If it were simple, it stands to reason that way more mid-major college basketball teams would be thriving. Outside of the bluebloods, however, the process of assembling a championship-caliber team in this age of name, image and likeness (NIL) rights doesn’t come with a guarantee.
The pieces just might not fit.
“Winning is not always at the top of everybody’s priority list,” was Robert Morris coach Andy Toole’s reaction to a suggestion before the start of this season that more good times were ahead for his defending Horizon League-champion Colonials.
“Coming off a winning season is helpful,” he said at the time, “but there’s a lot more to it now. What type of opportunity is it for the player? It used to be, ‘Man, if I can get an opportunity to go to a winning program, that’s all I care about.’ That’s not aways the case anymore. There’s a lot more individuality involved. There’s NIL opportunities. All those things now are part of the equation.”
Another rebuild
For all his concerns, Toole has built another winning team this season, albeit one not similar in makeup to last year’s tight-knit, take-the-league-by-storm outfit whose 26-9 mark tied a school record for victories in a season.
“That was absolutely, positively the best Robert Morris team ever,” longtime RMU play-by-play man Chris Shovlin said this week after the Colonials had returned home from a Saturday loss at Purdue-Fort Wayne to take on Horizon-leading Wright State (15-8, 10-2) on Wednesday night.
Robert Morris’ other 26-win teams — Toole’s 26-11 squad of 2011-12 and the Mike Rice-led 26-8 club of 2007-08 — competed in the lightly regarded Northeast Conference before the Colonials took a step up in competition in 2020 by joining the Horizon.
It’s well documented that all five starters from that 26-win team of a year ago entered the NCAA transfer portal, leaving Toole with another challenging attempt to rebuild his roster.
Only Ryan Prather Jr., a spot starter last season, returned. The 6-foot-5 junior was averaging 15.0 points per game and was the Horizon leader in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.7 average) before Wednesday’s game
Toole’s top get in the offseason — IU Indianapolis transfer DeSean Goode, who jumped from one Horizon team to another — was leading the league in rebounding (8.9 rpg) and field goal percentage (62.1) while also averaging 15.0 points per game.
He is one of nine transfers this season, but only one — former Missouri guard Kaleb Brown — from a power conference school.
“There’s some really, really good players on this team right now,” Shovlin said. “It seems like they like each other, but I don’t think maybe the chemistry has kicked in yet. Some of the guys came from schools where last year they played a little more.”
Incidentally, Robert Morris (14-10, 6-7) was leading the conference in offensive rebounding (13.7 rpg) and rebounding margin (7.5 average) and ranked second in 3-point field goal percentage (36.6) and assists (17.7 apg).
It’s getting late
Not surprisingly, the ever deep-thinking Toole, who earned Horizon Coach-of-the-Year honors last season, has become increasingly frustrated by any sign of regression. After all, it’s already February, and you know what comes next in March.
It was complete madness a year ago on Robert Morris’ Moon campus, where the Colonials boarded buses for the short trip to Cleveland and an NCAA Tournament first-round game against No. 2 seed Alabama.
“With 6 1/2 minutes to go, they were winning,” Shovlin said of the 15th-seeded Colonials, who fell short of an upset and lost 90-81. “I got downright emotional when the game ended. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that way because I knew that club was special. I thought some other school would come in and swoop up Andy, and thank goodness he’s still here and trying to get them back (into the NCAA Tournament).”
Shortly afterward, Toole signed a multi-year contract extension to remain with the team, where he’s in his 15th season as coach. Whereas Toole stayed put, seven RMU players, including the entire starting lineup, entered the transfer portal and landed at other schools.
Where are they now?
One-by-one, they departed for:
• Iowa. The Hawkeyes have been in and out of the AP Top 25 with Alvaro Folgueiras, the Horizon Player of the Year last season, coming off the bench most nights. He was averaging 8.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game to go with 41 assists, 17 steals and 8 blocks. In Iowa’s opener — strangely, against Robert Morris — Folgueiras finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in a 101-69 rout of the Colonials.
• USC. Two former Robert Morris players — Amarion Dickerson and Kam Woods — are with the Trojans this season.
Dickerson, the reigning Horizon Defensive Player of the Year, played in USC’s first eight games (one start) and was averaging 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds with 9 assists, 6 steals and 7 blocks before a hip injury sidelined him for the season.
Woods, RMU’s leading scorer a year ago, nearly lost out on a new destination before a string of USC injuries created a path for the 6-2 point guard to join the team. In 10 games, he was averaging 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds with 28 assists and 17 steals.
Oh, and Woods erupted for a career-high 33 points in a 73-72 loss to none other than Folgueiras and Iowa just last week.
• South Florida. Speaking of 33 points, Josh Omojafo did the trick in the Bulls’ second game of the season, a 99-95 loss to George Washington. The 6-5 guard was averaging 13.0 points and 5.5 rebounds and totaled 47 assists 19 steals and 5 blocks through 21 games, all but two as a starter.
• Campbell. Not to be outdone, diminutive guard D.J. Smith poured in a career-high 39 points last week in a wild 104-96 victory over William & Mary. The 6-0 Smith was leading the Camels in scoring (21.1 ppg) while averaging 4.0 rebounds and totaling 51 assists and 34 steals.
‘It’s definitely on Andy’
With all that firepower, it’s clear why Robert Morris accomplished so much in one season and proved it had arrived in the fledgling Horizon League.
“It’s definitely on Andy. He’s so cerebral, and he really cares,” said Shovlin, who is in his 39th season calling RMU games, many alongside color analyst Jim Elias, a former Colonials assistant.
For coaches of the overwhelming number of no-name programs — the Elons, Northern Arizonas and Robert Morrises — it takes a lot of patience, research and skill to build a winner.
And it certainly doesn’t hurt to be lucky.
Toole, of course, remains hopeful that his current team somehow can get hot and follow a similar path to where that magical group wound up a year ago.
If anyone can coax the results, Shovlin says its Toole.
“Andy Toole has done a superb job. He knew when we got into the Horizon League that it was going to be tougher,” Shovlin said. “He’s not just the best basketball coach in Pittsburgh, he’s the best in hundreds and hundreds of miles from here.”