By Paul Meyer
RMUColonials.com

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University Colonials officially begin practice this afternoon.

Seems surreal.

For example, the major league baseball regular season isn't over yet.

The Steelers haven't even played their fourth game.

The Penguins haven't begun their regular season.

Still, the Colonials Friday will be off and running -- and running -- Friday.

Weird.

Brings to mind that famous rant by former NBA star Allen Iverson concerning practice. Different context, yes, but the same measure of incredulity.

"We're talking about practice, man!'' Iverson said. "We're talking about practice.''

Yep, practice. Already.

A new NCAA rule allows teams to hold their first regular practices 40 days from their scheduled openers.

Robert Morris opens its season at the Charles L. Sewall Center against Savannah State Nov. 9. Hence, it can begin practice Friday.

"The women started doing it a few years back,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "Now the men have caught on.''

The 40-day practice stretch includes a mandated 10 off-days -- roughly two per week.

"I hope it's going to be a positive,'' Toole said of beginning practice at least two weeks earlier than in past seasons. "It's going to give us a lot of quality time on the court. Having six new guys, that's going to be huge. It's going to give the guys more of what they like to do -- play basketball rather than do conditioning or workouts.

"I think we as coaches have to make sure we manage it correctly so that come February and March the players aren't burned out.''

In RMU's case recently, March means late March, so Toole and his staff really must look ahead and worry about the "burnout factor.''

At this early stage -- make that, really early stage -- it's impossible to accurately forecast how late in March this current Colonial crew will be playing.

That's because Toole doesn't have all the players back he thought he would.

You'll recall that shooting guard Coron Williams decided in April to transfer to Wake Forest for his final season. Then just about a month ago, inside presence Lijah Thompson, who missed all of last season because of a knee injury, opted to transfer to Division II Lincoln University near his hometown of Philadelphia to finish his eligibility.

Add those losses to the graduation losses of Velton Jones and Russell Johnson, and the Colonials are short 38 points per game, counting Thompson's 7.3 average during the 2011-12 season. No small consideration for a team that is most comfortable playing games in the 65-point range.

So the start of practice Friday will take on added significance for the six Colonial newcomers -- Britton Lee, Kavon Stewart, Jeremiah Worthem, Desjuan Newton, Aaron Tate and Charles Oliver.

"It's definitely a challenge because they have had success wherever they were previously, but they don't understand what it takes necessarily to be successful at the Division I level yet,'' Toole said. "That always makes it interesting. There's a lot of detail. There's a lot of learning that needs to go on when you come in and play in our program. It will be interesting to see how quickly those guys can pick it up. The thing I like about it is, with the six new guys there is some new blood. There is some excitement. These guys are going through this stuff for the first time, which sometimes as a coach is exciting and can change the attitude or the culture of the team.

"Last year, our preseason was a little bit stale because everybody had done it. Everybody was used to doing it. They wanted to get to the games. This group will still want to get to the games, but there's some excitement (in the preseason) because it's their first time.''

Might be a bit of exasperation, too -- because it's their first time.

"We're going to have to do a couple things,'' Toole said, referring to himself and his staff. "We're going to have to have some discipline ourselves and not have marathon practices if the (new guys) aren't getting things right away. Does that time get extended? That's going to be the battle we're going to have to fight as coaches.

"Then we're going to have to make sure that we're understanding and realizing that for a lot of these guys this is new and so we're going to have to make sure we're communicating it well, teaching it well and getting them the reps that they need so that they can become comfortable with whatever we're working on.''

Another area of some concern would seem to be the point guard position.

Senior Anthony Myers-Pate will begin his first season as the starting point guard, making him the least experienced regular point guard -- as a starter – since Velton Jones took over the position as a redshirt freshman five years ago.

"Ant's played in every situation,'' Toole said. "He's played in championship games. He's played in big games. He's started for us. He's had double-digit assist games. He holds the assist record for freshmen at Robert Morris. So I think he's ready for this challenge.

"I think he understands he might have to become a little more vocal, a little bit more assertive in some of the things he does, but he works as hard as anybody and he'll be prepared.''

However, this will be the first time Myers-Pate has run the point without Jones as a safety net.

"Exactly,'' Toole said. "There will be things we'll have to help him through in some of our early games. He's been on the court as a secondary ball handler or maybe as a guy in a shared role with Velton at the end of games. Now he's going to be the guy who really has to be making the right decisions and organizing us in the best way he can.''

While these early practices will be important for Myers-Pate as THE point guard now, the same holds true for junior Lucky Jones, who will have to assume more of a leadership role because of his star status.

Jones last season averaged 11.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and was made the All-Northeast Conference Third Team. It's a safe bet he'll move up at least one team this season.

"From a physical standpoint, he worked really hard this spring and summer working on his body, trying to get himself in shape,'' Toole said. "The biggest challenge for him last year as a sophomore was going from a freshman who was gravy when he played well and helped us with his energy to his sophomore year when he became someone we relied upon more and needed to perform well on a regular basis for us to be good to now.

"Now as a junior he has to be one of our most consistent guys. Not just consistent on game day, but consistent in practice. Consistent in film work. Consistent with scouting report. Consistent with attitude and body language. He's going to be someone who our younger guys look at.''

Can Jones do that?

"I hope so,'' Toole said. "I think he's still learning it's a difficult thing to develop some of those leadership characteristics, and I think it's something he's going to be learning. There will be good days and bad days with it, but it's something that we have to help him through as coaches and try to give him some strategies to be successful.''

These early practices also will be important for the other returnees -- Mike McFadden, David Appolon, Stephan Hawkins and Karvel Anderson, who's the leading returning scorer (12.5 ppg) -- as the Colonials work to mesh the old with the new.

"We have some returners who have done a lot in their careers,'' Toole said. "Karvel last year really came on board and provided great scoring and a huge lift. We expect him to be fully healthy this year and maybe even take another step (forward). Stephen Hawkins got stronger this summer. He's becoming more comfortable with everything. With David, we've seen flashes at times. We've seen good stretches. Again, it comes down to consistency -- as it does with a lot of players. How many days in a row can you come to practice, come to workouts and get the job done to create that reliability factor with your coaches and your teammates?''

Anderson, who was a junior college transfer last season, evinced some maturity as a newcomer who could serve the Colonials well during the early practices and throughout the season.

"He's definitely a guy who has the personality for leadership,'' Toole said. "Like Ant, you can't really question his work ethic. Those are two guys along with Mike who have taken the leadership role a little bit. Karvel's probably the most vocal of the group. It comes more natural to him to say things to guys. I think his leadership has to be balanced. Sometimes he gets frustrated with guys when they don't respond right away. And so staying (away from) that over and over and over is going to be his challenge.''

Anderson went through a lot of tough stuff during his high school seasons and seems to appreciate greatly being a Division I basketball player.

"That's a huge part of leadership -- appreciating what's gone on,'' Toole said.

And what will go on with practice beginning earlier than ever.