When: Wednesday March 5th, 7pm
Where: Charles L. Sewall Center
KenPom: RMU 160, FDU 282
Link: NEC FrontRow
Storyline: The Colonials open the NEC tournament against the FDU Knights, who are making a surprising appearance in the post season. RMU, fresh off a second straight NEC Regular Season title, are looking to get to the NCAA tournament for the first time in the Andy Toole era.
Time to go to War:
#RMU players are wearing camo hunting shirts under jerseys today. As Lucky Jones said, 'We're going to war.' Channeling 86 Miami Hurricanes.
— Craig Meyer (@CraigMeyerPG) March 4, 2014
Didn't I tell y'all my boy would win POY this year.. This only the beginning for him. Congrats to my brother @ThaBestKeptScrt now it's time
— Velton Jones (@VeltonJones2) March 4, 2014
To get the most important one..
— Velton Jones (@VeltonJones2) March 4, 2014
Avoid Embarrassment:  |
| RMU is a perfect 3-0 under Toole in the first round of the NEC tournament. |
Number one, the 1 seed never falls to the 8 seed. Like ever. It hasn't happened in tournament history.
Number two, the Colonials are a perfect 3-0 in openers under Andy Toole. Let's make it 4-0. The last two opening round games have been relatively easy wins under the former Penn standout, winning by 18 and 21. In his first NEC tournament game, the Colonials won by four points.
Round Two:
Unlike most of the NEC, this will only be the second time these two will have played this season. They met just last week at FDU, and the Colonials rallied from 15 down to beat the Knights on their home floor.
So if it took a 15 point comeback, shouldn't Colonial fans be a bit worried?
I don't think so.
First off, RMU only had seven guys available as Stephen Hawkins sat out to rest his ankle. With Hawk out, RMU had no depth, and no size. Having him back will help the Colonials.
 |
| Hawk missed the first matchup between RMU and FDU. (Sentry Media) |
On top of that, that was the Colonials first game after they had cliched the NEC Regular Season. I'm not saying they had nothing to play for, but there is no way to replicate a near-meaningless game on the road for a conference tournament game on your home floor.
Lastly, Karvel Anderson was good, but not great. Lucky Jones and Chuck Oliver couldn't make anything. All three will play well Wednesday on the offensive end. I'm predicting a big tournament for Lucky Jones. He's due to breakout.
If there is one guy who can this interesting, it's Sidney Sanders. RMU kept him in check holding him to 11 points in the first matchup, but it's hard to keep a star like him down multiple times. With that said, he probably has to have a line like 30-10-7 to give his team a chance.
Taking care of business:
In the last game of the season Andy Toole was able to give a few guys a little rest, but not much. Lucky Jones and Ant Myers Pate played about 25 minutes a piece. If that game had NCAA tournament implications, they both play 30 plus.
Karvel Anderson still played 34 minutes, but that was down five from his 39 minute performance the preceding game.
With all that said, this team could use a little rest. There is only one way to do that in the conference tournament. Blow the opponent out. RMU should, and could really use it.
Attack the Basket:
In RMU's last game of the season, the squad took a few too many jumpers for my liking. I don't know if this was a Naofall Fallohan thing, or the team coasting to the finish line with not much on the line.
Either way, the Colonials don't want to make this a trend.
Yes, they're a good three point shooting team, but as we saw last year in the NEC tournament, you can die by the three too (I still get nightmares of that Mount game). I'm sure there will be one game in the NEC tournament this season when the jump shots aren't falling. Hopefully RMU won't be afraid to attack the rim.
Prediction:
KenPom has the Colonials winning this one 77-66. I really don't see RMU having any problems in this one barring no strange injuries.
Robert Morris 79, FDU 63
If the Colonials are to win, they will play the highest remaining seed Saturday at the Chuck.
In case any of you were wondering, here are the KenPom predictions for all four NEC tournament games Wednesday night.
RMU 77- FDU 66
WAG 76- CCSU 65
BRY 74- SFPA 62
MSM 75- SFC 72
--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel5
PS..........#PACKTHECHUCK!!!! It's go time Crazies.
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