Madison Chapman / YSU Athletic Communications
YSU senior guard EJ Farmer (3) is defended by fifth-year guard Siem Uijtendaal during the Penguins’ practice on Monday at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown.
YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State has made a living off the transfer portal in recent years.
Former head coach Jerrod Calhoun brought in five transfers prior to the 2022-23 season in which YSU won its first Horizon League regular season championship.
Then last year, the Penguins had eight transfers join the team that eventually finished as regular season runner-up in the Horizon League.
This year’s roster has seven returning players along with nine newcomers, including seven from the portal, so building chemistry amongst those groups is a priority for new head coach Ethan Faulkner, as the Penguins began official practices for the upcoming 2024-25 season on Monday at the Beeghly Center.
“I think we’ve got great depth, I think we’ve got some versatility and definitely got some unique size,” Faulkner said. “So us as coaches, we’ve gotta make sure that we’re doing things that’s going to allow those guys to play to their strengths and strategically put them in a position to be successful.”
In the portal era, YSU has developed a recruiting philosophy that’s worked, and it’s one that Faulkner believes will continue year-in and year-out.
“The way we’ve done it is we’ve really attacked the transfer portal and got guys who have proven production at our level,” Faulkner said. “This year, we’ve even worked to bring in some lower-level guys in terms of NAIA guys and junior college players. But it’s worked — it’s been really, really good for us. I don’t think the transfer portal is going anywhere, so we’ve kind of adapted to the era of college basketball that we’re in and certainly had a lot of success doing it.”
With this year’s group, depth is something YSU will have no shortage of, even with the new roster.
Seven of the Penguins’ players have played significant minutes at the Division I level, while three did the same at the JUCO level.
“It’s certainly something that I’m excited about,” Faulkner said. “I’ve told everybody, I don’t know if we’re going to have somebody that’s going to have the production of a Dwayne Cohill or an Adrian Nelson or a DJ Burns — guys that really just pop in terms of points per game or rebounds per game, but I think one through 10 or 12, we’ve got a lot of balance in a lot of positions.”
One of the things that Faulkner reiterated when he was hired earlier this year was his desire to continue to play a similar fast-paced, up-tempo style and system to what the Penguins ran in recent years — a system that has allowed YSU to be one of the best offensive teams in the country.
When the Penguins won the Horizon League in 2022-23, they had the fifth-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 81.9 points per game. Then last year, YSU was 24th in Division I with an almost identical scoring average of 81.2 points per game.
“We’re going to stay pretty consistent with the way that we’ve played in the past,” Faulkner said. “We’ve been pretty good offensively, and I think we’ll add some things that really help our guys play to their strengths in terms of the team this year. We want to be good in transition and really have confidence and understand how to play on a ball screen, how to read defenses, create and keep advantages and then be able to take advantage of those shots.”
As the new and returning Penguins continue to build chemistry with one another, finding the right balance throughout the roster will once again be key for YSU as it chases another strong finish in the Horizon League.
“I think we’re capable of anything we set our minds to,” fifth-year transfer guard Nico Gallette said. “Getting to the tournament, that’s our main goal, so that’s what we’re chasing. But in terms of coming together and having a bunch of different people from a bunch of different places, we’re just finding our unity through basketball.”
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