By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Jan. 13, 2010 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - The Northeast Conference's "Rivalry Week'' promotion Feb. 4-6 inadvertently spun off another interesting bit of scheduling that encompasses the next two weekends.

Call this the "Mading Mading Back-Back-to-Back-Back'' extravaganza -- in honor of the former Sacred Heart player (2001-05) whose first and last names were the same.

Robert Morris University sort of has a Mading Mading on its current roster.

Senior forward Rob Robinson's nickname is "Rob Rob.''

So what does Robinson think of NEC teams playing the same two teams in home-and-away, back-to-back series?

"It's kind of good,'' Robinson said. "You can just focus on two teams for two weeks. It will be good for the freshmen.''

Robinson's coach, Mike Rice, has a different view.

"I don't think much of it,'' Rice said. "I think it's why no other conferences in the United States do it. I don't see a lot of good in playing teams back-to-back-to-back (to back). I've never done it, so I'm not really sure what's going to happen.''

What is sure is that the Colonials are scheduled to play Fairleigh Dickinson and Monmouth at home Thursday and Saturday nights, then go to New Jersey next week to play Fairleigh Dickinson and Monmouth again.

All NEC teams have virtually the same scheduling piece - playing four league games against two teams over two weekends. St. Francis, N.Y., does sandwich a game at Dartmouth Jan. 18 between back-to-back weekend games against Mount St. Mary's and Wagner.

And Bryant, Quinnipiac, Central Connecticut State and Sacred Heart actually will work in back-to-back games against the same opponent during these two weekends. Bryant plays Quinnipiac back-to-back in between two games against Sacred Heart, while Central Connecticut State plays Sacred Heart in back-to-back games in between two games against Quinnipiac.

This strange bit of scheduling will not be in next season's schedule, according to Ron Ratner, the NEC's associate commissioner.

"It just sort of happened because of 'Rivalry Week,''' Ratner said. "We've lost some (scheduling) flexibility because of Bryant (which this season plays a full NEC schedule for the first time). We're always trying some unique twists to try to generate some buzz for our league and some local publicity. (The Rivalry Week) had floated around for a while, so we decided to pull the trigger this year.''

Ratner said the back-to-back weekend scheduling is "a quirky fluke - an odd anomaly.''

In short (sort of), it is what it is, is what it is this season, and next season it won't be what it was.

RIVALRY WEEK: Robert Morris will play at neighboring Saint Francis (Pa.) Feb. 4, then host the Red Flash at the Sewall Center Feb. 6.

"I think that's very bizarre,'' Rice said. "Again, nobody else in the country has done it. Maybe it's going to bring some attention to our programs, (but) I don't particularly like it.''

The Colonials had a similar experience during the 2004-05 season.

In another bit of "quirky fluke'' regular-season scheduling, they played Wagner in back-to-back games a week apart. The Colonials won both games Jan. 17 and 24 but lost to the Seahawks in the first round of the NEC tournament at home March 3.

THE KNIGHT/HAWK-KNIGHT/HAWK EXPERIENCE: The "odd anomaly'' in the schedule could sort of work to the Colonials' advantage.

Monmouth is the only team in the NEC that plays primarily a matchup zone, which makes preparing to play the Hawks a bit of a challenge. By playing them twice in eight days, the Colonials could be better prepared by the second game.

"With their defense, it's not the worst thing in the world,'' Rice conceded. "We'll have seen it. It will be fresh in our minds and we'll understand maybe how to attack it a little bit better. I'd have liked to play Monmouth first and FDU second. We'll see how it goes.''

Fairleigh Dickinson seems to have righted itself after a 10-game losing streak dropped the Knights to 1-12. They've won three straight games to join RMU, Monmouth and Quinnipiac at 3-1 in the NEC.

They reached 3-1 with an 83-74 win against Central Connecticut State last Saturday. Guard Sean Baptiste had 26 points and point guard Mike Scott had 21 points and seven assists. Scott enjoyed a near-perfect game. He was 5-of-5 from the field and 10-of-11 at the foul line.\

"It was a team effort,'' FDU coach Greg Vetrone said after the win over CCSU. "The defense in the second half was incredible. Mike had another incredible game. After we lost 10 (straight) games, they could have quit, but they showed inner fortitude. This team believes in themselves.''

Monmouth also has been on a roll. The Hawks have won four straight games for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

They're receiving important contributions from sophomore forward Travis Taylor, who's scored in double figures in every game this season, and sophomore guard Will Campbell, who is averaging 17.2 points per game since moving into the starting lineup five games ago.

However, senior guard Whitney Coleman, who played only nine minutes last season before going down with season-ending knee injury, still is finding it difficult to get on track. In the past six games, Coleman has scored only 34 points and made just 11 of 51 field goal attempts.

Coleman's productivity problems are mirrored by RMU's Russell Johnson. The redshirt freshman in the past four games is 7-for-36 from the field. He's actually shot better from deep (3-of-13 for 23.1 percent) than from inside the arc (4-of-23, 17.4 percent) in that span.

"He's shooting off-balance shots, and that's what you do in high school,'' Rice said. "You rush shots. He's gotten to where most of his shots I would approve of. They're good shots. He's just not finishing right now for us - whether it's his confidence, whether it's maybe moving him to the four spot has hurt him because he's getting banged a little bit and he's not used to finishing through that type of physicality. He moves away from the contact instead of going through the contact.

"But whatever it is, heck, he's even missing the wide open ones right now, so we're hoping that he kind of gets out of the funk.''

Rice continues to be frustrated by his team's lack of consistency and stagnation.

"We're not getting better,'' Rice said. "We're not improving on some of the things that we probably should be improving on. We're not being as consistent on those items. The league is, I think, up for grabs and I think the team that improves the most over the season is going to win this thing.''

Rice reprised an allusion Saint Francis (Pa.) coach Don Friday used a couple weeks ago.

"Like Muhammad Ali said, you don't win a prize fight when you step in the ring,'' Rice said. "You win it six months before on the road, in the weight room and sparring. (Our) guys just don't understand that.''

BLACKBIRDS STILL UNBAKED: Long Island, which played its first four NEC games at home, is the league's only unbeaten team at 4-0. That's the best league start by the Blackbirds since they left the gate 5-0 in 1996-97. That season, they finished 15-3 in the league, won the NEC championship and advanced as a 13th seed to the NCAA tournament, in which they lost to Villanova, 101-91.

LIU got to 4-0 this season with an 89-80 win against Saint Francis (Pa.) last Saturday. Guard Jaytornah Wisseh had 28 points - 23 in the second half.

The Red Flash received 20 points from junior Sorena Orandi, who over the past six games is averaging 10.7 points per game and shooting 50 percent (22-of-44) from the field.

It was the first time Saint Francis (Pa.) scored at least 80 points in a game since Jan. 24, 2008 when it beat St. Francis (N.Y.), 92-84, in triple overtime. It was the first time Saint Francis (Pa.) scored 80 points in a game in regulation since it lost at Duquesne, 99-80, Dec. 21, 2007.

HERE THEY COME: Mount St. Mary's, which for the second straight season began NEC play 0-3, got its first victory last Saturday, winning, 69-65, at Sacred Heart. The Mountaineers played their first four NEC games on the road and overall had lost its previous three games by a total of six points.

"The (previous) three games (came) down to the wire and we came out on the short end of the stick,'' coach Milan Brown said. "We were able to finish out (this) game. If you are going to be a good basketball team, you have to win tight games. Hopefully this will catapult us into playing even better.''

The win ended a nine-game losing streak for Mount St. Mary's and snapped Sacred Heart's 11-game home winning streak.

After losing its first three NEC games last season, Mount St. Mary's regrouped and finished 12-6 in the league. It was the No. 2 seed in the league tournament and reached the championship game, in which it lost to top seed RMU, 48-46.

AROUND THE NEC: In its past six games, Monmouth has held its opponents to 26.7 percent (30-of-112) shooting from beyond the arc … Bryant senior Cecil Gresham, who leads the Bulldogs with a scoring average of 14.5 points a game, is out for the season with a knee injury …. Saint Francis (Pa.) will honor former Red Flash great Norm Van Lier between the women's and men's games against Fairleigh Dickinson Saturday … Van Lier, who died last February at age 61, will have his jersey permanently displayed in the Champions Room of DeGol Arena … FDU has had four players score in double figures in each of its past three games … Jeremy Goode has 527 career assists for Mount St. Mary's and is two short of tying the school record of 529 held by Gregory Harris (1996-2000) … Sacred Heart's Liam Potter has posted a double-double in five of the Pioneers' past six games, in which he's averaged 13.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game … RMU's Lijah Thompson played only eight minutes in the Colonials' 67-63 win at St. Francis (N.Y.) last Saturday but scored eight points and grabbed three rebounds … In his past five games, FDU's Scott has averaged 17.4 points and 7.0 assists per game … In the Saint Francis (Pa.)-Long Island game Saturday, the teams combined to make 24-of-45 three-point attempts … The Red Flash were were 13- of-25; LIU was 11-of-20.