Tuesday, April 28, 2009
By Greg Gulas
He told the Curbstone Coaches on Monday he expects 17 wins next season.
BOARDMAN — As the play-by-play announcer for the YSU men’s basketball team, Robb Schmidt has witnessed the ebb and flow of the program over the past seven seasons.
Speaking to the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly luncheon meeting at the Blue Wolf Banquet Center, Schmidt noted that 2009-10 has all of the makings to be the break-out season that fans have long been awaiting.
“Call me overly optimistic, but winning at least 17 games next year is a very reachable goal. I truly believe that all of the components are finally in place to make a run at the school’s first-ever Division I tournament appearance,” he said.
The Penguins have had just six winning seasons and seven non-losing campaigns since moving to Division I in 1981-82.
Encouraging to Schmidt is the fact that last season the Penguins defeated three of the top five teams in the league, and had beaten league regular season runner-up and Horizon League tournament champion Cleveland State in a nationally televised game at Beeghly Center on ESPNU.
There are other reasons, however, for his optimism.
“We lose only two players from last year’s team, Jack Liles and Mikko Niemi, and won at the University of Illinois-Chicago for the first time ever,” he said.
“We swept our Chicago opponents on the road and during our four-game win streak, defeated one of the league’s best teams in Wisconsin-Green Bay.
“We’re starting to beat and compete now with teams that many felt in the past we could not hang with. We were 6-5 in the 11 games we played that were decided by four points or less,” he added.
Schmidt noted that the Penguins got out of the gate rather slowly, but when the players realized that defense was the key then the team began to work as a cohesive unit.
“We steadily improved when our defense came together and despite our 11-19 overall mark, going 7-11 in the conference tied the school record for the most wins since joining the Horizon League,” he said.
“With our top four scorers back and the league’s second best rebounder in Sirlester Martin returning, coach Jerry Slocum has a solid nucleus ready to go,” Schmidt stated.
Next week, Jerry Bollinger, girls golf coach at Champion High School, will be the guest speaker.