Men's preview: No. 13 Kent State

Kent State's Corey Conners

Kent State's Corey Conners

Men's Rankings »

RankNameSchoolRating
1Michael KimCalifornia  69.23 
2Brandon StoneTexas  69.35 
3Bobby WyattAlabama  69.55 
4Cory WhitsettAlabama  69.57 
5Julien BrunTCU  69.61 

Men's Team Rankings »

RankNameRatingEvents
1California 69.31  14 
2Alabama 69.66  12 
3Texas 70.31  12 
4UCLA 70.49  13 
5New Mexico 70.51  14 

In preparation for the upcoming college season, Golfweek is breaking down the rosters of each of its preseason top 30 teams.

• • •

13. Kent State

2011-2012 Golfweek rank: 15

Go-to guy: Corey Conners

Season outlook: The run of postseason success continued for Kent State last season, when the Golden Flashes advanced to the match-play Elite 8 at the NCAA Championship. It was the best finish in program history and marked the fourth time in five years that the Flashes notched a top-20 NCAA finish.

Don't expect much to change this season. Kent State returns six players who logged at least nine rounds last season, including five of its top six scorers. Among those are senior Kevin Miller and the junior trio of Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Kyle Kmiecik.

Conners, the defending MAC Championship medalist, led the Golden Flashes in stroke average (71.7), finished T-4 at the NCAA Championship and notched four top 5s, tying him with Pendrith for the team lead.

Other returnees include sophomores Taylor Zoller, Nick Scott and Charlie Phillips, and head coach Herb Page also added one recruit in freshman Ryan Troyer.