Colonials Corner

Monday officially marks the start of basketball season. Yes, football is still going on, national championships are to be won and all that, but once that tip goes up in North Carolina and Ohio State, it’s officially hoops season.

For Robert Morris fans, the story is twofold. Is the basketball program now the premier program on campus? And will the Colonials continue to build their program off the success of the past two seasons?

An unbalanced yet deep roster, full of seniors and first year players. A brutal schedule rarely seen at this level. The deepest Northeast Conference in years. High expectations from the media and the fans because of recent success.

Neither answer is completely clear, but one thing is for certain: this is going to be a wild ride.

The preview here is also twofold. The first part is the team preview, including a projected starting lineup, projected record, and an overall outlook of the program. The second part is the NEC preview, right through the NEC Championship game, complete with short capsules on each team.

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section.

RMU PREVIEW

I’ve long held the belief that coaches need four years to fully create their own program. I’ve written it before on this site, but the first two years are about implementing the system with the current group while laying the foundation with new recruits for the style of play that should be expected. By the third year, the team should be a contender, with a few veteran holdovers from the last coach and a young base courtesy of the current coach. The fourth year should be something the coach would want to hold up as an example of how he envisions his program – maybe not always in wins and losses, but in structure and style of play.

We are in year three of the Rice era at Robert Morris, and the development of Colonials basketball is holding true to the above theory. “I just noticed our first Meet the Colonials night we had a bigger student body then we’ve ever had, even for the championship game. We had close to 1,500-2,000 students come,” Rice said recently. “I think it’s a program that when I first came here we talked about not building just a good basketball team on the floor but kind of a program.”

He’s built that program, and this season will be about growing the program.

Two of the five projected starters are Rice recruits. A third, Velton Jones, will start against Syracuse because of Jimmy Langhurst’s hand injury. All four guys off the bench in the 9-man rotation will be Rice guys, including a freshmen in Karon Abraham who Rice calls this year’s Bateko Francisco. “Karon Abraham has probably better quickness and athletic ability than Bateko did,” Rice said recently. “It’s always important to have that pressure on the basketball, to have that person out in front kind of dictating what you want their offense to do. A lot of that is probably going to go on Karon Abraham, who physically, is probably one of the most gifted individuals I’ve ever coached.”

The 2009-2010 Colonials will be very athletic and dynamic team. The juggling act alone of how players get minutes will be interesting to watch. One night a player like Coron Williams could play 15 minutes and score 15 points. The next night, he may play 2 minutes at the end of the first half. There’s also the schedule. Robert Morris will play teams that it rarely played in the past. Depending on how the youngsters play, this is a team that is athletic enough that it could surprise a team.

On talent alone, it should be a team that makes the NEC Tournament. How it finishes in the regular season will depend on two factors – how Rob Robinson develops as the primary focus of the team, and how young players like Russell Johnson, Velton Jones, and Karon Abraham do offensively. There’s little question that this team, as athletic and deep as it is, will bring the pressure and intensity on defense. But will they be controlled and consistent enough on offense?

That might come down to Robinson. As Rice said recently, “If he’s not outsanding, we’re in deep trouble. He’s a 23-year old senior who has been through a lot and should be able to do it for us. There are so many returning players and it’s the deepest the NEC has been, I expect Rob to anchor a balanced league and a Robert Morris team that needs its production from its frontcourt more than its backcourt this year.”

Johnson is the true enigma. “He is kind of getting the rust off from the year off, but he’s someone who is athletically and physically as gifted as anyone I’ve had here including Jeremy Chappell,” Rice said. “At times he has to learn when to attack and when not to attack. (Johnson, Velton Jones, and Karon Abraham), I wouldn’t be surprised if they play 20 minutes or more for me for the season. I think all three are very athletic and have a very bright future in the NEC.”

This is as close to a Mike Rice team as we’ve gotten. Rice defined his ideal player recently as someone fittings this mold: “I like an aggressive, athletic type of player, someone who plays with tremendous passion and kind of an understanding. I don’t have every player as the same cookie clone player, because I like a versatile team and guys who do different things. But I think he would have to be an aggressive type of athletic player who has a pretty good skill level.”

That description fits quite a few players on the current roster. If they put it together and mesh as a team, it’ll be something special. The process alone will be fun to watch.