Men's Basketball 3/25/2013 8:12:00 AM

A Different Feeling Entering The Dunk

By Paul Meyer
RMUColonials.com
March 25, 2013

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris Colonials who walked out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence in the late afternoon of March 18, 2010 were a sad, disconsolate and angry bunch.

The Robert Morris Colonials who walk into that same Dunkin' Donuts Center late Monday afternoon will be a confident, determined and proud group.

Pretty amazing the difference three years, and an historic week, makes.

"It's definitely ironic (to) kind of go back to the scene of the crime,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "It's a different opponent and a different circumstance, (but) it's extremely ironic that we'll be going back there.''

On that unforgettable afternoon in March three years ago, the Colonials played Villanova in an NCAA tournament game that was this close to being historic. The Colonials, a No. 15 seed, led No. 2 seed Villanova for much of regulation time before losing, 73-70, in overtime. Robert Morris just missed becoming, at that time, the fifth No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed since 1986.

It was as if in that arena named for a donut business somebody had punched a hole in the Colonials' collective stomach.

"I was very upset,'' said Russell Johnson, who that day as a redshirt freshman played 29 minutes and scored six points. "I was very upset about the way the game was played, (about) how it was called. I was just very upset. It took a while (to get over it) -- a couple of weeks, maybe a month. It was just on my mind.''

Johnson is one of three current and active Colonials who will be in uniform again in that donut place Monday night. Point guard Velton Jones and walk-on guard Treadwell Lewis are the other two. Lijah Thompson, who played 10 minutes in that NCAA Tournament game, has missed this season because of a knee injury.

"It was a loss in a game we should have won,'' said Jones, who had two points and two assists in his 25 minutes that day. "That's about the only thing I remember, really. I do remember walking off that court and everybody giving us a round of applause. I didn't feel anything after that game. I was so mad that we were so close. We were right there, and we just let it slip away.''

Some Robert Morris fans will still argue that the Colonials really didn't "let it slip away.''

Those fans remember that RMU held a 55-47 lead with 3:57 left in regulation that day. That's the kind of situation in which one might expect the team that's behind to have to foul down the stretch. And yet in that last 3:57, the Wildcats were 9-for-10 from the free throw line and Robert Morris was 1-of-2.

Weird.

"Craziest moment ever,'' Johnson said, recalling the immediate aftermath of that game. "We should have pulled it off. A few things happened, and we lost.''

Yet, in a way, the Colonials also won that day.

They received a standing ovation from the crowd after the game.

"We walked off the court, and the 13,000 people gave us a standing ovation for the effort that we gave,'' said Toole, then an RMU assistant coach. "It was like everybody respected what we had done. There was probably no more we could have done to win the game, but we still didn't win the game. And so that exit from the court and all those people standing up applauding, it was like a movie. It was something I'll never forget. I mean, chills go down your spine.''

Speaking of which, how about those chills the Colonials generated last Tuesday night at the Charles L. Sewall Center?

Their incredible 59-57 victory over Kentucky in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament is the reason they're returning to the Dunkin' Donuts Center Monday night to play Providence in the second round of the NIT.

The Colonials scored their final two points against Kentucky when Mike McFadden made two free throws with 8.7 seconds remaining.

Just before McFadden shot the first of those free throws, Toole had a flashback to the Villanova game and the moment when those Colonials walked off that court.

"It was hard because I think it was one of the most … ,'' Toole said before taking a long pause and then continuing his thought.

"As a coach,'' he said, "your hope is that your team plays as hard as it can, they stay together, they execute, they do everything in their power to win the game. In that Villanova game, I think we did that. After the game was over we went to thank the (RMU) students who came up on the bus and as we're walking back across the court and leaving the court it was probably as proud as I've ever been to be a part of a team and probably the most disappointed I've ever been for the guys.

"I had a similar feeling when Mike went to the free throw line with 8.7 seconds left. I just said to myself, 'What else can these guys do?' There's nothing else these guys could have done, as coaches, as players, to win the game, whether Mike makes these or misses those free throws. I wasn't nervous at that time. We'd left everything out on the floor, and that's all you ever hope for as a coach, that your team does that. I'm glad this group was able to feel the joy of the victory and not the pain of leaving everything on the floor and still coming up a little short.''

Last Tuesday night, these Colonials did beat a Wildcat team, which went a long way toward erasing the pain those other Colonials felt when they lost to another Wildcat team three seasons ago.

"We beat Kentucky, so that loss is really washed out of my mind,'' Jones said.

There's no doubt the Colonials have a different mindset heading to the Dunkin' Donuts Center this time than they had when they left there three season ago.

"Even though it's a different tournament, this still is a good tournament to play in,'' Johnson said. "Going back there and playing Providence, I think things are going to change. People know who we are after Kentucky, but if we get this one I think people will think we're for real and they're not going to think that Kentucky game was a fluke.''

Still, that win over Kentucky was rather unbelievable.

"It was unbelievable,'' Johnson said, "but then time went by and it was like, 'Well, it's final. It's official. We beat Kentucky.' So it's believable.''

Jones thinks beating Kentucky, the defending NCAA Tournament champion, would rank ahead of the Villanova game even if the Colonials had beaten those Wildcats.

"Because there aren't too many times you'll get a high major school to come into (the Sewall Center),'' Jones said. "For us to be able to pull off a win changes things for this university.''

"I think it can do a ton of things,'' Toole said. "I think I'm more excited for the guys who are currently in the program and haven't started to think about the future of the program because those are the guys that earned the win. Those are the guys that did the heavy lifting. They deserve to enjoy it like crazy.''
Oh, they have – especially those who played against Villanova and Kentucky.

"It's real special,'' Jones said. "It's actually the sole reason I came to Robert Morris -- to come to a program that's not really known and not too big. I wanted to try to help turn it into like a Gonzaga or something like that. Those two games are the reasons I came here. To help put Robert Morris on the map.''

FREE STUFF IS WORTH A LOT: McFadden's two free throws that beat Kentucky finished a 14-for-14 performance from the free throw line by the Colonials last Tuesday night.

"I thought, to be honest with you, we probably should have gotten to the line a little more,'' Toole said. "I thought (the Wildcats) were really physical on the perimeter defensively, and I thought our guys did a nice job of having some poise against that pressure. Every point in that game was critical. Every possession in that game was critical. Every rebound, every closeout. That's the only way you win a game like that, is to take advantage of everything that's out there for you. So if you get to go to the line 14 times, you have to do your best to make 14 of them. It was a huge factor in us winning.''

The 2012-13 Colonials are shooting 74.9 percent from the free throw line. That makes this team the best from the line since the 2006-07 Colonial team made 75.8 percent of its free throws.

"I think we have some better shooters, and I don't think we have a historically bad free throw shooter," Toole said of this group. "Some guys have improved drastically. I think another thing that helps our free throw shooting is our good shooters take them, and those guys shoot them at an extremely high percentage.''

Indeed, Lucky Jones (82.2 percent) and Velton Jones (76.6 percent) have attempted a combined 280 free throws this season. That represents 40.1 percent of the Colonials' attempts from the chalk.

HALFTIME IS A GOOD TIME: The Colonials this season are 23-0 when they're ahead (22-0) or tied (1-0) at halftime.

That's pretty huge.

"I think for the personality of our team, absolutely,'' Toole said. "When things are going good, like most people we feel good about ourselves. When we're down a little bit, like most teams that's when questions start to rise. You start to focus on things that aren't really important instead of on how you can continue to be successful.''

NIT PICKS: More neat fallout from the win over Kentucky -- RMU assistant coach Michael Byrnes, who played for UK coach John Calipari at the University of Massachusetts, is the first former Calipari player to beat him as a member of an opposing coaching staff … Providence beat visiting Charlotte, 75-66, last Wednesday night in the first round of the NIT. It was the Friars' first postseason victory since 2003 … Providence (18-14) has been a bit streaky this season. The Friars split their first four games, then won six straight to get to 8-2. Then they lost five in a row to slip to 8-7. Late in the regular season, they won seven of eight games to reach 17-12 and get on the NCAA Tournament bubble … Providence holds teams to 28.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Colonials shoot 37.9 percent from three-point range … Providence, which shoots 69.2 percent from the free throw line, is led by junior Bryce Cotton, who averages 19.6 points per game … Junior Kadeem Batts averages 14.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, while sophomore LaDontae Henton averages 13.2 and 8.4 rebounds per contest … Senior Vincent Council has averages of 9.9 points and 6.9 assists per game …The Friars average 67.3 points per game and allow 64.3 points per game.

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