With the NFL season officially over, the sports world is set to turn its attention to college basketball and March Madness. In this week's View From Pluto, our sports commentator Terry Pluto dives into the unlikely path teams and players in the area have taken to reach Division I success.
While Kent State and the University of Akron are considered traditional mid-major basketball powers, particularly in the Mid-American Conference, the biggest surprise in the area has been Cleveland State.
The Vikings are contending in the Horizon League after the departure of former coach Dennis Gates and some top players who followed Gates to the University of Missouri. Gates won two league titles and in 2021 led Cleveland State to just their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The Vikings turned to Iowa State assistant, and friend of Gates, Daniyal Robinson.
"He looked around and 70 percent of the points that were scored a year ago were gone," Pluto said. "Only five players remained, and they were picked to be seventh in the Horizon League in the preseason poll."
Robinson's Vikings got off to a tough 0-3 start, losing their first game to Division II Notre Dame College from South Euclid.
"He was just able to kind of keep the kids together," Pluto said. "He said the five players that remained and some of the ones he recruited... Dennis Gates had a strong culture in terms of character people. Academically...this was not a cleanup job."
Cleveland State, relying on defense and Tristan Enaruna, who followed Robinson from Iowa State, heads into a nationally televised game against Wright State Friday with an 11-5 conference record, one game out of first in the Horizon League.
Kent State and Akron are also battling atop the MAC and are led by local stars. Solon graduate Sincere Carry transferred closer to home from Duquesne and is averaging nearly 17 points per game and more than five assists for the Flashes.
Akron's Enrique Freeman, who won MAC defensive player of the year last season, had a more challenging path.
"It's a remarkable story." Pluto said. "Freeman, who played a little St. Martin de Porres High School on the East Side of Cleveland, went to Akron, not as a basketball player. He was not recruited by anybody on an academic scholarship. He went out for the team. He made friends with a couple of players, and they just told him to come out. In other words, he wasn't even what they call a preferred walk on...the coaches never saw him before."
Akron earned a big win over Kent State on Feb. 4. The Flashes host the return match on March 3, which could have major implications for seedings in the conference tournament.
The Horizon League Tournament begins Feb. 28 while the MAC Tournament quarterfinal games begin in Cleveland on March 9.
