YSU had no inside game on offense, and got very little production off the bench. Hard to have a winning season when needing to rely on KP to score 25-30 points every night. Then add that KP was the teams best defender, and it put even more pressure on him.
I'm NEVER going to buy the argument YSU cannot recruit solid players for the 4/5 position. Notice I did not say GREAT. I said solid. All of the other teams in the HL are able to do this. And, when looking back at the coaches between Rice and Slocum, YSU had several players that would be solid(not great) players in the HL at the 4/5 position.
Here is something I wonder about. YSU's coaching staff under Slocum has been made up almost entirely of guys that played guard in high school/college. Not that a person has to play inside to be effective coaching/teaching a player at the 4/5 position. But, it really helps when a staff has someone with playing experience at the 4/5, coaching the "bigs". Also, other schools in the HL seem to do a much better job at getting their "diamonds in the rough" at the 4/5 positions to become decent to solid players in the HL. Alec Brown is a perfect example. He was not very good as a Frosh. If he had been, then he would not have ended up at GB.
Again, I m NOT expecting YSU to get a kid who is 6'9" or taller, with muscle that can come in as a frosh and tear it up. Not even expecting such a player to be a starter his 2nd year. But, there are plenty of guys out there in the 6'5" - 6'7"/6'8" range, with some muscle that end up at schools like YSU, and have very good careers. The so called "tweeners". And, every so often, a school like YSU get's a guy who is close to 7'0", very raw, but over the course of 5 years(redshirting as a Frosh) becomes a solid player at the mid-major level. I have NO DOUBT about the coaching staff looking for the kind of player I'm talking about at the 4/5 positions. My question is, why do such players seem to shy away from YSU? Especially when Slocum and staff have had success at recruiting players for the guard and wing positions.
Here are guys recruited since Mike Rice left in 86-87 whi I know would be solid players for YSU in the HL. A few of these guys actually were solid players for Robic, and or Robic/Slocum
Jerome Simms
Tim Jackson
Marcus Cullver
Derick Simmons
Edgar Ward
Adam Baumann (was a solid player for Robic)
Dwight Holmes (got in Robic's "doghouse", then was a solid player for Slocum)
Desmond Harrison
David Brown - his range was about 5 feet at most on offense. But, he was 6'9", very active and alot like Eargle when it came to defense and rebounding. He also could run the floor, which would make him a great fit for playing with the kind of gurads and wing players Slocum has been able to recruit
John Barber - recruited by Robic, and had solid career at YSU under Robic/Slocum
Brian Radakovich
Anthony Camuso - was solid player, but poor academics ended his YSU career