Men's Basketball Preview Part I: Youngstown State

Nov. 10, 2004

This is the first in a nine-part series on the 2004-05 Horizon League men's basketball season. Each weekday leading up to the season opener on Nov. 16, www.horizonleague.org will profile a League men's basketball team, beginning with the team picked ninth in the preseason poll on Wednesday, Nov. 3, and ending with the preseason favorite on Monday, Nov. 15. The regular season will tip off on Tuesday, Nov. 16, when Wright State plays at Tulsa in the Preseason National Invitation Tournament. All stories are courtesy of their respective school's sports information office.

Plenty of New Faces Join Penguins For 2004-05 Season; Youngstown State Will Be Very Athletic, Bigger This Year

A look at the Youngstown State University men's basketball roster shows only six familiar faces on it.


This year's squad will feature those six individuals, along with a redshirted player, three junior college transfers, three true freshmen and a player who sat out last year working on his academics.


Blending the fresh faces and the familiar ones will be a challenge for sixth-year Coach John Robic, but on paper this appears to be one of the most athletic teams the Penguins have had since joining the Horizon League three seasons ago.


YSU lost its top three scorers, top two rebounders and two of its top three assist men -- from last season with the departures of TeJay Anderson, Adam Baumann, Mike Woodard and Doug Underwood.


"The upbeat part of our program is that I have eight players who have never played one minute for me at all," Robic said. "It is sort of the unknown a little bit. We have a roster of 14 players and eight of those are new."


Back from the 2003-04 squad that finished 8-20 are senior forwards Brian Radakovich and Khari McQueen, junior guards Derrick Harris and Jon Mends and sophomore guards Quin Humphrey and Allen Deep.


Sophomore Dwight Holmes sat out last season working on his academics while John Barber redshirted after suffering an injury three games into his freshman season.


Joining the mix are three junior-college transfers who will have to step in immediately. Mike Adams (Western Nebraska), Domonique Crawford (Mott) and Zach Silverman (Indian Hills) all come to the program with junior-college experience.


True freshmen Colin LaForme, Alex Sanchez and Dan Jones round out the roster and all bring skills to the table.


"I want players who want to be here and that is my biggest thing," Robic said. "I feel good about this team. They are very cohesive."


The Penguins' roster looks deep with talent and height. YSU has four players who are 6-foot-7 or taller and eight who are 6-5 or bigger.


Robic said a lot will boil down to how quickly the team comes together.


"I think we are going to have to play differently this year," he said. "We are going to be able to because we are more athletic. We are going to try to play faster. The one unknown is I don't know how well we are going to be able to shoot the basketball from outside.


"We are going to have to create some easy points and that is what my coaches and I have been working on."


That puts pressure squarely on this year's group of post players, headlined by veterans Radakovich and McQueen.


At the forward position, McQueen and Radakovich return for their senior campaigns. McQueen set personal career highs in every statistical category last year. He averaged six points and three rebounds per game and came on strong to start 15 of the final 16 games on the year.


McQueen is a fifth-year senior who has seen action in 79 contests during his career.


Radakovich, who started 10 of the first 11 games, set a personal season high with 15 3-pointers while averaging 3.1 rebounds per contest.


Radakovich has played in 84 games in his three-year career, including all Horizon League regular season and postseason games in YSU history.


Plenty of help arrives in Adams, Barber, Holmes, LaForme and Sanchez.


Adams, a fourth-year junior, worked with the team for half of last season, but has not played a collegiate game since his freshman year at Western Nebraska Community College. He attended Indian Hills, but while redshirting earned his degree.Barber played in three games last year before sitting out the remainder of the season with an injury. He was able to practice with the team throughout the second part of the year. Holmes, a very athletic player, worked hard in the classroom becoming eligible and had the second-highest grade-point average on the team last spring behind Academic All-American Adam Baumann.


LaForme was one of the top 50 seniors in Canada last year and can shoot from inside the paint or on the perimeter. Sanchez is an interesting story having not played competitive basketball the past two years. A native of the Canary Islands, he did not play as a senior in high school and sat out last year as well.


"We are much bigger team and are a lot more athletic," Robic said. "But losing Adam Baumann definitely hurts because he is one of the best pure post players in the league."


The point guard position is in solid shape with Mends at the controls.


He led the team with 76 assists a year ago and was second with 25 steals, but only averaged three points per contest.


This year, Mends will be counted on to score more after tallying just 115 points in his first two seasons. Also, consistency will be a key now that he has a full season of experience under his belt.


Derrick Harris will be counted on to contribute at the point as well.Harris saw action at times in place of Mends and Woodard in 2003-04.


At the other guard position, Youngstown State is loaded with talent as Crawford, Deep, Humphrey, Harris, Jones and Silverman all look to step up.


Humphrey started 17 games a year ago as a true freshman. He averaged 6.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per contest in his initial campaign. Harris again was a defensive stopper and a reserve point guard. He played in 26 contests finishing with 20 assists, 18 steals and 11 3-pointers made.


Deep played in six games for the program as a walk-on.


Jones is from nearby Niles, Ohio, averaged 22.8 points as senior earning him second-team All-Ohio accolades.


Crawford played for a successful Mott Junior College the past two seasons. Mott won the Division II Junior College title in 2003 and lost in the title game in 2004. He averaged 11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists as a sophomore.


Silverman is another junior-college transfer who brings impressive credentials. At Indians Hills, he averaged 10.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game last year. He was sharp at the free-throw line making a school-best 86.3 percent. On the year, he made 55 3-pointers in 31 games.


Robic said getting off to a good start to the year will be critical for the team.


He and his staff worked hard to secure home games early in the season to build a young team's confidence.


YSU plays its first three games at the Beeghly Center for the first time since the 1991-92 season. Overall, the Penguins play 15 home contests as seven of the first 10 and eight of the first 12 are at the Beeghly Center.


"There are not a lot of teams in the country that have that many home games," Robic said. "We start off with three right in a row. We have seven of our first 10 at home and it is very important, obviously, to play well in those games and get off to a good start."


Another key for the Penguins will be getting off to a good Horizon League start. For the first time since joining the league, YSU plays two conference games in December -- at Wright State and against Loyola.


A Feb. 19 matchup at home as part of the ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday will also create some excitement. The Penguins have a chance to earn a nationally-televised home game on the network.


YSU was very competitive last season despite just an 8-20 overall record. On 18 occasions, the Penguins played a contest decided by 10 points or less and 10 times the contests were a five-points-or-less game.


Robic said now is the time to win those games because not only did YSU lose a lot of players, everyone in the entire league lost key personnel as well.


"We've made strides to get there, now we have to find a way to win the close games."