Robert Morris’ season came to a disappointing end Tuesday with a 78-63 loss at Purdue Fort Wayne in the first round of the Horizon League tournament.
RMU finished the 2023-24 campaign with a 10-22 record, going 6-14 in conference play. It was a significant step back in the program’s fourth season in the Horizon League; the year before, RMU went 16-17, 10-10 and nearly found themselves in the conference semifinals.
This year’s team had no such juice. RMU faltered down the stretch, losing seven in a row and opening up major storylines. I would argue this is the program’s most crucial offseason in the Andy Toole era. Speaking of…
- Toole Watch
Speculation about RMU’s winningest coach was floated around from Trilly Donovan of Burner Ball and a February ESPN article from Jeff Borzello. True or not, dialogue is going to naturally open up with a four-year conference record of 24-52.
Here’s my take: Toole is not going to step away, and the athletic department is not going to make a move. Toole is too stable a figure in the athletic department and too good of a coach to move on from at this junction.
- Roster turnover
The Colonials are expected to lose Markeese Hastings, Josh Corbin and Jackson Last to graduation.
The question is, who else goes?
Frankly, the roster was already not talented enough to compete in the Horizon League, as evidenced by the team’s record and metrics, and will now definitely lose two of the team’s best players in Hastings and Corbin.
In this case, a heavy amount of roster turnover would not be a bad thing. This is not a personal knock on anyone – RMU simply lacks Horizon League-level talent. I expect to see a lot of new faces from the transfer portal and JUCO level next season.
- Recruiting Challenges
The growth of the transfer portal has changed recruiting, for better and worse. There’s a larger pool of talent, but at the same time, how do you really know what you’re going to get?
Roster turnover is also more extreme. College basketball is more of a year-to-year grind than ever. Between NIL and the perception of greener pastures at other programs, coaches have to re-recruit their roster every season.
Balancing the scale of character vs. talent is extremely difficult, and it might be fair to wonder if the scale tipped too far in the direction of character with not enough emphasis on what it takes on the court to compete in the Horizon League.
And to be fair, the staff did find Hastings, an all-conference selection, and brought in Justice Williams, an SEC transfer and former top-100 recruit. Although Williams didn’t look like that guy, it’s nice to know they could land a player with pedigree.
Last year, there was an emphasis on young players with an international flair. Will the coaching staff re-focus their efforts back to the Division I portal and JUCO level?
- Fan Support
If I had to use a word to describe the state of the program right now, it would be irrelevant. There is no excitement around the program. Attendance was the worst it has ever been. Student support was non-existent. Media coverage is dwindling, and would be totally gone if it wasn’t for the great work of Tristan Freeman of Busting Brackets and The Field of 68, Nate Breisinger of Pittsburgh Sports Now and the folks at RMU Sentry Media.
I truly believe we are better than this as a program – all of it, from the play on the court to the atmosphere in the stands.
I will tackle all of these topics, and more, throughout the offseason. Thanks for reading and following along for another year of Robert Morris basketball!
Chronicling the Colonials 