Monday, February 23, 2009
It’s coming down to the final week of the season for the Youngstown State men’s basketball team.
A month ago not many people would have ever given the Penguins a chance of hosting a first-round Horizon League tournament game.
Today the Penguins are just one victory away from playing that game on March 3.
Of course there are a couple of obstacles standing in the way. YSU must finish the season on the road these last two games and their first stop is in Indianapolis, where the Horizon League-leading Butler Bulldogs, who went into last weekend ranked No. 21 in the country, are waiting.
The Bulldogs (23-4, 13-3) hold a one-game lead over Green Bay in the conference standings.
The Bulldogs defeated the Penguins 79-71 on Dec. 6 in one of the early season conference games played at the Beeghly Center.
Before the Bulldogs cruised past Davidson on Saturday in the ESPN BracketBuster series, they had dropped two straight in the conference to Loyola (71-67) and at Milwaukee (63-60) on Wednesday night.
If the Penguins don’t get that win at Butler, they still have two more chances.
The next one comes Friday night when Loyola plays host to Illinois-Chicago.
Both the Ramblers and the Flames are 6-11. The Penguins are 7-9. If Loyola loses to UIC, the Penguins will clinch the No. 6 seed. If Loyola beats the Flames then the Penguins would need to beat Valparaiso.
The Penguins would lose the tiebreaker with Loyola since the two teams split in the regular season and the Ramblers knocked off No. 1 Butler. The Penguins swept UIC in regular season so the Flames would not be a problem.
The Penguins are playing their best basketball of the season right now.
They’ve won five of six games this month and their confidence continues to build.
It really doesn’t matter what starters coach Jerry Slocum puts on the floor. Before the first half is over, Slocum knows who’s hot and who isn’t and who he can count on and who he can’t.
Sophomore Vytas Sulskis has been a go-to guy over these last six games. So has junior Sirlester Martin, the Penguins’ leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.
Junior DeAndre Mays is another one that needs to be on the floor, as does senior Jack Liles. But that doesn’t mean those five will be Slocum’s starters.
He’s a very superstitious person, and his starting lineup will usually follow his gut feeling. For instance, the Penguins have worn their away red uniforms for each of the last six games, even the three home games.
But Slocum’s biggest asset this season has been his bench, where guys like senior Zack Rebillot, sophomore Tom Parks, and freshman Ashen Ward have really stepped up, especially of late.
Rebillot is the “Mr. Hustle” guy He probably won’t score a lot of points, but you can be sure he’ll be on top of every loose ball on the floor and get a good share of rebounds.
The Penguins may or may not get that first-round home game this week, but regardless don’t count them out of winning somewhere in that first round. Being at home would be a plus.
As for the YSU women, we know just where the Penguins will be when the Horizon League’s women’s tournament gets underway on March 9.
The Penguins will more than likely finish winless in the conference and will be the No. 10 seed and play at the No. 7 seed, which could be either Wright State or Milwaukee.
The Penguins have four games remaining. Two are on the road at Loyola and UIC, and the last two are at home with Butler and Valparaiso,. But the way the Penguins have played — losing 15 straight — it really doesn’t matter where they play at this point.
They are 2-23 on the year and one more loss equals the school record for the most in a season.
XPete Mollica covers YSU for The Vindicator. E-mail him at mollica@vindy.com