Archive for the ‘YSU Basketball’ Category

Youngstown State University had their way on Sunday afternoon with an outmanned Hiram team.  YSU (1-1) used a balanced attack and executed the way they practiced it in trurning back the Division III Terriers, 81-41 in their home opener at Beeghly Center.

After losing 83-57 at Xavier to open the season, it was Youngstown’s turn to take on the role of playground bully.  The Penguins used everyone on the roster by the end of the game, and 11 of the 12 players in the first half.

If Xavier were a circle on the left and Hiram were a circle on the right and this was a Venn Diagram, YSU would be shaded pretty equally into the first two opponents circles by being the overlapping middle circle.  Logically, YSU is somewhere right between Xavier and Hiram on the scale.

Vance Cooksey led a balanced Penguins scoring attack with 18 points and eight rebounds.  The junior guard had some good looks and was the beneficiary of some nice passing.  Redshirt freshman Eddie D’Haiti posted a double double with 12 points and ten rebounds.  DeAndre Mays knocked in ten points and had a couple of steals.

Slocum was pretty workmanlike after the game, not in a state of panic from Xavier, nor elated about the Hiram victory.  “We got a chance to play and get a good look at everybody.  We took some bad shots early, but we played well over the final nine minutes of the first half.”

The one area concern for Slocum was the three-point shooting of the Penguins who went 3-18 from long distance.  “I won’t lie to you, it is an area of concern.  I would like to shoot 14 to 16 threes a game, that is a good number for us.  We just need to knock them down and I feel we will improve.”

Eddie D’Haiti who made a couple of beautiful passes to put the exclamation point on his double-double was hard on his own performance.  “I would give myself a C.  I wasn’t too happy with my game tonight.  I could have got more rebounds.”

The Penguins host Kent State at Beeghly Center Wednesday night.  The men’s game will start after the women’s game in the first of four co-ed doubleheaders at home this year.  The Lady Penguins tip off at 5:15.

 

The Youngstown State Women’s Basketball Team opens a fresh season.  For Coach Cindy Martin, it is a chance to show people that this year’s team can overcome a brutal shortage of bodies and succeed.  The Lady Penguins have not had a winning season since the 1999-2000 campaign in which they earned an NCAA Tournament berth.  Since that appearance, YSU has had 20 losses in a year four times including last season’s 3-27 mark.

Only six players on the current roster have any Division I playing experience and only eight players are able to dress.  The numbers game may create some problems for Coach Martin at some point this season.  In the case that a player were to injure herself or foul out, the other players understand they may be playing 45 minutes a contest.

Martin is a hard-working coach and the “things can only get better” or the “woe is me” labels are tags she probably would not welcome.  “I’m excited for a fresh start.  Our execution on offense has been really good and we have come a long way developing our fastbreak.  Elon and High Point are good teams to start with and it would be great to start out 2-0.  They are both good teams and we feel like we will have a chance to be in both of those games.”

Kenya Middlebrooks (left) and Rachael Manuel (right) discussed the expectations and where improvement will be most obvious this season.  Middlebrooks replied, “We push each other very hard every day.  We are a close team that is really communicating well.  There will be improvements defensively and with our rebounding.”

Manuel, one of only two Seniors, commented on the conditioning when a team has to play so many minutes, “We will be playing alot of minutes together, and we are obviously a close group.  We are in really great shape and can handle the minutes.”

Martin is one I would never doubt.  She is a fiery leader with alot of character and it seems to be rubbing off on the players.  If she can manage to get a couple of her players who are injured back, this team has every chance in the world to go .500 this season. 

Coach Martin also announced  Monica Touvelle of Boardman, Jill Herman, and Heidi Schlegel have signed National Letters of Intent to attend YSU.  The trio consists of two guards and a post player.

YSU will host Kent State in the first game of a doubleheader at Beeghly Center on Wednesday with the men’s teams playing the second.  Tipoff is at 5:15 at Beeghly Center.

Youngstown State University Coach Jerry Slocum thinks his Penguins will face their toughest test of the year at Xavier on Friday.  “Xavier is the best team we will face all year.  They are better than Pitt and Butler.  They have a potential NBA Lottery Pick in Jordan Crawford who is a transfer from Indiana, and they are very big inside.”

Experience should help the Penguins improve on last year’s 11-19 record.    Youngstown State is returning 10 letterwinners and four starters from 2008-09.  Slocum said this difference between last year and this year going into the opener are night and day.  “This year at practice, when a player makes a mistake, they point it out before you can even correct it.  It is much more productive to start with so many things in tact already.  It is much better trying to prepare this team when coaching from a positive perspective.” 

This will be the fourth time that YSU has played Xavier, but the first in the past 60 years,  with the Penguins losing all three previous meetings.  Xavier was a Sweet 16  team in last year’s NCAA Tournament and have seemed to somehow gotten better.  The game will be televised on FOX Sports Ohio and Robb Scmidt will be calling the action on AM-570. Tipoff is set for 7:30.

The Penguins will return home to host Hiram on Sunday.  The Hiram contest starts at 4:05.  Quite a contrast in opponents, but Slocum sees the variance as a non-issue, but rather ‘our first two games’, downplaying Xavier as a big test and Hiram as a potential laugher.

DeAndre Mays, who was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team last season averaging 10.7 points and 3.5 assists per game, said the Penguins want to prove things this year.  “Practice has been loud.  All the guys are taking the Xavier game seriously, we want to prove things this season.  Last year, communication was a problem, this year we are communicating better and with our experience, the hard work should pay off.”  Slocum clarified the ‘practice has been loud’ comment made by Mays as a positive.  Slocum stated then when practice is quiet, the team is off of its’ rhythm and having a bad day, but when things get loud, the team is doing the right things, and practice has been loud.

 

Jerry Slocum has been coaching basketball at Youngstown State University for five seasons.  His program has made many leaps forward in that span of time.  A new state-of-the-art weight room, a clubhouse atmosphere in the locker room, and putting his recruits on the court with a little experience will all be telltale signs of YSU basketball’s forward progress.  Slocum is just a cool guy.  I cannot say enough good things about him or the way he processes information.  The guy is a genius of this sport and I think that YSU will make it to the big dance in March under his guidance very soon.  YSU fans take notice, we are lucky to have him here and the fruit of his hard work will become visible this season.

Paneech:  In your five seasons, you can finally put your stamp on this team as they are all your recruits playing with some experience.

Slocum:  I don’t think there is any shortcut to look at that.  Experience is what it is.  What comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Are you good without any experience?  I think you have to go through a process to get it.  Once you have that experience process in place, you start building towards winning.  Last year we had seven new guys, I thought it would come quicker than it did, but by February, we had a pretty good basketball team.  That kind of excitement has led into the Spring and the Summer.  Now we are into early Fall, and we are pretty excited about where we are.  You are what you experience, and I think that the experience we have gained will show this season.

Paneech:  Only losing two players from last year and having all this experience back you have to really be excited with the returning talent, the cupboard is stocked for the future too.

Slocum:  We have a tandem with three of the five with Dallas Blocker, Dan Boudler, and Eddie D’Haiti that I think will really play out and be a positive factor for this team this year.  When this class goes, everyone is going to look and say you lost all of these seniors.  We are going to have Ashen Ward return at the two-guard spot.  You are gonna have both three-men back.  You are going to have Damian Eargle back at the four, and Eddie [D’Haiti] coming back as a five.  We have alredy gotten verbal commitments from some kids, so in my mind, we have got the classes where we want them, we have got the kids coming up that are learning from the older guys and there is just a good attitude and symmetry that the group has taken.

Paneech:  Who is the team to beat in the Horizon League this season?  Did you take offense to being picked 7th in the preseason poll?

Slocum: I think there are two teams that are a cut above with Butler and Wright State.  Then there are four or five teams in the next tier, and I would put us in that group, anywhere between three and seven.  I maybe took a little bit of offense to being picked seventh.  Our league doesn’t respect us.  It’s like I say to our guys – respect is earned.  In the last two years we have finished fourth and sixth.  Did I think we would maybe be in that fourth spot?  Yeah, I thought so.  I think we finish third or fourth.  Being picked seventh shows that the league doesn’t have alot of respect for us and the pressure comes back on us to prove it.

Paneech:  Who are your go-to guys with five seconds left in a game, who takes the shot?

Slocum:  I think there are two guys that are pressure shooters and pressure players for us.  I think a bunch of guys can make the shots.  The two guys who can create a shot, follow their shot, and then maybe pitch it to a shot are DeAndre Mays and Vytas Sulskis.  Both of those guys are guys who can find a way to pick us back up with a big shot. 

Paneech:  When it happens, and it will someday, how big of a shot in the arm will it be for this program to appear in the March Madness brackets?

Slocum:  Obviously, it’s a dream that we all have.  To me, it wasn’t as much of a dream as it was a reality to achieve.  I think we are headed in the right direction.  Everybody talks about how you only have to win three games at the end of the year to get in, and I believe that to be true also, but, in the same breath, you have to be able to get to the end and have the confidence.  The way we finished last year should carry over into this year.

Paneech:  Is your group healthy?

Slocum:  Right now, we are healthy.  Every Fall, we do a little bit of a different approach to get our guys ready.  I’m not a big guy on coming in at 100%  top shape.  I think progressively, we get there.  Across the country, some guys get pushed too hard before their bodies are ready to take that kind of a pounding.  Right now we are healthy, and I am cautiously optimistic about our health.

Paneech:  Have you gotten comfortable with Youngstown as your home yet?

Slocum:  We love the valley and Youngstown.  My wife is a nurse at a local hospital.  This is home.  We enjoy the area, we enjoy Mill Creek Park, we enjoy all of the different things that are unique to Youngstown.

Paneech:  I am a fan, yet there are detractors.  Do you care about criticism or is it just accepted as part of the job?

Slocum:  It is what it is.  If you let those people govern you or disturb your thought process, then you don’t focus on your job and doing it the right way.  We knew when we got here that it would be a great challenge for us.  We knew that the recruiting hadn’t been what it should’ve been relevant to the Horizon League.  We had to learn Youngstown and how to recruit for YSU and the challenges of recruiting in a state with the MAC.  I don’t lose any sleep from all of the people that say things behind my back, or to my face about this criticism or that criticism.  I know that right now, the infrastructure of our program is higher than it has ever been and I know that our talent level is better.

Paneech:  How fun is it to play schools like Xavier, Kent, and Pitt?

Slocum:  I think it is fun for our guys.  In the time since I have been here, we have really changed our profile relevant to our schedule.  When you play schools like Ohio State, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Pitt, Xavier, and Kent, it gives our guys the chance to play the best teams in the country.  It also gives you a measuring stick to get ready for your conference play.  We will contnue to do that while I am here.  I think it is a great recruiting tool and it allows our guys to dream a little bit.

Paneech:  Talk to me about riding a motorcycle and the trips you take.

Slocum:  I ride a Honda.  My wife doesn’t have a motorcycle, she just rides with me.  It really started in my youth.  I had motorcycles until I was 23 or 24 when we had our first child.  I went away from them for about 25 years.  Now that the kids are gone, I have picked it back up in the last ten years.  It gives us a chance to go and travel and we love being on the road.  We rode to the very top of Nova Scotia.  Next year, we are planning to go to South Dakota.

Paneech:  If you were asked to coach the Olympic Basketball Team, who would be your starting five?

Slocum:  Obviously, your top two guys would be LeBron and Kobe.  Kobe is probably the hardest working guy in the game.  My big guy would have to be Howard because he is so agile.  Bosh and Garnett would be there too.  The point guard spot would probably be Chris Paul. 

One Word Answers

Best All-Time Coach At Any Level:  Dean Smith.

Favorite Flavor of Handel’s Ice Cream:  (long pause)  Black Raspberry.

Mountaineer or Cedar Point?   Cedar Point.

Restaurant In Youngstown That You Have To Get To:  MVR Club.

Favorite Holiday:  Christmas.

Best Boxer At Any Weight Class:  Kelly Pavlik.

Favorite Group Of All-Time:  The Who.

A Short Description Of This Year’s Team:  Mentally Tougher.

Least Favorite Chore To Do At Home:  Clean Up The Dog’s Poop.

Can The Cavs Win This Year?  Yes.

Favorite Fruit:  Peaches

Best Movie Ever Made:  Patton.

 

I would be hard-pressed to find any YSU sports fan who would not be rooting for Cindy Martin to turn the YSU Women’s Basketball Program around in the next couple of years.  This is only her second year on the job and she has basically assumed responsibility of keeping air in a tire that has been flat for awhile.  To talk with her, one can easily buy into her philosophies and hands-on approach.  After a 3-27 season, Martin thinks that this year’s team will not only be better, but has set a goal of finishing sixth or better in the Horizon League to asssure a first-round bye at the conference tournament.  I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Martin for the first time this week.  She was very open and discussed the meat and potatoes of women’s basketball with me.

Paneech:  With one year in the books, how do you feel about this teams chances of improving on a 3-27 season?

Martin:  I feel great about our chances for improvement.  I’m excited to have five returning players who know our system, know what is expected, know the drills, know what we want on the court and off the court, in the classroom – and they [five returning players] are doing a tremendous job of teaching the new players the system.  From that standpoint, I think we are going to win more games and from an improvement standpoint, I think we already have improved.

Paneech:  Can we expect to see you suit up if one of your six healthy players gets hurt?

Martin:  (laughs) I’m retired buddy.  I wish I could play my coaching staff.  We have got to go with what we have.  I am a card player and believe that you play the hands that you are dealt.  This is our hand and we have to play it to the best of our ability.  More than anything, we are trying to restructure our practice plans to make sure we are getting the most out of our healthy players, as well as, making sure that they are working on skills and cohesion, but not overdoing it. 

Paneech:  Who is hurt, who is healthy?

Martin:  We have got eight right now that would be able to play if it was a game, with two of the eight being very, very limited.  Kaitlin Rohrs and Kaitlyn March would both be very limited.  Our six healthy players are Boki Dimitrov, Rachael Manuel, Macey Norton, Makala Gasparek, Brandi Brown, and Kenya Middlebrooks.  The other three players (Shea Johnson, Maryum Jenkins, and Melissa Thompson), we are not sure about, two of them might have season-ending injuries. 

Paneech:  What are the goals for 2009-10?

Martin:  Our biggest goal will be to finish in the top six of our conference.  If we can finish in the top six, we will get a bye, which obviously in our situation would be the best thing to position ourselves.  If we don’t get that bye, it is going to be extremely difficult to win out.  We are trying to think positively, all we have to do is beat four other teams head-to-head if you look at it like that.

Paneech:  How did your first full year of recruiting go?

Martin:  Our recruiting went great!  My assistant, Bernard Scott, is our recruiting coordinator and does a fantastic job of leading our effort.  We signed seven girls that are all here on our roster.  One of the girls, Tieara Jones, has to sit out due to transfer requirements.  I’m very happy with the talent we were able to bring in.  The dilemma is that four of the six we brought in (minus Tieara Jones) are injured and we have to get them back in. 

Paneech:  I know you consider yourself a perfectionist.  How hard is it to do things perfectly at practices this early in the season?

Martin:  I think that is where I can never lower my standards, like going from three hours to two hours or from five-on-five to three-on-three.  We’re trying to change some of those parameters, but where we can still expect our girls’ skill level to be on point.  I don’t expect us to play perfect, basketball is a game of mistakes.  The team that can recover from those mistakes the fastest, and makes the fewest, is usually going to win the game.  I am a perfectionist, but I understand that it is not going to be perfect and a little sloppy at first.  What we are shooting for is that by January, we have a polished product on the floor.

Paneech:  How is this working when you can’t even have a five-on-five drill in practice because you only have six healthy players?

Martin:  We can’t unless my coaches are out there.  I have actually talked to a few girls on campus about coming and trying out for us.  If a student is in good academic standing, and can contribute to this team in a positive way and can play the game, they would be considered to make this team.  We are trying to find a few more and if the possibility of adding players to the roster exists, we would consider that.  We are also looking for a couple of guys, you are allowed three, we have one, to give us practice minutes.

Paneech: Who is the team to beat in the Horizon League this season?

Martin:  I think there are three or four.  I think Green Bay is always going to be good.  I think Cleveland State is exceptionally good this year, Butler is bringing alot back and should be very good.  Those are probably the top three in my opinion.  Night in and night out you don’t know who is going to be good.  I feel the Horizon League has teams from top to bottom that can outplay each other on any given night.  There are upsets in our league, you rarely see one team dominating. 

Paneech: Talk about your two seniors (Kaitlyn March and Rachael Manuel):

Martin:  I think they are going to have great years.  Rachael is really improved.  She spent the whole Summer here with Makala [Gasparek] and every single day that I would come into the office they were either coming or going to the gym or the weight room.  I think Rachael’s skills have gotten better in the post, we are letting her shoot the three this year which will be a new twist, to let our post step out and shoot the three.  Kaitlyn March is really having problems with her shins and her playing time will be limited.  We need points and production from her in those minutes that she does play.  She should be able to give us 15-20 minutes at the most because of what her physical limitations are.  We will play her as we need her because she is one of our best shooters.

Paneech:  With a normal sized roster, if a couple of players are shooting poorly, a coach can bench them.  With six players on the roster right now, you do not have that luxury, how will you handle that situation when it arises?

Martin:  I don’t think we will be able to do much during the games.  Our job is to practice for that situation.  If we are having an off night, here are some sets we can run, or here is how we can tweak our defense to create more stops and open the break opportunities.  If our half-court offense isn’t working, you have to do something to pick up the tempo.  The girls know they will be called upon to play 30-35 minutes.  If someone is having a bad night, someone may have to step up and play 40 minutes.

Paneech:  Walk me through a day in the life of Cindy Martin – start to finish:

Martin:  Well, I am committed to taking better care of myself this year, so I  wake up at 6 a.m. and am usually here and working out by 7.  After a workout and a shower, I try to get in the office.  We have a set staff meeting at 10 every morning.  We meet from 10-11 to talk about the team, recruiting, scheduling, and planning.  From 12-1, I try to watch film from the day before and my 12-1 is nothing more than me trying to get ready for practice or talking to a student-athlete to prepare them for something we may want from them on that particular day.  By 1 we are on the floor for practice.  This schedule helps me and my staff to have a regular schedule.  I’m normally done working by about 9 o’clock at night.  Sometimes I am here in the office until 6 and will go home to make calls.  Sometimes I will go home and watch film.  I think it is important to not always stay here and make recruiting calls and watch film.

One Word Answers

Favorite Meal Of The Day:  Dinner.

Favorite Board Game:  Chess.

Best Musician Out There Right Now:  Keith Urban.

Favorite Vegetable:  Broccoli.

More Important, Free Throws Or Threes:  Free Throws.

Best Show On TV:  Grey’s Anatomy.

Greatest Female Basketball Player Ever:  Jennifer Azzi.

Ultimate Vacation Destination:  Jacksonville, FL to see my family.

Favorite Holiday:  Christmas.

Browns or Steelers:  Neutral.  I’m a college fan, we have the Gators back home and the Jaguars, so I am very neutral here.

One Word To Describe This Years Team:  Fiesty!