Colonials Corner

Brad Banas, Chartiers-Houston grad and incoming RMU freshman, photo courtesy of the Post-Gazette

A couple things to get to from parts near and far involving incoming Robert Morris players and outgoing area athletes.

• The top story is the performance of Brad Banas, who had an MVP performance in the Bee Graphic North-South All Star Football game played at South Fayette High School on Saturday. Banas, a Chartiers-Houston graduate and incoming Robert Morris linebacker, displayed his offensive skills on the way to scoring four touchdowns. He was a quarterback, running back, linebacker, and kicker in high school, and the Colonials plan to use him right away on defense and on special teams – although his effort on offense may create additional opportunities.

• Read the rest of this entry →

The Pittsburgh Basketball Club’s annual summer league kicked off on Monday at the GreenTree SportsPlex, and Wednesday night featured another round of games. With the University of Pittsburgh, Robert Morris, and Duquesne all well represented at these regular triple-headers, there’s a wide variety of talent to scope out during these games.

For those unfamiliar with the setup, there are six teams in this summer league, all named after sponsors of the league. Every Monday and Wednesday, those teams play a triple-header, with tip-offs around 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00. Two 22-minute halves sandwich a 4-minute halftime, and the clock runs constantly except for substitutions and timeouts.

There is no zone defense, no set plays. This is playground basketball. Call your own screens, call for the ball, set picks and screens to gain favor, and man up. All players, no matter your affiliation, will play, but if the choice is between Gilbert Brown from Pitt and Justin Greer from Westminster, you better believe that the D-I starter is getting the call.

Now, on to last night’s games.

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One of the great Pittsburgh institutions is back for another year. The Pittsburgh Basketball Club sponsored summer league begins Monday night. Games will be played Mondays and Wednesday nights through July 15th at the GreenTree SportsPlex in Green Tree.

If you need more information about the club and the sportsplex, check out the PBC website. Games are scheduled as triple-headers, with a game starting at 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 in the evening. Some games go longer, some end early.

The summer league serves as an open competition for players with ties to the local area. That includes all of the Division I teams in the region – Penn State, West Virginia, Robert Morris, Duquesne, and Pittsburgh – as well as D-I players who are from the Pittsburgh area but may be playing elsewhere. It is also open to Pittsburgh based players who are now playing overseas (you’ll see some RMU reps there in that category), and it’s open to several D-2 and D-3 schools in the area as well.

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Welcome to the new digs. This is very much a work in progress, but as the summer months roll on, we’re going to be tweeking and adding features.

We’ll take this moment to first ask that if you have any ideas or advice, please feel free to contribute them.

Here’s what you’ll find as you stroll about the site:

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Colonials Corner is under construction as we move from colonialscorner.blogspot.com to this new location.

It takes time. Be patient. We hope to be up and running fully soon. If you’ve stumbled on this page, you’re early!

For now, go to http://colonialscorner.blogspot.com for all of  your Robert Morris Colonials news. Keep your eye on that site for when this one goes fully live.

Brenda Weare, the current Northeast Conference commissioner and the woman responsible for much of the recent push to make the NEC more competitive, passed away on Saturday following a bout with synovial cell sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

You can read more about Weare’s legacy and the disease that took her away far too early at the NEC website. She was only 51.

A short list of NEC upgrades under Weare’s 2+ years as commisioner:
- Introduction of Bryant to the NEC.
- NEC Football earning an autobid to the FCS playoffs.
- ESPNU broadcast rights and a larger foothold on regional networks in the Northeast, including FSN Pittsburgh
- Continued upgrades to scholarship levels for football.

Our own personal experiences with Commisioner Weare were often brief, but informative. She was always quick to respond to emails – a rarity amongst college executives – and was more than willing to share her time, often in the evenings, for more in-depth interviews.

She will be missed.

Some time ago, an anonymous commenter said that the scuttlebutt on campus was that a UCLA QB would be transferring to Robert Morris. We doubted it. Original_RMC debunked a lot of it.

Well, a UCLA QB is indeed transferring, but Chris Forcier is headed to Furman to try and help knock Appalachian State down a few pegs in that conference.

He’s also a bit, uh, strange. From a UCLA website through Deadspin, we get a look at a press release distributed by Forcier and his family. Read it. Chuckle.

Advice to transfers – Don’t get cute. Don’t burn the bridge behind you, just state that you’re looking for something like a fresh start/new opportunity/to be closer to family/to get away from family if you had it rough/etc. and then just shut up. Show up to your new digs, have perfect attendance, and win on the field. End. Of. Story.

New RMU assistant Robby Pridgen.

Robert Morris has hired a new assistant coach to Mike Rice, and they’ve finally announced Coron Williams as their final recruit for 2009-2010.

Lots of news from the basketball program today. Coron Williams, long expected to be in the fold since verbally committing months ago, officially signed his letter of intent and was announced as the final piece of the recruiting puzzle. The 6′2, 170 pound Virginia sharpshooter will compete for playing time right away, according to Mike Rice.

So what does this mean for Micktavious Holt? From what I’ve been able to learn, Holt has gotten a little too excited. There’s “mutual interest” in him playing for the Colonials, but Holt has some academic work to do to ensure his role with Robert Morris.

More likely is that he comes to RMU next year, either via prep school or as a Prop 48.

The Colonials will also have a new assistant. Levi Franklin left to coach at the Potomac School, opening the door for D-3 Roanoke assistant Robby Pridgen (at right). Pridgen graduated from Roanoke in 2003 and has helped coach the team to three straight winning seasons.

Rice on Pridgen:
“Robby is a young and up-and-coming coach, and he proved to me that he possesses a great amount of energy and enthusiasm for what he does,” Rice said. “He comes from a very successful Division III program at Roanoke, and we’re extremely excited about him joining our staff at Robert Morris.”

The Colonials earned a late signing for their title defense, grabbing 6′4 Georgian high schooler Micktavious Holt out of Macon, GA.

We’ll try and figure out how this all works out. The article mentions nothing about a scholarship, so maybe Holt is coming in on his own. Of course, it also mentions nothing about being a walk-on or anything of that sort, so perhaps, some additional shuffling has occurred. We’ll get you an answer.

Robert Morris apparently pounced on him after seeing him in the LeBron James Classic in Ohio several weeks ago.

Some time ago, an anonymous commenter said that the scuttlebutt on campus was that a UCLA QB would be transferring to Robert Morris. We doubted it. Original_RMC debunked a lot of it.

Well, a UCLA QB is indeed transferring, but Chris Forcier is headed to Furman to try and help knock Appalachian State down a few pegs in that conference. Read the rest of this entry →