Colonials Corner

This is part four of an eight part series examining the Robert Morris roster and depth chart for the 2010 season. For a schedule of the rest of the parts in the series, click here.

Robert Morris has always been a defense dominated by active linebackers and opportunistic defensive backs. But it also has a quieter tradition of strong defensive tackles (think Jason Forrest and Matt Brunck swallowing up the middle of opposing offensive lines) and speedy, sack hungry defensive ends (Mark Syzmanski before injuries settled in).

For all the offensive maladies last year, the defense was extremely good. Robert Morris was ranked second in the NEC in scoring defense, third in pass defense, second in turnover margin (remarkable considering how often the offense handed the ball back), second in rushing defense, first in total defense, first in pass efficiency defense, first in opponent first downs, first in sacks, and first in red zone defense.

Nationally, the defense finished 11th in total defense, 6th in pass defense, 12th in turnovers created, and 5th in pass efficiency defense.

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Andy Toole, the next head basketball coach at Robert Morris. Photo courtesy of RMU athletic department.

It was first reported a week ago by the Beaver County Times‘ Eric Hall, but now it’s official. Robert Morris will announce Tuesday at a 3:00 press conference that associate head coach Andy Toole will be promoted to head coach of the men’s basketball program. The 29-year old Toole replaces Mike Rice, who left the program to take the head coaching job at Rutgers University last Thursday.

Rice was the head coach for three years at Robert Morris, and Toole was his top assistant, earning the promotion to associate head coach two years ago. As the top assistant, Toole was the primary recruiter and scheduler for the program. Toole helped land freshman guard Karon Abraham and helped guide redshirt freshman guard Velton Jones through a tumultuous freshman season that included a sudden decision by the NCAA to rule him ineligible and the death of his father.

Rice has supported Toole as the next head coach since taking the Rutgers job, and he told the Times that little will change at Robert Morris with Toole in charge, other than the obvious change at the top.

“He’s the same,” Rice told the paper. “I mean, he’s like a younger brother to me. He has the same drive and passion for the game.

“He’s going to do (well) with a lot of the same principles that we used before.”

In a phone conversation with Colonials Corner Sunday night, Rice said that he believes Toole and Robert Morris can continue on a successful path that emulates paths taken by Gonzaga, Butler, and Kent State. Rice pointed to those three school as schools that have had coaching changes but have remained consistently good, even great, because they’ve hired from within and kept systems and familiarity in place.

Indeed, one of the initial benefits of hiring Toole will be the retention of talented young players like Abraham and Jones. Abraham had been quoted in local newspapers as saying he would explore transferring if Toole was not named the head coach.

Toole’s hiring is also expected to keep a strong recruiting class in place. Rice raved about the recruits in the phone conversation Sunday night, and most are expected to remain committed to Robert Morris. One, Lamount Samuell, had already apparently decommitted before Rice left for Rutgers. Samuell ended up signing with Fordham University.

Colonials Corner hopes to obtain more information about the recruits, as well as the make-up of Toole’s coaching staff, at Tuesday’s press conference. Assistant Jimmy Martelli joined Rice in Rutgers, but the fate of assistant Robby Pridgen, director of basketball operations Dave Scarborough, and others remains unknown. Tuesday may shine some light on the situation. We’ll be there covering the event for the Times and we’ll update here as well.

Apologies for the timing and the quality of this update. It will be just a slash and dash of news and notes, as I’ve been wonderfully ill since the middle of the night.

A commentary follows these news and notes:

• You can read more about it in today’s paper (quick note, by the way – The Beaver County Times was the only paper or news organization represented at the home opener), but Joe Walton absolved Camdin Crouse of most of the mistakes on offense. He was extremely disappointed with the play on the offensive line, saying any quarterback would struggle with the pressure he was facing.
• Sherrod Evers took full responsibility for not holding on to the pass that hit him right in his hands slightly above his chest. Evers and King were two of several culprits for not hauling in catchable balls. Crouse did miss a couple times, though, including a short potential TD pass to Jeff Link. Josh Keil plunged in on the next play to save the Colonials.
• This is speculation, but the only time I recall seeing Jeff Sinclair warm up was after Crouse’s fumble in the 4th quarter. Crouse took a shot on that play and Sinclair might have just been a precaution. If someone recalls something else, feel free to speak up.
• Crouse only had two completions longer than 10 yards, both on the same drive in the 4th quarter – A 12 yard pass to Russ and the 25 yard touchdown to Evers.
• Dayton’s Steve Valentino, a converted wide receiver, was not playing QB for the first time. He was recruited as a quarterback and only moved to wide receiver to take advantage of his athleticism. Dayton had depth at QB, only to see that depth ravaged by injury.
• Robert Morris piled up 104 yards due to penalties. Dayton had more flags thrown (9 to RMU’s 6), but most of those were minor infractions.
• Shadrae King played but definitely did not look 100%. He was removed in the 4th quarter after a long pass fell incomplete – despite being catchable – and left him hobbled.
• Brian Bevilacqua, Brad Rodgers, and Logan Miles all played at guard, but Miles spent a lot of time at RG in place of Bevilacqua with Rodgers at Miles’ usual LG spot.
• Nathan Argenta received his first playing time of the season, starting at safety alongside Mike Landers.
• Farren Mason left in the 1st quarter with a knee injury. Early report was that it was potentially a kneecap injury.
• Adam Lawrence has a badly sprained ankle. He was going to be checked out further after the game.

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When you pile up six sacks on defense, hold the opponent to 183 yards of total offense, and allow just 10 points to the offense, theory says you’ve won the game.

Not if you’re Robert Morris. The Colonials turned the ball over five times – four interceptions by starting quarterback Desmond Brentley – and the Colonials’ defense once again could not overcome the multitude of mistakes on offense and special teams and pull out a win.

It started off wrong for Robert Morris, allowing AJ Kizekai to give Bucknell great field position on the opening kickoff. Bucknell got a field goal, and the two teams traded drives until Brentley hit Sherrod Evers with a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 left in the 1st quarter. RMU followed that up with a Garrett Clawson field goal to make it 10-3 in the second quarter.

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Just a quick note, I’ve installed a new, less intrusive spam blocker in the comment form. The only extra thing it requires that the open system didn’t have is for you to fill the CAPTCHA (letter and number combo) form before you hit submit. Nice and easy and shouldn’t create a bunch of errors like the last one. It’s necessary because of an increase in spam that Colonials Corner didn’t experience at the old site.

Couple things for everyone to chew on over the weekend. As you enjoy these tidbits, you should be aware that the site is scheduled to undergo some changes over the weekend. This has been primarily a template and placeholder, and we’re hoping to institute a better organized and more visually interesting version this weekend. That is, of course, if everything goes right.

From there, the hope is to work out the final few bugs and then see if/how some additional features – more photos, video, additional multimedia, a message board – can be included as we go along. The primary focus, though, is to get the true format of the site up and running this weekend. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that all goes well.

On to the notes:

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Two things to pass along to you as we head into the fourth of July weekend, both of them revolving around schedules for the 2009-2010 seasons in men’s and women’s basketball.

The news includes a change in the conference scheduling for women’s teams, as the NEC moves towards a reduction in travel costs; the continuation of a one-sided but entertaining rivalry that was expected to die; a surprise addition to the hoops schedule for the men featuring another major state university; and an early look at how strong the schedule will be for the defending champs.

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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.

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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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