Kennesaw State Basketball - Updates and Humor by Keith Spillett

2/26/2026

Kennesaw State Report Week 15: The “Stranger on a Train” Edition

I was genuinely impressed by Kennesaw’s gutty 58-55 win over Louisiana Tech last Saturday. The way they slammed the door on the scoreboard to close it out was nothing short of inspiring. I was so amped that, despite being 20 miles outside of Los Angeles, I decided I had to find a way to the next game.

I looked into flights, but the only option was a red-eye on Frontier. Having almost suffered a hernia from rowing the plane last time—and being highly allergic to the barnyard animals that typically roam Frontier's aisles—I opted for Amtrak instead. A mere four-day journey from LA to Atlanta seemed like the perfect opportunity for an intense, week-long study of Braedon Lue’s free-throw release.

Adding to the hype, the Owls were lined up against one of the most intriguing teams in the country. Liberty has amassed a stellar 23-4 record, only recently snapping a remarkable 17-game winning streak. As the odds-on favorite to take the Conference USA tournament, this was a can’t miss matchup.

I scored a rare Amtrak special: half-price use of a private car, provided you shared the space with a stranger. I’m not big on the human race, but the discount was too steep to pass up. I just had to pray I wouldn’t be stuck with some crank yapping about aluminum siding for 84 hours.

I boarded at Union Station on Sunday with a sense of excitement, albeit buried under layers of exhaustion. I’d spent the previous night at a Green Jellÿ reunion show in a Hollywood rock club and was running on roughly two hours of sleep. I was ready to stare at the mountains and drift into a coma.

A Summit Outside of The Summit League

You can imagine my surprise when I reached my cramped quarters and found my roommate already settled in. What are the odds of sharing a sleeper car with none other than the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln?

Incredible.

He gazed out the window stoically, at first oblivious to my presence. But there he was, looking exactly like the portraits: the beard, the stovepipe hat, the whole deal. Most people would be thrilled to meet a historical titan. Under normal circumstances, so would I. But I was spent. I just wanted to put on my headphones and space out to a Merzbow album.

Lincoln is absolutely gargantuan. I recalled reading that he was 6'6"—the tallest President in history—but in an Amtrak sleeper, that trivia fact becomes a logistical nightmare. His gangly legs were stretched halfway under my seat. I’m 6'2" myself, so Honest Abe and I immediately engaged in a grim version of Amtrak Twister just to achieve semi-comfort.

The Mid-Major Historian-in-Chief

We exchanged pleasantries, and just as I reached for my noise-canceling setup, he spoke.

Lincoln: So… where ya headed?

Me: Atlanta, Georgia.

Lincoln: Me too! 

Me: (Visualizing the yoga poses required to sleep) Kennesaw State has a home game Thursday against Liberty. Liberty’s having a huge year, and Kennesaw is playing well. Thought I’d catch it.

Lincoln: (Astonished) Wow! That’s why I’m headed to Atlanta as well. I’ve been following Conference USA closely this year. Solid bunch of mid-majors. Figured this might be the game of the year.  I love basketball.  I used to play a bit.  I walked on for a year at Illinois with Kendall Gil’s team.  Lou Henson was rough to play for!  I was kind of a tweener.  I played center in high school, but I was smallish for that in college and lacked the strength of a power forward.

I nodded politely and reached for the earbuds again, desperately trying to signal the end of the segment. It didn't work.

Lincoln: Liberty has really been something this season. 

Me: Uh-huh.

Lincoln: Same with Kennesaw. Have you seen RJ Johnson’s productivity since Simeon Cottle left? He’s a heck of a player. 

Me: (Fidgeting) Yeah, he’s great. 

Lincoln: But Liberty is my favorite team to watch. Ritchie McKay consistently puts together one of the best squads in the country. Just look at that lineup. Have you seen Zach Cleveland? 6'7" forward, but McKay uses him like a guard. He leads the team in assists, plus 12 points and 8 boards a night.

Me: (Losing patience) Yes. I know who Zach Cleveland is. 

Lincoln: Did you see that buzzer-beater against New Mexico State? What a play!

I now had one earbud in and a haggard look on my face. "Yeah... saw the highlight."

Lincoln: It’s a unique roster. Colin Porter and Kaden Metheny in the backcourt—both under six feet. Decker is a star and he’s only a sophomore.  You’d think they’d struggle with the smaller players on the floor, but they’re so quick they just run teams out of the gym. Though, I do have concerns. 

I was listening to my favorite basketball analyst Tim Scarborough on the NAZSCAR podcast—best hoops pod out there.  He really nailed the problem.  He said something like...“Liberty has been playing with small margins and surviving for weeks.  This team needs to learn how to win comfortably because I fear the fortune that has been on their side may start going the other way.”

Me: (Warming slightly despite myself) Actually, I listen to that every week. It’s my favorite podcast.

Immediate regret. I had engaged. I had given him the green light.

Another Painful Journey to Atlanta

Lincoln: (Excitedly) And what about Kennesaw? Isn't it amazing to see Trey Simpson and Jaden Harris stepping up out of nowhere?  And Pettway is so positive.  He’s really kept the team-

Me: Look, Mr. President—

Lincoln: Please. Call me Abe. I don’t meet many C-USA fans these days. 

Me: Right. Abe. I’d love to talk ball, but I’m beat. We have four days. Let’s just settle in.

Lincoln: (Sounding wounded) Okay. If that’s what you think is best.

He stayed quiet for exactly five minutes. Just as I started nodding off, he tapped my shoulder.

Lincoln: The offensive rebounding continues to be elite. 

Me: (Bleary-eyed) Huh?

Lincoln: Even without Cottle, they hit the glass every possession. Lue and Sherman use their size perfectly.

And on he went. For hours. He went back to the Al Skinner era. He lectured on recruiting cycles. He yammered about why Richie McKay belongs in a power conference. I tried everything. I pretended to sleep; he just talked louder. At one point he spent over an hour explaining his appreciation of screening the screener.  I pretended to snore; he was unfazed, pouring out a steady stream of mid-major statistics and KenPom data in that deep, resonant voice that defines the American spirit but destroys a nap.

Around hour twelve, near Winslow, Arizona, he finally pivoted.

Lincoln: So... do you have seven women on your mind? 

Me: Okay, look! I need sleep! Is it necessary to talk incessantly about basketball and now the damn Eagles? I’m not Stephen Douglas, Abe! I don't want to talk for four days!

A long, uncomfortable silence followed. Finally, mercy. But just as I collapsed into a deep slumber, a sound like a wood-chipper erupted from across the car. Lincoln was a world-class snorer.

Me: Hey! ABE! 

Lincoln: (Startled) Yes! 

Me: You’re snoring! Please stop!

Lincoln: I usually have a CPAP. The sleep apnea has been a burden. II’ll try.  I’m sorry.

Minutes later, he was back at it, snoring like a primordial beast. I’d had enough. I grabbed my bags and retreated to the observation car, where I spent the remainder of the trip. Occasionally, I’d peek back into the room, only to receive a menacing glare from the Great Emancipator.

We parted in Atlanta without a word. He was a great President, sure, but as a travel companion? A total nightmare. If I see that stupid stovepipe hat anywhere near me at the KSU Convocation Center, I’m moving to another section.

2/14/2026

Kennesaw State Basketball Report Week 14: The Problem of Socks and The Seasons That Never Were

“Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are, what might have been.” — John Greenleaf Whittier 

If you were anxious for a deep dive into Kennesaw State basketball, you are likely to be disappointed by the column that this isn't.  It’s mid-February, man. I love mid-major hoops, but as you probably discerned from my last piece, even I’m a little bit bored. They just lost to Middle Tennessee State—again—90–87 in a game they led for 32 minutes. They are currently hosting a solid Sam Houston team at the Convocation Center. They are either going to win or lose; that much is certain.

Instead of even head-faking at a basketball column, I’ve chosen to dedicate the remainder of this space to the question of choice and human freedom. I value freedom deeply. Choice can be its greatest gift. But on a Thursday afternoon at a Marshalls somewhere near Thousand Oaks, California, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The culprit: Socks.

Socks seem like innocuous things. I have hundreds. They mostly look the same. Yet, I have fierce preferences. I hate low ankle socks; something feels terribly incomplete about not being able to pull a sock at the very least past one’s tibia.

In my lifetime, there have been impressive innovations in hosiery. Even cheaply made socks now conform to the contours of the foot. The material is sturdy. A good sock can last. I have pairs twenty years old that still manage to keep my Jurassic-looking feet relatively comfortable.

I’ve been out in California for almost two months. I initially packed for a week. I had three pairs of socks I’d been cycling through until I was washing them every other day to fight the post-workout dampness and the inevitable foot fungus that comes with reusing wet socks.  I needed more.

Toward the back of the store, I found a practical shrine to men’s hosiery. Hundreds of pairs. Black work socks, white workout socks, casual socks, formal socks—a sock for every occasion. For a brief moment, I felt lucky. There are places in the world where variety is not left to the consumer. I happen to be alive in a time and place where there are more possibilities for socks than any human has ever had. This is the zenith of civilization as far as the foot is concerned.

I imagined the possibilities. I began examining labels, contrasting materials, imagining different versions of myself in different realities, all experiencing different socks. I could almost feel the symmetry of the perfect sock sliding onto the foot. So much freedom. My forebearers would never have imagined this. Throughout human history, socks have been either ignored or briefly considered. Lucky me.

But was I lucky? I was faced with eventually making a decision. And in making that decision, I was forced to not choose so many other socks. I couldn’t walk to the counter with thousands of pairs; I do not have an infinite sock budget. Invariably, I would choose one to the exclusion of all others. I imagined the possible worlds each pair could contribute to. In choosing, I was closing off endless outcomes.

I compared texture. Price. Materials. Brand names. What is the difference between a pair made from 97% recycled polyester and 3% spandex from a brand I trusted, and a pair made from 96% polyester and 4% spandex? The answer, I found, was about $11.

On what basis should I decide? If I buy the cheapest pair, I will worry that I bought a lemon. If I buy the most expensive, I might never shake the unnamed terror of being fleeced for an extra $5 because of fancy packaging. But I must choose. The "sock multiverse" evaporates the moment you take a pair off the rack. You abandon all other possible worlds. There is only the one in which you made some reasonably informed selection.

The crux of freedom is getting to choose. The problem with freedom is being stuck forever with your choice and only your choice. When one world is born, millions die.  Again and again.  Everyday becomes an apocalypse of what wasn’t. 

My heart rate accelerated. For twenty minutes, I compared and contrasted. What at first felt like a buffet of opportunity had become a graveyard of unchosen possibilities. By choosing one of 100 possible worlds, I was laying waste to 99 others. I no longer felt the joy of choice; I felt like a person sweating and pacing, trying to avoid a mistake. My stomach churned with anticipated horror. I understood the absurdity, but there I was, alone in a Marshalls, reading labels and trying to stave off emotional collapse.

I ended up with a three-pack of Champion socks for $7.99. The deciding factor was the cost and the assortment of colors. Up until that moment, I had reduced myself to a black-or-white sock consumer. Adding blue, grey, and teal felt like opening a new world. But as I walked to my car, I realized the exchange. I had surrendered all the possibilities those other socks offered. All I had to show for it was three pairs of socks.

Is this freedom? Is this what people fought and died for? Limitless socks? As they were raising the flag over Iwo Jima, do you suppose Ira Hayes and his pals were imagining that in less than a hundred years, I’d have more sock possibilities than I could ever fathom? Is this the legacy? Instead of leaving future generations empowered by what might be, will we leave them mired in the bleak sadness of what might have been?

Imagine the problem of socks writ large. A world where a million different paths could develop every time anyone makes a decision. If I were to tangentially relate this to Kennesaw State basketball, I would have to imagine game after game of players and coaches making choice after choice. Some correct, others mistaken, some irrelevant, others critical.

At the end of it all, you get a series of numbers to represent wins and losses. 14–10.  22-2.  5-19. Whatever. Those numbers sum up what sort of season you had. But you can never know the season you might have had. The sum total of choices is the death of possibility.

Maybe instead of counting points, rebounds, and assists, we should be tallying the worlds lost in every decision. Every pass is a world in which a hundred other passes don't happen. Every shot is a capitulation to time and inevitability. Every final score is a collection of dead worlds and un-born moments.

What if we stopped counting what is gained and began to fathom what is lost? What if we forgot the "shining moments" and focused on the dull, practical tedium of the moments that never were? Maybe instead of a column about what Kennesaw State’s 2025–26 season was, the more appropriate tribute is a bonfire for the season that wasn't, and never can be.

2/7/2026

Kennesaw State Report Week 13: The “Endless Existential Ennui” Edition

Basketball, like all things, comes in seasons—not just years, but seasons within seasons. Anyone who has dedicated a significant portion of their life to following the game knows the feeling. In November, everything shimmers. The season has begun; everyone is undefeated, and nothing is yet defined. The game is an endless wellspring of hope. Every year the college tip-off arrives, and I feel a burning enthusiasm for what might be: the early-season conference tournaments, the "bizarro" non-conference matchups, the intoxicating newness of it all.

By December, that initial adrenaline has burned off, but as conference play kicks off, a new thrill takes hold. Teams develop identities. You see growth; ideas are road-tested and players emerge. Even after a difficult start, no one is truly out of it. There is still time to improve, to reinvent, and to become.

Eventually, college basketball reaches its glorious final act in late February and March: conference tournaments, brackets, and upsets. We eventually reach that wonderful Thursday afternoon where 64 teams begin a journey into a frenzy of buzzer-beaters, history-changing shots, and explosions of greatness. It is a feverish explosion of everything that makes sports worth engaging with.

The Forgotten Season

But we are not in any of those places right now. We are in the "forgotten season." Late January and early February are tough on everyone. Coaches have been pushing buttons all year, trying to find the best version of the hand they’ve been dealt, but there are only so many buttons to push. Hope remains, but a feeling of weary acceptance begins to dawn.

The players are exhausted. The cumulative weight of three months of maximum effort is draining. Small frustrations have metastasized into full-blown crises. Some feel they aren't playing enough; others aren't playing where they want to be. The focus is there, but the looming question of the transfer portal begins to consume the consciousness of each athlete.  Or what the next phase of their lives will be after basketball. Or their Trigonometry midterm. The elite teams feel a vague fear that an incurable flaw will be exposed; the struggling teams keep pushing, fearing their efforts are in vain. In a month, most will be turning in their uniforms and moving on.

Just Another Saturday in Jacksonville

It feels like only moments ago that I sat in the Kennesaw State Convocation Center in November, watching the Owls in a wild shootout with South Florida. I remember scanning the court, seeing the potential in every player and wondering what picture would emerge. It was breathtaking.

That was an eternity ago. On Saturday, Kennesaw rolled into Florida for a matchup with Jacksonville State. Both are solid, middle-of-the-pack Conference USA teams that have experienced both extreme highs and bitter lows throughout the season.  This afternoon’s game would fit in neither category.

Every moment of every game matters, but it’s hard to keep sight of that on a Saturday afternoon in a mostly quiet gym. Jacksonville State raced out to a 15-point halftime lead. For Kennesaw State, the absence of Simeon Cottle was the most noticeable player on the floor. The Owls staggered to 22 first-half points. RJ Johnson, the default go-to guy for the remainder of this ride, made some shots, but Kennesaw needed a star like Cottle to carry the scoring burden. His absence felt like a missing tooth. In a season fast becoming a story of "what might have been," a team that averaged over 90 points earlier this year suddenly couldn’t manufacture anything on offense.

Mostapha El Moutaouakkil was sensational for Jacksonville State, dropping 26 points and getting to the rim at will. By the second half, the only real drama was wondering how many ways the announcers would mispronounce his name. The Owls finished with 58 points as the game ground toward its inevitable conclusion.

The Numbing Foreverness

Games like this are strange. Your mind wanders. How many different ways can young people put a round ball in a round hole? How many ways can defenders arrange their bodies to prevent it? Nothing feels new. Someone wins; someone loses. You scan the stats for a pattern and watch the screen hoping for a moment of magic, but it’s just back-and-forth, over and over.

In thousands of gyms across the country, thousands of players shoot thousands of basketballs—a numbing foreverness. A dreary void of repetition, cliches, and familiar movements. On and on, South of Heaven.

At some point soon, the exuberance will return. But for now, the year grinds on ceaselessly. No one will remember the game I just watched; it was forgotten moments after the final buzzer. It’s as if it didn’t even happen. On days like this, there is no green orgiastic light across the water to strive for. Time simply recedes. We stretch our arms and run as fast as we can, yet we cannot outrun the dull ache and grind of sameness.

The Owls are back in action this Thursday against Middle Tennessee State at the Convocation Center, followed by a home rematch against a tough Sam Houston squad on Saturday. Perhaps we can focus on that—and try to ignore the irrepressible sadness we feel watching our containers of flesh rot away as each moment slips into an endless wasteland of eternal darkness.

2/1/2026

Kennesaw State Week 12 Report:  The “There is No “I” in Defense” Edition

We’ve learned a lot about Kennesaw State since the world ended.

Of course, the world didn’t really end, but for an Owls fan, it certainly felt like it. Having your star player enmeshed in a gambling scandal—with a return date set somewhere around the time Shoeless Joe Jackson strolls into Cooperstown—is a death knell for most seasons. Kennesaw was supposed to do a reasonable impression of the 2008 housing market: crash through the floor and the fifty sub-floors below that.

The slide into oblivion seemed to begin last week with back-to-back road losses to Louisiana Tech and Sam Houston. The Owls stayed close, and they clearly hadn't quit, but while you could still feel a pulse, rigor mortis was setting in. Teams generally do not improve when you subtract 20 points per game from the lineup.

Then came Saturday.

It’s not as if a sweat-stained image of the Virgin Mary appeared on Kaden Rickard’s jersey, but calling last week’s performance "miraculous" wouldn't be far off. The Vatican is unlikely to send the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to the KSU Convocation Center for a narrow win over a struggling Western Kentucky squad. However, when the Owls climbed out of an early 8-0 hole against a high-octane New Mexico State team using—brace yourselves—defense, the college basketball gods surely raised an eyebrow.

Until Saturday, it was fair to say Kennesaw State could trade buckets and hit the glass with anyone. But they had also surrendered over 90 points four times this season, looking more like the 1982 Chargers than the 1985 Bears. When Simeon Cottle exited stage right, the faithful wondered how the team would outscore anyone. On Saturday, a new and remarkable possibility emerged: the Owls could actually stop people.

The Aggies held an 8-0 lead after a Julius Mims jumper at the 16-minute mark. I have no idea what Coach Antoine Pettway said in the ensuing timeout, but I’d bet it was a spirited but well-reasoned critique of the Owls' general passivity. Whatever was said, it was a stirring wakeup call.  And while some of their success was rooted in the “if you can’t kill it, foul it” mentality that had existed earlier in the season, they showed a new commitment to positioning and toughness that could serve them well against more skilled shooting opponents.

Over the final 36 minutes of the game, the Aggies managed a meager 45 points. A transformed, aggressive KSU defense held New Mexico State to a dismal 25% from the floor and 13% from three-point range.

I’d like to bottle whatever Pettway told them and put it in my coffee. Kennesaw looked possessed, turning defense into offense by scoring 18 points off turnovers and forcing the Aggies into a relentless stream of ill-advised shots.

A surprising subplot might be developing up at Kennesaw. In Conference USA, the Owls will face plenty of high-octane offenses—including the Ferrari that is Liberty University. But if KSU can maintain this brand of fast, physical defense, they won't just be hanging around games. They might just pull off the unthinkable.

1/26/2026

The Kennesaw State Report, Week 11: The “Chasing Losses” Edition

The 2025-26 Kennesaw State basketball season is beginning to feel like a truly epic bad beat. After a tempestuous week defined by a federal indictment and a subsequent inspiring road win, the reality of the Owls' new trajectory is settling in. How does a team plug a 20-point hole in the lineup mid-season? It’s a question that, so far, has no answers.

The post-Simeon Cottle era has begun in earnest. Drawing two quality conference opponents on the road offered little in the way of reassurance, though the initial transition seemed deceptively smooth. The first two games of this new chapter featured a rejuvenated RJ Johnson, who opened the week by dropping 32 points on Sam Houston. For a moment, the formula for success appeared simple: transform Johnson into Cottle and move forward. Even in Wednesday’s 93-87 loss, Johnson’s offensive explosion kept the Owls competitive in a hostile environment. Problem solved—or so it seemed.

Paying The Reality Check

The reality check arrived quickly. Superstar production is rarely a sustainable solo act, and when a stout defense like Louisiana Tech's focuses entirely on neutralizing a single threat, the results can be disastrous. Facing a scheme designed to deny him the ball and swarm him whenever he had it, Johnson was held to a brutal stat line: more turnovers (3) than points (1) in 27 minutes of play.

Despite the setback, Kennesaw has leaned hard into the “next man up” philosophy.

Frankquon “Frankquonstein” Sherman stepped into the vacuum with a phenomenal 20-point performance, while freshman Trey Simpson has surged, posting back-to-back 16 and 17-point games. The Owls even raced out to an early lead against Tech, but the lack of a proven closer eventually took its toll. Without Cottle to manufacture baskets during scoring droughts, the Owls fell 82-76.

The Odds Going Forward

There is never a good time to lose a leading scorer to point-shaving allegations, but the timing of this scandal is particularly cruel. The offense lived and breathed through Cottle; even when he wasn’t shooting, his gravity forced defenses to tilt in his direction. With Liberty currently 9-0 in conference play and gaining steam as one of the best mid-majors in the country, the odds of a Kennesaw postseason run have lengthened significantly.

The silver lining has been the development of the younger players. Darius Washington III is a rising star, playing with a poise and savvy that belies his freshman status. After a brief slump, Washington’s 10-point flash against Louisiana Tech showed his potential to become a primary force. Fellow freshmen Amir Taylor and Kaden Rickard have shown consistent growth, while sophomore Braeden Lue remains a reliable interior anchor on both ends of the floor. Through it all, Coach Antoine Pettway has been a relentless presence on the sidelines, refusing to let his team fold.

A Sunk Cost?

While hope isn't entirely extinguished, the path to the NCAA Tournament has narrowed. Losing a talent like Cottle shifts this roster from a group that can beat anyone in Conference USA to a middle-of-the-pack contender. As the legendary sportswriter Damon Runyon once observed:

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.”

For the Owls, the battle continues, but right now the house looks likely to win again.

1/18/2026

The Kennesaw State Report Week -9 1/2: The “Other Than That Mrs. Lincoln, How Was the Play?” Edition

Kennesaw State played two basketball games this week. I should probably lead with that. They won both. In any other week, that would be the headline. But this isn't any other week.

Simeon Cottle—the star guard, preseason consensus Conference USA Player of the Year, and face of the program—now finds himself at the center of what appears to be the largest point-shaving scandal in the history of American sports.

I had hoped this would be a "notable" season for Kennesaw State in the way a 14-seed knocking off a 3-seed is notable. Instead, the season may end up being notable in the "star player facing federal wire fraud charges" kind of way. Cottle might be entering the transfer portal in the coming days, but the choices could be between Leavenworth and Pelican Bay.

The Indictment

On Thursday, the Department of Justice unsealed a 70-page indictment naming Cottle as a key figure and leading scorer among the 26 defendants. For those unfamiliar with the term, point shaving is a method used by gamblers to fix the outcome of a game. It doesn't necessarily require a player to lose the game outright; rather, they intentionally play poorly enough to ensure the team doesn't cover the spread.

The specific allegations against Cottle are jarring. The DOJ alleges that on March 1, 2024, in a game against Queens University, Cottle, former Owl Demond Robinson, and a yet-to-be-named third player conspired to ensure Queens would lead by at least 1.5 points at halftime.

According to the indictment, “investors" allegedly placed $20,000 on Queens to cover that first-half spread. Queens held a 15-point lead at the half making the bettors a significant profit. Ironically, Cottle and Robinson played well overall. Cottle finished with 13 points and Robinson added 13 of his own—but Cottle notably failed to score a single point in the first half.

The indictment alleges their performance was a calculated manipulation of the halftime score through missed shots, turnovers, and innocuous miscues. Cottle was charged with Bribery in Sporting Contests and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud among other felonies.  

A Network of Organized Corruption

This isn't just a Kennesaw State problem. The indictment describes a network involving 20 college programs and 39 players. It suggests the scheme was orchestrated by "fixers" like Jalen Smith (a basketball trainer not to be confused with the NBA player) and Antonio Blakeney, a former NBA player currently starring in the Chinese Basketball Association.

The situation is reminiscent of the 1951 CCNY scandal (which included players on several other college programs) or the 1978-79 Boston College scandal orchestrated by notorious gangsters Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke, who were later featured in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film “Goodfellas”.  The most recent notable point shaving scandal involved Tulane University during the mid-80s which led to the athletic department suspending its basketball program for four years. Tulane is also one of the schools alleged to have been part of the current fix.

The most recent scenario is much more pervasive than any past scandal. Investigators were tipped off by several anomalistic bets—nearly a half-a-million dollars wagered on the first-half spread of mid-major games between Kent State vs. Buffalo and Towson vs. North Carolina A & T in late February 2025. In the world of sports betting, even with the bets spread out over 13 different sportsbooks, the amount of action on the first half of games stuck out like a sore thumb.

If there is a bright spot in this nightmarish tale of greed and hubris, it is this: when Cottle allegedly attempted to recruit other teammates into the scheme, many of them turned him down. Whether out of fear of getting caught or a genuine sense of integrity, there were Owls who chose not to play along in spite of being offered significant sums of cash. In a scandal where everyone is being painted with the same brush, that distinction matters.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

In a situation with such high stakes, it is vital to remember the legal principle of the presumption of innocence. As former New York State Chief Justice Sol Wachtler famously joked, a grand jury could "indict a ham sandwich." (Wachtler was later indicted himself and, unlike the ham sandwich, was convicted and served 15 months).

However, if these allegations are proven, the damage to these programs and the integrity of the sport will be irreparable.

Kennesaw State has suspended Cottle indefinitely. Remarkably, in the wake of the news, the Owls played an inspired game, beating Western Kentucky 81-65 behind a 31-point performance from RJ Johnson. It was a gutsy win for a beleaguered program, but for now, the games feel secondary. The rest of the action, unfortunately, is far from over.

1/11/2026

The Kennesaw State Report Week 8: “Five Owl Outrageous Observations” Edition

Owls are truly amazing creatures. Much like Dominic “Scizzy” Scazzaro, my high school gym teacher, they have no neck and make strange noises for no particular reason. Recently, I have become so fixated on them that I have not slept in four days. I think about them every moment of every day. I spent several weeks at owl farms, trying to see as they see; to feel as they feel.  To be one with them.

Sometimes, I close my eyes and pretend to be an owl. I perch on balcony railings and fantasize about swooping down to snatch a ten-pound cat with my jaws. I spend hours in the backyards of strangers at night, hidden amongst the trees.  Watching.  Waiting.  Like an owl. I hope that science eventually progresses to the point where I can be genetically modified an owl. But until that day, I am merely an owl trapped in a man’s body.

Here are five things I’ve learned about these magnificent abominations…

1. The Supernatural Anatomy of an Owl

Owls have remarkably flexible necks, capable of rotating over 270 degrees. To fuel the growth of the specialized musculature required for this feat, owls must frequently consume the souls of human infants. This grim dietary requirement is precisely why owls are currently illegal in 67 countries.

2. The Offense Is Back From Winter Break

After a miserable road performance against Delaware—where the team managed a meager 52 points—the Owls finally found their rhythm again. The squad that had been averaging 89 points a night returned to form and hung 90 on Missouri State and 88 on Jacksonville State this week to get them to 2-3 in conference play after a horrific 0-3 start.

3. Unforeseeable Problems With X-Ray Vision

Owl eyes contain specialized blood vessels and magical corpuscles that allow them to see through solid objects. Their tube-shaped eyes can focus on targets 5,000 miles away through walls 300 feet thick. Unfortunately, this superpower is a curse; owls frequently fly at high speeds into mountains, automobiles and buildings because they are too focused on what is happening seven states away. In 2024 alone, over 27,534 Americans were wounded or killed by accidental owl impalements. It is a cruel cosmic joke played on their species by our malevolent creator.

4. Simeon Cottle is Back in Flow 

Simeon Cottle, the first Owl ever named a consensus pre-season Conference USA Player of the Year, has found his rhythm again. After a three-game stretch where he seemed to be forcing shots—culminating in a 6-for-21 disaster at Delaware—the star guard has settled back into the flow. Returning home worked wonders; against Jacksonville State on Saturday, Cottle exploded for 28 points only taking 12 shots from the field.

5. They Were Once Kings

Many modern owls are direct descendants of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Toward the end of the Empire, when citizens got fed up with being told what to do and stopped paying attention to their leaders, King Rameses the 192nd decided his pharaohing services were no longer required. He transformed himself into an owl in order to pester the locals. Subsequent Pharaohs followed suit. In 1983, the final Pharaoh, King Amen-Ra Springsteen the 14th, fled Egypt for good. Today, roughly 37% of owls carry the blood of ancient royalty.

6. Dominating the Glass

Even when the shots aren't falling, Kennesaw State has proven they can bludgeon opponents on the boards. Averaging nearly 46 rebounds per game (second-most in the nation), the Owls consistently grab second-chance opportunities while limiting opponents to one-and-done possessions.  They are never out of the game when they are attacking the glass.  And they always attack the glass.  Therefore, they are never out of a game. 

1/6/2025

The Kennesaw State Report Week 7:  Desperate and Demolished in Delaware Edition

There was a time, not long ago, when Conference USA (C-USA) commanded the same respect as the Atlantic 10 or the Mountain West. It wasn’t a "power" conference, but it was far from your ordinary mid-major, serving as home to illustrious programs like Louisville, Cincinnati, and Memphis.

Since the early 2000s, however, the conference has undergone a "Ship of Theseus" progression. Fans are left with a paradoxical question: If a conference replaces all its original parts, is it still the same conference? The NCAA has answered with a resounding no.

Aside from Florida Atlantic’s miraculous Final Four run in 2022-23, the league has struggled for national relevance. FAU used that momentum to "graduate" to the American Athletic Conference—now a standard exit ramp for any C-USA team that finds sustained success. Today, C-USA is a one-bid league and even the champions are treated as afterthoughts. In 2016, Middle Tennessee State pulled off one of the greatest upsets in tournament history by toppling #2 seed Michigan State behind a legendary performance from Giddy Potts. Despite their talent, MTSU was a #15 seed—bracketed alongside "one-bid" luminaries from the Big Sky and the Big South. It was a far cry from the days when the league sent Marquette and Louisville to the Final Four.

The Lynchburg Launch?

This context made Kennesaw State’s January 2nd matchup against Liberty so significant. The Flames are the class of the conference, and while preseason polls picked the Owls to finish second, "second" in this league usually earns you an NIT invite rather than a ticket to The Dance.  As noted existential philosopher and former Minnesota governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura used to like to say, “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

This was the "bellwether" game KSU fans had circled on the calendar back in November. Liberty started slowly this year, including taking a 40-point thumping from NC State, but they have since found their gear, punctuated by a sensational road upset of Dayton. Richie McKay’s squad features a lethal three-guard backcourt: Brett Decker Jr. (18 ppg), Kaden Matheny (14 ppg), and the diminutive sensation Colin Porter (12 ppg). They are anchored by Zach Cleveland, arguably the best passing big man in the nation. Cleveland currently ranks 6th in the country with 8 assists per game—the only non-guard among the nation’s top 40 assist leaders.

Winning in Lynchburg was a lot to ask; staying competitive was a necessity. Unfortunately, the Flames simply looked like the superior team. Their Princeton-esque offense frustrated the Owls early, building a 17-point first-half lead. While Kennesaw mounted a second-half rally that brought a bead of sweat to Coach McKay’s forehead, Liberty slammed the door to win by eight. If you asked the Owls Patrick Henry’s famous ultimatum—"Give me Liberty or give me death"—they might have chosen death after being exhausted by the Flames' elegant ball movement followed by pinpoint shooting.

The Delaware Disaster

On Sunday, the Owls traveled to Delaware for what should have been a "get-right" game against an impressively mediocre Blue Hens squad. Delaware performs the fundamental functions of a basketball team reasonably well, but they lack any standout trait that should have troubled Kennesaw’s superior athleticism.

Instead of finding their rhythm, the Owls looked like a team circling the drain. A squad that once averaged nearly 100 points per game managed a meager 52. Star guard Simeon Cottle suffered a rare nightmare outing; while 16 points and 7 assists look fine on paper, his 2-of-16 shooting from three-point range tells the real horror story. When Cottle is off, the rest of the roster must step up. While Braedon Lue and Ramone Seals put in solid work, the rest of the rotation struggled to find the basket. Meanwhile, Delaware’s Christian Bliss—whose name sounds like a faith-based Gatorade flavor—poured in 19 points to seal the 67-52 Blue Hen blowout.

The Road Ahead

The Owls now limp home with an 0-3 conference record, desperate for a shift in direction. They return to the Convocation Center to face Missouri State and Jacksonville State. Both are winnable games, but if the offensive stagnation from Sunday follows them back to Kennesaw, the climb back into the C-USA race will be a steep one.

12/22/2025

The Kennesaw State Report Week 6:  Rampage in Rocket City

Huntsville, Alabama is an odd place.  It’s the rare American city where the military and aerospace industries employ more than half of the population.  It’s also a city where more than half of the registered voters believe the moon landing was faked.  You will regularly encounter people who are simultaneously flat-earthers and also build technology that has sent people in tin cans into outer space. Huntsville plays host to an annual basketball game known as the “Rocket City Classic”, which is a really fancy way of saying an Alabama game against an upper-tier mid-major squad.  

Even the name of the complex where the game was played in Huntsville is hard to fathom. The Von Braun Center was named after the brilliant scientist Wernher Von Braun and is the only American sports complex I can think of named after someone who was an active part of the Nazi Party during World War II.  Von Braun paid his debt to humanity after the war by helping America develop space travel and nuclear missile delivery systems, along with working on a few Disney films.  Like everything else in Huntsville, it’s complicated.  

The game, however, was as uncomplicated as a game can be.  Two of the most potent offenses in the country, both averaging 94 points per contest, played fast and furious basketball for forty minutes.   For a place known for its work with the defense industry, the matchup ironically focused on two teams that are unequivocally not known for defense.  If you are into high-octane, fast break shootouts, Huntsville was the right place to be on Sunday afternoon.  

Kennesaw entered the game reeling from a loss at Middle Tennessee State, struggling to find their scoring rhythm all night on Wednesday. They shot only 15% (3 for 20) from three-point range in that game and got dismal performances from everyone except for “Franquonstein” Sherman, who overwhelmed the Blue Raiders with 11 points and 15 rebounds. Despite owning the boards, Kennesaw fell short, losing by one point after a few questionable late game decisions and a missed buzzer-beater by Braedon Lue.

Alabama was fighting its own demons going into the game after last Saturday’s pummeling at the hands of number one Arizona.  The Wildcats seemed to have their number on defense and held them below 80 points for the first time this season.  The Tide seemed to get themselves right on Wednesday, outscoring South Florida 104-93, but the early season luster from their huge win at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s had faded.

In the game against Kennesaw, Alabama quickly established their dominance, scoring 54 points in the first half on 49% shooting. Aiden Sherrell, not usually a key component on offense, led the Tide with 15 points in the first half and finished with a game high 21 by capitalizing on his raw power around the rim.

Kennesaw struggled through the first 20 minutes, with the ever-reliable Simeon Cottle hitting just 1 of 6 shots in the first frame.  Cottle finished with 20, but most of his damage was done late when the game was out of reach.   RJ Johnson used his massive frame to force mismatches and keep the Owls competitive, finishing with 16 points due to his remarkable physicality at the guard spot.

Kennesaw showed impressive resilience late.  After being down as much as 30, they rallied thanks to some impressive inside play from Lue and Sherman. Team defense improved in the second half for the Owls and they ended up outrebounding the Tide by 5 over the course of the game.  In the end though there was simply too much offensive firepower from guys like Labaron Philon Jr., Aden Holliday and Sherrell, too many turnovers and too much ground to make up for Kennesaw.  Final:  Alabama 92 Kennesaw St. 81.

The second-half comeback provided a glimmer of hope for Kennesaw. Sherman notched his second consecutive double-double, while Lue provided a fierce presence inside once he settled in. The Owls now have time to regroup before facing Conference USA favorites Liberty on January 2nd, a matchup that could preview this year’s conference championship.

12/14/2025

Kennesaw State Report Week 5:  This Column Is Sponsored By the Letter V and Spiro Agnew

“Veni, Vidi, Vici,” vocalized victorious Trey Simpson (26 points) after vituperatively vanquishing victims Southern Wesleyan 121-66.  

Speaking of the letter V….

What three schools since 2013 whose name starts with the letter “V” have won National Championships?

Villanova, Virginia and Vacated

(That last part was for you, Mr. Pitino)

Venceremos,

Vindictive and Vile Versifier of Versus Verses

12/7/2025

The Kennesaw State Report Week 4:  Breeding Lilacs Out of a Dead Land Edition

British novelist JG Ballard once infamously began his 1975 classic tale of societal decay and dysthymia “High Rise” with the words “Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr. Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.”  As I drove onto the Kennesaw State campus for the Saturday tilt against Georgia State, I couldn’t help but think about that sentence.  The previous night, Kennesaw State’s football team had finished off an improbable run to a Conference USA championship coming off a woeful 2-10 season the previous year.  

The Friday night win had led to an all-night celebration that spiraled into complete madness.  The type of party that made the last days of the Roman Empire look like a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party for a nine-year-old. Burnt husks of buildings littered the campus, joyfully smoldering from the acrid scent of molotov cocktails thrown by excited KSU football fans.  Rows of students, exhausted from raging to hours of echoes of Lil Baby’s “Perfect Timing” mixtape collapsed and scattered like leaves across the Green.  The Friday-night-turned-Saturday-morning bacchanal was just coming to an end, but there was basketball to be played.  A confused student wobbled over to me as I was walking purposefully through the detritus of victory towards the arena and asked me, “What’s the game?!?”

A strange question.  Under ordinary circumstances, I would have assumed he was trying to find out when the game was tipping off.  The bizarre state of the campus led me to wonder if he wasn’t questioning the very nature of the game.  Basketball.  What was it?  Why do five people run back-and-forth trying to stand in the way of five other people banging an orange ball into the ground?  What is this strange game that compels me to hang out in gyms on Saturday afternoon and yell excitedly at strangers?  I imagined Dr. Laing chewing on a Pomeranian and staring blankly at the court trying to make sense of it all.  On Saturday, Kennesaw State provided a definitive answer.

Georgia State has been an under-the-radar sleeper since the 1990s, but this team was nowhere near the “Ron Hunter on a Scooter” glory years or even the salad days of Lefty Driesell, and has become the mid-major equivalent of the Ottoman Empire around the start of The Great War.   The crowd wiped the collective sleep from its eyes and howled for blood as the Owls spent the first 12 minutes of the game with the pedal to the floor racing out to a 29-11 lead against a clearly overmatched Panther squad.

After the initial surge, it was hard to stay focused.  I spent the rest of the half trying to figure out what happened to last season's Georgia State crowd favorite Clash Peters.  Where was he?  Had he been abducted?  Was he in the Witness Protection program after turning state's evidence and testifying against a teammate for travelling?  Should I start printing up #FreeClashPeters tee-shirts?  How does a 6 foot 9 kid just evaporate?  I really believe his 3 points per game and inspirationally adequate defense could have made a huge difference early against the Owls as Braeden Lue repeatedly ran Panthers over on the way to the basket on his way to 15 points in 24 minutes.  Lue could have had a hundred if he wanted to, the Panthers weren’t stopping him or freshman reserve Amir Taylor as they jackhammered dunk after dunk down the Panthers gullet. Taylor stepped up putting together his first college double-double, leading the team with 18 points and 12 boards.

Darius Washington III, a freshman with the fluidity and savvy of a wily veteran, kept the team’s Chi flowing by elegantly moving the ball and finding shots within the rhythm of the offense.  He finished with 13 points, 6 boards and 3 assists.  He and fellow freshman Kaden Rickard closed out everything on the perimeter forcing the Panthers into a Starksian nightmare, shooting a putrid 27 percent from the field and 20 percent from 3.  

Kennesaw briefly threw the game on autopilot in the first half as they had done at points earlier in the week in a Hooty Ho-Hum win over Jackson State and Georgia State snuck back to within 10, but that was the closest they ever got as the Owls refocused and ran the lead to 28.   The really impressive part was that they did most of their damage with Simeon Cottle, the team’s catalyst and leading scorer, on the bench with foul trouble.  The depth here is real.

The second half was a blur of hasty foul calls and inelegant possessions as the game wound its way through garbage time to an inevitable 91-69 conclusion.  Kennesaw again showed that, in answer to the question the kid asked to me on the way in, the game is “we score a lot of points and you don’t”.  The win ran their record to 7-2 and showed that this team has a very real shot to hang a Conference USA Championship banner next to the football team’s in March.

11/30/2025

The Kennesaw State Report Week 3:  Showdown in Dunk City

Kennesaw State travelled to Fort Myers, Florida to compete in the most confusing early season tournament in all of college basketball, Coconut Hoops.  Formerly the more coherent and traditional Gulf Coast Showdown, Coconut Hoops the current name of this preseason "thing" where teams play other teams.  It has two divisions, one is known as the Royal Palm Division.  This is a standard four team tournament where you win and go to the finals or lose and go to the consolation game.  There is a second division called the Tarpon Division, where they play a round robin slate of three games and it becomes next to impossible to figure out how and why a team has won or lost the division without a degree in Quantum Mechanics.  The winner of both divisions don’t actually play each other, which begs the question why these are called divisions and not simply separate tournaments.  It was a fun event and basketball is certainly played for three days but I can’t help but wonder if the creator of this event also happened to design the traffic infrastructure for the city of Atlanta.  

The important part was that Kennesaw had three games in three days against three quality opponents.  They opened with a battle against Rice University.  As a sportswriter, I’ve always envied people who cover Rice University.  They don’t win all that much but the headlines seem to write themselves.  Rice Fried?  Rice Boiled?  Heck…Rice Microwaved?  The possibilities are endless.  

This year’s crop of Rice is decent.  They are a physical squad who can bang away in the paint and kick out to three for some good looks.  Rice came out steaming and led in the second half by 11. Kennesaw stormed back and sent the game to overtime in this battle of high scoring Owls.  Kennesaw has some deficiencies on defense, but nobody can accuse them of not being fun to watch.  Even down double digits, they attack the basket so well on offense that it never feels like they are out of a game.  KSU got the usual 25 point fireworks display from Simeon Cottle, but Ramone Seals stepped up and had his best game of the year, also dropping 25.  Cottle nailed a jumper with 6 seconds left to send the game to overtime.  At that point, Rice was pretty much baked and Kennesaw finished the game with an 89-84 overtime win.

Tuesday’s game featured Kennesaw against the only dental college with a Division One basketball team, Oral Roberts.  The game itself was similar to having a root canal for the Owls.  Oral Roberts seemed incapable of missing from anywhere, shooting 56 percent from the field and 62 percent from three as they outscored Kennesaw 91-83.  Braedan Lue kept Kennesaw’s hopes alive, appearing at times to be the second coming of March Madness legend Kenneth Faried.  While he’s yet to become a Manimal, it’s hard to say his contribution is minimal.  He racked up 17 points and 9 rebounds asserting his size and strength to control the paint for long stretches of the game.

Wednesday featured the marquee matchup of the tournament as Kennesaw played against hometown favorite Florida Gulf Coast.  If you happened to be in a coma in March 2013, you missed their legendary Dunk City run in the NCAA tournament where they became the first 15 seed ever to advance to the Sweet 16.  While this year’s version is not as versatile and athletic as that squad, they are certainly high flying enough to be considered a Dunk Suburb located within driving distance of Dunk City.  Both teams love to get out and run and the crowd at the Alico Arena were witness to an exciting, back-and-forth game between two teams who never seem to come close to a shot clock violation.  

Simeon Cottle gave one of the greatest performances in his storied 4 year run with the program, scoring 33 points, including 11 in the frantic extra period of basketball, sealing a wild 102-100 victory.  Kennesaw was quite literally perfect in the extra frame. 4-4 from the field, 2-2 from three point range and 12-12 from the free throw line is about as efficient as a team can be in the final five minutes.  

With this victory, they won the Tarpon Division of Coconut Hoops.  They were 2-1 in the tournament and beat the other 2-1 team in the last game, so that should permit the requisite cutting of the nets.  However, I was left puzzling over who would have won the tournament if Oral Roberts had beaten Rice.  They would have ended up 2-1 in the tournament and would have beaten KSU, but would have lost to Gulf Coast. It was the basketball version of the Paradox of Ouroboros.  Is the snake eating its tail or the tail eating the snake? These are strange times.  The Owls start their home stand on Tuesday against Jackson State, then play their annual interstate grudge match with Georgia State on Friday night.

11/16/2025

Kennesaw State Report Week 2 (Deadbeat Dad Edition)

Huge game this weekend with South Florida, but I was faced with a moral conundrum.  My son Moses is a student at Kennesaw.  He’s named after Moses Malone, but he can’t stand basketball.   This is my court appointed weekend to spend time with him, but this is a critical game and I was not planning on missing it.  Usually I take him to the zoo, but South Florida plays really exciting up tempo basketball and I’ve been looking forward to this matchup for a while. Also, we were temporarily banned from our usual place after an embarrassing episode when I snuck in the flamingo cages and tried to do a comedic impression of William Hurt’s apeman alter-ego in “Altered States”.

Moses is my son from my brief and tempestuous seventh marriage to actress Zsa Zsa Garbor. I remembered it being his birthday this week so I figured this would be a nice way to spend it.  I have 23 kids from 9 marriages, so keeping all the dates in my head is no small feat. I wasn’t sure how to make the game interesting for him, so I bet his entire college tuition for next semester on Kennesaw State.  Told him if they beat the spread, I'd split the winnings with him.  It’s a home game and they were getting 7 ½, so I felt like this was a safe way to make the game more exciting for him with very little downside.  

He was pretty angry when I told him, but I’ve never seen him more excited to watch a game.  Plus, it being his birthday and all, I got him three packs of Black and Milds and a quart of Early Times to really make him feel good.  We were set for a day of hardcore father and son bonding. 

We got there early and I tried to impress him by unsuccessfully poaching free food from the season ticket holder suite.  When we were asked to leave, I screamed back “We are the media!  Are you trying to deny our Constitutional right to beignets?!?!  We need sustenance to freely express ourselves!  Haven't you people heard of the First Amendment!?!?!”  

I used my press badge to get him on the floor and see if they’d let him participate in warmups, but again, my clout as “a member of the working media” wasn’t nearly as helpful as I had hoped.  After a little bit of shouting and some threats from the staff, we settled into press row for an exciting afternoon.

What jumps off about Kennesaw State in person is how rugged and physical they look.  “Frankquonstein” Sherman, Ramon Seals and Braeden Lue completely controlled the glass early, ripping down a flurry of offensive rebounds.  On the not-so-bright side, there were a lot of offensive rebound opportunities because KSU came out Siberian cold, missing every sort of shot you could imagine. I got the impression this was going to be your standard bloodbath of a November game, something more akin to rugby than basketball.  The officials certainly legislated it that way, calling 53 fouls, making me wonder if they were working the game on commission.  But, once South Florida started to get in an offensive rhythm, we buckled in for a fast-paced, high scoring, freewheeling ride of a game.  

South Florida is a fun team on offense.  If they shortened the shot clock to 10 seconds in the offseason, USF wouldn’t have amassed more than a handful of violations.  Brian Hodgson brought the chuck and duck ethic of the Sun Belt conference, a touch of the seven seconds or less Mike D’Antoni mentality, and some outstanding transfers with him from Arkansas State.  In spite of the breakneck pace they play at, USF is extraordinarily efficient offensively and seems capable of putting up 100 any night.  If they make it to The Dance, they could be one of those 8-9 seeds that can single-handedly destroy a bracket.  They have outstanding depth and score at will.

One of those transfers, Joseph Pinion, is perfectly suited for this sort of offense.  His first two threes came on off-balance, well-guarded inbounds plays where he seemed to be falling into the third row.  No matter.  Strings!  In spite of playing 19 minutes because of foul trouble, he finished with a team high 24, going 5-7 from the field, 3-3 from three and 11-12 from the line.  Another Arkansas State transfer Izaiyah “Baby Face” Nelson, regularly made KSU pay for losing him on high pick and rolls, finishing 6 for 10 from the field and 6-6 from the line with 18 points, in spite of the Owls' interior toughness.

As South Florida raced out to a double digit lead at the half, things seemed tense between myself and Moses.  Our fun early banter had taken on a much darker edge.  He said that the USF coach reminded him of “one of those guys who spends his time making waitresses at sports bars uncomfortable.”  This clearly was not aimed at Hodgson, but rather was a passive aggressive reference to an embarrassing episode he experienced with me when he was 8, but I let it slide.  The elephant in the arena was that Kennesaw State was down 46-31 and it looked very much like he was going to have to pick up another part time job to cover the impact of my ill-advised gambling experiment.  

Hope sprang eternal in the second half as Kennesaw State worked their way into an impressive offensive groove.  Simeon Cottle, who finished with 25, and a few other teammates started burying threes and the arena was rocking.  When they cut the lead to five, Moses even started to smile, cheer and stop threatening to leave to “go check on his laundry”.  Freshman Darius Washington showed an impressive ability to calm things down and refocus the team.  RJ Johnson usually brings the ball up the floor, but in spite of his strength and offensive prowess, he has the tendency to force things, which wreaks havoc on their ability to get into any kind of flow.  Hopefully, Washington will see more minutes doing that as the season progresses because his poise and composure are contagious.

Kennesaw seemed on the brink of taking the game over.  The fans seemed one basket away from tearing the roof off of the place.  But, KSU seemed to never be able to make that basket and USF’s relentless scoring eventually overwhelmed the Owls as the game slipped away late, 108-89. The Owls had their moments, they worked tirelessly on the offensive glass, hit some clutch shots and made a series of huge defensive stops in the second half. But, as things started to spiral, I lost focus on the game and became distracted by my son’s looming death glare.  

The Bulls ran away in the last five minutes and things turned ugly.  I tried to be comforting by saying positive things like “I was watching Green Acres the other night and your mom was really great in the episode I saw.”  He rolled his eyes, “That’s my aunt Ava.  And Eddie Albert was more of a father to me than you'll ever be!"

By the end of the game, I went into pure consolation mode. “I know you're angry about the tuition money, but I can make it back no problem.  I’m gonna go to the legbreakers and get an advance.  I got a great tip on the third race at Belmont in a couple weeks.”

He wordlessly stared at the court.  I tried again,”I was just trying to give you a good birthday.  I figured between the game, the smokes and the scotch, you’d be happy.”

He coldly responded, “My birthday is in June.”

Hopefully, KSU’s performance going forward is better than my parenting.  They will try to get back on track next weekend in the three day Coconut Hoops Holiday Basketball Extravaganza in Fort Myers with three games in three days starting with a tilt on Friday against Rice.  That battle will go a long way in determining which team will get the coveted title of “Best Team in America with an Owl Mascot”.

11/9/2025

Kennesaw State Basketball Season Preview and Week One Report

Antoine Pettway and the crew at Kennesaw State had an impressive first week to start the 2025-26 campaign.  Pettway enters his third season at the helm of a program that seems finally and mercifully headed in the right direction.  Long ago, Kennesaw State was a Division II powerhouse winning a National Championship in 2003. It looked like only a matter of time before this fast-growing Atlanta area school was going to be a midmajor force to be reckoned with.  Instead, the school spent the better part of two decades after their jump to D1 as the perennial doormat in the Atlantic Sun Conference.  

A long string of talented coaches watched their souls ripped from their bodies by teams that rarely managed double digit wins.  When Amir Abdul-Rahim took over, the school celebrated his arrival by putting together one of the most listless seasons in the history of the sport, a 1-28 monstrosity in which they went winless in the A-Sun and staved off historical ineptitude by snagging one win against Gardner-Webb.  Inexplicably, Abdur-Rahim managed one of the most impressive turnarounds in the history of the sport, building the team into a 26-win juggernaut that came out of absolutely nowhere to win the conference in 2023, nearly knocking off an outstanding Xavier team in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  The late coach Abdur-Rahim moved on to pull off another rebuilding miracle at South Florida before his tragic passing at the age of 44.  

The talent level and expectations of the program jumped substantially as they moved into Conference USA two years ago.  Enter Coach Antoine Pettway, a talented Alabama assistant who was tasked with sustaining the incredible momentum of a program that had made the college basketball world stand up and take notice.

In his third year, the Owls seem at a crossroads.  They struggled through a 15-win season in his first year but began to show genuine improvement, winning 19 games and finishing 4th in Conference USA last year.  This is very much a make or break year for the program.  With a strong core of talent and some impressive newcomers on board, they were picked to finish 2nd in the conference by sportswriters and coaches.

The key piece of the roster is returning guard Simeon Cottle, a thinking fan’s point guard who sees the floor beautifully and does an outstanding job of keeping everyone involved offensively.  Cottle is a fourth year senior who has spent his tenure at KSU giving the team a little bit of everything.  He’s a fantastic passer, a consistent scorer and a rock solid defender.  Cottle is the consensus pick as pre-season Conference USA Player of the Year going into this season.  Also returning is Breadon Lue, an explosive 6-9 forward who showed flashes of elite talent as a scorer and rebounder as a freshman last year.  Several high impact transfers and one of the top freshman classes in school history round out a roster that has the potential to overwhelm the rest of the conference and return to the NCAA tournament.  

They opened the season by making Division III opponent Paine College live up to their name by holding them to 30 points and running away with a 75-point victory.  Their first real challenge came on Saturday afternoon on the road against a modestly talented Florida A&M squad.  While FAMU is hardly a threat to win a National Championship this year, they have an intriguing roster that features the children of many football players you watched 20 years ago at Florida State.  This Nepo-team is led by forward Anquon Boldin Jr., son of the former star wide receiver, and enough kids with the name Junior as a suffix to make you think they were intentionally trying to create an homage to the 1990s comedy featuring Danny Devito and a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger. They are even coached by former FSU Heisman Trophy winner and Knick point guard Charlie Ward.  Had he not shuffled off the old mortal coil, it would not have been astonishing to pick up the program and find former Florida State running back Burt “The Bandit” Reynolds on the coaching staff.

Winning on the road early in the season is never an easy task, even when faced with a less talented opponent.  Also, playing in a gym with a green and orange color scheme more appropriate for a dystopian Stanley Kubrick film than a basketball game presents its own set of problems. But, the Owls rolled into Tallahassee determined to take FAMU out of the game early and keep them that way.  

They jumped on the Rattlers early and often, carving them up with laser-like passes from Cottle to RJ Johnson, who finished with a game high 16 points and Ramone “Clubbing Baby” Seals who finished with a strong 12 point, 7 rebound performance. Frankquon “Frankquonstein” Sherman started the game off with an elegant layup and a breathtaking dunk to set the tone and KSU never looked back, taking a 14-point halftime lead and turning it into a 20-point victory.  

The Owls have a tune up against Point University scheduled for Wednesday, before their first major test of the season.  A Sunday home court battle against a South Florida team coming off a 23-11 season and is expected to challenge Memphis for dominance in the American Conference.  A win against USF would go a long way in proving that this year’s Kennesaw State squad is back and here to stay.