 5 1/2 - KSU 4 1/2

STILL TO COME...

Women's Golf

Men's Golf

Baseball

Men's Track and Field

Women's Track and Field

There is one point available in each of the five remaining sports. Of those five, KSU won the point in four of the sports in each of the previous two challenges. The Flashes, it would be fair to say, would be favored in both golfs. The track record (no pun intended) for outdoor track and field is to split. And while Kent has swept Akron in baseball the last two years, the two teams are dead even at the time of this writing in the MAC standings. Perhaps a slight edge to the Golden Flashes for being at home, although the first game is at Canal Park in downtown Akron. Either way, even the most hardened Akron foe has to feel slightly happy for former KSU baseball coach Rick Rembielak, He has the Zips in position for their first MAC Tournament appearance since 2005.

While it's fun to sit back and assume wins here and losses there, it is sports and crazy things can happen. That's why we play the games! Either way, the PNC Wagon Wheel Challenge is a great little side drama to the end of another good season of athletics for KSU and Akron.

Good luck to both teams! And may the best team win!

(Again.)

TL

Opening Day

Hi again everybody! This is an exciting week for sports fans everywhere as professional baseball returns after a winter hibernation. It's a sign of spring and hopefully warmer temperatures on the way.

The nation's top lefty opened Jacobs Field in '94

I have some great Opening Day memories of my own. I remember my sixth grade class at York Elementary school postponing our history lesson for the day on April 4, 1994 to watch the first game at brand new Jacobs Field in Cleveland. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I also remember staying up late to watch openers in California and Seattle with my grandfather because we didn't have cable out in the country! And finally I remember venturing up to frigid Cleveland with my uncle and cousins to see the Tribe. One year we left Kent and it was 70 degrees. By the time we got to the ballpark it was 40 degrees with the lake and wind! We were all dressed in our 70-degree clothes. Yikes.

At Kent State, we have a coaching staff with plenty of MLB experience. So I recently asked them about some Opening Day Moments!

Head Coach Jeff Duncan

"It was Opening Day at Shea Stadium in 2004. We had former President Bill Clinton in the house to throw out the first pitch. I remember taking the field for pregame introductions and getting out to the line and seeing hundreds of snipers and secret service agents on the roof of the stadium. You knew right then it was a pretty important deal."

Associate Head Coach Mike Birkbeck

"Not a very happy memory but I got called for three balks in one inning on Opening Day in 1988. We were at home and the umpires had just established a point of emphasis in the off-season. They wanted pitchers to come to a complete and discernible stop in their motion. We used to just kind of bounce our glove and pitching hand together and then throw. They wanted to eliminate that. So I go out there and Tim McClelland calls me for three balks in one inning. It was also an interesting match-up against the Yankees because Tommy John was pitching."

Assistant Coach Brandon Larson

Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark Opened in 2003

"I remember when we opened Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati back in 2003. President Bush was there for the first pitch and he hung out in our clubhouse. I got the chance to meet him and told him I was from Texas and he mentioned something about it always being a good way to start off the day with someone from Texas. Then I went 0-4. Not cool."

So there you have it. Meanwhile the KSU Golden Flashes are now 16-10 for the year after a doubleheader sweep yesterday at home. They travel to OU this weekend for another big conference series. You can hear the games on our iHeart Radio channel.

And whoever your MLB team is, happy new year! May the next six months bring good games, great memories and fun times for us all!

So long everybody,

TL