Robert Morris gets 15 seed, will face Alabama in NCAA Tournament at Cleveland

Robert Morris has made this trip before. Just not for the NCAA Tournament.

Now, the Colonials are about to.

The Horizon League men’s basketball champions received a No. 15 seed Sunday and will face No. 2 seed Alabama at 12:40 p.m. Friday on truTV in an East Region first-round game at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.

“Bobby Mo in Ohio!” Robert Morris’ Kam Woods exclaimed shortly after the Colonials saw their name appear on a big screen Sunday night during a Selection Sunday watch party open to the public at UPMC Events Center.

Robert Morris fans will have a short drive along the Turnpike to follow their team, and some will be making the trip this season for a second time.

The Colonials, who were picked to finish ninth in the 11-team Horizon League, defeated Cleveland State, one of the preseason favorites, Feb. 12.

A little more than a month later, the Colonials are headed back to the Lake Erie shores.

“The sense of pride is immeasurable,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said. “My college coach (at Penn), Fran Dunphy, always used to say, ‘There’s no better feeling than hearing your name called on Selection Sunday. It’s the absolute truth. You see that pop up there, they announce your name, they announce your opponent … You’re a part of the best tournament in sports.”

The game has special meaning for at least two Robert Morris players.

Woods, a native of Birmingham, Ala., 60 miles northeast of Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus, and teammate Amarion Dickerson, a Cleveland native, were paying particular attention when the pairings were announced.

“Playing in front of the hometown crowd at March Madness. It’s a blessing,” said Dickerson, who is among the nation’s leaders in blocked shots (110) while averaging 12.9 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Woods, the team’s leading scorer with a 15.1 average, said playing in Cleveland is exciting for Dickerson and for the team.

“With the city behind him, I know he’s going to perform well, and they’re going to be cheering for us,” Woods said.

While the regular-season victory against Cleveland State occurred at a 8,500-seat Wolstein Center, the opponent and venue will appear much bigger this time.

Capacity at Rocket Arena, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ home court, is 19,432.

For now, none of it seems to bother Robert Morris’ players. They said they’ll savor the moment, then get back to work.

“These guys know they’ve got a lot of work to do between now and Friday,” Toole said. “I know they’ll come out with great energy and ready to swing.”

Robert Morris sophomore Alvaro Folgueiras, the Horizon League Player of the Year, had never watched a Selection Sunday show until now. The 6-foot-9 Folgueiras, a native of Malaga, Spain, seemed amused by the hoopla.

“It feels great to be in the Big Dance,” said Folgueiras, who is averaging 14.1 points and a team-leading 9.1 rebounds. “But I didn’t know Selection Sunday was that important to these people around here. It’s great to find out something new.”

Alabama (25-8) settled for a No. 2 seed and an at-large bid after being beaten Saturday by Florida, 104-82, in the SEC semifinals. The Crimson Tide, as a No. 4 seed last season, lost to eventual national champion Connecticut., 86-72, in the semifinals.

“You certainly get everyone’s attention when Alabama comes across the line there,” Toole said. “They’ve had one of the best seasons in college basketball, and they were a Final Four team last year. Just a dynamic team.”

Alabama coach Nate Oats had moved past Saturday’s SEC semifinals loss and was looking ahead to another long postseason ride.

“We need to make a run,” Oats said during a news conference in Tuscaloosa. “Getting to the tournament is not good enough. Anything short of a Final Four would be a disappointment in my opinion. That’s what the expectation is.”

Alabama upset No. 1 seed North Carolina in last year’s Elite Eight before losing to UConn a game short of playing for the championship.

Alabama will be a different look for Robert Morris, which has faced just one Power 5 conference school this season, losing at West Virginia, 87-59, in its opener.

The Colonials, after a 6-5 start, took off and are on a tear, having won 17 of their past 18 games and 10 in a row.

“We’re a different team now,” Woods said.

The only Division I teams with longer current winning streaks than Robert Morris are Big South champion High Point (15), Big West champion UC San Diego (14) and Southland champion McNeese (11), all of whom are in the NCAA field of 68 teams.