Men's Basketball Preview, Part 1: Youngstown State

Oct. 23, 2007

The Youngstown State men's basketball program will count on a mix of veterans and newcomers to fill prominent roles during the 2007-08 campaign.

However, it's the two players who do not return that have posed the biggest question. How do you replace the all-around skills of Quin Humphrey and Keston Roberts? The answer lies within a group of the players who will have vastly increased duties with the top two go-to performers gone from the program.

Seniors Byron Davis, Dwight Holmes, John Barber and George Cotal, juniors Mikko Niemi and Jack Liles and sophomore Alek Mrozik, along with a talented group of newcomers will be looking to pick up the slack with the departure of last year's top two scorers - Humphrey and Roberts.

Humphrey and Roberts combined to average 35 of the team's 66 points-per-game total. Both individuals played more than 1,000 minutes - one-third of the squad's total for the entire season.

Third-year Coach Jerry Slocum said although more than 50 percent of the Guins' scoring has departed, he has been in this position before.

"All I can tell you is what my life has been in the past. When you have good players, they graduate and then good players take their spots," Slocum said. "We've got some very good basketball players here. We're excited about their development and where they're going to be."

"We're excited about the fact that we are going to have some guys who are going to be some the best players in our league just like the two guys that we lost. We know we have some large shoes to fill, but we feel like we have some guys who will be able to do that."

While seven veterans return, a group of successful newcomers will jump into the fray to help replenish the scoring of Humphrey and Roberts.

The Penguins were able to build some momentum winning 14 games in 2006-07, including a first-round Horizon League Tournament win over Detroit. The 14 wins were the highest since 2000-01 and the fourth most since 1984-85.

How the team comes together throughout the season is something Slocum is optimistic about.

"I think that we're going to get better as the year goes on," Slocum said. "I don't think that this is going to a kind of team that early in November is going to be a finished product. But by the time that we hit the bulk of our league play in January I think we have a chance to be a pretty good basketball team."

Helping lead the program Davis, who is entering his second campaign at point guard.

After sitting out the season prior, Davis, a New Mexico State transfer, led the team with 116 assists. He finished as the team's third-leading scorer averaging 8.6 points per game. He also grabbed 99 rebounds and had 28 steals.

Sixth-man Barber returns for his final campaign after making great strides in 2006-07. Barber averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest for the campaign. He ranked third on the squad in rebounding and fourth in points scored.

Making the biggest improvement of any Guin during last year was Liles. Liles, who had 88 points and 75 rebounds as a freshman, had 229 points and 197 boards last year. He was second on the team averaging 6.4 rebounds per game and led the program in field-goal shooting converting 55.6 percent of his attempts from the field. Liles also led the team in blocks with 36.

Holmes proved a spark by appearing in the starting lineup 23 times out of 31 contest. He scored 93 points, but contributed in a greater role grabbing 65 rebounds, handing out 20 assists and finishing with seven steals and seven blocks.

Slocum said there will be an increased role for the post players this year.

"We feel the strength of this team is a little bit different than what we've had in the past," Slocum said. "We have some very good low-post players. You have Jack Liles and John Barber and a bunch of our new guys can play really good with their back to the basket. We'll be a little more inside-to-out then what we've been in the past."

"It's a lot easier shooting the ball from eight feet with a guy that can play with his back to the basket and then playing in-to-out. Meaning that those guys have the ball and get double teamed or people will send an extra guy at them then we kick to the outside."

Niemi filled in at the point guard spot and saw action in all 31 games, while starting twice. In averaging 10.6 minutes per game, he dished out a total of 38 assists while scoring 24 points.

Cotal played in every game for YSU making 11 3-pointers, while Mrozik appeared in 17 games in his debut campaign.

The newcomers feature junior college transfers Gemayl Johnson and Kevin Draughon, redshirt Vancey Cooksey and incoming freshmen Dan Boudler, Blair Rozenblad, Vytas Sulskis and Mychal Doblanski. All seven of these individuals enjoyed team success and personal accolades at their previous schools.

Johnson, a 6-foot-5 guard, averaged 19 points and eight rebounds per contest for Montgomery Takoma Park/Silver Spring College as a sophomore. He earned first-team Maryland JuCo Conference honors last year while finishing with 120 assists and 46 steals.

Draughon's team reached the NJCAA Division II National Championship Game losing to Mott. In his two years, Draughon averaged 13.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. He averaged 12.5 points and 5.3 boards in his sophomore campaign last year.

Cooksey sat out last season because of the program's depth at the guard position. As a senior at Marian Catholic High School, he was a third-team All-Illinois Class AA selection. An excellent athlete, he averaged 20.1 points, 4.5 assists, three rebounds and 2.6 steals per contest. He helped guide the program to its first state Sectional appearance since 1991.

Slocum said the talent of the squad and increased depth will proved many opportunities that were maybe not followed before.

"I honestly believe that there are some characteristics of this team that we did not have last year," Slocum said. "I think we will pass the ball better. I think we're a team that sees the floor a little bit better. I think it's a team that can be a little bit stronger by a sense of maturing and getting better in terms of an inside presence. I think it's a team, and nobody wants to talk about floor play and passing, but this team will get more easy shots than what it got last year. Because of the fact that they'll share, they'll dribble, they'll kick."

Boudler will help on the front line joining the program as a 6-foot-8 forward. At Louisville High School he was a first-team Division II All-Ohio pick. While being named the District Player of the Year, he averaged 17.2 points, 13.6 rebounds and 2.9 blocks as the Leopards won the Northeastern Buckeye Conference title.

Rozenblad overcame a knee injury that cut short his junior campaign to give Kennedy Catholic a boost late in the season. Despite playing just half the campaign, he was a second-team Class A All-State selection. He averaged 15 points and eight rebounds as Kennedy Catholic reached the state semifinals.

Sulskis, the Florida Class 1A Player of the Year, helped lead The Rock of Gainesville (Fla.) to its first-ever appearance in the State Championship Game. A first-team all-state selection, he averaged 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists per contest.

Doblanski, a standout guard from Liberty, joins the program after being selected as the Trumbull County Player of the Year. He averaged 21.9 points per game while earning Special Mention All-Ohio Division II honors.

Slocum knows that all the players on this year's team have the capability to step up and contribute in any given game. The hope is that game-in and game-out there are plenty of options to keep the team on a successful path.

"This group has a lot of questions to answer," Slocum said. "It's a group that we are going to learn as we go in terms of who and what identity we'll have. To some people that might be alarming, to me, it's exciting and I think it's exciting for our program."

Story provided by YSU Office of Sports Information