PUSKAS: Penguins create own March madness

March Madness means different things to different people in different places.

It’s just not the same thing in, say, Lexington, Ky., as it is in Youngstown.

Kentucky goes dancing deep into the calendar’s third month every year.

Youngstown State does not, unless you count one of those alphabet tournaments that have popped up in the last decade or so.

And even those are rare for the Penguins.

Most years, the only dancing YSU players do in March is when they cut the rug on the way out of town along Fifth Avenue.

Jordan Andrews is the latest player to begin his college career at YSU and decide at some point to end it elsewhere. The LaPlace, La., native announced on Twitter on Friday that he planned to transfer.

Andrews told The Vindicator’s Steve Wilaj that he missed Louisiana.

The 6-foot-5 Andrews started 19 of 32 games as a freshman in 2015-16. He averaged 7.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in just under 20 minutes per game. His 50 3-pointers — on 136 attempts — ranked third on the team.

Kids get homesick. It happens.

But Andrews isn’t the first YSU player to leave. He’s just the first one to decide to do so in 2016.

Penguins coach Jerry Slocum has found some gems during his 11 seasons, but holding onto them has been an issue of late.

A year ago, the Penguins lost guards Marcus Keene and Osandai Vaughn, both promising back-court players. Keene started all 32 games for YSU in 2014-15 and averaged a team-best 15.6 points per game, which ranked sixth in the Horizon League. Vaughn started slowly the same season, but averaged 6.6 points and scored in double figures in 12 of his final 17 games — all starts.

Keene sat out this season after transferring to Central Michigan, but is expected to be a key player for the Chippewas in 2016-17. Vaughn played in 23 games off the bench for Palm Beach (Fla.) Atlantic this season and averaged 4.4 points.

Two years ago, swingman Ryan Weber transferred to Ball State after Keene punched him during a practice. Weber was YSU’s second-leading scorer in 2013-14, when he averaged 12.2 and 4.3 rebounds and led the team in 3-point shooting (41.7 percent) and free-throw shooting (85.9 percent).

Weber played 31 games — all starts — this season for Ball State and averaged 10.7 points and 4.5 rebounds. He was second on the team with 67 3-pointers.

How good would YSU have been if Keene, Vaughn and Weber had stayed? We’ll never know.

That’s March madness in Youngstown, where the Penguins have gone 11-21 each of the last two seasons.

At least YSU and Kentucky have something in common. Both programs undergo significant personnel transformations when the dancing is done.

But the Wildcats send their best players to the NBA. The Penguins often send their best to other college programs.

Each program then largely starts from scratch the next season. That’s where the similarities end.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.