Moon Township, Pa. – The facts aren't difficult to delineate.
The Robert Morris Colonials will play the North Florida Ospreys tonight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the University of Dayton Arena.
After that, it gets complicated.
"They provide a lot of challenges,'' RMU coach
Andrew Toole said. "We're going to have to be ready to handle those challenges.''
Among those challenges are defining an osprey and defending the Ospreys.
Let's hope the Colonials are better at the latter than the former.
Anybody know what an osprey is?
How about you,
Aaron Tate?
"Never heard of them.''
Lucky Jones, do you know what an osprey is?
"No.''
OK. Assistant coach
Joe Gallo, do you know what an osprey is?
"I have no idea.''
Hmmmm.
Coach Toole?
"Isn't it kind of an attacking bird?''
Bingo!
An osprey, sometimes known as a fish hawk, is indeed a bird that attacks its prey, usually fish, by swooping from the sky.
Now, about defending those Ospreys.
The Colonials, who also could be called ball hawks, can begin by raising the urgency of their 2-3 zone defense and getting some steals to disrupt the North Florida offense. Robert Morris finished second in the Northeast Conference with an average of 8.6 steals per game.
The Colonials were at their ball-hawking best against Bryant in the NEC Tournament semifinals. They had a season-high 15 steals that helped produce 19 Bryant turnovers. Robert Morris turned those 19 turnovers into 22 points en route to a 66-53 victory.
In the NEC Tournament championship game at St. Francis Brooklyn, March 10, the Colonials had 13 more steals among 17 Terrier turnovers in RMU's 66-63 win.
Next order of defensive business for the Colonials would be keeping the Ospreys' three-point shooting in check.
North Florida, the Atlantic Sun champion, shoots 39 percent from beyond the arc, and it isn't bashful about launching balls from international waters. The Ospreys average 23 deep casts per game.
"We're going to have to figure out how to extend (our zone) and take away three-point shots,'' Gallo said.
"They're a team that really shoots the three well,'' Toole said. "Out of all those teams we could have (been) matched up (against), I'm not sure this would have been our first pick.''
Junior Beau Beech is the Ospreys' most prolific caster. He's shot 223 times from beyond the arc and made 37.2 percent of his attempts. Redshirt junior Trent Mackey is North Florida's most accurate launcher. He shoots 44 percent from deep.
The Colonials are no slouches from three. They're shooting 38 percent from outside the line. They just haven't relied on the deep ball as much as North Florida. Robert Morris is averaging 16.3 attempts from long range per game.
Freshman
Marcquise Reed shoots 43.1 percent from deep. Junior
Rodney Pryor is right behind at 42.7.
North Florida (23-11) is coached by Matthew Driscoll, who's no stranger to Robert Morris. Driscoll, who played and coached at Northgate High School and later was the coach at LaRoche (1993-97), was among the finalists for the head coaching job at Robert Morris when Mike Rice got the job in 2007.
"I've met him a couple times,'' Toole said. "I saw him last spring when he was here at a tournament recruiting. He said, 'I ran by your campus. You guys have a Dunkin' Donuts now?' He was all excited.''
The Driscoll-Pittsburgh-Robert Morris tie-in no doubt will be mentioned by the television commentators Wednesday night.
"The side-story lines are neat for the media,'' Toole said, "but they're still our opponent, and we have to go and compete. They're a really good team.''
The Colonials learned who they'll play Wednesday at a Selection Sunday party at the All-Star Sports Bar and Grill in Robinson.
"Awesome,'' Toole said. "Getting to hear your name called and seeing it flash up there on the screen I think is something you'll remember forever. Obviously for our guys it's absolutely incredible. To have the kind of atmosphere for everybody to come and celebrate the team like that makes it even more special.''
It was the first time former Colonial standout and current assistant coach Velton Jones watched the selection show since 2010.
"We didn't win after that,'' Jones said.
And so watching the show would have hurt?
"For sure,'' he said.
Jones was glad to be able to watch again.
"A lot of fun,'' he said. "We've been through a lot this year. We went through a whole lot this year. For those guys to put it together the last month and play for each other was a great feeling.''
Jones thinks it's more meaningful to watch the selection show as a coach than as a player.
"Coaches put in a lot of work," Jones said. "A lot of work that players don't get to see sometimes. To see them play and start to listen and do stuff how it's supposed to be done is awesome.''
Toole, on the other hand, thinks it's more fun to watch the show as a player.
"I don't think you can compare it to what it's like as a player,'' he said. "As a player, you think you're invincible. You dream of making that Cinderella run as a player. As a coach, your mind already starts to flow to, 'OK. What's our matchup going to be? What do we know about them? What can we find out about them?' Your brain starts to process in a different way as a coach. As a player, your brain says, "Oh, we're just going to win.' You don't care about any of that other stuff. As a coach, there's a lot more to it.''
While the coaches quickly headed back to their offices at the Charles L. Sewall Center to scout North Florida, the Colonial players simply savored the selection show moment.
"It's an incredible experience,'' said sophomore walk-on
Conrad Stephens, who's from Columbus, Ohio, about an hour's drive from the UD Arena. "Honestly, playing basketball in high school, I never dreamed of something like this happening to me, and now it's happened. Just incredible. I get to go to Dayton with the team and my family can come and watch me play.''
Reed, the NEC's Rookie of the Year, thoroughly relished watching the show.
"It's a dream come true, man, because every basketball player as a kid dreams of playing in the NCAA Tournament,'' he said. "For it to come this fast as a freshman is an honor. We have to come with the same mindset we've had and finish strong.''
Just then Reed received a text from a friend and smiled while reading the message: "Let's get the first win so we can play Duke.''
Lucky Jones, the only RMU senior who will play in Wednesday night's game, twice played in NEC Tournament championships games Robert Morris lost. Seeing "Robert Morris'' on the television screen Sunday was especially moving for him.
"I felt really emotional,'' he said. "I was proud of my team. It was a great experience. I loved it. It was great. It was more than I could handle. I'm real excited -- real excited. I'm happy. It gives us another opportunity to show that we're one of the top mid-major programs in the country. We just have to make sure we go out there and take care of business and have fun, basically."
Anything else?
"We have to go out there and win,'' Jones said.
NOTES: This is the third straight season in which the NEC Tournament champion will play a first-round game in Dayton. Last season, Mount St.Mary's lost to Albany, 71-64. The season before, LIU Brooklyn lost to James Madison, 69-55 … Robert Morris allows opposing teams to shoot 33.4 percent from three-point range … Robert Morris has a six-game winning streak … The Ospreys have won eight consecutive games and 16 of their past 18 games … North Florida, located in Jacksonville, won at Purdue, 73-70, Dec. 6 … The Ospreys beat South Carolina Upstate, 63-57, in the Atlantic Sun Tournament championship game … North Florida's leading scorer is sophomore Dallas Moore at 15.9 points per game … The Ospreys average 75.7 points per game and yield an average of 67.8 points per game. They're shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 72.4 percent from the free throw line. This is their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
