Penguins head for 20 losses again

It was just one week ago that the Youngstown State men's basketball team appeared ready and waiting for a week of action that could propel them toward a sixth seed and a home game in the Horizon League tournament.
The Penguins had knocked off the first place team, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and was trailing No. 6 seed Butler by two games with three games remaining.
But on Wednesday night of last week everything changed even before the Penguins stepped foot on the floor.
Butler, which has been playing well of late, shocked Milwaukee with a 75-58 rout and locked up the No. 6 seed. The Penguins were destined to the road again in the tournament and there was nothing they could do about it.
Well, the Penguins played their two games last week like they had just lost their best friend, losing by 20 points to Wright State, 81-61, and then dropping the ESPN Bracket Buster game at Bowling Green, 76-64.
The Penguins will be hard-pressed to win another game playing the way they are right now. They play at Butler on Wednesday night and then finish the regular season at home against Detroit on Saturday night.
Third straight year
Two more losses and then a tournament first-round loss at Butler would give the Penguins 20 losses for the third straight season.
In 73 seasons of YSU basketball that's never happened before. John Stroia had three 20-loss seasons in four years, and Jim Cleamons had two in the only two years he coached. By comparison, Dom Rosselli, in 39 years, only had one 20-loss season.
In his five years as YSU's coach, John Robic has an overall record of 53 wins and 86 losses. He has one year remaining on his current contract.
In the Penguins' three years in the Horizon League, they have shown some improvement, but not all that much. This year the team has been more competitive than it had been in the two previous years, but for the third straight year the Penguins are in the bottom third of the standings.
Win or else situation
I would be very surprised if Robic is offered a contract extension prior to next season, meaning the 2004-05 campaign would be a win or else situation.
I also don't look for Robic to be released at the end of this season, because I don't think the university has the resources to buy him out.
There is always the possibility that he could resign after the season and return to being an assistant coach in another program, but I don't think that Robic's a quitter and he still believes he can make this program a winner.
One of the main objectives of a head coach is to get his players to buy into and believe what he's doing is the best thing for the team and right now I don't think Robic has done that with his present team.
There is talent on the present YSU team, but is there enough to be a contender in the Horizon League? I don't think so, at least not right now.
Gave too many away
Playing teams tough is an improvement, but not winning games that you are capable of winning still takes away from those improvements and the Penguins have lost too many games this year that they were capable of winning.
Is that solely the fault of the head coach? Probably not, but he's the guy running the show and the heat falls on him.
There has been a lot of pressure put on Robic the past three seasons after joining the Horizon League, but it's been nothing like it is going to be next season.
Next year the Penguins are not going to just be able to play with anybody in the league, they must beat them and they had better be over the .500 percent mark with wins and losses.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at & lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;mollica@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;.