Sunday, November 29, 2015

RMU got a win, still a lot to be concerned with

Robert Morris got elusive win number one when they beat Mississippi Valley State University (0-7) 67-64 Saturday night.

A win is certainly nice. It's better to have a lot to correct things knowing you still walked away with more points than the opponent. It's all about positive vibes here peeps.

Things to like

-Isaiah Still is a baller. Ten points, seven boards, three dimes... all good! He's had a really strong start to the season. He's at 35 percent from three and 40 percent from the floor. If the three point numbers dip a little bit for more shots at the rim, I'm good with that too (more on that in the future).

-Have a road trip Billy Giles. He seems to move well in the offense and at least cares about rebounding. Is he too small to anchor the center of the zone? In non-conference play, probably, but he's doing all he can now. Effort can't be taken for granted.

-Jordan Lester filled in for an injured Kavon Stewart and wasn't terrible. It's tough for a freshman backup to just kind of be thrown into that role unexpectedly, but he answered the bell. He finished with seven points (3-5 shooting), four boards, four assists and three turnovers. His lack of defense is concerning, but floor time is a good way to learn those things.

-Rodney Pryor's rebounding has been a godsend. He grabbed 12 boards last night. This is important because no one else really rebounds. Yes, RMU took advantage (kind of) against one of the smallest teams in all of college basketball, but it'll have to improve overall.

Things that weren't so great

-25 turnovers. Twenty-five! Just an awful amount. Maybe RMU was a little thrown off by MVSU's defensive pressure, especially with no Kavon Stewart, but regardless 25 makes me want to vomit. So much of it could be avoided. Moving screens and travels are a great example of that.

-I'd like to see a little more aggression out of Rodney Pryor in the second half of games. Last night felt like a game he should have taken over. Maybe he wasn't feeling it (he did shoot 0-5 from three) but went 4-6 in the second half.

Example! Pryor tipped in a basket with 13:09 to play in the game. He didn't even attempt another shot until there was 1:53 left. If we want to dig deeper, his last jump shot before that came with 16:25 to play. Pryor is the teams best player, so the more the offense runs through him, the better.

Sometimes being "the man" is tough. Hell, I remember sitting through Andy Toole press conferences where he was urging Karvel Anderson to shoot more towards the end of games. Once that switch flips, look out. Also, that can be on his teammates just as much as it is him. Run him off screens and find him. Pryor is the alpha-male on the team.

Of course, he did hit the go-ahead bucket with 45 seconds left, so that's good. The point is a few more of those shots in the middle of the game can hopefully help RMU imploding and avoiding these tight games.

-Elijah Minnie had a really rough game, shooting just 1-4, taking one three, grabbing just five boards and committing six turnovers. Disappointing game from him, again considering MVSU's tallest player was 6-foot-6.

I wonder, moving forward, if teams who employ a man-to-man defense do guard him with smaller guys who can slide with Minnie, and save bigger defenders for the likes of Giles and Pryor. Pryor hasn't shown a consistent ability (or want) to get to the rim. Why let Minnie beat you with the one thing he's really good at, which is standing at the three point line off pick and roll? Instead, throw a small forward on him who can close out a little quicker and make him beat you other ways

His performance was probably more just being discouraged by six turnovers. We'll see.

-Kavon Stewart is apparently battling an ankle injury. He played just five minutes Saturday. Say what you want about Stewart, but the drop off between him and every other guard is significant, especially defensively. Aaron tate, who is going to solve a LOT of problems when he comes back, was a DNP again. Don't hod your breath on him returning soon.

-Andre Frederick man. Two rebounds? C'mon. That's so soft.

I'm going to dive in more on RMU's free throw numbers. Last night was a good start (14-18 from the line) but this teams overall aggression is not good.

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella

Saturday, November 28, 2015

RMU still seeking first win, NEC struggling

Something a little different than a formal game preview:

-Robert Morris (0-6) will play Mississippi Valley State (0-5) in the final game of the Air Force classic... The Colonials are 0-6 for the first time since I don't know when... Mississippi Valley State is a member of the SWAC, they went 6-26, 5-13 last season... KenPom has them ranked 349 overall...They have the third least efficient offense in the country...Guard Damion Young and forward Latrell Love are the names to know... MVSU is a TINY team. Their tallest player is 6-foot-6... KenPom has Robert Morris as 12 point favorites. 

-Tonight's game will tip at 8:30 p.m. This may or may not be a working link come game time. If not, tune to 970 AM radio (iHeart Radio app) for Chris Shovlin and Jim Duzyk on call.

-Head coach Andy Toole met with his team in the locker room for quite awhile after last night's loss. He did not come out for his radio interview with Chris Shovlin. Usually, he'll do that directly after the game or a few minutes after. Maybe the Colonials did some soul searching?

That wouldn't be the first time. Last year, after a home loss to LIU Brooklyn, Toole took over an hour to meet with the media. RMU won seven of their final eight to make the NCAA tournament. 

-The NEC is having an awful stretch of basketball. They've now fallen to the 29th overall in KenPom's conference ranking list. There are only 32 conferences.

-The SWAC, which Mississippi Valley State plays in, was ranked last.

-Before FDU's win over Saint Peter's this afternoon, the last NEC team to win against a D-I opponent was when LIU defeated NC Central 78-77 last Sunday. The Blackbirds sport the conference's best record at 3-1 overall. They play at Dartmouth tomorrow.

-Mount St. Mary's, who entered the year as the preseason #1, joins the Colonials in the 0-6 club after back to back losses to Elon and Furman. They've also played teams like Maryland, Ohio State, Washington and Gonzaga

-Other games tonight: Wagner plays Staten Island (not a D-I team) and St. Francis Brooklyn hosts North Florida, who of course caught those NEC hands last year, losing to RMU in the NCAA tournament last year. 

-Friendly reminder that St. Francis PA shooting guard Ben Millaud-Meunier, who has a little history with RMU, is 4-27 (four of twenty-seven) from three point range this season. That's a 14.8 (fourteen point eight) percent shooting percentage. 

Postgame coverage later tonight!

--Chris Cappella

This team will go as Kavon Stewart does

Not a lot went well for RMU last night. Rodney Pryor did not start due to a violation of team rules. He came in just four minutes into the game, but RMU was already down 11-0 by that time, so don’t pretend like that didn’t play a role in the game.

Elijah Minnie shot just 3-11 in the second half. This did not help RMU's 11-29 second half performance.

The weird night from Pryor, the second half struggles from Minnie, these are things that the team can overcome. Billy Giles played excellent last night and any resemblance of a defensive effort probably would have led to a win.

But that would have just been a win last night. If we're talking about wins, plural, moving forward, one person has to get dramatically better: Kavon Stewart.

Stewart did some good yesterday. He had six assists to just one turnover, building off a strong eight assists to two turnovers performance against New Mexico State. If those numbers keep up, Stewart’s going to have one of the best assist to turnover ratios in the country.

Dishing it the way he can is obviously important. RMU has one of the worst turnover percentages in the country, but that really hasn’t been at the hands of Stewart. After a few rough games to start the season, he's come along well. The turnover problems are more of a team effort than anything else.

Here’s the bigger problem: Stewart is shooting just 25.0 percent from three AND the field. Twenty-five percent!

In the past, when RMU was surrounded with the likes of Karvel Anderson, Marcquise Reed and Lucky Jones, this is probably something you just live with. Yeah, he can’t shoot, but at least he’s getting it to guys who can or can mask his shortcomings.

That’s not the case this season. Minnie looks great, but the sophomore is going to come with inconsistencies. That’s just the nature of young players. The same goes for freshman Isaiah Still, who looks like a stud, and Matty McConnell, who figures to play a large role as the two guard.

The point? Simply dishing isn’t going to be enough. Last night’s 2-9 performance from the field was bad. There are a few simple ways that this should hopefully improve.

The biggest thing is field goal percentages at the rim. Let’s face it: Kavon has a crooked J. He can occasionally step into a three, which is great, but anything off the dribble is a complete mess. For someone as quick as Stewart, his points are going to come from driving and finishing at the rim. Just for reference, nearly half (47.5 percent) of all his shot attempts are at the rim, according to hoop-math. That’s far more than any guard on the team.

The problem is his numbers at the rim are B-league IM basketball bad. Through six games, he’s shooting 31.6 percent at the rim. The next lowest total is freshman guard Jordan Lester, who is at 50 percent.

Those numbers are a little tricky, because Stewart at least appears to be shooting at the rim in traffic, as opposed to a big who gets most of their looks at the rim from putbacks or assists, but the point remains that this is a negative trend. He shot 39.7 percent at the rim last year (still bad) and 44.7 percent as a freshman (much better).

I’m not the only one seeing this. Radio color man Jim Duzyk noted it during last night’s game when, after Stewart made a layup, he said something along the lines of “it’s nice to see one of those bunnies fall for Kavon.” It’s been a rough go.

Also, You've Got To Make Your Free Throws. #YGTMYFT! Stewart, who does draw a decent amount of fouls, is shooting 53.6 percent from the stripe this season. Those are free points! The season is going to take a big turn for the better if that number gets up closer to 65-70 percent. (That goes for a lot of others on the team too).

So here we are. I keep telling myself “it’s just six games, it’s just six games” but the same mistakes continue to haunt RMU over and over again. Stewart needs to stop being a broken record, relax on the floor, and get the Colonials back on track.

This team will go as Kavon does. You’ll see.

--Chris Cappella

Friday, November 27, 2015

Recap: RMU is 0-6, I have nothing clever

I still think Robert Morris is the best team in the NEC. Does that make them good? That's still to be determined.

The Colonials fell to 0-6 with a 85-72 loss to Tennessee Tech (3-2). Awful, awful game almost the whole way around. I don't have anything clever, just a bunch of anger and frustration. More:

-The starting lineups were announced, and Rodney Pryor wasn't in any of them. It would have been more weird had he started for Tennessee Tech. Not starting for RMU? Shovlin said postgame it was for a violation of team rules. It has begun! Probably not the best leadership quality. Jordan Lester started in his place.

-I've always said the season doesn't begin until there's a suspension/benching anyway.

-RMU was down 11-0 in about three seconds of play. I was a little preoccupied tweeting at OVC Sports for their stream not working, but live stats tells me it was a lot of one-and-done offensive possessions and turnovers. Sounds familiar!

Pryor entered the game with 15:34 left in the first half. Weird half for him. 14 seconds after coming in, he fought for an offensive rebound and got a layup out of it. Then he traveled twice, committed some fouls, hit a four point play, made a few more jumpers, and overall had the offense moving.

-Remember how the game started 11-0? RMU finished the half on a 38-20 run. Oh, how beautiful things were! Elijah Minnie was great; he battled through contact (to the avail of no whistle, according to color man Jim Duzyk), stayed aggressive, and stretched the floor with some nice three balls.

-Minnie, Billy Giles and STEVEN WHITLEY had it going on in the first half. Giles looks legitimately pretty good. He was always in the right spot on offense, pulled down four offensive rebounds and blocked three shots en route to a 7-9 shooting day. Whitley went 2-3 from the field (1-2 from three) in ten minutes. Only one turnover! Baby steps.

-Everything was one big, hot, nasty garbage fire in the second half. All of the positive characteristics of the first half, namely running at good tempo, rebounding (held a 22-18 first half rebounding margin), offensive involvement, tough defensive possessions... it all went to hell.

Tennessee Tech ended up outrebounding RMU 44-34. They shot a ton of free throws. They forced RMU into the same stupid turnovers that have plagued the Colonials for five games. RMU shot 11-29 (3-12 from three) in the second half.

-Something called an Aleksa Jugovic from the great land of SERBIA dominated tonight. The 6-foot-3, 185 pound SERBIAN finished with 20 points (17 in the second half) on 6-12 shooting, seven boards, six dimes and just one turnover in 3 minutes. The 6-foot-3 freshman finished with more rebounds than everyone but Isaiah Still on RMU.

-50 second half points for Tennessee Tech, in case you needed a reminder.

-The Golden Eagles went 22-25 from the charity stripe. That's how you win games! RMU went 8-12. Bad, bad.

-Kavon Stewart went 1-4 from the line. I don't look at plus/minus too often, but Stewart finished -19 in 33 minutes. He has a field goal percentage of 30.8 percent at the rim this season. For as good as Minnie and Pryor are, this team will get going when Kavon Stewart can CONSISTENTLY play at a high level for long stretches. That's what this season is going to come down too.

-So many sadly predictable things happened in the second half. 7:40 remaining, Stewart dished to Giles for a nice bucket to cut the lead to eight, Tenn. Tech misses a jumper, but somehow come down with an offensive board, and the SERBIAN Jugovic steps into a three. Big swing. Good for you, Aleksa. What a performance.

-Matty McConnell played 17 minutes tonight, which was good. The bad news was he was rather ineffective, finishing with just two points, one assist and one turnover. At least he played.

-Aaron Tate did not play. Please come back soon, Aaron Tate. You are our last hope.

-Andy Toole did NOT come out and talk with the radio guys after the game. It appeared he was having a rather lengthy team meeting after the game. Soul searching after six games? Just get it figured out soon, please. Losing sucks.

That's all for now. Happy Thanksgiving and such.

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella

Preview: Robert Morris chases first win

Robert Morris (0-5) at Tennessee Tech (2-2)
When: November 27th, 2015, 7pm
Where: Hooper Eblen Arena, Cookeville, Tennessee
KenPom: RMU 220, Tenn Tech 283
KenPom Line: Tenn Tech -1
Link: ESPN Radio 970 AM (iHeart radio App), OVC Digital Network
Storyline: Robert Morris remains on the road as they look for that elusive first win in enemy territory. Can Elijah Minnie build of a career high 29 point outing? Can Rodney Pryor get back on track?

Getting to know the Golden Eagles: Tennessee Tech comes into Friday's match-up fresh off their first win over a Division One opponent. At 2-2 they started the season with a win over D2 Piedmont. On paper this is a nice match-up for the Colonials. Both RMU and Tenn tech have played (and lost) to both Air Force and New Mexico State, so there is some familiarity in terms of common opponents.

The Golden Eagles have struggled early in the season on both sides of the ball. They have the 299th best defense in college basketball according to KenPom, allowing an alarming 106.8 points-per-100 possessions. Their offense hasn't been much better, ranked 251st in the country in adjusted efficiency. With that said, they've only played three games against D1 opponents so it is far from a completed picture.

6-1 guard Torrance Rowe leads the way, scoring 20.3 points-per-game but only shoots 24 percent from three. Can he hit shots against the RMU 2-3 zone? 6-9 Ryan Martin may need to be the guy RMU circles on the scouting report. He 's averaging 11 points and six rebounds per-game. Skilled bigs have been a problem for RMU, and they have struggled on the glass all season. Anthony Morse (6-9) is another guy that could hurt RMU around the rim.

Keys to Victory: Will the Colonials finally break this ugly losing streak? They've been really close on multiple occasions but have yet to be able to put in together for an entire game. This will be a great opportunity. While it is a true road game being played at Tennessee Tech, I can't see the Golden Eagles having a major home court advantage.

Coming off a big game, I would like to see Minnie is attack mode early. If he can establish himself as a viable offensive threat, it could open things up for Pryor who was somewhat bottled up by a stiff New Mexico State defense. Tennessee Tech should be more giving.

Robert Morris could get the services of Aaron Tate and Matty McConnell back tonight. Keep in mind the team plays a game tomorrow so if either play, expect them to be limited with the quick turn around.

The Robert Morris zone should be able to have a lot of success tonight. Tenn Tech only shoots the three at a 26 percent rate. That's 312th in the country. Pack the zone in, take away penetration, and swarm the big's. Now that doesn't mean you can give away wide open looks, which Robert Morris has done it's fair share of. Hopefully the zone is flying around like it was Tuesday night. One other random fact. Right now teams are only making 50 percent of their free throws against Tenn Tech. That's an amazingly low mark (2nd in the country). Obviously you can't guard the free throw line, so this is more luck, but hopefully the Colonials do a good job making their free ones.

Prediction: Pryor, Minnie and Still pace the Colonials to their first win of the season, but it's a very close game. RMU 66, Tenn tech 62.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thanksgiving podcast: #ItsJustFiveGames

On the road? Don't want to deal with your dumb relatives? Chris and Lee are to the rescue.

Lee talks some Elijah Minnie and how the team is going to have to adjust on Rodney Pryor off nights. Chris gives his theory on why Steven Whitley is struggling and assesses the backcourt player by player. The two also look forward to the upcoming schedule.

If you'd like to listen, click here. 


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Robert Morris falls to 0-5. Observations

Robert Morris fell in overtime to New Mexico State last night, falling to 0-5 in the process. The Colonials played pretty well against a very good opponent, but remain winless on the young season. Some observations.

Elijah Minnie played his best game ever at this level. He was near unstoppable on the offensive end, scoring 29 points on 11 of 18 shooting, including 5 of 10 from three. He showed an array of moves, specifically in the second half. He attacked off the dribble, cleaned up some shots on the glass, and showed why he has so much promise. He is only a sophomore and is still coming into his own. I thought he was really aggressive in the second half, and would like to see him attack like that more often.

Basketball is a funny sport, and sometimes cruel. Rodney Pryor has carried RMU this season. Without him RMU would have been downright embarrassed on a few occasions this year. His teammates played their best game of the the season, and he laid an egg. He shot only 6 of 19 from the field, and only 1 of 5 from three. Everyone has an off night, and I'm far from worried about Rodney. He'll come back strong, but it's unfortunate he had a clunker when RMU played so well in other areas.

How about Isiah Still? He only scored 6 points on 2 of 8 shooting, but his three to send the game to overtime shows how much confidence he has. I don't think Still is Marcquise Reed good, but he could still win NEC Freshman of the Year. He's going to be really good.

Andre Fredrick played pretty well, going 4 for 4 from the field for 8 points, but only one rebound in a game where RMU got dominated on the glass (they were out rebounded 48 to 28) hurt the team. His inconsistencies are still alarming, but he is getting better.

Kavon Stewart had another weird game. His eight assists led the team and he only turned it over two times. With that said he went 1-6 from the field and only scored two points. He also did not attempt a free throw. I think most games, that stat line will do. He set guys up, did a nice job running the offense, and didn't force it. Right now though, RMU is down two starters and could use a few more buckets from him.

The defense was once again so-so at best. Pascal Siakam had 35 points and killed RMU down low. He was just too much for an inexperienced frontline to handle. It only took him 18 shots too. That's extremely proficient. Oh, and he added 13 rebounds. Ouch. We keep saying Aaron Tate will help, and he will once he (hopefully) gets healthy, but Frederick and Billy Giles have to be better in the middle of the zone both defensively and on the glass. I thought Giles had some nice stretches (he finished with nine points and five rebounds) but there are still times he looks lost as the anchor of the 2-3 zone.

For the first time this season (outside of the Cincinnati game where the whole team was overmatched) I thought Jordan Lester was exposed. He almost had the deer in the headlights look out there. He's been pretty solid as a freshman backup point guard, but brought nothing but a few airballs to the table Tuesday night. Hopefully it's a nice learning experience and he'll bounce back this weekend.

At 0-5, RMU is off to their worst start is quite some time. The last time they started this poorly, you have to go all the way back to 2000-2001 when they started 0-7. That team started 1-12 and went 7-22 on the season. I'd bet a lot that RMU will be a lot better than that.

Up next is a road game at Tennessee Tech Friday and a quick turnaround against Mississippi Valley State the following day (neutral site game at Tenn Tech). These are the two most winnable games on the schedule to this point, and I think RMU has a solid chance to win both if they play like they did last night, and Pryor gets back on track. I think this team is close. Of note, Matty McConnell was dressed but DNP last night. I think we could see him and Aaron Tate back in the rotation this weekend. We'll see.

--@Kunkel5
--Lee Kunkel

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Preview: RMU in search of first win

Robert Morris (0-4) at New Mexico State (3-1)
When: Tuesday November 24th, 9:30pm
Where: Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico
KenPom: RMU 220, NMST 145
KenPom Line: NMST -8
Link: ESPN Radio 970 AM (iHeart radio App), ESPN3
Storyline: Robert Morris will look for their first win of the season in unfamiliar territory as they travel to New Mexico to take on the Aggies, game two of the four game Air Force Classic.

Getting to know New Mexico State: As we know, the Colonials have had their fair share of success in the NEC the past eight seasons. Being one of the best teams in a one bid league has led the Colonials to contention for an NCAA tournament bid every season in recent memory. New Mexico State has enjoyed similar success in the WAC. They have made the NCAA tournament four straight seasons.

Once again, the Aggies are in position to win the WAC and are expected to contend for another NCAA bid. 6-9 sophomore Pascal Siakam will be a handful for RMU. He leads the team in scoring at 24.5 points-per-game and will be a tough cover for the undermanned RMU frontline. Guard Ian Baker is also having a nice season, scoring 14.5 per-game while shooting 44 percent from three.

Colonial Keys: As the record would indicate, things have not gone RMU's way this season. They fell behind big against Penn and Bucknell and couldn't quite dig out of the hole. Cincinnati beat them up, and they ran out of gas in the high altitude at Air Force. There has been some good --Rodney Pryor has been excellent, and Isiah Still gets better every game-- and some bad, as injuries, youth and lackadaisical play have cost them.

On offense, they need to find someone to help Pryor out. The senior is averaging 21 points-per-game and shooting 47 percent from the field. He's carried RMU offensively and at times is their only option. 

Who can step up?

With Aaron Tate and Matty McConnell still banged up (neither played vs Air Force) other options must emerge. Elijah Minnie and Kavon Stewart are two guys that need to pick their play up. Those two are only averaging 15 points combined. It is a small sample size, but RMU is only scoring 98 points-per-100 possessions. That's 261st in the country. Cutting down the turnovers would help. Robert Morris is giving up the ball on 24 percent (!!!!!!) of their possessions right now. That is TERRIBLE. 335th in the country bad. Gotta take care of the ball.

Defensively, RMU has looked pretty good at times, and pretty bad at other times (great analyst, I know). Seriously though, you can tell this unit will be pretty good on that end once they gel and the new guys get some time under their belt. There are still some breakdowns that have cost them, but when they get back in transition, they have been tough to break down outside of the Cincinnati game. This won't come together over night, but by late-December, early January I think this unit will be very good on that side of the ball.

Keys to Victory: This will be a very difficult game to win. On paper, New Mexico State will probably end up being the second best team RMU plays all season behind Cincinnati. Throw in the fact the game is a quick turnaround from Sunday's game at Air Force (playing at high altitude no less) and you have one big uphill battle. 

New Mexico State possess great size, especially for a mid-major. They are similar to a more skilled version of last years St. Francis Brooklyn team. They are also incredibly tough to beat in their home building, though they have dropped one game there against a very good New Mexico team.

First off, RMU will have to shoot the ball well from three. Can Minnie step out and hit shots to open up the paint? Can RMU effectively take care of the ball and get good shots? Lastly, RMU will have to get back in transition and limit the easy buckets for the Aggies. With the massive size advantage, you would expect them to get their share of offensive rebounds (they are one of the better rebounding teams in the country), so it will be key to make them work for every bucket.

The good news is there are some very winnable games after this one. A good performance would go a long way. Last season RMU was 2-6 at one point, and finished 4-8 in the nonconferece play. If they can get healthy, they can still easily best those marks.

--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel5



Robert Morris has to play smarter, tougher for a win

One thing Andy Toole likes to say from time to time is "I don't think you realize how hard it is to win basketball games at the collegiate level." He says it to the media, team, strangers at Dunkin Donuts, etc.

But there's a lot of truth to that. RMU is sitting at 0-4 for the first time since 2002. It's no time to panic, but a win would be a pretty sweet feeling and could spark some good play as the schedule briefly lightens. Standing in the way of a win is New Mexico State, a program that lost to Kansas in the NCAA tournament last season. The teams will square off tonight at 9:30 p.m.

To win tonight (and moving forward), Robert Morris has to stop beating themselves. They have an offensive turnover percentage of 24.4 percent, which is 335th in the country. When one-fourth of your possessions are turnovers, that makes life extremely difficult. RMU is already going to have their defensive shortcomings, namely low post defense without Aaron Tate, so avoiding easy buckets from turnovers is going to be paramount moving forward.

Exhibit A was Sunday's game at Air Force. Even in the midst of playing an awful second half, RMU is within striking distance with 5:46 remaining in the game. Then, Air Force gets three consecutive steals for six easy points. A close, six point game was stretched to 12 in a matter of a minute.

RMU might be able to get away with shit like that against Fairleigh Dickinson, but against Penn, Cincinnati, Bucknell and Air Force it's just not going to work. RMU's 2014-15 turnover percentage of 19.9 percent wasn't great but is still something that they can overcome. That's a good percentage to target moving forward.

RMU has a ton of other ugly numbers, but the offensive rebounding percentage is the one that needs to improve the most. I don't expect this group to be a great rebounding team, but through four games they've corralled just 22.4 percent of available misses. 312th in the country.

Andy Toole once told me he believes rebounding is ten percent positioning and 90 percent effort. If that's the case, RMU better start working a little harder to get some of their misses. Offensive rebounding is a good way to get extra possessions, which is especially valuable if the Colonials are going to waste offense with turnovers.

This team has actually been a solid defensive rebounding team. I'm pleasantly surprised. But things aren't going to get better until the turnovers and offensive rebounding problems are solved. IF Robert Morris can get some extra possessions of their own, instead of giving them to opponents, the wins will follow. This is a talented team. Despite doing so much bad, they've still been in position to win three of their four games.

Win number one isn't far behind.

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella


Sunday, November 22, 2015

Recap: Losing sucks

RMU fell to 0-4 with a 64-52 loss to Air Force. Bad! The Colonials actually looked really good for a large portion of this game. The defense looked great; life was a living hell from Air Force trying to get any good looks at the rim. It was fun!

RMU had a nice lead at one point in the second half. With 17:33 to go in the game Air Force took a timeout to settle themselves after an Elijah Minnie three ball stretched the lead to 30-23. From there, things did not go so well. It was a slobber of turnovers and exhaustion and missed jumpers and no whistles and really everything that could have gone wrong did.

Thoughts:
-Rodney Pryor man, I love you. He had 25 & 10 on 9-18 shooting. My calculator tells me that's 48 percent of RMU's point total! It was an assault of three point jumpers in everyone's grill. Like when you play street ball and hit a shot and yell "Facebook!" that was Pryor every shot. So, so impressive.

-The only other guy who really showed up was Isaiah Still, who is a complete baller. He finished 3-9 from the field and 2-5 from three, but it was an aesthetically pleasing 3-9. Didn't force anything, hit open shots when they were there. I like you, Isaiah Still.

-Any lineup that doesn't have Minnie or Still on the floor, sans Matty McConnell and Aaron Tate (out with injuries), makes me so, so uncomfortable. RMU really went cold in the second half starting with a weird Lester-Stewart-Pryor-Giles-Frederick lineup.

-Want to know what the nail in the coffin was? Turnovers! RMU was down just six with 5:46 left, then had the ball stolen on three consecutive possessions for layups. Frustrating indeed! Things were going so well too! RMU's offensive turnover percentage of 24 percent was 320th in the country going into the game. Hard to beat teams when you beat yourself, folks.

-RMU scored just 17 points in the final 14:05 of the game. My calculator again tells me that that's not very good.

-I have no idea if Aaron Tate was dressed for the game but he didn't play. Not mad about it, but please get healthy and come back soon. Related: Air Force had 17 offensive rebounds.

-RMU did not get the benefit of a lot of whistles in the second half, which did not help things. Not like this was the most aggressive offensive game ever played, but there probably should have been a few more free throw attempts in there. It is what it is.

-First bad game for Elijah Minnie. 10 points on 4-13 shooting, including 1-6 from three. Moving forward, I hope he adjusts a little more as the game goes on and uses his Michael Jordan Space Jam arms to get some better looks at the rim. He also still ran into eight rebounds, so it wasn't all bad.

-Overall I have no idea what else to say. 17 turnovers is way too many, but it wasn't the sole reason for the loss. Robert Morris just couldn't find the bucket when Rodney Pryor wasn't shooting. Frustrating, indeed. It doesn't get easier with New Mexico State up next. Losing a winnable game sucks. Have I mentioned I hate losing?

Until next time.

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Preview: looking for a win

Robert Morris (0-3) at Air Force (2-1)
When: Sunday, Nov. 22 at 4:00 p.m.
Where: Klune Arena, Colorado Springs, Colorado
KenPom: RMU 208, Air Force 256
KenPom Line: Air Force -2
Link: ESPN Radio 970 AM (iHeart radio App), goairforcefalcons.com (unsure if there will be a paywall)
Storyline: Robert Morris looks to get their first win of the season when they tip off the Air Force classic. Air Force, a member of the Mountain West Conference, is looking to improve on a 2014-15 campaign where they went 14-17 and lost in the quarterfinals of their conference tournament.
Getting to know the Falcons: So here we are, game four of the season and Robert Morris is still without a win. This is the first time the Colonials are 0-3 since 2010, the same year they lost an overtime game to Villanova in the NCAA tournament. So, not all is lost.

Air Force is winners of their last two after dropping their opening contest to Southern Illinois. The Falcons last win, versus Mississippi Valley State, was a pretty underwhelming one. They’ll look to bounce back offensively and defensively.

Air Force is led by shooting guard Trevor Lyons, who is looking to make the proverbial “jump” his sophomore season. Lyons is a good shooter -- he shot 44 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three last season -- but now looks to carry the load on a team that lost a few of their top threats.

He’s answered the bell early, averaging 18.3 points in about 37 minutes of action. He’s also been very good defensively, averaging three steals through three games. RMU will have to be aware of Lyons all game.

You could argue the Falcons offense goes through power forward Hayden Graham. Graham is second on the team in scoring (16 ppg) first in rebounds (8.3) and first in assists (3.7). Graham is a pretty awful three point shooter, but he did shoot an outstanding 61 percent from the floor last season.

In iso situations, Graham is going to make the lives of all RMU forwards a living hell. RMU will have to try and do what a 2-3 zone is supposed to do best: clog the middle of the floor. If the colonials brings it defensively, it should be difficult for Graham, or anyone else, to work inside out offensively, which is what they want to do.

When Graham does get the ball, I’m interested to see what RMU does. Junior guard Zach Kocur shot 47.0 percent from three last season, 12th best in the country last season. Sophomore guard Matt Mooney shot 37.8 percent. As stated before, Lyons was at 41.8 percent from downtown. None of those guys are shooting well now, but it’s only a matter of time.

The larger point in all this is Robert Morris is going to get a nice test of discipline on defense, which has obviously been a big problem this year. RMU has given up 102.8 points-per-100-possessions in three games, which ranks them in the bottom third of the country. Opponents have a 60.1 percent effective field goal percentage this year, which is almost dead-last in college basketball.

The mission: make it difficult to get it to Graham, and when he does get it, NEVER LEAVE THE CORNER SHOOTER. Ever. Don’t do it. RMU will have to roll the dice with Andre Frederick, Billy Giles and a little of Aaron Tate one-on-one defensively. Tate played just five minutes against Bucknell Wednesday, and I wouldn’t expect to see a whole lot of him Sunday.

On the contrary, RMU should be able to get buckets against the Falcons. They’re not a bad defensive team (opponents have an effective shooting percentage of just 43.3 percent) but they don’t force turnovers and they don’t rebound well. RMU will have to take care of the ball, but if they do, I don’t see how Air Force will have an answer for guys like Kavon Stewart, Rodney Pryor and Elijah Minnie.

One final thing: No one wants to talk about it, but the March version of RMU will thank the much younger, much stupider November version if they can win these next two games against Air Force and New Mexico State. It would go a long way to potentially getting off the 16 seed line.

Prediction: RMU wins their next five.

Outlook: I feel good. Really good. RMU 77, Air Force 71

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella

Thursday, November 19, 2015

0-3 start.....time to panic?

So Robert Morris is 0-3, lost a heart breaker to Penn, got their brains beat in by Cincinnati, and lost another tough game --bur deserved-- against Bucknell.

It's not the start Colonial fans and players --and I'm sure Andy Toole-- was looking for. They will now head out on the road for a tough six game road trip against some very good midmajors including New Mexico State who is an NCAA tournament regular, including last season.

So, where is the team at? Should we be worried? Here are some thoughts.

First off, we have to all step back and remember where this team is at RIGHT now. This is a very young group who lost a few key contributes who were leaders and were relied upon heavily last season. The loss of Marcquise Reed and Lucky Jones will be felt for awhile. That isn't an excuse because there are no excuses at this level, but it is still a fact just three games into the season. You add on the fact that RMU has gotten little from Aaron Tate because of injury (he barley played last night vs Bucknell) and is clearly not back yet, and you have a recipe for trouble. Also of note. Matty McConnell, a freshman that was inserted into the starting lineup is also out with an injury and has essentially missed two of the three games as he was hurt early in the second game against UC.

So, Robert Morris is looking at replacing two key members from last years team in Reed and Jones, two role players in Appolon and Bennett and they are trying to do so with a very young team that is missing two starters in McConnell and Tate.

Tough task.

Right now, defense is the big issue, but it is correctable. Getting Tate back to anchor the zone would go a long way. The team will get better with their rotations as the season moves along. Let's not forget even seasoned "vets" Rodney Pryor and Elijah Minnie are only in year two of the system. Really on Kavon Stewart and Tate have a solid amount of time under their belt at this level. Hustle is also a big factor. Robert Morris was TERRIBLE in transition defense Wednesday night, and hasn't been good all season. Even after made baskets, oppositions are getting out in transition for easy baskets. They have to get back. That's not coaching, experience, or anything else other than hustle.

The next issue...penetration. Part of playing a zone is that it takes away penetration and an offense has to pass their way through it for open shots. Right now though, the RMU guards are allowing so many drives to the basket and it completely collapses the defense. Just can't happen in a zone.

I'd also like to note that RMU has played three tough zone matchups. Penn and Bucknell are great shooting teams that have exploited space and made shots. UC was simply an overwhelming matchup. I expect this area to get a lot better as RMU gets more games under their belt.

Let's talk some good stuff. Rodney Pryor is still a beast. He had a bad game Wednesday night and still finished with 15 points and made some big shots. He looks healthy and locked in for the most part. His opening game performance at Penn was something to see.

Elijah Minnie is so close to being an All-NEC level player. He's so athletic (and has already had a few high level dunks), can face up, knock down jumpers, and is getting better at driving the lane and polishing up his post game. By season's end he could be a huge weapon. Keep working Elijah.

The freshmen look legit. Listen, we were SOOOO spoiled last year. Reed and Minnie were super freshmen. Most guys take time at this level to become impact players. Those guys were dynamic weapons from the start. With that said, Isiah Still looks like a player. He missed a lot of time the last few weeks with injuries but it's starting to come together for him. Jordan Lester looks like a very capable backup point guard and has a solid jumper. That's a weapon RMU did not have last year. He can really handle too. He has a long way to come defensively and will have his brain farts, but all freshmen will. The rest of the class is a wait and see, but there is a lot of promise in this group.

After two clunkers, K looked like what we thought he could be Wednesday. He was maybe the best player on the court for RMU. He's gotta play like that consistently.

Billy Giles put in a nice shift after two games where he was pretty much just a body out there. You can tell he has a lot of learning to do, especially defensively but he's a good player who could really contribute once it clicks.

Now for the bad. As noted above the defense stinks and the inexperience is really showing on both sides of the ball. Injuries have also been killer. Tate isn't right, McConnell is out, we still haven't seen Joe Hugley, and a bunch of guys ahve missed valuable practice time.

Steven Whitley and Andre Frederick have looked lost pretty much all year. Whitley is still learning and has time, but right now because of the injuries he's being forced to play a little more than he should. Frederick will show you so much promise one possession, then look terrible three in a row. These guys are both so young, but RMU will need more impact.

Overall....losing stinks. I hope the wins start coming soon, but patience will be needed with a young, banged up group. If the team can simply clean up the hustle plays and stupid mental errors they will be more competitive as they learn the system.

--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel

Five observations: Robert Morris vs. Bucknell


Robert Morris fell to Bucknell 81-76 in its home opener Wednesday night. Chris Mueller hits you with his five observations, with quotes: 

PUT DOWN THE SHOVELS

As we’ve seen in all three appearances to start the season, the Colonials haven’t quite figured out how to start games like they finish them.

Okay, the Cincinnati loss was different. Robert Morris was taking on a more talented team in a higher conference that could potentially end the season in the top 25 polls. We won’t count that one. 

But similar to the Penn game, Robert Morris came out of the gate dazed and confused. There was zero flow to the offense, lacking communication on the defensive end and very little urgency overall.

Against beatable teams, the Colonials can’t afford to dig themselves in these gaping holes. This team needs to grind it out to win. That takes a more consistent 40 minutes. 

Nine minutes into the first half, the Colonials trailed 23-8. They trimmed the gap to eight by halftime, and eventually had a chance to take the lead late. In the second half, Robert Morris outscored Penn and Bucknell a combined 92-77.

“I think it’s up to that starting group to do a better job of getting us going in the right direction,” head coach Andy Toole said. “It’s got to be all five of them. That’s an experienced starting group for the most part. They know what it takes to win games. They understand how hard it is to win games. For them to get out to the starts they’re getting out to, it’s not the way its supposed to be.”

We’re talking about a 2-1 team without the slow starts.

SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS

If you watched the game, Robert Morris did, at times, put on a show. Kavon Stewart balled out. Elijah Minnie showed his Kevin Love-esque three-point range off the pick and roll. Isaiah Still showed progression in increased action. Even Andre Frederick looked to be headed in the right direction, even if it’s just baby steps at this point. 

But every time the Colonials did something positive, something negative soon followed. One step forward, two steps back. Two steps forward, three steps back. Whatever you wan’t to call it, they repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. 

For example, Robert Morris was down 74-63 with just over five minutes remaining after climbing out of the woodwork from the early deficit. Still sunk a three off an assist from Jordan Lester, and Steven Whitley quickly forced a turnover and dished it to Lester for fastbreak points. But because Robert Morris was slow getting back in transition, Bucknell inbounded it and immediately found Dom Hoffman on the other end of the floor for an easy layup. 

Elijah Minnie stuffed Hoffman in the paint on Bucknell’s next possession, but Stephen Morris got an easy layup off the offensive rebound because Billy Giles was completely out of position.

A common theme around the team has been that they’re young, and with youth is going to come mistakes. But as Toole clarifies in the quote below, being young isn’t always an excuse. (Exhibit A of why he’s the man)

“Those new guys never want to be new guys on offense,” Toole said. “Everybody remembers how to shoot, how to break their man down and go 1 on 1. But then on the defensive side of the floor, Coach, I’m just a young guy. Well, if you want to responsibility and you want the playing time, you have to be able to handle the accountability on both ends of the floor.”

That was the case all throughout the second half. Good followed by bad. 

STILL THE ONE? 

Yes, I just referenced the 1973 Orleans song. 

You can’t help but become intrigued based off the early progression of Isaiah Still. After a quiet Robert Morris debut against Penn, the freshman has put together two solid efforts. He ironically went 4-8 shooting against both Cincinnatti and Bucknell.

He finished with 13 points and five boards in 35 minutes of action starting in place of Matty McConnell. I thought he was too hesitant offensively in the first half. There were a few times he passed up shot from deep that he was unsure on. Don’t think, just do. 

Rodney Pryor got on him about it a few times. He’ll learn to take advantage of those open opportunities. Injuries are never a good thing, but with McConnell out for the immediate future, Still has a golden opportunity to come into his own in the next few weeks. 

I’m gonna have fun with Still’s name this year.



DON'T FORGET ABOUT DRE

Andre Frederick put together his best outing of the young season, and quite possibly the most consistent of his time at Robert Morris Wednesday night.

10 points and three boards on the stat line isn’t that impressive. Though Frederick is a guy where consistency’s been a major issue with him. I’d look at him as a project. Last year, he came off the bench and average single-digit minutes. The most he was known for was his red hair during postseason play.

Rocking blue hair this time around, Frederick has been thrust into the starting lineup with Aaron Tate out. Yes, he still has a lot to work on, especially defensively where he was outmuscled a couple times by Nana Foulland. Going 5-7 from the field with a couple two-handed slams and an offensive rebound is a positive sign for him. 

From my counting, he only missed one layup. Maybe two. Progress? 

“I thought [Andre] played really hard in good stretches,” Toole said. “We told him to just play as many possessions as you can in a row at the right speed. We watched in the beginning of the game, it was a minute half in and he was exhausted Well, that’s what you have to do. And then hopefully a minute and a half becomes two, and two and a half becomes three. .He showed some really good signs. There’s still some things he can clean up, no doubt. It was definitely a step in the right direction.”

Tate left the game after registering just five minutes in the first half. His lower body injury may put him out a bit longer than originally anticipated. 

“He’s just beat up. A tribute to Aaron is how hard he goes," Toole said. "I think he might of overdid it a little bit. We’ve got to dial it down and hopefully be able to get him back in the swing of things.” 

BALL OUT KAY

Overreaction after the Bucknell game: Kavon Stewart is the best point in the Northeast Conference.....Hey, based off last night, Cappella may actually be right. 

But seriously, Stewart controlled the tempo for Robert Morris in the second half. Pryor may have led the team in scoring, but Stewart was easily the Colonials' most valuable piece offensively.

Since he's been at Robert Morris, Stewart has always had the ability to drive the lane from the point. He has the handles and athleticism to get there. He could get to the hole, but after that was when things would get messy. 

This year looks different. Stewart, in my opinion, is more polished offensively. He's finishing more of his opportunities (4-9 from the field). He's made a point to be more physical on the offensive end. 

"Most definitely, when I'm in attack mode that's when the team goes. I can't allow the defense to dictate how I play. I've got to come out every night and play how I'm capable of playing," he said. 

--Chris Mueller
--@cmuellerRMU