Colonials Corner

A couple things:
- Nate Lojek, an offensive lineman from Trinity High School in Washington county, has committed to Robert Morris. Lojek is 6′4, 301 and comes off a Trinity team that finished 5-5. They were in the same conference as renowned powers Thomas Jefferson. It’s a AAA school, so it’s a good sized program and conference to bring an offensive lineman out of. Five days until signing day.

- Paul Meyer, a longtime writer for the Post-Gazette, is now working for the university covering the basketball program. Meyer retired just a month or so ago from the PG and will be doing weekly features and notes for the website. It’s an excellent opportunity to get more material out there about the Colonials, so I hope you all read his stuff regularly.

Beaver County Times story link is located here.

121.

That’s the point differential between Robert Morris and their opponents the past four games. 14 point win over CCSU. 48 over Wagner. 34 over FDU. 25 over Bryant.

Getting kind of ridiculous isn’t it?

The Colonials did it tonight without Rob Robinson and Jeremy Chappell on offense, as well. Chappell had 6 points, Robinson had 7. They almost had more turnovers (11) than points (13).

But Jimmy Langhurst scored 17, Bateko Francisco had 10, Mezie Nwigwe had 10 late points, and Dallas Green was a monster inside – 9 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks. In fact, if the Colonials hadn’t been sloppy with the turnovers, they likely would’ve topped their point spread from the Wagner game. Bryant just didn’t have the athleticism.

We’ll see how the Colonials do on Saturday versus Monmouth’s zone, but is anyone really thinking about the Hawks? They lost to St. Francis PA tonight, and Pitt looms on Monday. The school is hyping their few tickets that they have available as the “Upset Special”, and Colonials Corner has a familiar feeling knawing away at our insides.

We shall see.

The NCAA has handed down penalties to the University of Albany for recruiting violations. Several Albany football coaches sent text messages to potential recruits after the NCAA banned text message communications from coaches to prospective student athletes.

On 36 occasions during the 2007 fall semester, following the effective date of NCAA rules eliminating text-message communication with prospective student-athletes, several assistant football coaches sent impermissible text messages to prospective student-athletes. The majority of the text messages were sent using a recruiting software program that enabled a coach to type a single message and send it to several prospective student-athletes at once. As a result, the 36 occasions when football coaches sent text messages resulted in 331 messages sent and 220 prospective student-athletes contacted.

The penalties include public censure and a host of institution imposed penalties, including two years probation for the football program lasting until January 2011. Many of the penalties have been in effect for over a year since Albany self-reported the incident.

Once the snow melts and spring practice begins, two football coaches will have new duties and a new face will join them.

Joe Walton announced today that Scott Benzel, formerly the defensive backs coach and assistant recruiting coordinator, is now co-defensive coordinator with Scott Farison. Already working hand-in-hand on recruiting, the two will now work in tandem even more on the defensive side of the ball.

Benzel on the move:
“My working relationship with Coach Farison has been one of the highlights of my career at Robert Morris, and I believe because of that it will be an easier transition and allow us the flexibility to accomplish more things on the defensive side of the ball. We want to get back to an aggressive, attacking defense that Robert Morris has always been known for in the past. I also thank Coach Walton for giving me the chance and look forward to the opportunity.”

Also, Andrew Richardson has been promoted to full-time assistant coach. He’s been a graduate assistant on the offensive line the past two years and will now focus on those duties full-time. The line will continue to be a spot to watch considering the youth and talent available.

Finally, Bill Hurley joins the staff. A former Duquesne coach and Syracuse graduate, Hurley was a defensive back in the NFL in the 80s. He’ll work on the defensive side of the ball, and while Benzel’s focus will still be in the secondary, Hurley will likely be helping him out quite a bit. It’s certainly a solid secondary that’s returning.

It’s the end of January. One month remains of conference hoops before the year-end tournaments begin and the fingers get crossed for a hopeful NCAA Tourney Bid.

With the Colonials on a roll and that lonely month left in the season, it’s time to start keeping tabs on where the Colonials hypothetically stand for seeding. Now, considering Robert Morris hasn’t gone dancing in 17 years, this is not to overlook the next game, let alone the rest of the season and the NEC Tournament.

Indeed, because Colonials Corner is a bit fascinated with bracketology and mid-major basketball, we’ll highlight a few bracket quirks each week to combat any bad juju brought forth from the basketball gods for mentioning a potential RMU Tourney berth.

We’ll also include a few thoughts on the various brackets as we hit each week.

Now, to the reports:

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Colonials as a 14-seed. It would certainly seem that a team with a strong record like RMU will benefit as some of the weaker conferences have some weaker teams on top of their conferences right now. Lunardi has them matching up with Clemson, which is a relatively favorable match-up. It’d also be in Miami, an area the Colonials are familiar with.

St. Mary’s as a 10 seed is downright criminal. 16-1 out of the WCC should buy you a lot more these days. They’re certainly beetter than any of the “big money” schools that are occupying the 7-8-9 seeds.

The Dayton bracket is apparently the RMU-opponent bracket. Pitt is #1, Xavier is #3, Miami (FL) is #9.

Lunardi has RMU the highest. Most brackets have the Colonials as a 16 seed. Yahoo Sports’ Brad Evans has the Colonials as a 16-seed, barely avoiding the play-in game. And in perhaps the most intriguing early match-up, Bleacher Report has the #15 Colonials in a rematch with #2 Xavier.

But perhaps the best resource is The Bracket Project, which lists as many brackets as possible and compiles them into a nice nifty spreadsheet. Naturally, they do their own bracket as well, slotting Bobby Mo as a #15 seed in Philadelphia against Michigan State.

Something we’ll be keeping tabs on in the next 24 hours – Atlantic Hockey, home to Mercyhurst and several other natural rivals, will be voting Tuesday to determine whether Niagara and Robert Morris should join the conference for D-I hockey. With Wayne State closing their men’s program down, College Hockey America is doomed as a conference for men’s hockey. Women’s hockey seems to be okay for now.

This is a potentially huge development for hockey at Robert Morris. Because of the tenuous nature of the CHA, some stability, even at the cost of fewer scholarships, would potentially launch RMU onto a national stage by contending consistently in conference play.

We’ll see how it turns out on Tuesday.

Another Northeast Conference opponent, another blowout win. Any concerns about a post-Wagner letdown, let alone the weeklong layoff, were put to rest against Fairleigh Dickinson. Robert Morris won again 74-40 behind Rob Robinson’s 20 points.

Robinson had 18 points in 16 minutes in the first half, and the Colonials gained a 38-23 lead over Fairleigh Dickinson at halftime in Teaneck, NJ.

Robinson was a dominant force, going 9-10 from the field with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. He gave way to Dallas Green in the second half, as his fellow junior popped in for 10 points and 5 boards. Jeremy Chappell collected 12 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 6 steals. Gary Wallace scored 9.

Robinson, a junior forward from Waldorf, MD scored 20 points last Saturday versus Wagner on 9-9 shooting, and he was 10-13 tonight.

“[Whitehead and Green] set such precise screens on Rob’s man that he was getting wide open layups,” said Mike Rice. “When we’re scoring buckets in the paint, you know you can score on the perimeter most nights, we’re tough to defend.”

The Colonials shot 53.3% from the field, had 27 assists on their field goals, and forced 26 turnovers by FDU.

Since Rice took over as head coach last year, the Colonials are 13-0 on the road in the NEC. Robert Morris, 16-2 in the NEC and 26-7 overall last year, improved to 8-1 and 13-7 overall. They have a 2-game lead over Mount St. Mary’s (6-3, 11-9) and will play non-NEC foe Bryant on Thursday at the Sewall Center.

Couple things to get to:

- Congratulations to the multitude of RMU athletes named as NEC Scholar-Athletes. Included in the nominations were special awards for Adam Lawrence and Alaina Gibson. Gibson was the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in Volleyball, while Lawrence was the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in football. Gibson had a GPA of 3.92 out of 4, while Lawrence was at 3.98.

That’s better than what Colonials Corner graduated with, and we did well. Honest!

- After disappointing losses to Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac, it looks like the Lady Colonials are back on track. Three straight wins, including a toppling of previously undefeated in conference play Central Connecticut State. Unlike the men’s side, the NEC is very tight and very top-heavy this year. Sacred Heart leads at 7-0, followed by 6-1 CCSU, 6-2 RMU, and 5-2 Quinnipaic.

- After missing the first semester, essentially, as she rehabbed her shoulder, Sade Logan is heating up. She crossed the 1,000 point barrier against CCSU and is quickly moving back up the ladder in points per game. She’s at 21.5 points per game, and that’ll likely go up as she gets more games in. She should be eligible for the statistical awards at the end of the season provided she doesn’t miss any more time. That mark has her in the Top 5 in the nation in scoring once she’s eligible.

- February 4th is National Signing Day for football. Colonials Corner will work with RMU to bring you the best information possible regarding the next Robert Morris Colonials.

You probably could’ve given it to the entire Robert Morris team, but the NEC settled on Jeremy Chappell as one of their players of the week.

Chappell earns his second Choice Hotels NEC Player of the Week award this season and third of his career for the first place Colonials, who have won six straight entering play this week. Chappell averaged 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.5 steals and 2.5 blocks in wins over CCSU and Wagner last week, while shooting 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field, including 43.8 percent (7-16) from long range. In the 76-64 win over CCSU on Thursday, he led the Colonials with 21 points and added five boards, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Chappell scored 13 points in the second half against CCSU, helping the Colonials keep the Blue Devils at bay after taking a 41-19 lead at the break. In a 104-56 triumph over Wagner two days later, Chappell contributed 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four steals and a season-high three blocks in just 24 minutes of action. The Cincinnati, OH native scored 12 points in the first half against the Seahawks, helping send RMU to a 48-25 halftime lead. Chappell became just the fourth Colonial in school history to eclipse 1,600 career points and sits 34th on the NEC’s career scoring chart with 1,615 points. Chappell, who eclipsed 200 three-pointers for his career and is up to 205, needs just 14 more trifectas three-pointers to establish a new school record. This season, he is averaging 17. 1 ppg (third in NEC), 6.8 rpg (5th in NEC), 2.8 apg and a league leading 2.6 spg.

It’s a joyous night in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are going back to the Super Bowl.

Lots of Robert Morris connections to this Steelers team, beginning in the front office with Kevin Colbert. Several other game-day operations, video crew members, and other personnel are Robert Morris graduates as well.

Check out www.timesonline.com for coverage from four different BCT writers – including yours truly – of the Steelers AFC Championship victory.