Moon Township, Pa. – Whatever happens with the Robert Morris Colonials during the rest of this season, which, as you well know, could be just about anything, there is this.
RMU has achieved something that had never been done in Northeast Conference history.
The Colonials have finished .500 or better in NEC play for 12 consecutive seasons, amassing an aggregate record of 149-63 and a winning percentage of .703. The next longest stretch belongs to Fairleigh Dickinson, which had an 11-season span of success from 1981-92.
"For the Northeast Conference, I think it's a pretty remarkable accomplishment to do that for 12 straight years,'' RMU coach
Andrew Toole said. "Over that time, you're talking about coaching turnovers, roster turnovers, teams coming in and out of the league. To have the consistency to do something like that over 12 years is something we should be proud of as a program.''
The streak began under coach Mark Schmidt in 2003-04 when the Colonials finished 10-8 in the NEC. They were 30-24 over the next three seasons before Schmidt left to become coach at St. Bonaventure.
Mike Rice was the next coach at RMU. His three teams were a combined 46-8 in league play.
Toole, in his fifth season, has guided the Colonials to a 63-23 NEC record, including 10-6 this season.
Robert Morris finished at .500 (9-9 in 2006-07) just once in this Dandy Dozen span. In the other 11 seasons, they're a total of 86 games over .500 against NEC opposition during the regular season.
"Number one, the key to it is just making sure you have talented players,'' Toole said. "If you don't have talented players, it doesn't really matter from there. Then you have to have some kind of structure and organization in your program where guys understand what it takes to win. Coach Schmidt laid that groundwork before I got here as an assistant with guys like Tony Lee, Derek Coleman and Jeremy Chappell. We were able to pick up the ball and run with that when coach Rice was here. We've just tried to continue to have that success during my time. We're fortunate that we've been able to have the success we've had.''
RMU's next win in this streak guarantees at least one home game in the upcoming Northeast Conference Tournament, which begins March 4. The Colonials could get that victory Thursday night when Wagner visits the Charles L. Sewall Center. Robert Morris concludes the regular season with a game against St. Francis University Saturday in the Sewall Center at 4 p.m.
The Colonials, who won the NEC regular-season championship last season, can finish no better than second in this regular season. St. Francis Brooklyn (14-2) clinched the No. 1 seed for NEC Tournament with its win against St. Francis University last Saturday. On that day, Robert Morris moved into a three-way for second place by winning at Bryant, 76-70. That decision dropped the Bulldogs to 10-6 in the league. Mount St. Mary's is also 10-6.
Robert Morris got its win at Bryant despite falling behind, 23-14, with eight minutes remaining in the first half and then trailing, 65-58, with six minutes left in the game.
"Everybody contributed in a positive way, which was nice to see and is what you want to have on a team,'' Toole said. "Guys really had a good mindset when the game started. I thought guys really stayed together throughout the game. Our defense picked up as the game went on. We ended the game with six straight stops, which is something we really haven't done a great job of this year and has cost us games. It was nice to see the guys rally and come up with those stops. Hopefully it's something we can build on as we move forward here with the regular season and then the conference tournament.''
Rodney Pryor capped a great weekend with 24 points at Bryant. Two nights earlier, in RMU's loss at Sacred Heart, the junior poured in 31 points -- including 25 in the second half.
"He was very aggressive to start the game on Thursday and was great,'' Toole said. "He did a really good job of kind of diversifying his offense, whether it was getting to the rim, mid-range pull-up shots, threes. Friday after practice he stayed and got extra shots with (assistant coach) Tim (Lawrence) and just seemed really focused on the task at hand and that he wanted to play well. He had his best back-to-back games of his season when we needed him most.
"We're hopeful that he'll be able to continue that momentum and carry it into Thursday night. I don't know if we're going to get 31 and 24 every night, but not only was the scoring impressive but he also rebounded the ball at a high rate. He made a lot of winning plays, and his communication to his teammates and his overall attitude was very good. In timeouts, he and Lucky (Jones) were very good Saturday talking about getting stops and defending and finishing possessions. It has more meaning coming from them instead of from me.''
However, too many times this season it hasn't seemed to matter to these Colonials who says what and when and to whom. This team has alternated wins (three) and losses (two) over its past five games. And even before that, this team lacked consistency. Perhaps you've read that here a time or three.
"Yeah, there's no sustained effort. There's no consistency,'' Toole said. "Even during the course of games we'll go on stretches where we play really well and then we want to relax and exhale, and you can't do that. That's how we get ourselves in trouble at times. It's a confusing thing because you're right -- you see some of those signs, you see some of those possessions or you see some of those stretches and it's like, 'All right! Here we go. We just have to keep this thing going.'
"I think one of the hardest things in the world is being consistent day in and day out because there are a lot of times where you just want to take a break or rest on your laurels. It's kind of human nature. You do something good, you want a break. That's not the way this works. We've been fighting that a little bit all year.''
A month ago, heck, two months ago, there was a lot of talk about how these Colonials, with as much talent as any team in the league, would at some point "get it'' and embark on a sustained stretch of winning.
That really hasn't occurred. And maybe it just won't. Toole conceded a couple weeks ago this team has "an odd personality.''
"I think we are who we are and you hope that we can continue to learn and improve on the floor, but I think our personality is one where we are who we are,'' he said two days ago. "Every day we're trying to understand what goes into winning and how important each situation that we might face is. Every time we think we've figured it out we kind of fall on our face and every time we think, man, we really messed up we kind of bounce back. We'll keep talking about the right things and try and organize (ourselves) as best we can and talk about what it takes to be successful this time of year and hope maybe the light bulb finally has gone on for us and hope that guys really become more urgent because of the time of year that it is and that you can see that out on the floor.''
Whew! That's a bunch of "maybe'' and "hope.''
However, the Colonials do have one more chance to get their collective act together. There are these two final home games in the regular season and then the NEC Tournament. Their season could still end on a high note. Or it could be over in less than a week.
"It's the most exciting time of the year,'' Toole said. "The beginning of the year is always exciting because the new season is underway. But this is the most exciting time of the year. You want to feel that energy from your team every time they come to the gym because you don't know how many opportunities you have left to come to the gym. So you're trying to make sure guys understand that. Hopefully we have some of that energy and that enjoyment that this is what you put all the work in for -- to be a part of this part of the year and give yourself the best chance to win.''
Wagner (8-8) climbed to .500 in the NEC and into a three-way for fifth place with a 60-47 win at LIU Brooklyn last Saturday. RMU won at Wagner, 77-73, Jan. 8 -- one of the Colonials' six league road victories this season. In that game,
Lucky Jones scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds for the Colonials, while Pryor also scored 18 points and
Marcquise Reed added 15. RMU made 27-of-35 free throw attempts, which removed some of the sting from the Seahawks' 10-of-19 accuracy from beyond the arc.
That night, though, the Seahawks were without 6'8'' junior Mike Aaman, who was in the midst of a nine-game injury absence. Since returning, Aaman has averaged 11.3 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.
Against Fairleigh Dickinson Feb. 14, Aaman, a Rhode Island transfer, gave Wagner quite the Valentine's Day present with 20 points and 23 rebounds.
"Honestly, I'm not surprised," Wagner coach Bashir Mason told the
Staten Island Advance after that game. "I think that's the kind of player Mike can be in this league. The kind of player who other teams just can't stop."
Toole is well aware of Aaman's game-changing ability.
"He's physical. He's aggressive. He's constantly attacking the backboards on both ends of the floor,'' Toole said. "He's a big strong guy in the post who gets position and shoots until he makes it. He shoots and goes and gets it and he shoots and goes and gets it. He's constantly causing contact and creating advantages for himself and putting the defense in tough spots. They've done a good job of making sure he's getting his touches and he's getting the ball. When he doesn't, he's going to the backboard to get it, so he'll be someone who can change the outlook of the game from the first time we played them.''
So here we are. Near the end of the journey. Toole's excited. His assistant coaches are excited.
Does Toole think his enigmatic players are excited?
"I do,'' he said. "I think they express it in a different way. They were very excited after the game at Bryant. They had a lot of fun after the game in the locker room, and that was really good to see. You know, the thing that we have a little bit of a disconnect with is that fun and focus can be in the same sentence. You can be working really hard and be engaged while still having some fun. Sometimes we tend to think fun means goofing off and just kind of doing whatever you feel like doing at that moment. Trying to put those two worlds together … you don't want to stamp that out. You don't want to take that personality away from certain guys. But there also has to be some understanding that, OK, there are details to this and there is organization to this.''
The details for now are that the Colonials have three games left. Or four. Or five. Or …
It's time, fellas, to get organized.
