By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Oct. 30, 2009 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - Tony Lee won it two seasons ago.

Jeremy Chappell followed suit last season.

Can Rob Robinson this season become the third consecutive Robert Morris Colonial to be voted the Northeast Conference Player of the Year?

"Yeah, definitely,'' RMU senior guard Jimmy Langhurst said. "Just from going (by) last year.''

Last season, his first with Robert Morris, Robinson averaged 12.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in NEC play. That production was good enough to land the 6-8 center on the all-NEC second team.

And to have opponents' defenses focus on Robinson this season.

"I think this year people are going to tend to double team him in the post,'' Langhurst said, "but if he fights through that and shows all the coaches in the league - and himself - that he can do that, I think he can be good. And we have to help out with that, too -- be other (offensive) factors out there, (so teams will have to) sag off him. He's worked hard. He can definitely be that (Player of the Year).''

Robinson probably is a long-shot to win, however.

Mount St. Mary's senior guard Jeremy Goode might be the leading candidate at this early point. Goode last season averaged 15.9 points per game in NEC play and is the leading returning career scorer in the league with 1,283 points.

Right behind Goode is Long Island senior guard Jaytornah Wisseh, who averaged 16.2 points a game last season and is the second-leading returning scorer (1,182 points).

And Justin Rutty, a junior forward from Quinnipiac, also is the preseason mix. Rutty last season averaged 14.2 points and was the NEC's top rebounder at 10.4 per game. Goode, Wisseh and Rutty all made the all-NEC first team last season.

Other candidates include three players who made the all-NEC second team last season - Quinnipiac forward James Feldeine (15.2 points per game), Central Connecticut State forward Ken Horton (14.4) and Fairleigh Dickinson guard Sean Baptiste (18.6, which led the NEC).

It doesn't hurt the candidacies of Goode, Wisseh and Rutty that their teams probably will be picked by the league's coaches to finish in the top four in the standings. Robinson also figures to get help in that regard because the Colonials almost certainly will be picked to be among the top four, too.

"The best player on the best team is the Player of the Year,'' Robinson said. "That's what I'm striving to be this whole year.''

There wasn't any question that last season Chappell was the best player on the best team in the NEC. Robinson hopes to follow Chappell's example.

"Jeremy worked hard every day in practice,'' Robinson said. "He showed me the way to be a leader.''

Robinson and forward Josiah Whitehead were two junior college transfers who helped the Colonials a bunch en route to RMU's second consecutive regular-season NEC championship last season.

"Rob's a big part of our offense and Joe does the little things,'' Langhurst said. "He brings energy. They're two great pieces to our class of 2010.''

Robinson, Whitehead, Langhurst, Mezie Nwigwe and Dallas Green are the five members of that 2010 graduating class that will try to become the winningest class in Robert Morris basketball history. Chappell left with a career record of 82-44; this season's seniors are 67-30.

Getting Robinson seems like quite the recruiting coup for coach Mike Rice, who set out after the 2007-08 season to bring in a center and a forward from the junior college ranks.

According to Rice, Robinson was offered scholarships by some Big 12 and Conference USA schools.

"I knew Rob even when he was a junior in high school (in Maryland),'' Rice said. "Rob has had some times where he's gotten in his own way in his life and maybe not allowed himself to be as successful as he should have been earlier on - whether it's academically, whether it's off the court, whether it was ON the court with not necessarily a great attitude.

"He made some mistakes in recruiting - he probably didn't return as many phone calls as he should have, probably didn't do his due diligence with communicating with some people - but you know what? Things happen for a reason.''

And so, after two seasons at Globe Institute of Technology, Robinson became a Colonial.

"Because of our relationship (from when Robinson was in high school) and some of the guys who he trusted and I knew, we ended up getting him,'' Rice said. "To win NEC championships, you have to win a lot of good recruiting battles, and we've won some recruiting battles. And he's probably the biggest so far we've had here. He's come a long way.''

Robinson also cited the relationship he forged with Rice over the years as a big reason why he wound up at Robert Morris.

"He's been behind me since (high school),'' Robinson said. "I had a deep bond with him, and it got me here.''

Another reason?

"He gets the best out of his players, man,'' Robinson said. "It's a strange way how he does it, but he does it.''

Robinson laughed a bit when asked to be specific about Rice's "way.''

"He just knows how to get the best out of his players,'' he said. "I like it. I never had a coach like (Rice) before. Never in my life.''

Whitehead, a 6-6, 225-pounder from Portsmouth, Va., and Cecil Community College, also cited Rice's coaching technique as a prime reason he picked Robert Morris.

"In junior college, my coach (Bill Lewit) was so demanding,'' Whitehead said. "Everything was about perfection. I didn't know about (Robert Morris). A lot of people really don't. But when I came on my visit I saw a practice and the level of commitment coach Rice wants - the level of demand, everything needed to be perfect. I liked that.

"Most people at this level are too busy spoiling their big players, but he treats everybody the same. He wants perfection out of everybody. Once I saw that, I knew I wanted to come here. I didn't tell him that then, but I knew this was the spot for me.''

Not that there weren't a few bumps early on in Whitehead's Colonial career.

"The way coach Rice teaches defense was totally different than the way we played in junior college,'' Whitehead said. "I'm not going to lie - it was hard for me at first. But now that I know what he wants, it's easier.''

Easier. Not easy.

"The discipline,'' Whitehead said when asked about what he's learned under Rice. "He's just constantly pounded me with it. It's just like with a little child. You're disciplined as a young child, but you're glad your mom disciplined you because you know it's going to help you in the long run. That's the thing about coach Rice. Everything that he does - everything that he teaches you on the court and off the court - it helps you in the long run. That's one thing I really love about this place.''

Whitehead started only five games last season, so he made most of his contributions off the bench. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game and shot 48.1 percent from the field, helping the Colonials reach the NCAA tournament.

The one troublesome thing about being a junior college transfer is that a player's Division I career doesn't last long - as Whitehead knows.

"It really goes by fast,'' he said. "It really makes you cherish your last year playing basketball. You never know - this might be your last year playing. So right now I'm just cherishing it and hopefully we'll go back to the tournament.''

Getting to play against Michigan State in Minneapolis in last season's NCAA was huge for Robinson.

"That was my goal my whole life - to go to the tournament,'' he said. "It was (like living) a dream - something you can't even imagine. It's something where you just live for the moment.''