THE GOOD NEWS
In his last two jobs, Jerry Slocum went 23-5 in his fourth season at Gannon (Pa.) University and 21-9 in his fourth year at Geneva (Pa.) College. The 610-game winner will be in his fourth season at Youngstown State in 2008-09, but he needs a lot of help to repeat that magic. Top recruit Ashen Ward, a 6-4 guard, was the 2007 Ohio Division III Player of the Year.

THE BAD NEWS
After losing the top two scorers (Quin Humphrey, Keston Roberts) from 2006-07, the Penguins dropped from 7-9 to 5-13 in the Horizon League. How much farther will they plummet in 2008-09 after losing the top two scorers (Byron Davis, John Barber) once again? Former JUCO All-American Mel Johnson hasn't shown that he can score at this level, reaching double figures just once in 30 games.

KEY RETURNEES
Vytas Sulskis set the freshman school records for 3-pointers made and attempted and tallied more points and more rebounds than any Penguins rookie since 2001-02. Junior forward Jack Liles ranked fourth in the Horizon in field-goal percentage (54.7) and freshman guard Vance Cooksey led the team in assists and steals.

ROSTER REPORT

--Senior guard Byron Davis finished his collegiate career with 1,056 points. He scored 334 points in 57 games at New Mexico State (2003-05) and 722 points in 60 games with the Penguins (2006-08). He was fourth in the league in scoring (15.5) and first in minutes played (35.4) this season.

--Senior forward John Barber appeared in a school-record 120 career games and is the only player in Youngstown State history with at least 1,000 points (1,016), 500 rebounds (582) and 70 blocked shots (71).

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