A 14-17 mark and seven conference wins for the Youngstown State Penguins a season ago was considered a success for a program that has practically owned the Horizon League basement since joining the conference.  The Penguins, under third year coach Jerry Slocum, wound up finishing in a three-way tie for fourth place in the league and snagged a first round conference tournament win to boot.  However, the departure of arguably the best player in the league, Quin Humphrey, and his high scoring sidekick Keston Roberts, leaves some awful big holes to fill if the Penguins hope to replicate last season’s success.

All is not lost for Penguins as they return six players from last season that saw significant minutes.  Add them to a group of six newcomers, many of whom contributions are expected immediately, and the Penguins might have a chance at replicating last season’s success.  That chance will hinge significantly, however, on the returnees to not only play new roles for the Penguins, but succeed in their new roles.

Senior guard Byron Davis is the leading returning scorer on the squad, scoring almost ten points per game in Horizon League action.  Davis was asked to play the point position the majority of the time and did a fine job finishing fifth in the league in assists and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio.  Davis should be free to play a bit more at the shooting guard spot this season and will definitely have the opportunity to score more.  He upped both his scoring and shooting averages in conference play last season and scored in double figures 11 times, no small feat with Humphrey and Roberts taking 53% of the squad’s field goal attempts.

There is a spot available alongside Davis in the backcourt and several individuals will try to lay claim to the spot.  Incoming freshman Vance Cooksey comes from Marion Catholic high school in Chicago where he averaged better than 20 points a game.  He has been described as being quick and fast with good ball handling and scoring ability.

Junior Mikko Nieme was once considered the point guard of the future at YSU.  He appeared in all 31 games last season and has the opportunity to increase his role this season.

Alek Mrozik is intriguing as a 6’7” guard.  George Cotal is a senior who appeared in all 31 games last season.  Freshman Blair Rozenbald was being recruited by the likes of Penn State and West Virginia before a knee injury dropped his stature, if he returns to form he could be a dark horse in the Horizon League.

Another 6’7” guard, freshman Vytas Sulskis, was the Florida Class 1A player of the year.

In the frontcourt, junior forward Jack Liles showed tremendous improvement last season adding some muscle to his 6’8” 240 pound frame.  He upped his averages to over seven points and six rebounds a contest, more than doubling the figures from his freshman year.  Now a junior Liles will be expected to be one of the team’s leaders and its anchor in the frontcourt.  He’s shown flashes of the ability he possesses, Liles scored in double digits in six of the Penguins last ten games and had double digit rebounds in three of those contests accounting two of the three double-doubles he posted last season.

Senior forward John Barber came off the bench for most of last season and is the second leading returning scorer averaging 7.6 points per contest last season.  At 6’7” and 220 pounds Barber has the athletic ability and strength to score and rebound down low and this season will have the opportunity to improve upon his numbers.

While Barber came off the bench last season fellow senior Dwight Holmes got the starting nod.  At 6’6’ and 210 pounds he is of the same build as Barber.  Holmes posted just one double digit scoring effort last season, but it was an impressive double-double at Duquesne.

Also in the mix up-front are newcomers Kevin Draughon and Dan Boudler.  Draughon is a juco transfer that brings some muscle to the paint with his 6’5” 240 pound frame.  He averaged nearly 19 points and six rebounds at the juco level.

Boudler is probably more of a project, but he averaged a double in high school and has the size and wingspan to possibly develop into a nice frontcourt presence for the Penguins.

The wing spot figures to be filled by junior college transfer Mel Johnson.  Johnson stands 6’5” and weighs in at 230 pounds.  Last season he earned second team division III All-America honors, averaging nearly a double-double at Montgomery Community College in Maryland.  His size and scoring ability will be tough to stop in the guard oriented Horizon League.

With the loss of Humphrey and Roberts it is tough to envision the Penguins improving upon last season’s fourth place conference finish.  However, the Penguins aren’t the only team with questions in the Horizon League as we enter the 2007-08 season.  If some veterans can step up and excel in new roles and some newcomers can contribute the Penguins might not fare too bad.

--Joe Dlugosz is the editor of Ramblermania.com, a website dedicated to Loyola-Chicago sports information.  For more of Joe's writing, visit: www.ramblermania.com  --ed.