Belt Loops: Kent State Baseball Is Kinda Sorta Perfect Through Nine-ish Games

Rounding up the weekend with news of MAC-like interest:

• I'm sure there's a good reason behind it. The purported 9-0 start in MAC play is the best-ever beginning to a Kent State baseball season, and that's saying something for a team with seven NCAA tournament appearances in 11 years. Nobody else is better than 6-3 in the conference.

So while KSU beat Buffalo on Sunday by a 6-3 final to improve to 18-13 ... I really have to point out that they played two "non-conference" games against Toledo, losing one of the two games.

So they did lose to a MAC team this year. It just doesn't count in the way you'd think it would.

Now, maybe this is a standard practice in MAC baseball, something I wish I could follow more, but the games aren't always streamed online and if they are, they're not at night when they're best watched. But let's see if we can at least get a little more MAC baseball up in here. [Kent State Sports]

• Illinois may have begun the dominoes, but OHIO is perpetrating them. Because of the Bobcats hiring Jim Christian, now TCU is hiring away LSU's Trent Johnson, an SEC basketball coach (!), to replace him. [CBS Sports]

• Also, that whole "Fear The Dadgum Roo" t-shirt really made the Internet rounds on Friday. [Eye on College Football]

• Now that all men's coaches are hired, time to focus on the women. We still have five vacancies: Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Kent State and Ball State. The popular pick for BGSU is Curt Miller's former top assistant, Jennifer Roos, who says she has been interviewed but the process may take a few weeks to complete. And I think pretty much every Falcons fan wants Roos to succeed Miller. [FOX Toledo]

• The first step of Miami departing senior Julian Mavunga getting to the NBA is signing with an agent. And he's done so, going with Johnny Foster of Capital Sports. I'd like to think with his experience, explosive post move and decent ball-handling skills that he will get a look or at least a crack into a training camp next season. [Business Insider]

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