The Awards: Hardware Accompanies RMU's Historic Run

By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
March 3, 2009

Meyer On Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - March 3, 2009 - The Robert Morris Colonials' back-to-back list grew significantly Tuesday when Jeremy Chappell was named Northeast Conference Player of the Year and Mike Rice won the NEC Coach of the Year award as voted on by the league coaches.

The Colonials, who have won back-to-back NEC regular-season championships, now have won back-to-back Player of the Year and back-to-back Coach of the Year awards.

Chappell being voted Player of the Year gives Robert Morris some history. It's the first time in the 28-year history of the league that a program has produced different Players of the Year in back-to-back years. Guard Tony Lee won last season.

Chappell also is the first player in NEC history to amass at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 steals and 200 three-pointers in a career.

In addition Tuesday, guard Bateko Francisco won the Defensive Player of the Year award and forward Rob Robinson was voted to the All-NEC second team.

Chappell, a senior from Cincinnati, is the first unanimous choice for Player of the Year since Fairleigh Dickinson's Chad Timberlake in 2006. Other Colonials who won the league's Player of the Year award in addition to Lee are Chipper Harris (1984), Vaughn Luton (1989) and Myron Walker (1992).

Chappell, who heads the All-NEC first team, was the NEC Rookie of the Year in 2006. He becomes only the fourth player to win the rookie and the player of the year awards. The others are Marist's Rik Smits, FDU's Desi Wilson and Wagner's Jermaine Hall.

Chappell, obviously pleased with the award, deflected attention from himself.

"It means our team accomplished something big,'' he said. "This award is more than just me. This is a team award. If our team didn't do what we did, then this award would never have been possible for me. So it's more than just me. It's for the team.''

Both Lee and Chappell were recruited by former RMU coach Mark Schmidt and his staff. Chappell learned he'd won the Player of the Year award Tuesday in a telephone call from Jeff Boals, the Schmidt assistant who recruited him who's currently an assistant coach at Akron.

"That was cool,'' Chappell said. "That means he still cares about me. He was the one who got me here. For him to still be looking out for me, that's real big.''

Rice thoroughly appreciates what Chappell has done for him and his team.

"From the first day I set foot at Robert Morris, he's matured not only off the court but on the court,'' Rice said. "He's shown tremendous leadership and bought into everything that not only myself as head coach but also what the staff has shown him and taught him. Talk about a person who deserves it, he does all the little things to help his team. Just his stats alone are ridiculous, but there are also all the little things he does that make us successful.

"When your best player knows he has to put up a certain amount of points every single night, you expect that player sometimes to relax on defense. But the coaches respect him as much on the defensive end as they do on the offensive end. And every single day he's done it for me in practice. There's a reason why he's the Player of the Year, and I think it all starts with how he competes in practice.''

Chappell will lead the Colonials into their first NEC tournament game Thursday night against St. Francis (N.Y.) at the Sewall Center.

"He does whatever they need,'' Nash said of Chappell, who scored a total of 38 points against the Terriers in the teams' two regular-season games. "He causes mismatches with his quickness and his toughness. At our level, he's a great player.

"He has a nastiness about him - and I don't mean that the wrong way. He's like the Tasmanian Devil on the court. He just WILLS his team to play at a higher level. He does whatever he wants on offense, but you also have to give him credit for his defense.''

One also has to give Rice credit for the Colonials' defense. He made defense the top priority for this team from the day of his first practice last season. This season, the Colonials led the NEC in defense, limiting league teams to an average of 62.8 points per game. In their final 12 regular-season NEC games, the Colonials held teams to an average of just 59.2 points per game.

In his two seasons at RMU, Rice's teams are 47-18 overall and 31-5 in the NEC.

"It is very exciting,'' Rice said of winning the Coach of the Year award again. "Last year, maybe I thought the Coach of the Year was about me, and it's not. Your second year, you really understand it takes good players. It probably has a little bit to do with you, but not as much as everyone would think. It's your players and your staff working in the summer and the players' acceptance of being coached.

" So, yeah, it's exciting. It's something to talk about at the end of the season with your coaching buddies and kid around about. But when you get the Coach of the Year, it's about your players and about your staff and they've done a good job.''

Rice is the fifth person to win back-to-back NEC Coach of the Year awards. The others include RMU's Jarrett Durham in 1989 and 1990.

Francisco seemed happily stunned when informed he'd won the Defensive Player of the Year award.

"There are no words,'' he said.

So permit others to talk for him.

"We're so happy for him,'' Chappell said. "We thought he deserved it last year. For him to get it this year, it's real big for him and our program. That was not our thing two years ago - defense. For somebody on our team to get Defensive Player of the Year, that's huge.''

"Bateko's winning is the coolest thing,'' Rice said. "He doesn't have the steal numbers or the blocked shots. Sometimes you think that you have to have numbers (to win an award). I appreciate the other coaches recognizing him as a defensive player. He just does such a tremendous job for us. He starts our defense off by putting such pressure on the ball. And he's so unselfish in giving of his effort and his energy.

"I'll give away my Coach of the Year and Player of the Year to have a (spot in the) NCAA (tournament), but (Francisco's winning) to me is the coolest thing that has come out of today - people recognizing his effort and his intensity.''

"Bateko works so hard on defense,'' Robinson said. "Without him, I don't know where this team would be. He's an excellent defender on the ball. He covers every point guard. He's probably got the most tired legs (on the team) right now.''

Robinson averaged 12.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per NEC game in his first season with the Colonials.

"Rob's the difference,'' Rice said. "He brought the balance. We were always such a perimeter-scoring team. He brought something we didn't have last year, and that's an interior scoring threat. He adds the back-to-the-basket presence. Everyone knows how important he is to our team. He brings that other scoring option. He's done a terrific job.''

"He's our inside presence,'' Chappell said. "He helps us out a lot. It opens up things for the guards. For us to have an inside presence this year is really big.''

Like Chappell, Robinson put being named to the All-NEC Second Team aside.

"I just want to go to the (NCAA) tournament,'' Robinson said. "All that other stuff doesn't really matter right now. After the season, I'll probably focus on it. But right now I'm just trying to make it to the tournament and not let what happened last year happen this year.''

Last season, like this season, Robert Morris was the top seed in the NEC tournament, but the Colonials lost to Mount St. Mary's in the semifinals and didn't make the NCAA event. Robinson would love to be able to watch on Selection Sunday and see the Colonials in a bracket.

"Every year I watch that show,'' Robinson said. "That's one of my biggest dreams ever. I just want to play in the NCAA tournament. I want to see the reaction of the team. Selection Sunday is one of the biggest Sundays ever -- besides the Super Bowl.''