43
A FRESH START: Penguins ready to go with a young squad
Photo
Jerry Slocum, YSU men's basketball coach
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Here’s a twist on an old joke.
A college basketball coach is asked how much practice time the NCAA gives him before the season opener.
“No time at all!” the coach says. “Like four weeks!”
The player is asked the same question.
“Oh, forever!” he says. “Like four weeks!”
It’s funny how running wind sprints — as opposed to watching them — can change your perception. Which is why, when YSU senior Vytas Sulskis was asked about playing in tonight’s opener against Samford at Beeghly Center, he said this: “We had a long preseason, it was very tough but [the season is] finally here and the whole team is very excited.”
Conversely, when YSU men’s basketball coach Jerry Slocum was asked that question, he said this: “They [the NCAA] keep moving up the time we can play, but we can only start on Oct. 15. The playing of the game is always earlier and earlier and earlier and earlier.”
Slocum is the quintessential “coach’s coach,” someone who loves preparation and practice more than, say, talking to the media. The last month has been especially fun for him, as he’s spent much of the time integrating 10 new players, seven of them freshmen.
“Oh, it’s been fun for me,” said Slocum, who is 49-100 in six seasons with the Penguins. “This has been a very fun group to be around. They work hard. They’ve been like a sponge in terms of what we’re trying to tell them. You see some potential.
“A lot of our young guys have a chance to be really good and really special.”
To get there, the “old” guys have to help.
Sulskis is one of three returning players from last season and by far the most experienced. He’s played in all 90 games over the past three years, starting 55. He and other two returnees, senior forward Dan Boudler and junior guard Ashen Ward, have spent a lot of time answering questions about Slocum’s system and what it takes to play in the Horizon League.
“We know what to expect from these teams,” Sulskis said. “That it’s not going to be easy to win, that we have to bring it every night and have to compete.”
Although the Penguins are low on experience, Sulskis believes there’s more talent on the roster than last season, when they went 8-22 and finished last in the conference. Last year’s team returned its top four scorers and had high hopes entering the season, believing it could finish in the top half of the Horizon League. If there’s anything positive to the offseason roster turnover, it’s that few of the players remember anything from that disappointing year.
Slocum expects to play between eight and 10 guys each game and will spend the first few weeks figuring out rotations, as his players figure out how to play together. Having four of the first five games at home will help, but that process will ultimately just take time.
“This,” Slocum said. “is going to be an interesting month for us.”