Men's Basketball 10/23/2014 11:12:00 AM By Paul Meyer

Meyer on Morris: The Senior Class

Moon Township, Pa. - Coaches often say the best thing about freshmen is that they do, in fact, become sophomores.

That's because freshman sometimes can feel a bit lost. A little confused.

Take David Appolon.

"As a freshman, I was clueless out there," he said. "I didn't really know what I was doing at practice or what I was doing in games.''

Good thing Appolon had upperclassmen such as Lawrence Bridges, Coron Williams, Lijah Thompson, Russell Johnson and Velton Jones to help him navigate those choppy waters of his freshman season.

Now it's Appolon's turn to do that.

He's one of three Robert Morris players who this season can show what the absolute best thing is about freshmen. They eventually become seniors.

As such, Appolon, Charles Oliver and Lucky Jones have the responsibility to be mentors to their underclassmen teammates.

"It's not so much a responsibility as it is just being mature, being a veteran," Jones said. "It's letting these guys know what it takes to win a championship, what it takes to get over that hump. I still have the same motivation, which is try to beat my opponent every day. Right now, we're practicing for minutes. As a freshman, I always told myself, 'I'm going to start. I don't care if I have a senior, junior or sophomore in front of me. Whatever I have to do to take that position, that's what I'm going to do.' That's what we have to get guys to understand, that anybody's spot can be taken at any given moment. Once we start realizing that, practice will be better, more competitive and fun to be at."

Jones surely can help foster that attitude among his teammates. As can Appolon and Oliver. All three can provide strong senior leadership.

"It's critical," RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "Everybody on your team wants to play and everybody wants to win and everybody wants to do all the right things on game day. I think if you have a strong senior group, they're the ones who are able to help set the tone on everything that happens other than game day, where really you give yourself the best chance to be successful on game day. Seniors are the ones who are going to have to set the tone and explain why these things are important and how details matter."

True enough. For freshmen, every day, every hour, seems an eternity. Then, in the blink of an eye, they're seniors.

"It's fast," Appolon said. "I can remember being a freshman like it was yesterday."

Now it's today, and before Appolon, Jones and Oliver know it, it will be tomorrow.

"I think seniors have that urgency because they know it's their last go-round and their final opportunity to accomplish what they might want to accomplish as an individual or as a team," Toole said. "Each year, you're given a little more responsibility, and as a senior you have the biggest load to carry. It's not always easy. It can be exhausting at times. But I think it's worth it if guys can do it the right way."

Toole believes he has a solid senior trio.

"I think all three of them really want to help guys along and help guys learn," he said. "At times they have to make sure that they're holding themselves as accountable as they're holding everybody else because all three of them at times have been up and down in terms of detail. Details are what make the difference, especially for a team with eight new players. As long as they make sure that they hold themselves accountable, I think they're great examples for what is going to happen during the course of the season."

"We want to win a championship," Appolon said. "I want to be a better leader. I want everybody to be on the same page, and I want the coaches to be on the same page as the players. Coach Toole is going to set the right plan for us."

"I wouldn't call it pressure," Oliver said. "It's just something I have to do, which is rise to the occasion."

The thinking on this subject for Jones is fairly succinct …

"Get better each and every day, go farther than we did last year, have a better season than we did last year and just guide the younger guys so they can keep the tradition of Robert Morris basketball going."

Last season, the Colonials won the Northeast Conference regular-season championship again but fell short of an NCAA Tournament berth. They did play in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for the second straight season and finished 22-14, marking RMU's sixth 20-plus-win season in the past seven years.

It's too early to tell how the Colonials will fare this season, but it's not too early to say that Appolon, Jones and Oliver will be key people in what happens between now and March.

Oliver, who joined the Colonials last season from junior college, doesn't have quite the Robert Morris background as do his classmates.

"I do feel different," Oliver acknowledged. "You have guys like (Stephan Bennett). He's been here longer than I have, and he's only a junior. I feel like a senior because at the end of the day I've been in college for four years, so, yeah, I do feel like a senior."

"It's almost like sprinting to the finish line," Toole said. "Dave and Lucky probably feel like they've been on a marathon run. Chuck maybe feels like he's in a half-marathon. There are still difficulties, but it's just a shorter time span that you have to really make your mark."

Oliver's forte is his three-point shooting. Last season, he shot 33 percent from beyond the arc and averaged 6.3 points per game while backing up shooting guard Karvel Anderson. Anderson had a phenomenal season, shooting 46.3 percent from deep and averaging 19.7 points a game.

Nobody expects Oliver to have that kind of season.

"It's no disrespect to Chuck," Toole said. "I just don't know how many there are, period, who could do what Karvel did last year, at any level. I don't think it's fair to ask Chuck to do that. What's fair is to ask him to make the right decisions and to make the right plays and be aggressive in hunting his shots. He has to understand where his shots are going to come from and then rising up and knocking them down when he gets the opportunity."

Anderson also became a member of the Colonials after two seasons in junior college. In his first season at Robert Morris, Anderson shot 43.9 percent from three-point range and averaged 12.5 points per game.

Perhaps that's closer to what can be expected of Oliver this season.

"I think if he could do that, it would be a home run," Toole said. "Last year he was inconsistent in games, which is a direct reflection of him being inconsistent in practice. This year, that's something that we're really trying to focus on with him. We need to make sure that each time he steps on the floor in a practice setting that he's taking it like it's a game and preparing himself accordingly so that when we do get to game time his comfort level is even higher than it was."

"I would just like to have a good year for my team, step up big for them and have a better year than I did last year," Oliver said. "I would like to be more consistent shooting the three-ball this year."

Appolon last season appeared to have made a quantum leap with his game after the Robert Morris roster for various reasons was reduced to eight scholarship players, Jan. 23. The 6'4" combo guard played sparingly and contributed little during his first two and-a-half seasons at Robert Morris. However, after becoming a starter Jan. 23, he blossomed. In his 15 starts, he averaged 6.9 points a game, shot 48.7 percent from the field and averaged 5.3 rebounds per game. That rebound stat, if carried through a full season, would have been second on the team to the 6.8 average Jones produced.

It would seem those figures would make Appolon far more comfortable and confident heading into his senior season.

"Dave got a great opportunity to show what he could do in games, and he definitely took advantage of that," Toole said. "He was instrumental in a lot of our wins down the stretch. At times, he was playing out of position against bigger guys and he just did the things we needed him to do. I think he obviously showed the coaching staff and his teammates a lot. The thing we remind Dave of is, as great as that was and it should give you great confidence, this year you still have to show it again. He's got to re-establish himself as the guy who was playing with that confidence at the end of last year and separating himself from the competition he has for minutes."

"Now that I'm a senior, everything should come a lot easier," Appolon said. "I should know my spots on defense and on offense, so it shouldn't be as stressful for the coaches."

Jones enters his senior season having already built quite a résumé at Robert Morris resume. He's scored 1,190 points and could finish in the top five in scoring. He also has 662 rebounds. By grabbing another 90 rebounds he'll become the program's all-time leading rebounder. Like Appolon, Jones has been around for 72 victories. The RMU record for most wins by a four-year class is 91. Jones will almost certainly be a strong candidate to be named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year this season, as well.

"He's somebody who not too far in the future will be a Hall of Fame player at Robert Morris University," Toole said. "When you're talking about that before your senior year you've accomplished a great deal. In terms of a Northeast Conference player, I think he's as good as the best guys in the league. I think he's right there in the conversation with Kyle Vinales (Central Connecticut State) and Jalen Cannon (St. Francis Brooklyn) and Dyami Starks (Bryant), who are going to be thrown out there as candidates for preseason Players of the Year. His game is different than those guys, but I think he's definitely a guy who not only has had a lot of individual success here but who's had a great deal of team success, as well."

Jones' RMU career has been interesting and fun to watch unfold.

"Each and every year he's made strides in adding aspects to his game," Toole said. "There is a lot of versatility to his game. He is our do-everything guy. We're in a situation where he might need to score a little bit more, (and) he should be capable of scoring a little bit more. We have to keep him focused on the day-to-day. I think he becomes the most productive when he just worries about each possession in front of him or each practice in front of him or each workout in front of him and doesn't look long-term. If he can do a good job each day, then some of those accolades and some of the awards might follow. But if he just starts to think about those things he's not going to be able to do what he needs to do on the floor."

Jones eagerly anticipates his final go-round at RMU and his role as a senior mentor.

"I'm excited for this moment," Jones said. "I'm excited about being here for four years. I'm excited to get this show on the road."

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Players Mentioned

#15 Karvel Anderson: G; 6' 2"; Senior; Sr.

#22 Lucky Jones: G/F; 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.

#4 David Appolon: G; 6' 4"; Senior; Sr.

#45 Stephan Bennett: F; 6' 9"; Junior; Jr.

Players Mentioned

#15 Karvel Anderson
: 6' 2"; Senior; Sr.
: G

#22 Lucky Jones
: 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.
: G/F

#4 David Appolon
: 6' 4"; Senior; Sr.
: G

#45 Stephan Bennett
: 6' 9"; Junior; Jr.
: F