By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Feb. 1, 2011 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - We've written a few times here about the Robert Morris University Colonials having arrived at a crossroads in their erratic basketball season.

About how they win a couple games and there's hope. About how then they lose a game or two and questions arise.

It seems the confounding Colonials have come to yet another crossroads following a two-loss trek to Connecticut last weekend.

And perhaps this is the final crossroads. Just ahead are three consecutive home games against Bryant, Central Connecticut State and Saint Francis (Pa.). If the Colonials manage to win all three, perhaps that will mean they've at last located the correct route that will take them to the Northeast Conference Tournament and maybe beyond.

But if they don't?

"This is it,'' coach Andrew Toole said. "You lose one of these three games at home, you might not make the tournament.''

Robert Morris is one of five teams that have 5-5 NEC records just past the halfway mark of the season. Another two are 6-4 and are positioned just behind league-leader Long Island (8-2) and second-place CCSU (7-3). Sacred Heart, which beat RMU, 84-75, last Saturday, is 4-6.

That's eight teams separated by two games with eight league games each remaining. Because Bryant (5-5) is not yet eligible to play in the NEC Tournament, that means it's quite possible that seven teams are playing for six spots in the league tourney - assuming LIU and CCSU also will qualify for the eight-team event.

Musical chairs, anyone?

In each of the three previous seasons, the Colonials didn't have to bother themselves with playing either the "musical chairs'' or "What if?'' games at this point. When a team is en route to going 16-2, 15-3 and 15-3 in the league, respectively, its only question marks concern how many home games it will get to play in the NEC Tournament.

That is far from the situation this season.

"We're one game away from 10th place,'' Toole said. "We're closer to 10th place than we are to second place.''

And when one factors in tie-breakers between teams, the Colonials are in worse shape than that.

"We're way closer to 10th than we are to fourth,'' Toole said.

Seems as if this would be kind of an interesting time for a first-year head coach like Toole.

"There are always interesting times because even when you're doing really well you have to figure out how to keep doing well,'' Toole said. "When you're doing poorly, you have to figure out to stop doing poorly. It's always an interesting time as a coach. But I think (this is) a trying time because you have eight games left, you're 5-5 in your league, you have talent and you've been close in a number of the games you've lost.

"We haven't been able to convince (the players) of the urgency that's necessary. I don't know how many more times or how many more ways you can present that without them grasping it. These three games are make-or-break, must-win, however you want to say it. They pretty much are. And so as a coach you're thinking to yourself, 'OK, have I done everything possible? Have I conveyed the messages clearly? Do they understand what their roles are? Do they understand what our game plan is?' Because if they don't get it soon, the season's done.''

The losses last weekend showed in two ways how nettlesome this season has been for Toole and his team.

At Quinnipiac, in what became a 69-61 defeat, the Colonials fell behind, 9-2, in the first three minutes and then, 17-5, in the first eight minutes.

"Our problem is how we start,'' Toole said, raising that issue once again. "I think it's unfortunate that we have some guys who take the first few possessions of the game to actually gauge how much energy and effort the game's going to take. You see some of our guys on the first couple of possessions literally jogging through a screen or jogging through a possession.

"I have no idea why it's that way. We beg guys to prepare themselves to play. We've asked them if there are different things we can do to help them get ready to play. We're trying to search for any way that we can put a full 40 minutes together because we haven't been able to put 40 minutes together in a long time. You can't decide to put an entire game together once every four or five games.''

It seemed particularly strange that the Colonials didn't come out strongly of the gate at Quinnipiac. They'd played at Quinnipiac in last season's NEC championship game, winning, 52-50. It figured the Bobcats would be quite jacked to avenge that loss and that the Colonials would need to be equally pumped at the outset.

"You would think that's the case,'' Toole said. "But in terms of guys who try to relay information and lead, Velton (Jones) is doing as much as he can to try to get everyone on the same page and make sure their intensity is at the right place. Russell (Johnson) and Karon (Abraham), two guys you would think would be kind of carrying the torch and yelling and screaming and getting guys ready, don't. Gary (Wallace) and Lijah (Thompson) don't really, either. So right now we basically have one guy trying to pull 10 others in the right direction. That's a pretty heavy load to carry.

"It's completely noticeable when you watch our team play who is out there playing like it's a matter of life and death. And I'm not going to say (Jones) doesn't make mistakes, because he makes mistakes just like everybody does, but a lot of times they're mistakes (from) maybe being overly aggressive or mistakes (from) trying to do too much as opposed to other guys who we have making mistakes out of laziness.''

Despite the slow start at Quinnipiac, the Colonials did make a game of it, which led to the other way in which this season has been irksome for them and Toole. Too many times, they haven't been able to get over the hump in close games.

They trailed by seven points at halftime at Quinnipiac and quickly cut their deficit to three in the second half. They fell back after that but rallied again to trail, 55-51, with 3:10 left.

Didn't matter.

It was much the same at Sacred Heart two days later.

The Colonials, down 33-29 at halftime, trailed, 54-40, with 11 minutes left. Just as at Quinnipiac, they rallied and whittled their deficit to four points with 6:28 remaining but couldn't get any closer.

And thus another loss.

"That's what it always comes down to,'' Toole said. "We always talk about it. There were 50-50 balls that we didn't get that they got dunks on. Two of them. And there was a third one they got a layup on. That's pride, effort plays that we don't get that they do and they win.''

That got Toole to thinking about the Colonial teams of 2008-09 - Jeremy Chappell's final season - and 2009-10.

In that 2008-09 season, the Colonials roared down the stretch 13-1 in the NEC. Then they lost back-to-back games at Monmouth and at Wagner, both times by three points.

"There was a level of pride that boiled over,'' Toole said. "It just boiled over. (After that), there were efforts that were incredible.''

Those Colonials won their final two regular season games, then won three more games to win the NEC championship and went to the NCAA Tournament.

Last season's team included seniors Rob Robinson, Josiah Whitehead, Dallas Green, Mezie Nwigwe and Jimmy Langhurst.

That team won the NEC championship with its gritty performance at Quinnipiac in the title game and went to the NCAA Tournament.

"Those (seniors) were our toughness,'' Toole said. "They were our edge. They were our rocks.''

This season?

"We don't have very many tough guys,'' Toole said. "If you're not mentally tough and you're not willing to give yourself completely … ''

Toole paused, thinking about the current Colonials' situation.

"We have a lot of guys who talk about how they want to go back to the NCAA Tournament,'' he said.

Seems as if it's time for these Colonials who have talked the talk to walk the walk.

Beginning Thursday night.

UP NEXT: Bryant, which was 1-29 (1-17 in the NEC) last season, raised its overall record to 7-15 this season with a last-second, 62-60 win over visiting Mount St. Mary's last Saturday. The Bulldogs trailed, 36-24, at halftime and by 10 points with five minutes left but won on freshman Alex Francis' layup just before the final buzzer.

Bryant, which has won five of its past seven games, overcame 3-of-16 shooting from international waters by making 21-of-26 free throw attempts. Francis, who was 10-of-13 from the field, had 25 points. Senior Cecil Gresham added 21.

NEC NUGGETS: In its victory over RMU, Sacred Heart led, 69-62, with 1:40 left and held off the Colonials by making 15-of-16 free throw attempts in the final 100 seconds … Quinnipiac's standout inside player, Justin Rutty, returned against Robert Morris after missing seven games because of bone chips in his elbow. Rutty didn't start, but he played 19 minutes and had six points and 10 rebounds. Afterward, he told the New Haven Register: "Everybody's going to be intimidated now that I'm back. We can still win it.'' … Quinnipiac Saturday got off to a great start against visiting Saint Francis (Pa.), scoring the game's first 22 points before the Red Flash scored its first points with 11:23 left in the first half … Jones led the Colonials in Connecticut with a total of 40 points and 12 assists. He was 19 of 22 from the free throw line. Abraham had a total of 29 points but had just one rebound and one assist - getting each against Quinnipiac … The NEC is tied with the Big South Conference as the country's most improved league in terms of RPI rankings. Each league has made a nine-spot jump from last season. The NEC has gone from 29th (among 31 leagues) to 20th; the Big South's improvement is from 26th to 17th.