YSU BASKETBALL Robic, 8 new players welcome competition

The men's season begins Sunday vs. Lock Haven.
BOARDMAN -- As if to demonstrate the doubleheader concept, John Robic and Tisha Hill double-teamed the Curbstone Coaches Association's luncheon.
Robic, Youngstown State University men's basketball coach, and Hill, the women's coach, gave a Monday afternoon preseason address to the local group at the Lockwood House.
They stressed the benefit of doubleheaders and Saturday matinees. There will be four doubleheaders this season and all Saturday home games but one are in the afternoon.
"That means my whole day won't be spent waiting around," Robic said of the games beginning at 1 or 2 p.m. "It also means that a family could see one game or the first of two and still be home for dinner by 5 p.m. That's great for kids."
The deviation from mostly night games has helped attendance, too.
The men play their first three games at Beeghly Center, a schedule design that helps as the semester draws to a close.
The opener is Sunday at 7 p.m. against Lock Haven. The Penguins then play next Tuesday (Slippery Rock) and Saturday (Boston U.) at home.
"My players are tired of playing against each other," said Robic, who is in his sixth year as head coach. "We have eight new players -- eight who weren't on the team last year or were on the team but redshirted."
Players weren't satisfied, nor should they be, with their season last year.
"I think you'll see a hard-working team," he said. "We're going to look to play differently this year. They've shown me in practice that they can."
Looking ahead
Fifteen home games are the most during Robic's tenure.
The schedule helps because Robic felt it was important for an inexperienced team to start off at home.
"Seven of our first 10 games are at home. We have very little travel, which is nice, especially with the end of the semester coming up in three weeks."
Robic said his squad is quite athletic and bigger, with eight players 6-foot-6 or taller.
"The one big thing it'll come down to this year is how well we're able to shoot the basketball," Robic said. "We've really been working hard defensively, but that's pretty normal for a college team."
Milwaukee-Wisconsin is picked to win the Horizon League, but Robic also said that the Horizon may get multiple NCAA tournament bids this season.
Local player
The Curbstoners reacted positively to the early signing of Chad Fender of Poland Seminary High School, a move that will help fan support.
"We worked hard to sign Fender," Robic said. "We've been recruiting him for four years. It's nice to have a local player, just because I don't have to fly all over the country to watch him play."
Robic, however, emphasized that he didn't sign a local player simply for the sake of doing so.
"I've been saying this for six years, if there's a local player who we believe is Division I quality, like Chad is, like Dan Jones is, who are realistic for us to get, I'd love to do that. We weren't getting Terence Dials," he said of not recruiting the Ohio State center out of Boardman.
Robic has two more scholarships that will be used to sign two post players. He'll have to replace seniors Brian Radakovich and Khari McQueen, who broke his foot the second day of practice.
Jones, of Niles won't be a starter, but Robic likes what he sees.
"He surprised me," Robic said. "Right now, he's probably my backup point guard. I didn't think he could play point guard at the college level, but he had great feel for the game. He's probably the biggest surprise I have on my team right now."