By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
October 15, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - With Mike Rice having moved on to Rutgers, Robert Morris fans are left to wonder what's next for the Colonials under new coach Andy Toole.
Does the team re-tool under Toole? Or does it simply tool along?
"We are tooling along,'' Toole said on the eve of the beginning of practice for the 2010-11 season. "I don't believe in re-tooling.''
In this case, maintaining the status quo would be just dandy for the Colonials and their fans.
The Colonials cooked under Rice before he booked for the Big East.
In his three seasons, Rice's teams went an amazing 73-31 overall and an astounding 46-8 in the Northeast Conference. Add in their 7-1 record in three NEC tournaments, and the Colonials under Rice were 53-9 against NEC teams. They won or shared three consecutive NEC regular-season championships and won the past two NEC Tournament championships, which earned them back-to-back NCAA tournament berths.
Pretty big - albeit brief -- legacy left by Rice.
However, Toole would seem up to the challenge of extending RMU's recent run of overwhelming success.
He was the associate head coach under Rice and worked closely with his mentor in devising and perfecting the Colonials' frustrating in-your-face defense that was a hallmark of the past three teams.
"I feel like - and I think Mike would agree - that he and I kind of co-authored the style we play,'' said Toole, at a just-turned 30 years old the youngest head coach in Division I basketball. "Mike took input from anywhere and everybody. I believe in the style we play. We've recruited to (fit) that system, and I think it gives us our best opportunity to win.''
It's difficult to argue that point.
In the past three seasons, Robert Morris finished second, first and second in scoring defense against NEC foes - posting stingy yields of 65.5, 62.8 and 60.9 points per game, respectively. The Colonials were third, second and first in field goal percentage defense, registering percentages of 43.3, 41.6 and 38.3. Just as in the points allowed category, Rice's Colonials improved in field goal percentage defense each season.
It seems safe to assume that under Toole the Charles L. Sewall Center will continue to be a no-fun zone for visiting offenses this season.
So what about the RMU offense?
"I'd like to run a little more,'' Toole said. "I'd like to push the ball a little more. I think that's me a little bit, but I also think it's something we tried to do over the last couple years.''
For various reasons, the Colonials weren't able to run as much as Rice and Toole wanted.
However, with holdover point guard Velton Jones and freshman point guard Anthony Myers, Toole thinks he has, well, the tools to play at a more frenetic pace offensively.
"I think both of those guys can play fast as long as their conditioning is where it needs to be,'' Toole said. "I want to get the ball down the floor and put pressure on the (opposing) defense.''
Of course, in order to run more, the Colonials will have to rebound well.
"Correct,'' Toole said. "And that's our biggest weakness - by far.''
These Colonials don't figure to be an overly big team. The tallest player listed on the roster is 6'8" freshman Deion Turman from Mt. Lebanon. Sophomore Lijah Thompson is the tallest returnee at 6'7".
"And that's the other reason I want to run,'' Toole said. "If we can rebound, we can run and maybe take advantage of some of our (forwards) who are a little more undersized and athletic than they are big and slow.''
Still, Toole is hesitant to proclaim this team will be a rebounding machine.
"It's because we don't have a lot of rebounders,'' he said. "I've never been a true believer that the biggest guys are the best rebounders. They're not. We're trying to create the mentality of being relentless rebounders. We're going to emphasize the heck out of rebounding. I mean every single shot, every single play, every single time. That's the only way we're going to have success.
"We have to create a mentality of gang rebounding (with all) five guys -- and if anybody wants to come off the bench and jump in and start boxing people out, they can go right ahead and do it because that's what we're going to need.''
Toole hopes freshman Yann Charles can provide some immediate rebounding help. Charles is a 6'5", 220-pound forward from Montreal, Quebec, who could be in the starting lineup for the Colonials' opener against St. Peter's Nov. 13.
"He's really physically strong,'' Toole said. "He is as well put together (for a) 19- or 20-year-old freshman as you're going to find.''
Toole is one of four first-year coaches in the NEC.
Former Seton Hall standout Danny Hurley takes over for Mike Deane at Wagner, where his brother Bobby, the former Duke great, will serve as one of his assistants. Robert Burke, with assistant coaching experience at Princeton and Georgetown, succeeds Milan Brown at Mount St. Mary's. Glenn Braica, a former assistant coach at St. Francis (N.Y.), replaces Brian Nash at the Terrier helm.
And Fairleigh Dickinson's Greg Vetrone sort of counts as a fifth first-year coach. He was the Knights' interim head coach last season. This will be his first season without the "interim'' label.
Toole thinks all this newness in the NEC coaching ranks will have an impact on the league.
"I think each of those guys who got hired has a team that (won't be) exactly the same as what they took over,'' Toole said. "Rob Burke, with the Princeton and Georgetown experience, isn't what Milan Brown was, so it's going to be interesting to see how that transition goes. Danny Hurley is going to play differently than Mike Deane did. Glenn Braica knows St. Francis. They have some talented kids coming back. If he can put that group together, they can all of a sudden catapult. Greg Vetrone not having that interim tag on his back makes him more dangerous. It's his second year of doing this. So it adds a pretty decent mix.''
And what about Toole?
"Well,'' he said, smiling, "I'm just going to try to continue to do what we've done the last three years and not mess with anything.''
NEC NUGGETS: Guard Jimmy Langhurst, whose senior season ended prematurely because of a knee injury late last December, did not get a medical redshirt for this season and will serve as a student assistant coach for Toole. Langhurst is in graduate school at RMU … The Colonials' second regular-season game will be at Kent State Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 8 a.m. That game will be part of ESPN's college basketball marathon and form the second part of an NEC doubleheader. Fellow NEC member Monmouth entertains Stony Brook at 6 a.m. The Hawks played at 6 a.m. last season, too, visiting Saint Peter's for a pre-dawn get-together … Mount St. Mary's senior guard Jean Cajou, who would have begun this season as the NEC's fourth leading active scorer with 963 points, has withdrawn from school for the fall semester. Burke said he's "hopeful'' Cajou will return to school and the team for the second semester.
