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

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University Colonials' late-season rise wasn't quite the outhouse-to-penthouse ascent.

More like the upgrade from the laundry room to an upper floor suite.

"I'm proud of the guys for staying together and working hard,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "It's a credit to the guys. They continued to play.''

And, finally, continued to win.

The Colonials, who checked in at 5-5 after 10 Northeast Conference games, checked out of the regular season with a 12-6 record. That earned them the third seed in the NEC Tournament, which begins Thursday night against Wagner at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

"I'm proud of the way that they battled back to finish the regular season out,'' Toole said last Saturday night after his team beat Wagner, 66-49, to extend its winning streak to six games. "Probably three or four weeks ago, I don't know if anybody in this room other than me thought we could get third place. It didn't look very good after the Sacred Heart game.''

Didn't smell all that good, either.

A bit put out by the Colonials' "no urgency'' performance in an 84-75 loss at Sacred Heart Jan. 29, Toole put up a "no vacancy'' sign on the team's locker room two days later.

"There was a sign on the locker room - 'No players allowed,''' sophomore guard Velton Jones said. "I'm like, 'What?'''

The Colonials were not permitted to dress in their locker room. They were not given any Colonial gear. That meant they had to scrounge their own sneakers, shorts and shirts in which to practice. They also had to eat in the laundry room.

"You had 12 guys six-foot (and taller) all together,'' redshirt freshman guard Coron Williams said. "It was hot in there, eating your food. It wasn't a good feeling. It didn't feel like D-1 basketball. It really didn't.''

Toole could argue his team hadn't been playing D-1 basketball. At least not winning D-1 basketball.

True, the Colonials had lost five seniors from a team that had won the previous two NEC championships, but there was still a good group on hand. And that group, plus four newcomers, had produced only five victories in its first 10 league games.

"A trying time,'' Toole said. "You have talent and you've been close in a number of games you've lost. When you're doing poorly, you have to figure out how to stop doing poorly.''

Toole's way was to humble his players and get them to think about their situation.

"One of the things that we wanted them to realize is that they weren't living up to the standard that had been set here the previous three seasons,'' Toole said, referring to the two NEC championships and a trip to the National Invitation Tournament in 2007-08. "They were reaping the benefits of what had happened here in the last three seasons in terms of notoriety and people coming out to games and people trying to publicize the program and create interest around the program. They weren't living up to the standard that was set.

"I remember being here after we beat Boston College (Jan. 7, 2008) and coming out on the floor (for the next home game) at the Sewall Center and Dallas Green saying to me, 'What do you have to do, beat the Knicks to get students to come?' There was no one here. We had just beaten an ACC team and there were 30 people in the gym. Their first two or three home games this year there were 2,000 people here. I think we got a little bit satisfied. We got a little bit complacent. So I wanted to remind them that you have it pretty good here.

"We didn't let them have gear. The managers did nothing for them. I wouldn't let the managers give them water. I wouldn't let (the managers) do laundry. We have six managers and they're incredible. They spend more time in the office than the players do. They're unbelievable with what they do, and sometimes you take that stuff for granted. I thought they just needed to be reminded of that. I think (it) kind of got their attention.''

Apparently.

"I was changing to go to practice in the bathroom,'' senior guard Gary Wallace said. "I was in a stall and somebody had to use the bathroom. I'm like, 'Man, this is ridiculous.' I was in a T-shirt, some wrinkled shorts and wearing one of our manager's sneakers for four straight practices that were a size (too large) and I was slipping and sliding all over the place. I thought, 'I'm supposed to be a Division I player going to practice.' I felt like I was just going to the park. I was like, 'This is not how I'm (envisioning) my senior year.' I did not enjoy it.''

"I was saying, 'This is not college basketball. Who does this?''' Jones said. "The thing that got to me the most was when we had to eat in the laundry room. That was terrible. When I saw that, that's when I said, 'Wow! We have to pick it up because I can't do this.'''

After one practice, the players got together and discussed the situation.

The consensus?

"We have to pick it up,'' Jones recalled. "We have to start doing things the right way.''

"When Toole did that, I think it turned a light switch on in everybody's head,'' Wallace said. "It helped us come together a lot more and not take things for granted.''
"It was a wakeup call when they put us in the laundry room and didn't let us go in the locker room,'' Jones said. "We'd win a game, lose a game. Win two games, lose a game. Lose a game. Lose a game. Win a game. That's not good. We were taking things for granted - everything they give us, everything they do for us. We were taking that for granted.''

The locker room lockout paid huge dividends immediately. On Feb. 3, the Colonials romped past Bryant, 91-38.

However, two nights after that, they collapsed in the second half and lost at home to Central Connecticut State, 80-58.

They were back to .500 in the league at 6-6, but Toole figured enough was enough. He told the players they could go back to using the locker room. And they would no longer have to eat in the laundry room.

"That message got old quick, so we moved on from there,'' Toole said. "But we got their attention, that's for sure. I've heard that (coaches) have done it before - kicked teams out of the locker room. It's not like it was an original idea where I woke up in the middle of the night and set the precedent.

"You always have to figure out a way to get their attention. Your message can't be the same every single time because they're going to drown it out. The hardest part is trying to figure out what's going to grab their attention. Most people think that minutes played and wins and losses should be enough, but that's not always the case, and so sometimes you have to be a little more creative.''

Properly chastened, the Colonials thanked their coach - and themselves - by winning those final six regular season games. They did enough offensively to make what they did defensively matter. In the final four games, they held their opponents to an average of just 54 points a game, including limiting Wagner to those 49 points, the Seahawks' season low.

"Early in the year, we were a very immature team,'' Jones said. "When we were missing shots, we would let things effect us on defense. As the season progressed, we started to learn more that offense is going to come. We're going to make shots. We just have to keep defending and defending and playing as hard as we can. And no matter how bad we shoot, try to not let them score. It's always on defense. You don't win games on offense. You win games playing defense.''

"It was just believing and knowing that we have the tools,'' Wallace said. "We just (had) to go out and stay focused and no matter what obstacles (were) put in our way just keep fighting and stay together. We've done that, and we're going to try to continue that this week.''

Williams led the Colonials past Wagner last Saturday with a career-high 26 points, manufactured with a near-perfect game offensively. He was 9-of-10 from the field, including 5-of-6 from international waters, and made three of four free throw attempts. He scored 16 of his points in a 13-minute span in the second half.

"That was incredible,'' Toole said. "You don't see offensive performances like that very often. I don't care what level you're at. A couple of those three-pointers were contested shots. Some of his drives to the rim I haven't even seen in practice before, so I'm going to watch the film and see if we can figure out how he can duplicate it Thursday. That was a pretty impressive performance, to say the least.''

And a pretty welcome performance, too.

The Colonials were and will be without leading scorer Karon Abraham, who had surgery Monday on his partially torn right Achilles tendon. Thus, Williams, whose playing time earlier this season sometimes was limited because of defensive shortcomings, becomes a very important player for however long the Colonials' postseason lasts.

"I don't think Coron lacked confidence offensively,'' Toole said. "I think he lacked some of what we were trying to do defensively. I never disliked his offensive game. He's a great shooter. He's improved as a driver. He's improved in terms of diversifying his offensive game.

"Defensively is where we could get nervous because you'd hold your breath. You'd say, 'I hope he's not completely in the wrong spot or doesn't switch.' He's improved drastically on the defensive end. And that allows him to get minutes. Now he goes out on the floor and he can defend the way we need him to defend and gives you what he gives you on offense and now he becomes a very dangerous player for you.''

FUTURE FOR K-RON: Abraham sustained that Achilles tendon injury five minutes into the game at Monmouth Feb. 19.

"When he went down, he was the first guy to say, 'It popped,''' Toole said.

Abraham spent the rest of that game, shouting encouragement to his teammates, especially Williams.

"Find your shots! Look for the gaps!'' Abraham hollered.

Williams responded with a 5-for-5 performance from deep, finishing with 15 points.

"Karon responded well in that game by being a great teammate, and he responded well (last Saturday night) by being a great teammate,'' Toole said. "Those are encouraging signs. It's a shame for Karon because I think he was really starting to get on track in terms of the details of winning. I was really encouraged.

"I feel terrible for him that this is the way his sophomore year ended. I hope what he takes from it is that it's really hard to be a good player in Division I basketball. And I hope that this makes him more determined and makes him more focused on coming back stronger and tougher and better than he was before he got hurt.''

Abraham, who averaged 13.9 points per game this season, will enter next season with 796 career points.

TRIBUTE TO GARY: Wallace, the only senior on this Colonial team, was honored before last Saturday's game on Senior Night. With about 40 seconds left in the game, fans in the "Colonial Crazies'' section began a "Gar-eee Wall-ace!'' chant that was quickly taken up by the rest of the fans and led to a standing ovation for the remainder of the game.

"It felt real good,'' Wallace said of the tribute. "A lot of people gave up on us, but our 'Colonial Crazies' stayed faithful. They've been with us every step of the way, and I'm ready to see them back out here Thursday.''