Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's basketball team, which will play its first season under the direction of head coach Mike Rice in 2007-08, will play a 31-game regular-season schedule this year. The Colonials play their inaugural game under Rice with a 7:00 p.m. exhibition contest against Division II Shippensburg Wednesday, Oct. 31, at the Charles L. Sewall Center, then will open the regular season by hosting Iona Saturday, Nov. 10.
The Colonials will take part in their first regular-season tournament since hosting the University Hoops Classic in 2001 when they participate in the Philadelphia Classic in November. RMU will travel to Navy (Nov. 14) and Big East foe Seton Hall (Nov. 18) as part of the tourney before playing a pair of games at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa., after the Thanksgiving holiday. The club will face Drexel Friday, Nov. 23, before squaring off with either Loyola (Md.) or Howard Saturday, Nov. 24.
Also on the non-conference slate in 2007-08 are home games with Central Michigan (Dec. 5), Canisius (Dec. 19) and Lafayette (Dec. 30) and road contests at Florida International (Nov. 29), Rice's alma mater Fordham (Dec. 2), Youngstown State (Dec. 17), Duquesne (Dec. 28) and Boston College (Jan. 7). In RMU's 31 seasons as a Division I basketball program, the club has never faced Fordham, Lafayette, Seton Hall or Boston College in school history.
Robert Morris opens its 2007-08 Northeast Conference schedule Saturday, Dec. 8, with a 7:00 p.m. tilt against in-state rival Saint Francis (Pa.) at the Sewall Center and begins league play in earnest Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008, with a home game against Monmouth. Six of RMU's final 10 conference games will come on the road, including trips to defending NEC champion Central Connecticut State (Feb. 14) and league runner-up Sacred Heart (Feb. 28).
“We feel we've put together a non-conference schedule that is competitive and one of the best that we've had here at Robert Morris in the past few years,” Rice said. “It's a schedule that gets RMU exposure to such historical places like the Palestra and allows Tony Lee, an under-recruited player out of high school, a chance to go to Boston and play in front of his family and friends. We'll have a barometer near the end of our non-conference schedule of what we'll need to work on as we get ready for the Northeast Conference schedule.”
Along with the announcement of the program's 2007-08 schedule, Rice also announced the hiring of Levi Franklin as an assistant coach. Franklin joins Andrew Toole and Jimmy Martelli as assistant coaches, and he completes Rice's staff. Franklin comes to RMU from Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax, Va., where in six seasons from 2001-07 as head coach of the program he compiled an overall record of 120-62 (.659). Between 1992 and 2001, Franklin served as the head coach at Crossland High School in Temple Hills, Md., where he posted an overall record of 161-58 (.735).
“Levi is an individual that I've known for a long time, and I respect the work he's done at the high school level,” Rice said. “Like the other assistant coaches I've hired, he brings a winning personality to the staff as we prepare for the upcoming season. He'll assist in coaching the post players and will recruit the Mid-Atlantic region.”
The Colonials return four starters from a 2006-07 squad that finished with an overall record of 17-11, including 9-9 in NEC play. After posting an overall record of 15-14 in 2005-06, RMU will search for its third straight winning season in 2007-08. The last time the program finished with at least three straight winning seasons was from 1988 to 1992, when the Colonials compiled a 79-40 mark in four seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament three times.
