Is this thread serious? I would not want to spend 5 days in Youngstown either, which is one reason I moved far far away from that sh*thole of a city.
And, as far as dungholes go, Youngstown is definitely near the top of the list. Yes, so is Detroit, but Ytown in many ways is just a smaller version of Detroit. Also, Oakland is not in Detroit, and from what I understand, the suburbs and ex-burbs in the Detroit area are quite nice.
It could easily be asked what the HL saw/sees in YSU, given that YSU does not add much to the league in the top sport of men's basketball. Womens basketball has had only 1 winning season in the HL since joining. Well, I guess we can make that 2, since the team is 9-5 which guarantees a winning record in the HL for this year. I'm limiting this to only basketball, since the hatred for Oakland seems to be toward their team and coach. I do not understand why YSU fans see Bader as being a jerk? The kid can play, and he knows it. He has confidence.
As for the coach, well, he is able to get his teams to play at a high level. Oakland moved to D1 in 96-97 and have played in the NCAA Tournament 3 times,the last appearance in the 10-11 season . YSU has NEVER played in tourney as D1 program. They have also been in the CIT 3 times. YSU played in the CIT last year, the first post-season tourney since moving to D1 in 81-82. And, when it comes to OOC schedules, Oakland will play any team at any site. I'd much rather see YSU play an OOC schedule like Oakland does/did than use the YSU model. Yes, YSU has a better overall record than Oakland, but lost both games played against Oakland this year. YSU also played a much easier schedule than Oakland. What good did it do YSU to go 9-6 in the regular season, only to then finish 6-10 and 7th place in the HL, and 15-16 overall?