By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
October 18, 2010 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - One of the questions basketball fans ask most at this time of year is … "So, who are the new guys on our team?''

Well, by golly, here are some answers for Robert Morris University fans.

First-year head coach Andy Toole welcomes five new Colonials this season, and that quintet features something for everybody.

There's a local angle in Mt. Lebanon's Deion Turman.

There's an international feature in Canada's Yann Charles.

There's a national tie-in with Elton Roy.

There's an RMU tie-in with Anthony Myers.

And there's a "Hey, I remember you!'' link with Lawrence Bridges, the only non-freshman in the group.

Turman, at 6'8" the tallest player on the Colonial roster, helped Mt. Lebanon win the WPIAL Quad-A championship last season when the Blue Devils finished 25-3. Turman averaged 10.1 points and an impressive 12.9 rebounds per game.

"A big long dude,'' Toole said of Turman. "He does impressive things athletically at times. It's just that the speed of everything and the competition is a little bit new to him. He needs to figure out the competition.''

Charles, 6'5", is from Montreal and was named Quebec's Player of the Year after averaging 18.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game for Champlain St. Albert.

"He's kind of a face-up, under-sized (forward),'' Toole said. "He can make a 15- to 17-footer. He can make a three. He can put it on the floor (and go) one or two dribbles. He's not at his best with his back to the basket, but he's really physically strong.''

Roy, 6'2", is from Houston's Yates High School, which attracted attention last season for, among other things, beating Lee High School, 170-35, after leading, 100-12, at halftime. Yates coach Greg Wise drew criticism for running up the score, but Wise countered that his team just played its usual full-court pressing game.

Yates, which set a national high school record by scoring at least 100 points in 15 consecutive games, also extended its two-year winning streak to 58 straight games by winning its second straight Texas 4-A state championship.

Roy averaged 15.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game for the 34-0 Lions.

"It's going to be an adjustment for him,'' Toole said. "His team played a zone press, and most teams never got the ball past midcourt. They would just take the ball and make layups. And they would (press) for all 32 minutes. It was incredible.''

It remains to be seen how Roy's offensive talent translates to the Division I level.

"He can score, and he loves to score,'' Toole said. "He puts the ball in the basket. He can make three's. He has a great mid-range game. He can get all the way to the rim, but he hunts shots. You put him in whatever drill it is, he's getting his shots up. He's somehow figuring out a way to put the ball in the basket. Sometimes it will be off a rebound. Sometimes it will be a loose-ball pickup. He just has a knack for scoring the ball.

"He's learning how to defend and how hard you have to play, (but) he's a very talented and gifted basketball player.''

Myers, a 5'11" point guard from Washington, D.C., last season played for Charis Prep in Wilson, N.C., and averaged 11.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game for a team that finished 36-6 and reached the finals of the National Prep School Tournament.

However, perhaps of more interest to Colonial fans is that Myers is a cousin of former RMU standout point guard Derek Coleman, who graduated in 2007. Coleman, who finished his career with 1,042 points, averaged 12.8 points and 5.4 assists per game and shot 88.1 percent from the free throw line in his senior season.

If genes matter, Myers could become a Colonial star, too.

"He needs to work on his shooting,'' Toole said, "but defensively and in terms of pushing the basketball and passing, he fits exactly what we do.''

Bridges, a 6'5" junior, isn't entirely a stranger to Robert Morris. He played against the Colonials for Central Michigan two seasons ago when RMU beat the Chippewas, 73-60, at The Palace of Auburn Hills Dec. 20, 2008. Bridges, in 15 minutes off the bench, scored four points.

Bridges, who went to Central Michigan from Henry Ford High School in Detroit, didn't contribute much during his freshman season. He averaged just 9.5 minutes per game and had a total of 33 points and 36 rebounds.

He played last season for Columbus State in Ohio, averaging 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and shooting 44.9 percent from the floor.

"He didn't like his role (at Central Michigan),'' Toole said. "He didn't feel comfortable there. I don't know how much they liked him, either. At Columbus State, he was kind of under-recruited. He didn't really show his full potential at Columbus State.

"He came in here in terrible condition, but we have him in pretty good condition now. He's athletic and strong. You want to talk about an athlete, a jumper? His ability to jump is impressive. He just doesn't do it every time.''

Toole compared Bridges to former forward Josiah Whitehead (2008-10), another junior college recruit who last season played extremely well down the stretch in his second season with the Colonials.

"In terms of personality, he's like Joe Whitehead,'' Toole said. "He wants to try and do everything you're asking him to do. We had a talk, and he said to me, 'Coach, let me know anything I can possibly do because I don't want at the end of the year us to sit down and have a conversation and have you say you don't see a spot for me and you don't see success for me.'''

Colonial fans can get their first look at the "newbies'' in a game Nov. 2 when Robert Morris entertains Montreal's McGill University in a 7:30 p.m. exhibition contest.

NEC NUGGETS: NEC teams this season are scheduled to play 14 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season … Robert Morris is scheduled to play the most - four (at Pitt, at West Virginia, at Morgan State, at Ohio University) … The Colonials are scheduled to play their first four NEC games on the road (at Long Island, at St. Francis, N.Y., at Wagner and at Mount St. Mary's) … Saint Francis (Pa.) is the only other NEC team that must play its first four league games on the road … Fairleigh Dickinson is the only team that gets to play its first four NEC games at home. Last season, four teams played their first four league games on the road - Bryant (0-4), Wagner (0-4), Central Connecticut State (1-3) and Mount St. Mary's (1-3) - and two played their first four league games at home -- Long Island (4-0) and St. Francis, N.Y. (2-2) … Helped by their recent success, the Colonials own four of the 11 slots on the list of NEC single-season wins leaders … CCSU's 27-5 record in 2001-02 is first. RMU is second (26-8 in 2007-08), fourth (24-11 in 2008-09), seventh (23-12 in 2009-10) and 11th (23-8 in 1982-83).