Posts Tagged ‘Shawn Amiker’

History lesson. The great Industrial Revolution of America was built on the theory that interchangeable parts could be used to mass assemble.  Tuesday night at Beeghly Center, Jerry Slocum did exactly that, showed a wide array of talent, interchangeable parts.  The Penguins looked pretty good in defeating Notre Dame of Ohio 80-62 in the 2011 home opener.  A long-standing school record of 14 three pointers in a game was tied as the Penguins had the long shots falling to the clip of 66.7% in the first half.

“It was a tale of two halves”, remarked Slocum.  “In the first half, everything went in, and in the second half, nothing would go in.  The first half was a clinic of sharing the ball though.”

The Penguins did a tremendous job of scoring off of turnovers in the first half.  The Falcons committed ten first half turnover that led to 13 points for Youngstown State.  Conversely, YSU only had two first half turnovers and the Falcons did not get a point off of either turnover.  Balance was the norm for Slocum’s team in the first half.  Kendrick Perry had 16 points, was 3-3 on three-pointers, got five assists, was 5-7 from the line, and had a rebound.  Senior Ashen Ward had 14, and Blake Allen chipped in 12 points as YSU coasted to a 51-31 lead at the break.

The second half was much like the first in the sense that Slocum used his bench frequently.  It was a good opportunity to get some of the bench players quality minutes to ready them for tougher tests.  With 15:28 left in the game, Notre Dame actually cut the lead to 51-36, but the Penguins regained composure quickly and stretched their lead to 66-49 with 8:40 left in the game.

The win gets the Penguins off to a 2-0 start for the second straight season.  The win also elevates Slocum to sole possession of fourth place on the all-time Penguins Coaching wins list with 59.  He had been previously tied with John Robic, and now has 640 coaching victories in his 37th season.  Another landmark broken with the victory was Ashen Ward getting his 100th career three-pointer in the first half.

“I didn’t know that”, said Ward of his landmark trey.  “I always considered myself a shooter, now it is verified.”

Perry (below) had the best all-around game for YSU (2-0).  The sophomore poured in 18 points, had five assists, and seemed to be everywhere all night.  Ward finished the game with 17 points and Allen contributed with 14 more.  Eric Dummermuth paced the Falcons with 20 points and ten boards.

With 2:03 left in the game, Shawn Amiker, the last player to enter the game for the Penguins, hit a baseline runner while being fouled.  It was proof that interchangeable parts seem very much in order on Jerry Slocum’s assembly line.  The Penguins go back to work at home on Friday, welcoming U-C Riverside to town.

“We want to get the bench more involved earlier in games,” said Slocum.  “We have to develop those younger guys and it is better to get them in early and let the more experienced veteran players there in the second half.  We also have to play better at home.  At Samford, we played a full 40 minutes, it is much harder to play at home.  It’s a process and we have to keep growing.”

October 13 was Media Day for the Youngstown State men’s basketball team.  Things felt different, things are different.  Coach Jerry Slocum was optimistic about the group of student-athletes he has assembled for the 2011-12 season. Before the quotes get printed and before the stats are run, I will go on the record and say that this basketball team will win the Horizon League this year. It is obvious that everyone will have a different opinion of what to expect.  Read the facts before forming an opinion.

This team has a rare blend of quality senior leadership with Ashen Ward and DuShawn Brooks.  Ward has been a constant plus and Brooks is prepared to accept his role as a potential starter after getting quality minutes off of the bench last season.  The youth on the team is oozing with talent. DJ Cole, Chris Morgan, Danny Reese, and Cale Zuiker are all parts of a puzzle that Slocum has been trying to complete for the last six years.

“We paid our dues last year”, remarked Slocum.  “I like the balance, the attitude, and the work ethic that this group has shown.  This is a deeper basketball team than I have had and I am very optimistic that we can finish in the top-third of the conference this season.”

What Slocum (above) did not address is what I will.

Youngstown State lost two players last season, Vytas Sulskis and Dan Boudler. However, the Penguins are welcoming back players who were difference makers in a strong second half run where nobody wanted to play YSU. Damian Eargle, Kendrick Perry, and Blake Allen, along with Ward all got better as the year went on.  Adding in Shawn Amiker, Fletcher Larson, Mike Podolsky, Nate Perry, and Josh Chojnacki, gives Slocum incredible bench strength and balance he has not had the luxury of enjoying in past seasons.

Now, why I say the Penguins will win this league…  Valparaiso had a guy named  Brandon Wood.  He didn’t graduate or get drafted, but opted to transfer to Michigan State to showcase his talents in a brighter spotlight.  Wood averaged 16.7 per game in the 2010-11 season.  Also gone is Cory Johnson who dropped in 26 against YSU last season.

Butler made it to the National Championship for a second year in a row.  Their last loss before that game was at Youngstown State. The Bulldogs are going to be good again, but they are going to experience some growing pains this season.  Gone are Matt Howard, Shelvin Mack, Shawn VanZant, and Zach Hahn.  The Bulldogs will be good, but YSU has better talent this season.

Want more?  Norris Cole was about 45% of Cleveland State’s offense.  He’s going to be picketing instead of playing this season and the Vikings will not be the same tough team without Cole.  Milwaukee lost their top scorer and rebounder, Anthony Hill. Etc…

Basically, the Penguins have equivalent or better talent than every other team in the Horizon League this season.  Slocum knows how to win games (he is sixth among active D-I coaches with 629 wins) , and the players are committed to bigger things.

“This is a group that made a major commitment to the offseason, to our Summer program, and into the Fall”, commented Slocum.  “These guys know what Horizon League basketball is all about and they know about the challenges ahead of them, physically, in a very, very good league.”

“We have worked hard on building a mentality because we know that nothing in this league will be easy”, said senior Ashen Ward.  “We have a sense of dedication that I have never felt before.  Knowing that I can come to the gym at six in the morning and one of my teammates might be there before me is a great feeling.  It’s nice to know that someone is working as hard as me and that he is on my team.”

“I’ll go on the record right now and say that we can win the Horizon League”, said Kendrick Perry.  “We are always seen as the underdogs.  A win against Butler last season paved the way in letting us realize how good we can really be.  We all came here for one purpose, to win.  Everything goes easier when we share a common goal, and we are working hard to reach our goals.”

“I think that guys are coming in ready to work and the competition on this team is healthy”, said Blake Allen.  “We don’t feel pressure, but more excitement. The young guys have come in and really followed the lead of the older guys, everyone is working hard.“

“We come in every day and push each other”, noted DuShawn Brooks.  “I’m not a captain, but I am a senior and I will do everything in my power to help Ashen [Ward] be a leader when needed.  Everyone has been shooting free throws, working on ball-handling, and tuning up their fundamentals.”

Never known to be a successful basketball program, the soil has finally tilled the way Coach Slocum envisioned it would for the last few years.  Expect bigger things this season, expect a competitive program with someone different able to step up and contribute toward a win.  Expect a very strong current of fresh air, bigger crowds, better results, and success.  I do.

One of the biggest challenges any college basketball coach faces annually is recruiting.  Finding just the right guy to plug into your system sounds pretty easy because there are so many young men playing basketball in high schools.  However, the hard task takes months of combing over players, feeling out attitudes, and seeing how committed a person can be to succeed at the next level.  The biggest recruiting tool for any college sport is usually winning.

Jerry Slocum admits that his time at Youngstown State has been very tough.  The results are not what he had envisioned being a successful coach everywhere else he had been.  To the university’s credit, they have stuck by Slocum hoping that he can build a winner.  Last season, the Penguins showed a lot of promise and were very competitive in taking giant steps toward something bigger.

“I was excited about this class, and I am excited about our future”, commented Slocum.  “I thought the improvement was very noticeable as the year went on.  We had great effort beating Butler, missing a tip-in to almost beat Milwaukee, losing to Valpo in overtime, should have beat Akron.  We were competitive and it gives us hope.  We now are in a position where we don’t have to rely on junior college kids.”

In the past, recruiting was tougher because the team was not as competitive as it was last season.  Beating Butler is huge. I don’t care if YSU beat them because it was an off-night for the Bulldogs, the bottom line is that they won a tremendous college basketball game.  They beat the second best team in college basketball the last two seasons.  Do you think  Slocum, Coach Wernicki, Coach Thorne, or Coach DePaoli were able to recruit effectively by saying, “Well, we beat Hiram and should have beat Robert Morris”? I think not. The visits were easier this year because every kid looked at knows that Youngstown State beat Butler.

“No disrespect to junior college kids”, said Slocum.  “We have the ability with this group to grow them as freshmen into our system and mold them.  We will work with all of them to maximize their ability, and that is just easier than changing a transfer or a junior college player in most regards.”

The new players have Slocum and staff excited.  “We have four really good freshmen in this class.  D. J. Cole, Cale Zuiker, and the two kids we redshirted, a 6’9″ kid, Fletcher Larson, and a 6’5″ kid, Shawn Amiker, will really add stability.  I finally think we have a Horizon League kind of talent”, noted Slocum.

The brightest sign of a big year ahead is not only how much the core improved as a team last season plus the promising recruiting class.  A big factor could be what the other teams in the Horizon League are losing.  Butler is losing Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard. Valpo is going to lose Brandon Wood.  Wright State is pretty much losing their starting unit.  Cleveland State is losing the one guy that they cannot afford to lose, the Horizon League Player of The Year – Norris Cole.  Wisconsin-Green Bay is losing Rahmon Fletcher and Bryquis Perine. The only school getting back an abundance of talent is Detroit.  This could leave the door open for the Penguins to surprise people in 2011-12.  Go ahead, Horizon League, and underestimate our chances.  Your preseason poll this year should have Youngstown State in the top four.

When asked after the Butler game if it was his biggest win ever, Slocum said it ranked up there with a few others.  When I asked the same question again five months later, Slocum explained why in hindsight that the Butler win was really big.

“At other places and moments in time, I have had bigger wins in terms of the stature at the level I was coaching”, commented Slocum.  “For example, when I was at Geneva, we won the chance to go to the National Tournament, a fete which had not been accomplished there since 1952.  That was a really big win for that school at that moment.  At YSU, the ESPN game against Cleveland State at home in front of a packed house was a big game for this university.  Going back to this Butler game we won at home… it got bigger and bigger as the year went on.  Nobody cheered harder for Butler in that championship game than we did because we would have been the answer to a trivia question for years to come.  Cinderella has never really won the whole thing.  Indiana State and Bird did not finish the deal.  Butler has been there the last two times, and they could not finish it.  I told my wife after I got off of a FOX Sports show that if Butler wins, it would be clearly the biggest win in the history of Youngstown State Basketball.  So, to answer your question, in hindsight, yes, I do believe that the Butler win was the biggest win that I have ever had here.”

I stopped by the basketball offices last week to pick up a flyer for the upcoming camps in June and saw Slocum.  In May, he was working.  His staff was working.  For five plus years they have been working to turn this program into a winner.  As 2011-12 gets closer, let it be said, let it be written…  this team and these coaches shall reap the benefits of their hard work this season.

Imagine for a moment that you owned your own business.  The business never really took off but showed potential from time-to-time over a five year period.  Then one day you come to work to find out all but three of your employees quit.  That is what Jerry Slocum faced about a year ago, when he lost some guys to graduation and had a few leave the program for greener pastures.  Vytas Sulskis, Dan Boudler, and Ashen Ward were the only returning players with any real game experience.  Slocum had to scour the country just to have a full bench.

The new crop of talent, combined with the three remaining “employees”, played very respectably last season, showing steady improvement from the beginning of the season through the end.  The chemistry kicked in and suddenly there was a group of college guys thinking that on any given night, they could play with anyone.  Roll players like DuShawn Brooks, Devonte Maymon, and Josh Chojnacki playing like starters, Damian Eargle who keeps getting better, and perhaps the most talented young backcourt in the entire Horizon League, Kendrick Perry and Blake Allen. Make no mistake, this roster is oozing with talent and Slocum and staff are just the right guys I would want steering this ship.

Paneech: Now that Spring workouts are over and you guys are done until August, how do you feel about next season?

Slocum: This was the best Spring that we had since I got here.  There was great skill development with all of those young guys.  You have to remember that Damian, Blake, Shawn, Josh, K.P — they are all young guys.  You have so many new guys and you can’t just tell them how physical it gets.  They all got a taste of that physicality last season and have responded by hitting the weight room.  Individual efforts have been tremendous, not just average, but tremendous.  Fletcher Larson is really going to help us down low at 6’9″, he is a kid who is skilled in the post.

Paneech: What other things can we expect from new faces next season?

Slocum: All of our guys are going to be here through July 4th through first session.  All of the kids that are signed are going to be coming in the Summer too.  We have a challenge next season because we only have 13 home games and 16 on the road.  How many times has Youngstown State had a tandem where Damian [Eargle] is 6’8″ and two more guys ready to come in at 6’9″?  Cale Zuiker and Fletcher Larson add a dimension to our attack with all of that size.  Shawn Amiker is ready to contribute.  With the addition of D.J., Cale, and our two redshirts in Shawn and Fletcher, this could well be one of our best recruiting classes since we have been at Youngstown State.

Paneech: What kind of signs have you gotten from the guys that this season can be different in a better way?

Slocum: I came in here last Saturday morning to meet D.J. [Cole] and had a breakfast meeting with him.  After our meeting, I came into Beeghly for a run and I hear a ball bouncing on my way to the workout room, and when I look to the floor, there is Kendrick Perry for an hour and a half  to two hours just shooting the ball, trying to get better.  We have never had that kind of commitment here, and you get that from a freshman.  Ashen Ward has done a great job leading this team through Spring drills.  We are two years late and the program has encountered a couple of hiccups along the way, but we had a great recruiting period and didn’t bring in any junior college kids, which is where you want to be.  At our level, it is better to take a freshman, realize his potential and grow him into the system the way you want to.  This is the first year that we have not recruited a junior college kid.  Nothing against junior college kids, but it is nice to take a kid, realize his potential and work with him to be a big part of the overall system.

Paneech: Talk about the tremendous improvement, especially Damian Eargle and your guards, Blake Allen and Kendrick Perry.

Slocum: I think that K. P. and Damian can grow to be top players in the Horizon League.  We had the best backcourt in the conference with the best turnover to assist ratio with Blake and K.P. the last ten games.  Damian Eargle, over the last ten games, averaged almost a double-double with 15 points and almost ten rebounds a game.  The common factor was that as the year went on, all of our guys got better.  K.P. might be the best two-guard in the conference and Blake Allen works hard and had one of the best turnover to assist ratios in the league.  Damian led the league in blocked shots and is learning how to stay on the floor a little longer.

The third and final installment of the Jerry Slocum interview will hit the site this weekend and is titled How Winning Affects Recruiting.