Men's Basketball | 3/24/2015 12:09:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris Colonials hung up their dancing shoes during the weekend.
But they didn't store those shoes. Nope, they hung them up. That way they'll be easy to find when they need them again.
Perhaps as soon as next season.
"We have some incredible guys in the locker room, and they're going to be back next year to do it again," senior
Lucky Jones said.
There seems a decent chance Jones will be correct.
The RMU lineup that started its second round game in the NCAA Tournament against Duke Friday night returns all five of its members next season. That's the same five that reeled off a seven-game winning streak down the stretch of this season, won the Northeast Conference Tournament championship and beat North Florida in the first round of the dance.
The Colonials also finished 20-15, producing the program's seventh 20-plus win season in the past eight years.
So, yeah, there are reasons to believe Robert Morris will be a good team again next season, which will be coach
Andrew Toole's ninth year at Robert Morris and sixth as its head coach.
"Not just a good team,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "but an outstanding program. What Andy's done is not just built a good team but a really good program.''
Good programs don't have many interruptions in their success. Duke, for example, hasn't.
"They're the gold standard for college basketball,'' Toole said. "They're a well-oiled machine in terms of how they consistently win year after year after year. The amount of effort it takes to sustain our program at our level is incredible. It's hard to imagine what it takes to sustain a program at the national level like Duke does. That's something that I look at and say, 'That's incredibly remarkable to be able to do what they've done for 30-plus years.'''
One could suggest that Robert Morris has become the gold standard for the Northeast Conference. Over this eight-year span, the Colonials have averaged 23 wins per season and played in a postseason tournament seven times.
Playing in another postseason event next season isn't difficult to foresee -- if next season's team "gets it'' from the outset.
That was one point Toole made in his postgame chat with his players after the Duke game.
"What I tried to explain to them was one of the reasons we push so hard and we demand so much and hold them to such a high standard is because these are the games that we want to compete in,'' Toole said. "These are the games we want to be in, and we want to play better than we played (against Duke). Sometimes players want to practice to prepare for the worst team on your schedule and coaches want to practice like you're playing Duke. That's the mentality we talked about -- that these are the games we work so hard for in December because when you find yourself in this situation you can't have any cracks. You can't have any chinks in your armor because that's what (opponents) take advantage of.
"You have to be strong in your plan and you have to be so together and so detailed if you want to be in these games. You have to be working at this year round. That's what we tried to explain to our guys who are coming back because that starts in the next two weeks when we get back to workouts and preparing for next season.''
So … game over. Game on.
The returning players will begin those workouts with the memory of this season fresh in their sneakers, and that includes a game effort against Duke, the No. 1 seed in the South Region.
The Colonials trailed the Blue Devils, 54-34, five minutes into the second half before putting together a 10-0 run that introduced the question: Could this be the year a 16 seed actually does beat a No. 1 seed?
"Robert Morris fought the entire game and put themselves in a position to maybe win the game,'' Krzyzewski said.
"The way we played during that stretch, that's how we were supposed to play for 40 minutes,'' Jones said. "Hats off to our team for pushing and still playing, still having the courage to fight back and make the simple plays and the right plays. We did a great job during that run.''
That run was RMU's "one shining moment'' against Duke. The Blue Devils quickly went on a run of their own, and the Colonials were done.
"I thought our guys continued to battle regardless of the score, and I'm very proud of that,'' Toole said. "I thought we competed the way we wanted to compete, but it wasn't enough.''
Which, really, is all one can ask for in a match-up like this.
"It's a matter of being comfortable and figuring out you can play your own game and stay true to who you are and what you do best,'' Toole said. "I think at times you get in these situations and you try to do more than you're capable of, you're a little bit on edge or you're playing a little faster than you want and so you can't relax and play your game. That's what talked about with our guys. Just do what we do. If it's good enough, great, but if not, that's what you live with. Trying to recreate the wheel or pull out some shot that you've never done before, that's the first step in failure in these kind of games. You have to stay true to who you are and you have to make sure that your team is staying together and playing together.''
The Colonials did that, for the most part. In the opening minutes, they seemed to rush stuff a bit.
"(Duke does) such a great job of pressuring you,'' Toole said. "It's hard to hold the ball. You can see at times where we were trying to execute some sets or certain actions (offensively). They would take you out of all that stuff, so you have to be able to make basketball plays. I really thought to start the game we got some excellent looks. We missed four or five layups early in the game. If those go, it might be a little bit of a different game. I think it was 7-5 and then it was 22-9 and I think we missed three or four layups in that span. If you're looking at 22-15 or 22-17, maybe you're feeling a little bit better about yourself. But sometimes playing against guys that make you play faster than you want, make you a little bit uncomfortable. You rush some of those layups you normally would finish.''
When it became apparent near the end of the game that the Colonials would lose and that Jones' career would end on a seven-point evening, Colonial fans in attendance chanted his name in appreciation of a career well played.
"Hats off to our fans,'' Jones said. "They're some of the most dedicated fans you'll ever meet. Thick or thin, win or lose, they're always there. I had a great run at Robert Morris. I played as hard as I could for as long as I could.''
Jones finished his career with 1,632 points, fourth on RMU's all-time scoring list, and with 846 rebounds, tops on RMU's career carom chart.
The Colonials won 92 games while Jones was here, the highest total over a four-year span in program history.
Junior
Rodney Pryor against Duke scored a game-high 23 points, including 17 in the second half. He closed his first season as a Colonial in grand fashion, averaging 21 points a game over his final nine games.
Freshman
Marcquise Reed had 22 points against the Blue Devils.
"Those kids can really score the ball,'' Krzyzewski said. "Pryor has special abilities. He's not just a good player, but he also rises to the occasion. They have two really good young players in Reed and Minnie.''
Elijah Minnie, like Reed a freshman, didn't score against Duke, but he offered a sign of what could come next during RMU's seven-game winning streak that carried it to the Duke game. In those seven games, Minnie averaged 10.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He shot 55.3 percent from the field, including 50 percent from deep.
"I think Minnie is really coming on as a three-point shooter and offensive rebounder,'' Krzyzewski said.
Sophomore point guard
Kavon Stewart, on the big stage against Duke, had six assists and only one turnover.
"Stewart can break you down,'' Krzyzewski said.
Pryor, Reed, Minnie and Stewart figure to start next season along with junior
Aaron Tate, the glue guy in the middle.
The Colonials must clarify the status of junior
Stephan Bennett, who was suspended for the final three games, before next season. Junior
Lionel Gomis and freshman
Andre Frederick should return.
The Colonials have guard Matty McConnell from Chartiers Valley High School and guard/forward Isaiah Still from Union Catholic High School in New Jersey signed for next season.
Toole and his staff can devote all their attention now to adding to the recruiting class.
Certainly, after this season, they have some strong selling points to offer.
CLASS MOVE: With about two minutes remaining in the Duke game, Toole had sophomore walk-on
Conrad Stephens at the scorer's table ready to check into the game. However, with no stoppages in play looming, Toole had Jones commit a foul to stop the clock and get Stephens on the floor.
Thus, Stephens will always be able to tell people he played in an NCAA Tournament game.
Cool Toole move, that.
MARCQUIS MARCQUISE: Reed averaged 22.3 points per game in three games against Atlantic Coast Conference teams this season. He scored 24 points at North Carolina, 21 at Clemson and 22 against Duke. In those three games, Reed shot 54.9 percent from the field and made five of his 11 shots from beyond the arc.
DAYTON WAS DANDY: The Colonials were very impressed with their welcome in Dayton, Ohio, where they beat North Florida.
"The city of Dayton (was) absolutely outstanding,'' Toole said. "This (was) my fifth opportunity to be a part of the tournament, and this might be the best one. Our guys going into restaurants, riding the bus, our hotel, people coming up to us congratulating us. I've been in Boston. I've been in Providence. I've been in Minneapolis. It wasn't that way.''
MADNESS ADDNESS: Pryor finished with a scoring average of 15.6 points per game. His 546 points rank as the eighth-best season total in RMU history … Reed averaged 15.1 points per game. His 529 points, a record for a Colonial freshman, are 11th-highest on the Colonial season chart … Last season, Robert Morris beat St. John's and lost to Belmont in the National Invitation Tournament. This season, all three teams earned spots in the NCAA tournament -- and all three played in Charlotte Friday.
