School of Music | Student Recitals | Bailey Performance Center Morgan Concert Hall | 2:00 - 9:00 p.m.
KSU Owls vs Western Carolina Baseball Game | Stillwell Baseball Statium | 5:00 p.m.
Thursday | May 2nd
First Day of Final Exams
Student Government Association | General Meeting | Student Center University Rooms | 3:30-4:45 p.m.
Friday | May 3rd
Student Recital : Zac Evans, Saxophone | Bailey Performance Center Morgan Concert Hall | 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Saturday | May 4th
KSU Community and Alumni Choir Performance | Bailey Performance Center Morgan Concert Hall | 8:00-10:00 p.m.
Don’t miss any OWL Events!Check back each week for a new calendar of KSU’s upcoming events.Don’t see your event? We want to know!Please send event information to newseditor6@ksusentinel.com
On March 28, KSU officially introduced Brian Bohannon as the school’s first head football coach.
So, who’s this Bohannon guy? If you have not heard the name much in the past, you’re not to blame. Bohannon served the past five seasons as the quarterback coach at Georgia Tech. In fact, he’s spent the past 17 years under the wing of triple-option connoisseur Paul Johnson.
There’s no doubt Bohannon did a great job on the flats. He helped guys like Josh Nesbitt, who was recruited to be a pocket passer for the Yellow Jackets under Chan Gailey, and Tevin Washington into fantastic executors of the complicated triple-option system.
Unfortunately, there’s not much flash and dash that comes with a quarterback who runs that type of offensive system. While the triple-option offense is spectacular when ran correctly, Johnson’s inability to woo local players became evident as Tech’s talent dropped off in recent years.
This has led many to believe the triple-option is inherently horrible for recruiting. I adamantly defend my stance that Georgia Tech will be stuck under a low ceiling as long as Johnson is head coach. That system simply cannot leverage a brand against what other powerhouse teams have.
Running a triple-option for a mid-major team in a non- football area and winning seven games a year means job security and a rather original brand. Running a triple-option in the heart of Atlanta basically means program suicide, at least for the Ramblin’Wreck.
So what is KSU’s fate? Many believe hiring Bohannon is a terrible decision. But you have to remember that KSU will recruit and function out of a different environment than the one Georgia Tech is melting in.
Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams does not see KSU making a hardcore ascent into big-time football, which is what Georgia State will attempt to do this season when it plays FBS football in the Sun Belt.
Williams sees a more blue- collar market approach to building a football team at the FCS level. This means KSU will likely join a conference like the Southern Conference, Ohio Valley or Big South and want to marinate at that level until winning is made a reality.
Division I college football exists in many tiers. Georgia Tech and Georgia State have found themselves in the wrong tiers in recent years.
KSU might be putting itself in pretty good shape. Georgia Southern is also slated to become a member of the Sun Belt in 2014, which means KSU will be the only FCS level program in Georgia aside from Mercer and Savannah State.
When you assess what KSU’s immediate environment will be, the assumption that a non- conventional system will hinder the program doesn’t seem quite as tangible.
Many high school teams continue to run the triple- option system with much success. The reason Johnson is struggling in Atlanta right now is because he’s trying to field a specialized system against juggernauts.
Georgia Southern has run the triple-option for years with success as a smaller school. While they are moving into a new environment in their own right, the stage is set for the Owls to find their place.
As long as you don’t correlate Bohannon’s name with the negativity that has bombarded his mentor, the prospect of seeing the most fundamentally complex offensive system in modern-day football surely comes across as something to be excited about.
Whether you like bashing Paul Johnson or not, it’s time to get over the “oh crap” rhetoric and invite in KSU’s first football coach.
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, President Obama’s all-ear’s reaction that sparked a gun debate did not sit well with conservatives. While freak outs about gun confiscation and the destruction of the Second Amendment have been unfound and comical at best, Obama still had to find a way to rub gun advocate’s backs. On Jan. 27, in an interview with The New Republic, Obama likened with recreational gun owners when asked about his history with handling guns.
“Yes, in fact, up at Camp David we do skeet shooting all of the time,” Obama said. “And, I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake.”
Here we go. What we’ve seen so far from the new-age gun debate, which has focused almost entirely on the label AR- 15, which is a semi-automatic and ergonomically convenient hunting rifle, is a discussion that has been completely out of focus considering nearly all firearm injuries in this country are with handguns.
The national tangent of dialogue on guns has, however, shed some light on a key issue with the perception of the Second Amendment. Obama’s back-rub comments on his hunting past puts him under this scope as well.
Hunting is an integral part of America’s pastime and a tradition for many American families. However, hunting is not mentioned in the Second Amendment. While the national dialogue on the gun debate has not focused on hunting much, if at all, it has centered around a hunting rifle that is in high demand by prospective gun owners in the wake of discussion on renewing an assault rifle ban.
Conservatives are bashing the liberal media for misreporting what is and isn’t an assault rifle, claiming they are simply hunting rifles. But, humor this: if you’re trying to reinforce the foundations of the Second Amendment, citing sporting activities probably isn’t advised.
The U.S. Constitution states the right to bear arms within these terms: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
You have a right to a gun within the implications that it empowers you, as a citizen, against trespassers and tyranny within your own state of federal government. The Bill of Rights states, to the governing body, what powers the citizen has the right to wield. There’s a reason arms (in 1787 we’d be talking muskets) are written in with such implied power; They come with great responsibility.
One of the more dumbfounding pieces of gun-advocating rhetoric is when gun confiscation threats (even though, as stated, isn’t a reality) are followed with the formulaic response, ‘Well, why not take away our cars? Our baseball bats? Our hands? What’s next?’
Here’s where that reaction is completely off-base.
Cars are manufactured for transportation. Baseball bats are manufactured for sport. Hands. Well, I don’t really need to elaborate more there, do I?
The point is, guns are manufactured to kill. We have the right to own a killing machine under the confines of the Second Amendment. And, aside from hunting, there’s really no scenario where using a killing machine should be seen as something enjoyed–a novelty, if you will.
That is, unless you hunt. Anti-hunting conversation is usually retorted by the justification that controlling deer population reduces car-collisions. But, let’s be honest, how many are going out to hunt every day saying, ‘Honey, catch you later. We’ve got to go meet our deer quota for the betterment of society.’
In essence, hunting is a sport. AR-15s are, within our culture, a sport rifle. Even conservatives are trying to expose misreporting by saying so. Not to mention the fact that the conservative alternative to increased gun control is increased monitoring of who’s insane and who isn’t, based on medical records.
So, we’re going to take the rights away from people medics can deem mentally ill, but we’re not going to question the people who enjoy instigating the slow, painful death of a non-pasteurized animal? Sure, that last sentence might be a stretch, but the point is the entire gun debate has been comically misguided and off-track.
Neither side is providing a considerably decent argument, mainly because the argument went through the wrong door to begin with. The whole ‘what type of gun should I have’ debate turned brown and hit a new fan on Jan. 21 when Vice Pres. Joe Biden claimed a shotgun was a better alternative than an AR-15 for a woman trying to defend her home.
Under the parameters of the Second Amendment— specifically, self defense—an AR-15 is actually far more preferable to an otherwise vulnerable woman than a shotgun. In fact, feel free to watch YouTube videos of females shooting both and decide for yourself.
Our problem with guns in this country is real, but it has a lot less to do with the proper jargon and practicality of guns and a lot more to do with handguns, the lower-class, and a major lack of respect and civility between citizens.
In the past few months both the President and Vice President have offered shallow political rhetoric on the matter, and not much more.
Until both conservatives and liberals stop turning over the wrong rocks, not much in the gun debate is worth listening to.
That is, unless, you like contradictions, falsities, and irony.
We are all no longer left in the dark; KSU football is coming.
Last year, it seemed that the hush-hush tactics from members of the athletic department meant that the apocalypse happened in the Convocation Center offices. I spent three semesters at KSU as the sports editor for the Sentinel, and in that time I was never able to pry anything out of Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams.
I kept my patience, but feared the worst. Was KSU football going to happen? Wednesday’s approval from the Board of Regents was the biggest news that has hit KSU campus in years.
For the sake of news reporting, we’ve all heard the same things. KSU’s football program will enhance national perception.
It will increase the face value of our degrees.
It will attract more students, housing projects and community interest. These are all good things. Since my arrival at KSU in 2010, I’ve witnessed this university go from a standard second-tier backup to a marquee destination for metro area high school graduates, as well as international students. School pride is at an all-time high, especially with the brand new logos and merchandise.
With this announcement comes a new batch of rhetoric from the people in charge.
Who’s going to be the head coach? Where will we play? What conference will we play in? So, for the sake of everyone’s questions, I’ll use this column as an avenue for our next round of the guessing game.
To kill the first rumor, no, Derek Dooley probably won’t be the first head coach at KSU. The former Tennessee head coach’s father, Vince Dooley, headed the Football Explanatory Committee at KSU two years ago. Derek just took a job as the Dallas Cowboys receivers coach. KSU expects to have a coach in the next month and a half.
Here’s how the stadium situation looks: KSU Stadium, which will be renamed Fifth Third Bank Stadium in the name of the program’s $5 million donor, was originally introduced as the most advanced state-of-the-art women’s soccer facility when it opened in 2009. The 8,000 seat complex isn’t big enough, at the moment, to handle a Division I football team at a 24,000 student school, especially considering projections that KSU enrollment will be 30,000 by the time toe meets leather.
If you’ve ever walked into KSU Stadium, you might have noticed the oddly elongated, flat upper-concourse. There’s room for a second phase of seating on the west-side of the stadium. That could do the trick, but if we expect this program to continue to grow, we would need a stadium that seats at least 20,000 fans.
There has been mention of a completely new stadium going up on the other side of I-75. Here’s where we can place some trust. Williams was in charge of facilities as a director for the University of Connecticut’s athletics before he came to KSU. Facilities are not only a concern for football, but for baseball as well. Basketball, volleyball, track and field and soccer are all set with great facilities. One of Williams’ first major facility improvements was turning the Convocation Center into an arena-style experience with new LED boards and a fancy jumbotron.
For the sake of outrageous speculation, this football announcement is riding parallel with a current dispute between Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, the Georgia World Congress Center authority and the city of Atlanta over a $1 billion retractable roof stadium. The Falcons will almost inevitably have a new stadium by 2017, but recently reports have offered that if a downtown deal cannot get done, Blank will concede to footing most of the bill for a cheaper, open- air stadium in the metro-Atlanta area. Cobb and Gwinnett County have been mentioned as destinations for a site. If the Falcons move to Cobb County, KSU could have an easy out into finding a stadium with more than enough seating capacity. This is not rare: Many pro football teams share venues with colleges, and many pro sports teams don’t actually play in the city that prefixes their nickname.
Finally, we’re all left wondering what conference this team will play in. The Atlantic Sun Conference is a Division I conference that doesn’t sponsor football, but could retain the other KSU athletic teams. Either football, or the entire athletic department will jump from the A-Sun to a more accommodating conference by 2015. The conference will be an FCS division. Mercer, Savannah State and Georgia Southern are the only other FCS teams in Georgia.
The Pioneer League has been kind to A-Sun schools. Mercer and Stetson will join it this fall, along with a former A-Sun team in Campbell and A-Sun affiliate Jacksonville. Another option is the Colonial Athletic Association, which Georgia State and Old Dominion are leaving right now.
Speaking of, those are two pretty young programs joining the FBS, where Georgia and Georgia Tech reign supreme. Georgia State began in 2010 and Old Dominion in 2009. They will compete in the Sun Belt and Conference USA, respectively. As well, South Alabama, which started its football program this past fall, began at the FBS level in the Sun Belt.
The Ohio Valley Conference (which houses four Tennessee teams and nearby neighbor Jacksonville State of Alabama), Big South, and the Southern Conference (home to the traditional FCS power Georgia Southern) are options as well.
Will KSU be a winning program early on? Probably not. It will likely play a transitional schedule in its first few years, meaning it will beat up on a lot of Division II, Division III and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes schools. Expect Reinhardt University, which is playing its first game this fall, to come calling. The best news is, with Mercer beginning its program this year, the rivalry will evolve, and we can really hate the color orange.
The above text is basically your speculative style-guide for the next two years. Beat the heck out of it. It’s going to be a fun ride, and 2015 will be here before we know it. There’s no reason to think KSU doesn’t have the foundation and resources to become a football team we can be proud of for the rest of our lives. Being a part of the program’s birth will be something you will always be able to hold onto.
According to gun enthuasiasts, President Barack Obama wants to take our guns away. At least, that’s what all of the anti-Obama memes that are being shared on my Facebook are indicating.
It’s amazing how the news media and social media can turn us into rhetoric-blasting nincompoops if we let it.
The truth is, Obama doesn’t want to take our guns away at all. He’s not challenging our 2nd Amendment.
According to whitehouse.gov, On Jan. 16 Obama issued three presidential memorandums titled, “Tracing of Firearms in Connection with Criminal Investigations, Improving Availability of Relevant Executive Branch Records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and Engaging in Public Health Research on the Causes and Prevention of Gun Violence.”
None of these memorandums mention the confiscation of weapons. That has not stopped an outcry from those under the misconception that the administration wants to tackle the foundation of the Second Amendment.
An article on newsmax.com on Jan. 24 quoted former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III claiming that Obama would be impeached if he enacted an executive order on gun control.
“It would not be legal. It would not be constitutional,” Meese said. “And, indeed, if he tried to override the Second Amendment in any way I believe it would be an impeachable offense.”
Well yeah. Any president that tries to tear down one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights is going to catch some serious heat from this thing we like to call checks and balances. It’s what has kept us from having a tyrannical dictator in office for 236 years.
The problem with our society and the media is the fact we let sensationalized conversation become the foundation of our perception, when in reality the media gives us anything but the truth. This fallacy has evolved into a quick-witted, demonizing habit of challenging the public figures we think we hate through bastardized blips of information.
These viral memes, calling Obama a moron and classifying him in the same breath as Hitler, are off-base and moronic themselves. They’re all just as bad as the Sandy Hook conspiracy videos. But, I digress.
The same can be argued for those who identify themselves as the left, and how we can perceive it. Just because CNN’s Peirs Morgan hosts a gun debate show and brings on idiotic guests so he can prop his pants doesn’t mean the network is subsidizing Obama’s administration and is part of some underground plot to tear down America.
News networks exist to sensationalize and entertain. It’s why they can’t just report the news. That doesn’t sell. They must have opinionated programs with seemingly endearing hosts and idiotic counterparts to prove points. Yes, CNN and MSNBC are left-wing media. Yes, FOX is right-wing media.
If we keep letting the media be our guide, we are going to continue to become a polarized and dysfunctional culture and our congress will continue to serve as a microcosm of the spoiled state of our society.
The president isn’t going to strip the Second Amendment.
In a New York Times article posted Sunday, Obama made it clear he understands gun owners’ disdain for the thought of disarming the public, but also makes it clear that is not
in the realm of possibility.
He’s quoted in the article saying, “If you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were 10, and you went out and spent the day with him and your uncles, and that became a part of your family tradition, you can see why you’d be pretty protective of that.” “So it’s trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months,” Obama said.
Our president isn’t trying to take away our guns to make him and the government
an all-encompassing entity that will turn on us and tear this country to the ground.
He has signed memorandums on action in gun control because he knows we need to do something about the negative effects that gun culture can have on our society. You may not feel that way because you live in a rural area and have been a responsible gun owner, and he gets that. But, people who live in urban areas and fear being held at gunpoint on a daily basis don’t feel the way you do.
We are a people. The victims of Sandy Hook were part of our people. Victims of every day gun violence are part of our people. Our President is working within the confines of the American system and constitution to help prevent tragedies in the future.
Also, it’s the media’s fault for misreporting the AR-15 as an assault weapon. But, that doesn’t change the fact you still don’t need an assault weapon. It still doesn’t change the fact most steps will be taken to prevent gun violence with handguns, even though the right-wing media wants you to believe the fact the president is opposed to ownership of such weapons is the driving-force of this debate.
Nowhere in the process will he try to remove your gun from your hands. If you honestly think that you need to get rid of your television.
Since the announcement in September 2010 that KSU would launch a football team, which included a framework for the development of the program, little has been said about the progress. In fact, as time has gone by without major announcements, students and faculty have begun to wonder if the reality of a team hitting the field in the near future is slim to none.
Finally, after constant questioning on the subject has been met with guarded answers, the university has finally unveiled some good news.
KSU will present a financial plan to the state Board of Regents today in what will be the final step in launching the football program. If approved, President Daniel Papp and athletics Director Vaughn Williams will present the news at a pep-rally, which will be held at noon tomorrow at the Convocation Center.
“We appreciate everyone who has encouraged us, and we eagerly look forward to the board’s decision,” Papp said. “Whatever the board decides, it will have a tremendous impact on the future of KSU’s intercollegiate athletics program and the future of this university.”
The plan includes a $100 increase in student fees, per semester that will be added at the beginning of the coming Fall term. Students approved the student fee increase in an SGA vote in November 2010.
According to a Jan. 3 report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, there’s also the possibility of an announcement of a major donation from a booster—something that was considered vital to jumpstarting the program.
Fielding a football team will also mean the addition of a new women’s team, justified by the mandate of Title IX. There is no indication, to this point, of which sport will be added to the women’s varsity. KSU fields a women’s team in every sport sponsored by the Atlantic Sun Conference except for sand volleyball.
“Many of KSU’s students, friends and supporters are enthusiastic about the possibility of adding football and more women’s intercollegiate sports at the university,” Papp said.
The Atlantic Sun Conference does not sponsor football, which means the Owls will play in a separate conference for football. There’s also a slim possibility that all KSU athletic teams will join a new conference in the process. KSU would participate as a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) member of Division I of the NCAA. Other new football programs that have started as FCS Division I members in the region in the past five years include Georgia State, Savannah State and South Alabama.
If the Board of Regents approves of the plan, Williams said he will begin a search for a head coach that could end by February, as well as a search for conference to play in.
The 2010 plan set the target date for kickoff as 2014 at the earliest. However it has now been set for 2015.
Williams confirmed in an interview with The Sentinel last Fall that the Owls will begin play at KSU Stadium, which is an 8,000-plus-seat stadium that is the current home to the women’s soccer and lacrosse teams. The stadium was built to support football but, despite architectural features that offer room for a phase II, will not be expanded.
One of the best parts of the holiday season is college football bowl season. While our Owls are still not on the gridiron, we can still have some fun with what the break has in store for college football fans. Here’s The Sentinel’s BCS bowl projections. (As of Nov. 16)
ROSE BOWL: OREGON VS. NEBRASKA
The Sentinel: Oregon has a gauntlet left with Stanford, Oregon State, and the likely Pac-12 title game vs. USC. The stretch here is predicting the Ducks will lose once, or twice in its final three games. Nebraska will win the Big Ten title game over Wisconsin to earn an automatic Rose Bowl bid.
ORANGE BOWL: FLORIDA STATE VS. LOUISVILLE
The Sentinel: Yes, it seems lame that the Big East still gets an automatic qualification for the BCS, but Louisville, Rutgers and Cincinnati all have been impressive this year. Here’s to Louisville pulling out the conference title. Florida State has been one of the most overlooked teams all year out of the ACC, and should dominate this game.
SUGAR BOWL: CLEMSON VS. GEORGIA
The Sentinel: A Georgia win over Alabama in the SEC title game would regularly send the SEC champion to the national championship, but if the Bulldogs win, they still won’t have enough style points to impress human voters. Yep, a Georgia win could end the SEC’s national title streak. But, this matchup would bring back a great old rivalry. Clemson has been awesome all year, little to the attention of the masses.
FIESTA BOWL: OKLAHOMA VS. TEXAS A&M
The Sentinel: This Fiesta Bowl would bring back an old Big XII matchup. Texas A&M is on a roll with Johnny “Football” Manziel at the helm, and a 10-2 finish could send the Aggies to the Fiesta Bowl, rather than an 11-2 Alabama team. Manziel’s possible Heisman campaign could make TAMU a sexy pick, and a regionally relevant one. Oklahoma will replace Kansas State as the Wildcats will be heading for a chance at the Crystal Ball.
BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: NOTRE DAME VS. KANSAS STATE
The Sentinel: Yes, this can happen. Kansas State has been best this year down the stretch, against the best competition. Wins over Baylor and Texas, in a nailbiter, will send Bill Snyder and the Wildcats to Miami. Even better, Notre Dame will finish undefeated and make an appearance simply because the human voters can’t say no.
For the first time since Dec. 23, 2011, KSU’s men’s basketball team had reason to celebrate. Heading into the week, the Owls had left the basketball court 21 straight times without a victory.
That all changed in the blink of an eye last Monday night, as senior all-conference guard Markeith Cummings hit a mid-range jumper with less than a second to play in overtime to give KSU a 67-65 victory over South Carolina State at the Smith-Hammond- Middleton Memorial Center in Orangeburg, S.C.
The win might have been just as much of a surprise to Owls fans as the shot was to Cummings, who wasn’t even expecting to touch the rock on the final play of the game.
“The shot was supposed to go to Del, but Del passed it back to me and it just went in,” Cummings said of sophomore guard Delbert Love.
Love was handed the controls on the final play of regulation, with a chance to win the game, but his three point attempt was off the mark. The second-half saw six ties and 10 lead changes.
“I thought we came out and played hard,” Cummings said. “We kind of let them back in the game midway through the first half. We just had to come out in the second half and play harder.”
KSU (1-1) opened the game with an 18-5 lead, but only led 32-27 at intermission. The Bulldogs would take the lead at the start of the second period with a 10-1 run to force a more heated contest.
South Carolina State (1-1) outscored the Owls 30-25 in the final period to send the game to overtime, where the Owls finally prevailed. KSU lost to the Bulldogs, 104-98, in double-overtime last year at the Convocation Center.
“I am pleased with the total team effort. I think it started with our starting five, getting us out to a good start early,” KSU head coach Lewis Preston said. “I told them at the end of the day we are going to have to withstand some punches. Even more importantly, we were going to have to face some adversity.”
Cummings finished the game with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 2-of-3 from the charity stripe. Love struggled from the floor, going 4-of-15, but finished second in scoring for the Owls with 16 points.
Senior forward Aaron Anderson had a double- double for the second straight game, going 6-of-9 for 12 points, along with 11 rebounds. Anderson, who had 16 and 12 against Tennessee, was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.
South Carolina State was led by Adama Adams, who was the game’s scoring leader with 26 points, including 8-of-12 from the free throw line.
The Bulldogs also got a double-double out of forward Matthew Hezekiah, who had 14 points and 10 boards.
With the victory, the Owls continue the momentum it built with a strong, 76-67 loss at Tennessee last Friday.
KSU will hit the court again in the Comfort Suites Invitational, hosted by Eastern Kentucky, in Richmond, Ky.
The Owls will be back on the home floor on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Georgia Southern Eagles and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. vs. UT-Chattanooga.
Freshman guard Chelsea Mason had a coming out party off the bench for KSU, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Owls as an eager Georgia Tech squad dominated from start to finish in an 80-51 victory at the newly renovated McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta on Tuesday.
With the loss, the Owls (0-2) have suffered defeats of 42 and 29 points to begin the year, with their first loss coming 87-45 at Middle Tennssee State last Friday.
KSU made a game of it against the Yellow Jackets in the second half, as it was only outscored 36-33 in the second period.
“The second half we came out and played great defense,” KSU head coach Nitra Perrry said. “It definitely instilled some confidence in us and it’s going to help our momentum going into Morehead State. We set some internal goals for the second half that we met and I’m proud of how we played.”
Georgia Tech (1-1) was looking for a bounce back after falling to Tennessee in its season opener. The Yellow Jackets proved they were eager, as the 20th ranked squad in the country held the Owls without a field goal until the 12:50 mark of the first half.
Georgia Tech built on a strong defensive performance by shooting 48 percent, as opposed to KSU’s 22 percent, en route to a 44-18 halftime lead.
The highlight of the game for KSU was the emergence of freshman Chelsea Mason. The 5’7” guard from Bellevue, Neb., scored 16 points on 7-of-21 shooting, registered five rebounds and added an assist in just 19 minutes of play.
Mason could become more of a factor as KSU looks for a guard to help replace the scoring left by former Owl Taylor Mills, who, after having an all-conference year last season, decided to transfer to rival Belmont in Nashville.
“Mason is a very aggressive and confident kid,” Perry said. “She’s the quietest kid out there but I never have to tell her to shoot the ball and I appreaciate that about her. We need players out there who will work hard like Mason and shoot the ball.”
Outside of Mason, Georgia Tech’s defense was smothering, as starters Sametrio Gideon, Kristina Wells and Bria Young combined to go 9-of-35 from the floor. Wells did finish with 15 points, four rebounds and three assists from the guard position.
Georgia Tech was lead by Tyaunna Marshall, who scored her 1,000th point in the game. Marshall finished 6-of-8 shooting for 14 total points, four assists, and nine rebounds.
KSU was outrebounded 63-39 in the game.
With the loss, the Owls will try to carry the momentum of a strong second half to Morehead State in Morehead, Ky., to continue the Women’s Preseason National Invitational Tournament.
KSU will return home on Wednesday, Nov. 21, to host Troy.
KSU head volleyball coach Karen Weatherington will not be returning for a fifth season in the fall, according to an announcement on Thursday from Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams.
Weatherington was the first coach in program history, which began in 2009, and coached the Owls to a 63-56 record in four seasons.
“I want to thank coach Weatherington for her dedication and contributions to Kennesaw State over the past four seasons,”Williams said. “After an extensive assessment, I felt a change was in the best interest of the program moving forward. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.”
The Owls fell at home last week to rival Mercer, 3-0, to drop 10 of their last 11 matches in conference play. The team finished with an overall record of 16-17 and 5-13 in conference.
Weatherington’s best year came in 2010, when the Owls went 17-11 and 9-1 in conference. She was named A-Sun Conference Coach of the Year.
This season the Owls started 11-4 in non-conference play before slumping in the Atlantic Sun Conference schedule.
Stats may not tell the entire story in basketball, but if the final score of Friday’s matchup between KSU’s men’s basketball team and the Tennessee Volunteers could provide a sense of pride, there was no doubt Owls head coach Lewis Preston would buy into the numbers.
Tennessee (1-0) flexed its Southeastern Conference muscle by building a 61-34 lead over the Owls with 11:40 left in the contest, but KSU (0-1) finished the game strong against the Volunteers bench en route to a formidable 76-67 result at Thompson Boling Arena.
“I’m very proud of our effort, especially in the second, especially the last ten minutes of the game,” Preston said. “I thought our guys did a phenomenal job except for pretty much the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half in regards to withstanding some of the runs they had and handling some adversity, fighting back and showing some level of toughness and pride that we can build upon.”
KSU held with the Volunteers early, which meant the daunting task of dealing with All-SEC forward Jarnell Stokes. Stokes finished the contest with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, five rebounds, five assists, three blocks and five steals in 34 minutes of action.
Despite facing a tough opponent on the road, the Owls settled into the contest early. Myles Hamilton, a freshman guard from Cleveland, OH., knocked down his first career field goal at the 12:35 mark of the first half to give KSU an 11-10 lead.
Just a minute earlier, freshman point guard Yonel Brown, who started the game for the Owls, hit a three- pointer for his first career bucket.
Tennessee’s experience proved beneficial as the half progressed, and the Volunteers were able to pull away for a 42-30 advantage at intermission.
KSU could not duplicate its fast start in the second-half, as the Volunteers opened the gates with a 9-0 run to begin the period.
Despite falling behind, the Owls still managed to outscore their opponent in the second-half, 37-34. Senior forward Aaron Anderson had KSU’s most impressive stat- line with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 12 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Delbert Love had a nice showing as well, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-17 from the field and 2-of-7 from beyond the arc. Brown’s freshman debut concluded with 10 points and three assists.
“I’ll take a lot more positives out of this because we could have put our heads in the sand and let them have their way, but we fought back,” Preston said. “I’m very happy with the way they stepped up, very happy with the way Aaron Anderson played.”
“The team was just very efficient,” Preston said. When the final horn sounded, KSU had out- rebounded Tennessee 31-29, and owned the offensive board total to the tune of 15-8.
KSU also got in its own way, as it missed the final scoring differential in free throws, alone, finishing 14-25 from the charity stripe.
Tennessee had four players in double figures, including Kenny Hall who hit 5-of-6 from the floor for 13 points. Skylar McBee and Jordan McRae also finished with 14 points a piece.
Despite the loss, the Owls showed some significant progress under Preston in his second season opener as head coach of the men’s basketball team.
Last season, in a similar environment against the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, WI., the Owls were thumped 85-31.
KSU handed a defeat of similar nature to Piedmont College (Divison III) in its exhibition opener last Thursday, 82-43, which shone on the team much brighter than last year’s exhbition result—a 70-68 nailbiter against West Georgia (Division II).
KSU will play its next four games on the road, including a trip to Richmond, KY., to compete in the Eastern Kentucky Tournament, hosted by Eastern Kentucky University.
The Owls will face off against the hosting Colonels on Friday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m., before turning around to play Radford on Saturday and Towson on Sunday.
KSU’s home opener at the Convocation Center will invite an in-state foe in the Georgia Southern Eagles on Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.
