Moon Township, Pa. - Jim Leyland said it every spring when he managed the Pirates.
A few days before the exhibition schedule began - the Grapefruit League season, if you will - Leyland would temper media expectations for his team by musing: "Your team always looks good until the guys in the gray uniforms show up.''
The meaning was clear. One doesn't really begin knowing how one's team shapes up until it plays against somebody other than itself.
Robert Morris University coach Andrew Toole will get his first real look at his team when the "guys in the gray'' uniforms show up at the Charles L. Sewall Center Thursday night at 7.
Actually, the Colonials' opposition will wear the green and gold uniforms of Saint Vincent College, but you get the point. This exhibition contest will be Toole's first opportunity to watch his 2012-13 team play somebody else under game conditions.
"It's always a good thing,'' Toole said. "I don't care who you play or when you play them, things look a little bit different when there are other bodies out there. You see different faces. You see different uniforms. Your comfort level changes. When you go against the same guys every single day and you practice over and over and over, you start to understand where you can get away with some things, start to understand where you can cut some corners. I think seeing different people that we're not as familiar with you have to be prepared and you have to stay on your toes.''
But wait - as those pitch people proclaim on television - there's more!
"There's the fact that we even get to put on our uniforms and there are going to be people here and we're going to go over a scouting report,'' Toole said. "We'll do some things to get them to understand what it's like to go through a game.''
So don't hesitate! Call now!
Oh, wait. We got carried away.
Colonial fans should be interested in this exhibition against Saint Vincent. This is the Colonials' only guaranteed home appearance until Dec. 1 against Ohio University. They could have a couple more home games in mid-November depending upon how their appearance in the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off develops, but we'll have to wait two weeks to know for sure.
So, for now, this is it for a month relative to the Colonials wearing their home whites.
"I think we're going to try to do it as much as we can like a (regular) game and try to get some of our rotations down, try to get some guys comfortable in their roles,'' Toole said. "You know, those things are always subject to change, but as of right now I think that's how we're going to try to play it.''
The starting lineup Toole sends out Thursday night probably will be the one he uses at Rider in the season opener Nov. 9.
Expect to see redshirt senior Velton Jones at point guard, alongside redshirt junior Coron Williams. Redshirt senior Russell Johnson will be on a wing. Junior Mike McFadden will be in the middle. And junior Vaughn Morgan, from Pittsburgh's Perry Traditional Academy, likely will start up front - subbing for senior Lijah Thompson, who's out for the season because of a knee injury.
Sophomore Lucky Jones, who had an outstanding freshman season, will see a bunch of court time, perhaps at a couple different positions. Junior guard Anthony Myers-Pate will give Velton Jones some rest. Freshman Stephan Hawkins will sub in for McFadden and Morgan.
Expect to see plenty of junior guard Karvel Anderson, too. The smooth-shooting transfer from Glen Oaks Community College in Michigan could provide substantial scoring in the backcourt.
In the previous five seasons, the Colonials played exhibition games against Shippensburg (three times), McGill (from Montreal) and Wheeling Jesuit.
Now it's Saint Vincent's turn.
"There's no rhyme or reason to it,'' Toole said. "We just like to rotate. We get a lot of phone calls from people who are interested in playing us.''
That's for exhibition games. Robert Morris trying to get teams to come to the Sewall Center for regular-season games is more difficult.
"Much,'' Toole said.
Saint Vincent is coached by DP Harris, who's guided the Bearcats to a 151-69 record in his eight seasons. The Bearcats were 19-8 and averaged 72.5 points per game last season.
"I've known DP Harris now for a couple years and we'd kind of discussed that they were interested in coming over to play,'' Toole said. "They've had a lot of success there over during his tenure. I think it will be a good matchup for us and a good dress rehearsal for us.
"In the past, they've gotten up and down the floor pretty quickly, which is good. It kind of challenges your defense, puts some pressure on your defense. One of the things that's great about it is that the Saint Vincent guys I would assume will be very, very excited to play against our guys. So we have to make sure that we're prepared and understand that we're going to play against a team that is going to be really excited to step out on the floor against us - which happens to us a lot now that we've had more success. In our league or wherever it is, people get excited to play our team. And this will be just kind of the start of that again.''
The Colonials, 26-11 last season, compiled a 117-56 record in the previous five seasons, tying them for ninth for most victories in that span among mid-major programs.
Could all that success lead to Toole's team taking the Bearcats a bit lightly?
"The last few years, the teams we've played (in exhibition games) have really competed,'' Toole said. "Shippensburg (in 2007-08) was beating us at halftime. McGill (2010-11) did a real good job of exposing some of our lack of defensive movement, and Wheeling Jesuit (last season) played us really well.''
Wheeling Jesuit and the Colonials were tied at 64 with 2:43 left before the Colonials pulled away and won 76-70.
"I think we can put together a pretty strong case on why you should prepare yourself to be successful and play (hard in exhibition games),'' Toole said.
What is Toole most eager to see from his players against Saint Vincent?
"Will we be able to carry over the things that we work on in practice every day to a game situation?'' he said. "Or will guys revert back to whatever they think their instincts are? I think that's always one of the challenges -- what kind of attention to detail are we going to have? How disciplined are we going to be? Are we going to continue to follow our formula? In some of our (intrasquad) scrimmages, we haven't. We'll go through drill work and then all of a sudden get on the floor (to scrimmage) and because there's some adversity or you get tired or lineups might be shuffled a little bit you don't worry about the things you can control and don't do things the proper way. You just try to get by.''
Toole also is eager to watch Myers-Pate Thursday.
"He's been terrific (in the preseason),'' Toole said. "He's been a little more aggressive scoring, which I hope he can continue to do. He really, really worked hard over the summer on his shot and his ability to score. He's been really good. I would love to see him have a great year for himself because he does work so hard and he cares so much.''
Myers-Pate last season averaged 6.2 points per game while shooting 40.8 percent from the field.
