4 Kent State players suspended for MAC title game over anti-Akron song on Snapchat

Kent State men’s basketball only has one NCAA tournament appearance in the last 13 seasons. On Saturday, the Golden Flashes will play for the automatic bid in MAC when they face Akron in the conference tournament title game. Their task got significantly more difficult after four players were suspended for the game over an explicit Snapchat video that showed the players repeating “f—- Akron,” among other things.

Backup guard DJ Johnson reportedly recorded and posted the video. Johnson has been suspended indefinitely by the MAC. Three of Johnson’s teammates — Malique Jacobs, Cli’Ron Hornbeak and Julius Rollins — also appear in the video, and have been suspended for the first half of the championship game against Akron.

Here’s the video. Warning for adult language.

Jacobs, a 6’4 senior guard, is the team’s second-leading scorer, leading rebounder, has the second most assists on the team and the most steals. Now Kent State is without him for the first 20 minutes of the conference tournament title game. Hornbeak and Johnson are not regulars in the rotation, and Rollins hasn’t played this season.

Here are the statements from the MAC and Kent State:

Should players really be suspended for using some bad language in a social media post? Did Akron players make this song specifically for the MAC title game?

Kent State is the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, while Akron is the No. 4 seed.

We’ll update this story as it develops.