A Look Back, A Look Ahead

By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
March 24, 2009

Meyer On Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - March 24, 2009 - What's next for Robert Morris?

Or, perhaps more important, who's next?

After guiding the Colonials to 50 wins in his first two seasons as a head coach, will Mike Rice make the move to a larger program?

"I don't have a crystal ball,'' Rice said. "I plan on being here.''

Plans change, though. Stuff happens.

It's early in the annual job shuffling that occurs in Division I basketball, but it would be quite surprising if Rice's name hasn't already surfaced in those talent search companies that universities employ to help them select new basketball coaches.

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Sean Miller uses Xavier's success in the NCAA tournament as a springboard to the head coaching job at Virginia. Think Xavier might at least consider Rice as a successor? Think Rice might at least think about taking that job if it's offered?

OK, OK, we're getting ahead of the game - a bit.

For now, Rice is staying.

And if Rice does indeed return for a third season at the Sewall Center, what do he and the Colonials do for an encore following their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1992?

"You'll just have to wait and see what we accomplish next year,'' he said early this week, a few days after the Colonials lost to Michigan State, 77-62, in a first-round NCAA tournament game. "I think we have all the makings of a very, very good team. It probably will fit my style -- the way I want to coach and the way I want to attack -- better than (either of his first two RMU teams). With the freshmen, there will be some lumps early, but I think we'll have a deeper, more athletic, more aggressive team than what we had the last two years.''

Next season's Colonials will include four true freshmen and two other players who will be in-effect redshirt freshmen.

Three incoming freshmen signed early - 6'8" Brad Piehl, a highly skilled freshman/center from New Knoxville, Ohio, 5'9" guard Karon Abraham from Patterson, N.J., and 6'7" forward Lijah Thompson from Philadelphia.

The Colonials in April expect to sign another shooting guard, as they're gaining Will Royal's scholarship. Royal will transfer to Shippensburg.

Those four will join 6'0" guard Velton Jones and 6'6" forward Russell Johnson, both of home sat out this season.

Jones could start at point guard next season. Johnson also might start upfront.

"Right now, I'd be shocked if Russell didn't end up starting,'' Rice said.

Those six freshmen will look for guidance to holdovers Jimmy Langhurst, Dallas Green, Mezie Nwigwe, Rob Robinson and Josiah Whitehead - all of whom will be seniors - and juniors-to-be Gary Wallace and Khalif Foster.

From this season's team that finished 24-11 in what many thought would be a rebuilding year, the Colonials lose Bateko Francisco, Iffy Ehirim and Northeast Conference Player of the Year and NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player Jeremy Chappell.

Chappell followed RMU's Tony Lee as the NEC's Player of the Year.

"Certainly losing Tony Lee was difficult for this program,'' Rice said. "But (based on) what Jeremy has done - not only with the statistics but with how hard he worked in practice and how hard he worked on both ends of the floor - I think it will take us some time to recover from losing somebody like Jeremy Chappell.

"I thought that a little bit about Tony, but Tony took practices off and possessions off, where Jeremy Chappell never did. That is hard having somebody play that hard and that focused. Russell Johnson has all the skill to do it, but you don't know if he's going to buy in and work as hard as Jeremy did. Jeremy was the (NEC) Rookie of the Year (in 2006). Everyone expected the world from him and it's hard to produce, (but) he certainly produced - and then some.''

Chappell is the only player in the 28-year history of the NEC to amass at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 steals and 200 three-pointers in a career. He finished with 1,875 points (eighth-highest in NEC history), 681 rebounds, 338 assists, 266 steals and 243 three-pointers.

Those figures rank, respectively, third, fourth, ninth, fourth and first on the RMU career lists.

Chappell, who played in a program-best 82 victories, this season scored 585 points, second-most on the Colonials' all-time season list. And he ended his career with 100 double-figure scoring games - most all-time at RMU.

Chappell scored his final points on a field goal with 3:22 left against Michigan State.

"We played our hardest,'' Chappell said. "Hopefully, the returning players come back next year with the same drive.''

Robert Morris played even with the second-seeded Spartans for much of the first half. They led 28-26 and moments later forged a 30-30 tie before Michigan State went on a 21-0 run that carried into the second half.

"Everybody's eyes lit up and we knew that we could play with them," Langhurst said. "We were competing with them. It kind of shocked us for a second."

Perhaps shocked MSU coach Tom Izzo, too.

"Robert Morris played extremely well for the first 15 minutes,'' Izzo said. "I was impressed with their defense. They were as good as we've played against. Their weakside help gave us problems.''

The Colonials won their spot in the NCAA tournament by winning the NEC tournament with a 48-46 win against Mount St. Mary's thanks to Green's field goal with 2.5 seconds remaining in front of a raucous overflow crowd of 3,227 March 11.

That's the game that will Rice will remember most from this season.

"Because of how we won it and the way we won with Dallas making that shot,'' Rice said. "You remember the (whole) season with all the ups and downs you have, but that will stick out in my memory so much just because of the way we finally did it and the atmosphere in which we did it.

"What I want them to take away (from this season) is all of the hard work, all of the dedication, all of the sacrifices. They had an incredible last two weeks, and it's something they're always going to remember.''

RMU LEFTOVERS

Rice's father, Mike Rice Sr., attended the game against Michigan State. "It was great having him there,'' Rice said. "My son (Michael) got to sit with his grandfather. It was good." ... The Colonials will begin next season with a game at Syracuse in the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. In that event, they'll also play three games at Albany against the host team, Detroit and Alcorn State. The home opener will follow, possibly against Kent State ... Robert Morris also has games scheduled at Cleveland State, Duquesne and Youngstown State next season ... Other possible home games include dates with Hampton and Morgan State.