Robert Morris Preview

His name is RoMo.

The Falcons continue their pre-season NIT tour with a game against Robert Morris.  It is possible you have never heard of Robert Morris, and here I speak of the University and not the dude who signed the Declaration of Independence.  This is a very solid basketball team.  They were 26-11 last year and bring most of their rotation back. College Basketball Prospectus projects them to be #2 in the NEC (Northeast Conference) and #61 in the country.  The NEC pre-season poll also had them #2.

They are off to a 1-3 start but one of those losses was to Lehigh (remember, #15 over #2??) and to Xavier (by only 2 in Cincy, though Xavier had some serious defections in the off-season and might not be the Xavier we knew--they were picked 9th in their pre-season poll).   They lost by 15 @Rider, which I suspect is not going onto the highlight reel, and they beat Fordham, who was picked 14th in the A-10.

This is their first home game, though they did play their first round NIT games in Pittsburgh.  This is their first meeting with the Falcons.  The Colonials (did I mention they are the Colonials) have been to the NCAA tournament 7 times since 1982.

They are led by Velton Jones, who is a senior.  He is scoring 13 PPG with 5 assists on top.  The scoring is pretty ineffecient...he is shooting only 34%.  Karval Anderson is scoring about 12 a game with poor shooting.  He's a JUCO transfer.

They don't have any truly big men, but they do have 7 players who are between 6'6" and 6'9".

As a team, they are really struggling with their shooting.  The are 330th in D1 in FG%.  A lot of that is from 3---they are 21st in D1 in 3s attempted but they are hitting only about 27%.  Obviously, this is a different team if that turns around.

I looked back at last year's team to see what we might expect.  They actually led the nation in fouls and very highly ranked in offensive rebound %, which gives you a picture of a pretty physical team.  They were solid on both ends of the floor...1.07 PPP on offense and .98 on the defensive end.

They were a pretty good shooting team last year, so you figure its going to come around.  They shot 35% from 3, for example.

One last thing...their coach is the basketball equivalent of Matt Campbell.  Dude is 32, and in his 3rd year at Robert Morris.

Anyway, on their home floor, I think this is a tough assignment for us.  This team is talented and experienced and should present BG with a strong test.