'99-00 SCHEDULE

Dec. 3 -- at West Middlesex      4-- Hubbard      7-- at Mercer      10-- George Junior      14-- Greenville      17-- at Meadville      20-- Brookfield      22-- Mercer      27-28 -- Farrell Tournament Jan . 4 -- at Grove City      7-- at Sharon      11-- Slippery Rock      15-- at Franklin      18-- at Greenville      22-- at Canfield      25-- at George Junior      26-- Wilmington      28-- at Sharpsville Feb. 1-- Strong Vincent      8-- Grove City      11-- Sharon      12-- at Farrell      15-- at Slippery Rock

By The Herald Sports Staff

Last year's 1-5 MCAC AAA record and 9-15 overall effort was not the kind of season Hornet fans are used to. Especially since the team went 4-19 two years ago and not since 1968-69 and 1967-68 had Hornet teams had a losing record in consecutive seasons.

So what is coach Bill Dzuricsko going to do about it? Stir the pot a little bit. And do everything in his power not to let it happen again.

"We're trying to mix up some different plays, some different offenses, some different styles," Dzuricsko said. "This year's group looks like they want to fast break a little bit, which is good. I worry about our half-court man-to-man offense. I'm trying to add some wrinkles there. We'll try to use our quickness, run a little more, press, those types of things."

No matter what the potpourri of ideas turn into, one thing is certain: "Our goal is to get back in the hunt for the triple-A conference title," Dzuricsko said.

To do that, Dzuricsko (193-127 entering his 14th year) wants his team to learn from last year's mistakes.

"Obviously we want to learn from those situations," he said. "We want to learn from anything that helped, what plays worked, what plays didn't, how can we improve."

Gone to graduation are Chad Sheasley (250), Josh Glass (213), Dave Burich (182) and Rick Herman (182), who were the team's top four scorers.

Dzuricsko has just three returning lettermen at his disposal and all are seniors. Guards Dan Johnson (6-3) and Zach Sabo (5-11) played frequently, but scored just 33 and 31 points, respectively, last year. The third is 6-6 forward Ian Dickman who was fifth on the team with 135 points.

"Ian is pretty versatile and we're going to use that versatility," Dzuricsko said. "He shoots the three pretty well and he posts up pretty well and has a nice elbow jumper."

Senior Paul Wasko (5-10) played in just a handful of games last year, but will be thrust into the point guard slot. The final senior is Fred Meyer, an exchange student from Brazil who comes in at 6-2 and is still learning the system.

Dzuricsko said he will rely heavily on a solid corps of juniors including 5-8 guard Bill Geisel, 6-1 forward Chris Simonik who scored 17 points last year on the varsity level and led the jayvee squad in scoring, 5-9 guard Joe Banas, 6-0 forward Joe Daoust, newcomer Ethan Sieg, a 6-1 forward, and 6-2 forward Steve Sederland.

"We're hoping those juniors (who helped last year's jayvee team to a 17-5 record) will contribute at the varsity level," Dzuricsko said. "Some of the seniors may come off the bench, but will get a lot of playing time. We have guys moving up when other teams have guys who are still playing varsity from last year. It will be a challenge for those guys to step up."

Some sophomores who could add some depth to Dzuricsko's bench include: guard-forward Jeremy Glass (6-2), Dave Gruitza (6-0), Nick Hatkevich (5-7), Anthony Barlow (5-10), Ed Likovich (5-11), Ryan Fleming (6-3) and Wes Blauser (6-0).

Dzuricsko certainly has the depth to rotate player in and out to keep a fresh squad on the court. But all of them are roughly the same height. That's where he hopes the Hornets' quickness and fundamentals can offset other teams' height.

"When we focus on teams in the league like Slippery Rock, we're going to have to find ways to use our quickness to offset their size," he said. "Sharon is quick and big, so we'll have to come up with something there. Grove City always plays well and shoots well. Again, we'll be trying to mix things up there."

Dzuricsko will be assisted by Eric Trosch, Tony Mastrian, Paul Sanders, Bill Bell and Joe Mielecki.

In the league, Dzuricsko thinks it will be tough once again.

"Sharon is very good, very athletic and they have a couple of big guys," Dzuricsko said. "In a half-court offense every pass is an adventure because they're guards are so quick. Slippery Rock has the height, they play well, they shoot well. I think Grove City might be going through an adjustment period after losing (Josh) Morgan. Anybody would. But they had a lot of juniors who gained experience through the playoffs. We are going to have to do a lot of things right to beat any of those teams."