RMU coach Andy Toole reflects on his team's NCAA games that never got to tip off
Usually the idea of missing out on a mid-week, mid-March night in Dayton, Ohio doesn’t sound like something that could plunge you into depression.
Right now, Robert Morris basketball players may disagree.
That’s where they should have been this week. Playing in an NCAA First Four game to kick off March Madness Tuesday or Wednesday night.
Or maybe even better, getting ready to play a No. 1 seed Thursday or Friday.
Trying to be the next UMBC, pulling off the most unthinkable of upsets.
Instead the team is back home in Moon Township. Or scattered to the four quarters of the country, in forced isolation.
Wherever they are, I’m sure they are shut in, watching TV or playing video games, brooding over what could’ve been for them in a 2020 NCAA Tournament that has been erased by the scourge of the coronavirus.
Those kids deserve so much better after churning their way through the NEC tournament semifinals and finals. Beating Long Island and St. Francis (PA) by an average margin of 15 points.
After surviving a near buzzer-beating loss in the quarterfinal to St. Francis (NY), regrouping, and cutting down the nets on Mar. 10.
“The game rewards toughness,” coach Andy Toole said after winning the conference title. “When you have the competitiveness and the toughness that they have, you tend to do all that much more to win.
“This is what you play Division 1 basketball for, to be part of the NCAA tournament. Very few people get to say they were part of the NCAA tournament. Now these guys can say that.”
Well, the Colonial players should’ve been able to do that. They sure earned it. But now they can’t. And that’s awful.
Now, instead of preparing for a First Four opponent — or maybe a hoops superpower such as Kansas or Gonzaga — Toole was reduced to talking to me about a game that never got to tip off.
But Toole is trying to keep the elimination of the tournament in perspective.
“As difficult as it is, I think our guys have handled things and approached things as best as (they) can. I know that our guys were on cloud nine, then abruptly brought down to earth with a crash.
“But we met on Friday and talked about the disappointment. We talked about how proud our staff was of the team and how a lasting memory of Championship Week was; us winning that (NEC) championship game at the UPMC Events Center. And regardless of what happened moving forward, no one could take that championship from us. No one could take that moment from them; the celebration.”
In Wednesday’s podcast, Toole and I discuss how the team is coping with the stoppage of their season short of the national tournament.
We also get into some of the debates that have emerged in the wake of the NCAA shutting down basketball early.
For instance, Toole would’ve preferred to see the NCAA unveil the entire bracket, even though it would’ve been hypothetical. But he was not a fan of the notion of that 16-game playoff that had been discussed. He tells us why on both fronts.
We also debate the merits of giving players extended scholarships into next year, if they weren’t given the chance to conclude their seasons.
On the one hand, that sounds like the fair and kind thing to do. Especially for a redshirt senior such as Colonials guard Josh Williams.
On the other, though, what does that do for incoming freshmen who made decisions based on assumptions about playing time and now may need to be redshirted?
Also, does a guy like Williams get to keep playing, but the seniors at St. Francis don’t because they happened to lose in the final? And if that’s the case, what do you do with a team on the bubble versus a team that clearly would’ve been eliminated, versus an at-large team that you know would have been in the bracket?
For instance, are the seniors at Wake Forest definitely done because they wouldn’t have qualified for the tournament, but the seniors at San Diego State are allowed to continue playing because they would have been in as an at-large?
And what about any team that was on the bubble one way or the other? Does that bracket then absolutely have to be revealed after all to make that determination?
It gets confusing. So Toole and I try to surf through all of that.
I also ask the coach who he thinks his team would’ve played once the bracket was revealed and if they got a No. 1 seed, how the Colonials could have pulled off an upset if they played at their best.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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