The RMU Thread

[Pitty]

:shotsfired:

 

[Woy]

Lehigh 89, Robert Morris 60

This team is an absolute fucking mess right now. There's zero movement on offense, forcing up bad shots, missing wide open threes, can't defend the three and can't rebound. Only bright spot at this point is JUCO transfer Vaughn Morgan, who has the athleticism to match up with anyone in the NEC and probably most of the mid-majors in general.

Things need to change in a hurry. It's an absolute embarrassment to get steamrolled by teams that aren't that much more talented than us.

Grade: F-----------------

Next Game: 11/13 vs. Fordham @ Pitt [Pre-Season NIT] (6:30 PM)

 

[Mogriffjr]

Lehigh 89, Robert Morris 60

This team is an absolute fucking mess right now. There's zero movement on offense, forcing up bad shots, missing wide open threes, can't defend the three and can't rebound. Only bright spot at this point is JUCO transfer Vaughn Morgan, who has the athleticism to match up with anyone in the NEC and probably most of the mid-majors in general.

Things need to change in a hurry. It's an absolute embarrassment to get steamrolled by teams that aren't that much more talented than us.

Grade: F-----------------

Next Game: 11/13 vs. Fordham @ Pitt [Pre-Season NIT] (6:30 PM)

Yeah I figured Lehigh would blow through them, especially since Lehigh got their big man back (didn't play against Baylor)...Lehigh can score, especially McCollum...but I see they was very balanced tonight...(also like McKnight, he's a good one too)

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 74, Fordham 58

Fordham's pretty awful, but after the last two performances, I'll take anything I can get at this point. The Colonials put together a much better and well-rounded effort today.

Four RMU players were in double figures, led by Velton Jones who had 18. Karvel Anderson added 16 off the bench, while Lucky Jones had 15 and Coron Williams tallied 13. The only two bright spots of last night - Mike McFadden and Vaughn Morgan - both struggled with a combined five points and four rebounds.

The Colonials shot the ball better (37.7% FG, 28.6% 3PT) than their first two games, even if the percentages still weren't impressive. What was impressive was a 26-32 mark from the free-throw line, in comparison to Fordham's 11-20 number. The Rams also only shot 31% from three, which is something to build on after getting gashed from behind the arc over the past few days.

Improvements must be made to compete with Xavier on Saturday however. Russell Johnson might make his season debut in that game after dealing with a high ankle sprain for the first three contests.

Grade: C

Next Game: 11/17 @ Xavier (2:00 PM)

 

[Rudi]

Xavier gonna whoop dat ass boi #A10

 

[Woy]

Xavier 61, Robert Morris 59

Completely different team with a healthy Russell Johnson. A cheap foul call on Lucky Jones with :29 left essentially cost RMU a chance at the upset.

The Colonials received great efforts from Velton Jones and Karvel Anderson. Anderson led the team with 17, while Jones had 15 and hit some big threes in the second half to keep RMU around. Johnson had eight points, four boards and four assists in his season debut.

The differential in free throws between the two teams was staggering. The Colonials only found themselves at the charity stripe four times, hitting each attempt, while Xavier was 11-17 at the line.

Tough loss, but it was good to go blow for blow with a talented squad like Xavier. This can only help the team grow and better prepare themselves for NEC play.

Grade: B+

Next Game: 11/19 vs. Bowling Green [Pre-Season NIT Consolation Round] (7:30 PM)

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 71, Bowling Green 60

It was a tale of two halves for the Colonials tonight. The first half consisted of sloppy ball-handling, no perimeter defense and missed shots in the paint and ended with RMU and Bowling Green knotted up at 29. The Colonials then cleaned up their act in all of those areas and never really looked back after the third media timeout.

Velton Jones led RMU with 16 and set the tone in the second half with a big steal early that led to a layup and a trifecta that gave the Colonials a two-possession lead midway through the second half. Coron Williams and Mike McFadden each added 12 points, while Anthony Myers-Pate was himself for the first time all season with 11 and five.

Russell Johnson briefly left with a tweak of his bad ankle in the first half, but returned before the half ended.

Alabama-Huntsville almost pulled the upset on Cleveland State in the earlier game today. I really enjoyed watching the Chargers squad, as they play smart and unselfish basketball. Lots of passing to get teammates open and no standing around on defense. They'd be competitive in quite a few leagues of D1 and I'm glad we don't have to face them tomorrow.

Grade: B

Next Game: 11/20 vs. Cleveland State [Pre-Season NIT Consolation Round] (7:30 PM)

 

[Rudi]

Good job, good effort against Xavier:golfclap:

 

[Woy]

Good job, good effort against Xavier:golfclap:

It wasn't a "good job, good effort" performance...they had the win stripped from them because of a ticky-tack foul late.

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 71, Cleveland State 62

Not as close as the score indicated. Cleveland State hung around in the second half and even led at one point, but RMU was clearly the better team. Vikings PG Charlie Lee hit four highly-contested BS threes to keep them in it.

Velton Jones and Mike McFadden led the charge for the Colonials with 15 a piece. McFadden was very smooth tonight (usually he's either that or completely out-of-control) and battled against one of the better big men we'll face in Anton Grady. His free-throw shooting has also improved tremendously since last season as he's hitting at a 86% clip compared to 52%. V had his typical game; crash to the floor hard a few times, come up bleeding once and making the big shot/pass when Cleveland State would make a run. He's truly a treat to watch.

Don't really have anything to nitpick at tonight. The biggest weakness was avoided for the most part (minus Lee's 4 wtf threes) with solid perimeter defending. This is definitely a team getting better with each game played.

Grade: B+

Next Game: 11/26 @ Savannah State (7:00 PM)

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 84, Ohio 76

4-0 against Ohio in my collegiate career. Feels nice to say, especially since the Bobcats are always a big bracket-buster threat. Take notes Michigan and Georgetown.

The Colonials were without sixth man Anthony Myers-Pate tonight, so little-used sophomore Dave Appolon had to play 17 minutes and he made the most of them, hitting big shots and getting into DJ Cooper's head. There were two instances where Cooper was called for fouls after frustratingly pushing Appolon away during a change of possession.

Karvel Anderson tied a Sewall Center record with 8 trifectas en route to a 28 point night. He shot 43% from there in JUCO, so this effort wasn't some kind of fluke. He hit his first three early in the first half and couldn't stop.

RMU improves to 4-4 (lost to Savannah State [MEAC favorite] earlier in the week, nothing of note happened in that game but it's not a bad loss) and will travel to Campbell for a game on Tuesday.

Grade: A+

Next Game: 12/4 @ Campbell (7:00 PM)

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 61, Campbell 58

RMU escapes with a three-pointer by Karvel Anderson with four seconds left. The Colonials were without Anthony Myers-Pate once again, along with Russell Johnson.

Lucky Jones led RMU with 15 points, despite having a bad case of the flu. Almost every timeout in the second half it looked like he was throwing up, and he puked on the last stoppage before getting a key steal to set up the GW shot. Gutty performance by the sophomore.

Anderson had 13 (4-7 3PT) and Mike McFadden had 10. The Colonials only shot 35.4% from the field, but made 21-26 (80.8%) from the line. RMU is shooting 79.2 from the line this season, good enough for fourth in the country.

Campbell came in with three wins, but only one of them was against a D1 program (Appalachian State). So the close result isn't pretty despite the injuries, but a road win is a good win for a mid-major/small conference team.

Grade: B-

Next Game: 12/8 @ Hampton (2:00 PM)

 

[Woy]

Gunna get booty pumped by OU tho :kobe:

Everyone that likes me should point and laugh at this post.

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 66, Hampton 54

Listened to this one on the radio. The outcome was never really in doubt, although there were times where RMU got lazy and allowed Hampton to creep back into it.

It was another very balanced scoring effort for the Colonials. Sharp-shooters Karvel Anderson (4-8 3PT) and Coron Williams (2-3 3PT) led the team with 12 each, while Lucky Jones added 10 (4-9 FG). Russell Johnson and Anthony Myers-Pate both returned from injury with mixed results. Johnson had eight points in 23 minutes, but got most of them at the line. Myers-Pate went scoreless in 19 and had just one assist.

Nothing else to say, really. RMU has won their last three games and four of their last five. The month will end with a home tilt Saturday against rival Duquesne, then road trips to Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas.

The team also met the Great Khali at the airport, for you wrestling fans.

Grade: B

Next Game: 12/15 vs. Duquesne (7:00 PM)

 

[Woy]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Lunardi projects RMU to get #14 seed in Duke's bracket in the first Bracketology with a very favorable road to the Sweet 16.

http://www.sportspickle.com/opinion/14918/the-2012-2013-college-basketball-all-name-team

Lucky Jones makes the All-Name team.

 

[Woy]

Awesome article on junior shooting guard Karvel Anderson, who has overcome a lot of obstacles to get to where he's at today. One of those guys who deserves all the success that comes his way.

http://www.nbebasketball.com/w3/201...rson-robert-morris-best-kept-secret-revealed/

Karvel Anderson had just connected on his fourth consecutive three-pointer when he turned, smiled, and cackled the way that, well, any of us would if we had just happened to hit four consecutive three-pointers in a highly competitive Division One basketball game. As Anderson ran back to play defense, I looked directly across the court at Ohio coach Jimmy Christian who was most definitely not cackling. Christian’s distorted face was twisted up in an expressive equation of angry + frustrated x helpless = powerless.

Yeah, Anderson’s first look of the night might have been wide open, but his remaining seven looks from distance were all contested by Bobcat hands. And it didn’t matter. On this night, nothing any defender could muster was going to deter Karvel Anderson. He was gettin’ buckets and nobody was stopping him. Anderson was a perfect 10-10 from the floor (8-8 from deep) for a career high 28 points. His last make was a dagger three-pointer (of course) that put Robert Morris up 80-73 and assured the Ohio fans that came to Moon Township in force that they could head for the parking lot — their Bobcats would be tasting defeat for the first time this season.

Karvel Anderson chuckled when asked if he’d ever felt anything like that on a basketball court before. Turns out it was a familiar feeling for the 6-2 shooting guard out of Elkhart, Indiana. Anderson remembers having the same anxious nervousness coursing through his body before his Senior Night at Elkhart Memorial High School. “I just remember thinking I wanted it to be special,” said Anderson, “especially because I didn’t have anyone there to walk with me before the game.”

Senior Nights are always marked on calendars months ahead of time, celebrations for parents and players alike. It’s the night when they walk out onto the floor together and are recognized before the game. A time when tears are shed by mothers who are suddenly hit with the realization that their baby boy will soon be leaving their everyday lives. A time when fathers beam with pride at the fact that their child has contributed and persevered, completing a journey that a lot of kids never get to start because they just aren’t talented enough.

Karvel Anderson’s father was never in the picture.

His mother?

Anderson leads RMU in scoring with 12.1 PPG, shooting 43% from 3-pt range through 10 games this season (photo courtesy of RMU Athletics).

She’d been incarcerated shortly before Karvel entered the ninth grade and was still, at that very moment, locked in a cell as her son watched his teammates walk onto the court with their parents. Prior to Memorials game against Clay that night, Karvel Anderson’s mind tried to overcome the feeling that was rising from down in his gut up into his throat. Forget mind over matter, more like mind, or maybe pride, over pain. It’s hard to know what folks in that gym were thinking about before the game tipped, but Karvel Anderson made sure they were thinking about him when the buzzer sounded to end it. Anderson was all over the court, his sneakers squeaking louder with every cut, as he scored a school record 46 points in a decisive win, hitting 8 of his 9 three-pointers.

And believe it or not, there was a third time when Anderson was swept up in basketball nirvana, just last year at Glenn Oaks Community College. “Last year at my JUCO,” said Anderson, “it was the first game coming off of Christmas break and it was getting really close to the point when my mom was going to be released.

My mind was really scattered, thinking about it and worrying.” Yep, you guessed it, Anderson went for 54 points in the half-empty gym.

So naturally, Anderson was a much-wanted man, with schools beating down his door trying to sign him.

Right Karvel?

“No, I had fallen really far behind in high school with my grades and that was the reason I was in Junior College to begin with,” said Anderson. The reasons Anderson had fallen behind are somewhat evident by the preceding paragraphs, and his pride at not wanting people to know what he was going through also contributed to his situation being less than ideal. You see, for a period of time, early in high school, Anderson wasn’t even willing to let anyone know he had no place to lay his head at night.

“I was homeless for a couple of months,” said Anderson, “I would sleep in McNaughton Park right near my high school.”
It was around this time that Jerel Jackson entered Anderson’s life. In fact, Jackson first met Anderson at that same park while he was playing basketball. Jackson, it turns out, had just been hired on as an assistant coach at Memorial and he slowly began to gain Anderson’s trust.

“He mentors a lot of kids,” said Anderson, “and I eventually felt comfortable enough to tell him what was really going on with my situation.” Anderson’s sister Milikea, was staying with a friend but Anderson was content to fend for himself, either in the park under a bridge or in cars from time to time. That all stopped when he confided in Jackson.

“I met him in 2006 probably,” said Jackson, “and I saw a little kid that had a lot of potential so I told him I would help him if he was willing to help himself.” After a while the two became close.

“The connection that we have,” said Jackson — pausing for a beat or two before continuing– “Karvel is like a son that I never had, we just clicked and with him staying in the park or sleeping in a car, I just made it clear that it didn’t have to happen, that if he needed anything I was going to be there for him.” And he was, consistently.

“He’s the closest thing to a father figure I’ve ever had,” said Anderson.

Jackson worked with Anderson daily on his shot, which at the time was too flat, and also made sure the youngster had food and anything else he might need.

Soon after, Anderson’s grandparents moved to Elkhart from Cassopolis, Michigan. The move was due to his Grandmother being very ill– the medical help she could get in Elkhart was much better. His Grandfather also needed work and that was readily available to a man not afraid of working multiple jobs.

Karvel Anderson would stay with his Grandparents for the rest of high school, watching his Grandmother battle health issues and his Grandfather work three jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Anderson also was consistently employed throughout that time helping his family financially and helping to look after his Grandmother. In fact, Anderson left his first JUCO, Butler CC in Kansas, after his Grandmother fell ill and he thought she was going to die.

Last spring, following his season at Glenn Oaks, Anderson figured out that he needed to earn 18 credits during the summer to attain his dream of playing D-1 basketball. It turns out that the tape of his 54 point outing had found its way onto the desk of RMU coach Andy Toole. When Toole called Anderson, the kid with the sweet stroke was honest about how much work he had to do academically to make it. And Toole and Anderson devised a schedule and plan that would allow it to happen — provided Anderson kept up his end of the bargain.

“The whole staff called me all the time,” said Anderson, “making sure I was handling my business and I appreciated the fact that they believed in me when no other D-1 school did.” Anderson ended up qualifying and now says that grades will never be an issue again, claiming he’s conscientious about his studies to a fault. The game against Ohio was Anderson’s first start due to RMU being a player down. Anderson took the opportunity, raised up with it, and connected.

Anderson’s mother is doing well in Elkhart and looking after his 12-year-old sister Janeal. “My mom finally got to see me play for the first time at Xavier last month,” said Anderson (he scored 17 points in a close loss) “and they’re both doing really well.”

Anderson’s sister Mylikea is in college in North Carolina. “She’s the academic in the family, the brains,” said Anderson, “we’re very close to each other.”

Karvel Anderson is studying communications.

He enjoys talking to people and writing about his experiences, which makes complete sense.

After all, he’s got one hell of a story to tell.

RMU/Duquesne tonight at 7:00...the Dukes just knocked off WVU and have won five of their last six like the Colonials.

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 91, Duquesne 68

Three straight against our non-conference rivals...feels so good.

Game looked like it'd be another slugfest like the last two seasons after the first half, where the Colonials somehow led by one - despite getting outrebounded by 15. Compared to the last two games, we came out shooting poorly but were doing a lot on the defensive end to keep the game close.

The second half was a completely different story as RMU scored 60 points in the 20 minutes. There will be games this season where the Colonials will win despite not scoring 60. RMU came out of the locker room and put it away early with a 21-5 run, as they hit their first eight shots. Duquesne tried to push (as any Jim Ferry coached team would try to do) but the Colonials slowed it down to their own tempo and used great ball movement to get open shots.

This is by far the best I've seen RMU play all year, from the lockdown defense to the unselfish play on the offensive side of the ball. Velton Jones led all scorers with 22 (4-6 3PT, 6-6 FT), while Coron Williams (16, 4-7 3PT), Mike McFadden (12, 6-7 FG) and Lucky Jones (10, 4-10 FG) all were in double-digits. The Colonials were still outrebounded by 15, but forced 25 turnovers while only giving it away 10, and scored 34 points off those giveaways.

Very nice crowd that came out as well, especially considering a lot of campus went home for Christmas break the day before.

RMU will travel down south to face Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas to end the non-conference section of their schedule.

Grade: A+

Next Game: 12/18 @ UL-Lafayette (8:00 PM)

Relevant NEC News:
- The two-time defending champion LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds were dealt a HUGE blow over the weekend, as last year's conference player of the year, Julian Boyd, will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Boyd, a fifth-year senior, was second on the team in scoring behind Jamal Olasewere and will apply for a medical red-shirt in attempt to gain a sixth-year of eligibility.

 

[Woy]

Robert Morris 66, Louisiana-Lafayette 61

Karvel Anderson's three-pointer with 46 seconds left was the dagger in RMU's road victory over the Ragin' Cajuns. ULL isn't a tough task on paper, but there are no easy non-conference road wins for a mid-major / small conference team.

Anderson had 17, while fellow guards Coron Williams and Velton Jones had 16 and 11 points, respectively. The Colonials also received some big minutes from Vaughn Morgan, who gathered six rebounds and four steals, and blocked two shots while replacing Mike McFadden - who only played 12 minutes because of foul trouble.

Would have liked a more convincing win, but like I said, these OOC games on the road are never easy.

Grade: B

Next Game: 12/20 @ Arkansas (8:00 PM)

 

[Rudi]

Might have to catch me some of this RMU/Razorhog action tonight.

 

[Woy]

Arkansas 79, Robert Morris 74

RMU put up a good effort against a tough Arkansas team, but some iffy calls and missed plays cost the Colonials. Velton Jones only played 17 minutes because of foul trouble, picking up three of those in just four first half minutes.

Karvel Anderson and Coron Williams (5-6 3PT) each scored 17, while Mike McFadden and Russell Johnson had 10 points a piece. RMU was down just one after 20 minutes, then the deficit fell to nine quickly in the second half. Shaping up to be a blowout because of the lack of momentum, the Colonials battled back to cut it to one various times and was a rushed Lucky Jones shot away from having a chance to take the lead late.

Disappointing loss, but not a bad one at all. Arkansas is a solid team and RMU took them to the brink without much production from their leader. If anything, this was a good learning experience heading into NEC play.

Grade: B+

Next Game: 1/3 vs. Bryant (7:00 PM)