Summary: Kent State basketball is just around the corner — let’s go watch.

For years, Kent State students have used the football season to wonder, “When does basketball start?”

However, the advent of the Flashes football team’s dream season has garnered an excitement that hasn’t been seen in decades.

While it is great to see the football team excel, the Daily Kent Stater editorial board wants to remind students that the basketball team shouldn’t be neglected.

Seniors Chris Evans and Randal Holt, who were both valuable pieces for the Flashes the last two seasons, lead a team full of underclassmen.

The Flashes were picked to finish third in the preseason Mid-American Conference poll. But, if we have learned anything from this football season, preseason expectations can usually be thrown out after the first few weeks of play.

A player to look for as an emerging star for the Flashes is sophomore Kris Brewer. The 6-foot-4-inch shooting guard was a coveted recruit out of Ridgeway High School in Memphis, Tenn.

Brewer was the highest-rated recruit landed by any team in the MAC before the 2011-12 season — according to the ESPN.com rating system of high school basketball players.

Youthful teams can be painful to watch at times, but the process of watching a team grow from an inexperienced group to a well-oiled machine can be one of the most rewarding experiences in sports.

The goal this season will be to build a foundation for the next few years. It’s only right to go and support our classmates during this growing period, rather than wait to jump on the bandwagon when they turn into an elite team.

Aside from watching the Flashes, fans this year can enjoy a talented out-of-conference schedule. Not only will the stiff competition be great to watch, but it should speed up the learning process for the team.

Princeton, Temple and Drexel highlight the out-of-conference games. Both Temple and Princeton reached the NCAA Tournament in 2011, and the Drexel Dragons made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the NIT last season.

All in all, let’s not be a bunch of bandwagoners. Let’s support our classmates and cheer on the Flashes basketball team through thick and thin this year.

If nothing else, the M.A.C. Center will be nice and warm on those cold winter nights. Stop in on your way back from studying in the library — you might see something amazing.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.