By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Dec. 30, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University Colonials during the first two months of this basketball season have been kind of like that famous battery bunny - they just kept going and going and going and going and …
To Kent State. To Pitt. To Cleveland State. To Long Island. To St. Francis (N.Y.). To West Virginia. To Appalachian State. To Arizona.
And they're not all that close to being done going, either.
Just ahead are games at Morgan State Thursday night and at Ohio University Sunday afternoon. Next week, the Colonials will play at Wagner and then at Mount St. Mary's before they finally have another home game, Jan. 13, against Fairleigh Dickinson.
All of this going and going hasn't done much for the Colonials' record. They're 1-7 on the road.
But perhaps - just as with that bunny battery - it will help them stay strong.
Or get strong.
"I hope that it can speed up the maturity level of the team,'' first-year coach Andrew Toole said.
Toole's team includes eight players who are either freshmen or sophomores, which helps explain the road record and what Toole perceives as a lack of road toughness.
"You define road toughness by adhering to your formula every single possession,'' he said. "I think on the road you obviously have to take care of the basketball, you have to rebound the basketball and you can't foul people.
"You can't do that stuff really anywhere, but especially on the road. You have to have such a trust and belief in the way you play. You have to know the way you play and what you're expected to do inside and out on the road, because you turn it over when you get put in situations that you're not comfortable in. You foul people when you get behind on a play or you're not completely focused on what you're supposed to be doing or how you're supposed to be defending. A lot of the mental preparation that comes with being successful on the road we don't have yet.''
Again, in large part because of the young nature of this team.
"Absolutely,'' Toole said. "It's always hardest for a young team because they're put in situations every single time they go on the road that they've never seen. When you get to your second or your third year in college you've been in situations like (Appalachian State) where they shoot 40 free throws.''
And make 28. Robert Morris, meanwhile, was 6 of 11 at the free throw line in a 71-66 loss Dec. 18.
"Or,'' Toole continued, "you've been in situations like Kent State where you shoot 25 percent in the second half.''
And lose, 62-59, after holding a 14-point lead late in the first half.
"You've been in situations like Cleveland State where you stink the joint up in the first half and make a furious comeback,'' Toole said.
In that game, Nov. 29, the Colonials trailed, 33-17, at halftime before making a game of it in the second half only to lose, 58-53.
"You get more accustomed to those situations,'' Toole said. "You don't get rattled by those situations. Right now we get rattled by some of that stuff because it's new. It's not something that we've ever been involved with before.''
There also were those road games at Pitt and West Virginia of the Big East and Arizona of the Pac-10, teams much above RMU in terms of program level. In all three games, the Colonials hung tough for a half, or a squinch more, before ultimately losing by an average margin of almost 27 points per game.
"What happens in those games is they just wear you down,'' Toole said. "They put so much pressure on you to do everything involved in the game. Matching up in transition becomes like rocket science at times because they push the ball down your throat so fast. Entering the ball to the wing becomes a Herculean task because they deny you and they're physical. Every single thing you do in the game is (done) under so much duress that at some point in time you start to break down.
"We've been able to play for 20 minutes, for 30 minutes, but we haven't been able to keep it going because you just start to break down. You go to your bench and they go to theirs and they're bringing in these great athletes and you're bringing in guys that you're trying to hold (on) for two or three minutes with and instead of keeping it at six or eight (points) and bringing your starters back in it's now 14 and you rush your starters back in and then it becomes 18 because they're not rested and you're not in your routine.''
Tough duty, indeed.
However, Morgan State, out of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, isn't at the same level as Pitt or West Virginia or Arizona, so perhaps the Colonials will have an easier time playing the game Thursday night.
Make that a bit less difficult of a time.
"They're talented and they're big,'' Toole said of the Bears. "They have a Player of the Year candidate in the MEAC in Kevin Thompson, who's a walking double-double.''
Thompson, a 6'9" junior, averages 13.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. DeWayne Jackson, a 6'8" sophomore, leads the team in scoring with an average of 15.4 points per game. Jackson scored 22 points in the Bears' 104-74 loss at Louisville Monday night.
"They make a concerted effort to throw the ball inside and take the game into the paint,'' Toole said. "It's going to be a great test of our ability to defend the post with multiple guys and another test of our rebounding ability.''
Morgan State's schedule is a bit like RMU's.
In addition to having played at Louisville, the Bears (4-6) also have played two other Big East teams on the road, Syracuse (a 97-55 loss) and Providence (a 77-55 defeat).
This is the 10th time in the past three-plus seasons that the Colonials will play a game following back-to-back losses. Robert Morris was 8-1 in the first nine such instances.
ROSTER CHANGES: The Colonials lost a player and gained a player during the holiday break. Freshman guard Elton Roy, from Houston's Yates High School, decided to return home to Texas.
"We're disappointed that he left,'' Toole said. "I thought he was someone who could have become a very good player for us, but he made the decision that he felt was best for him. Sometimes the adjustment to being a student-athlete at the Division I level when you're far away from home isn't easy. I think that was his biggest issue, just being away. The demands of being a student and an athlete at a Division I institution and being away made life for him pretty difficult. We wish him all the luck in the world. We're trying to help him land somewhere so he stays in school and has some success in life.''
Roy played in eight games and averaged 3.1 points per game.
The Colonials added Mike McFadden, a 6'8'' transfer from Iona. McFadden, from Newark, N.J., will enroll at Robert Morris next week and begin practicing with the Colonials. He will be eligible to play next December and will have two and-a-half seasons of eligibility.
NEC AGAINST THE WORLD: NEC teams continue to fare better this season against non-conference teams than last season, when the league was 38-104 outside of the NEC. Through Tuesday, the NEC is 43-73 in non-conference games.
