Robert Morris men, 2 wins from NCAA Tournament, hope winning recipe continues

You’ve probably heard about all the hoopla surrounding the Robert Morris men’s basketball team.

It’s been quite an intriguing story.

You’re probably aware that in the preseason, the Colonials were picked to finish ninth out of 11 teams in the Horizon League.

And that they hadn’t been having any measurable success in the league since leaving the Northeast Conference five years ago.

Why?

For starters, the Horizon League, based on the composite NCAA NET ranking of all its teams, was at No. 19 among the 31 Division I conferences compared to the Northeast’s No. 30.

So it took some time — admittedly longer than they’d have liked — for RMU coach Andy Toole and his staff to assemble a competitive group for the increased demands of the Horizon.

“We have a staff of guys who are doing everything they can to try to figure out who are good fits for us,” Toole said. “At the professional level, there are entire departments that are in charge of scouting and understanding the dynamics of how to build a roster with a lot more rules and guidelines to it. We try to keep an eye on who might be in the (transfer) portal and how your roster’s going to look, but you also still have to coach and prepare your team. It’s a lot on your place.

“It’s never an exact science, so you’re just hoping that you’re covering all your bases.”

They seem to have gotten it right this season, ignoring the preseason polls and winning the Horizon League regular season.

With an 83-62 victory over No. 8 seed Wright State in the quarterfinals, top-seeded Robert Morris improved to 24-8 entering a Monday night semifinal against No. 6 Oakland (16-17) at Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis.

The Golden Grizzlies are the defending Horizon champs and, as a No. 14 seed, went on to upset No. 3 Kentucky in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.

If not for a two-point loss at Wright State on Feb. 2, Robert Morris would be riding a 16-game winning streak. As it stands, the Colonials are on an eight-game tear, having won 15 of their past 16 and reversing a miserable 2-4 start to their Horizon League schedule to finish 15-5.

In this era of the transfer portal, Toole & Co. were able to turn things around in a hurry. The Colonials were 10-22 (6-14 Horizon) a year ago.

Just one starter returned — 6-foot-4 guard Justice Williams averaged 12.3 points and led the team with 76 assists — but he hasn’t played all year while recovering from surgery, meaning the Colonials entered the year as a brand-new team.

“It’s comes with the territory now. Everyone’s just getting acclimated to the realities of college basketball,” Toole said. “Everyone’s trying to figure out what their roster’s going to look like and trying to enjoy the group you have while you have them and then try to do your best to keep them. Trying to figure out how you can continue to put a strong team out there and a strong lineup out there is a hard thing.

“It’s so hard to judge what you need. Different things arise all the time. Fortunately, so far we’ve been able to answer the different challenges and styles we’ve had to face and we’ve been able to figure it out.”

That seems to be an understatement. While there are no guarantees, Robert Morris clearly has established itself as the Horizon Tournament favorite.

“We have some very versatile guys and guys who are capable of making plays and making tough shots.” Toole said. “That’s always an important aspect of becoming a good team, because these games come down to so few possessions. We have a lot of the components, but you never fully know what you’re going to face.”

Here is a closer look at Robert Morris’ rebuilt roster:

The starters

• Amarion Dickerson — The Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-Horizon selection ranked seventh nationally in blocked shots (76) through Saturday’s games. He finished the 2023-24 season as the nation’s top junior college shot blocker at Mineral Area (Mo.).

• Alvaro Folgueiras — He is enjoying a breakout season as a sophomore, earning Horizon League Player of the Year and achieving first-team All-Horizon honors. RMU’s second-leading scorer (14.2 ppg) and leading rebounder (9.3 rpg) has posted 15 career double-doubles, including 13 this season.

• Josh Omojafo — A Division II All-American at Gannon in 2023-24, he is shooting 81.4% (114 for 140) at the free-throw line after setting a single-season record last season at Gannon with 244 made free throws.

• D.J. Smith — A former two-year starter at Little Rock, the Bowling Green transfer has been a steady presence in the RMU backcourt. He is shooting 40.2% (92 for 229) overall and 38.0% (49 for 129) from 3-point range and is tied with Folgueiras for second on the team in assists (97).

• Kam Woods — After spending a year playing sparingly for N.C. State’s Final Four team of a year ago, he leads RMU in scoring (14.8 ppg) and assists (137) and joined Folgueiras as a first-team All-Horizon selection.

The bench

• Chris Ford — His playing time has decreased to 7.9 minutes per game after playing a bigger role in previous seasons. He played in all 33 games for RMU in 2022-23 and made 10 starts in 30 appearances in 2023-24. As a freshman at Davidson, he was a member of the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament team.

• Maurio Hanson Jr. — The 6-foot-7 freshman is waiting his turn after joining RMU following a stellar high school senior season at Charlotte (N.C.) Chambers, where he produced 16 double-doubles and a pair of triple-doubles.

• Dilen Miller — The freshman guard is averaging 12.0 minutes in 25 appearances with 25 assists and 20 steals.

• Ismael Plet — He played in 12 games as a freshman for Oral Roberts’ 2021 Sweet 16 team. He later made a total of 42 starts in two seasons at Arkansas-Pine Bluff before transferring to RMU, where he is averaging 16.0 minutes with four starts in 31 appearances while shooting 49.1% (56 for 114).

• Ryan Prather Jr. — Usually the first man off the bench, the Akron transfer is second on the team in 3-point shooting percentage (40.5), converting 51 of 126 attempts.

• Antallah Sandlin-El — The 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman has made 15 of 32 shots (46.9%) in nine appearances and was named Horizon Rookie of the Week on Nov. 24 after posting 14 points and seven rebounds against Cornell. He matched the 14 points a week later against Ohio.

• Justice Williams — The team’s third-leading scorer in 2023-24 has not played this season while recovering from knee surgery. An LSU transfer in 2022, he hit double figures 21 times, including four games of more than 20 points.