Or does RMU have a few walk-ons they can put in there if need be? Did that football player from New Brighton end up joining the team?
Are there really only 8 players?
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
- Start date
Nope, nobody joined (DJ Pearson practiced twice but that was it), zero walk ons (both were suspended). It's literally 8 available players.
And that group of 8, can make the NCAA tournament Tuesday.
And that group of 8, can make the NCAA tournament Tuesday.
There are a few guys that help out with practice from time to time - no team is really going real hard in practice anywhere in the nation right now anyway - when they want to do 5-on-5 stuff. But those guys don't suit up on game day and don't travel with the team.
It's the 8 guys in uniform and that's it.
It's the 8 guys in uniform and that's it.
Are those guys student managers?
WIth only 8 players, Andy Toole really took a risk of having to forfeit a game. You can finish a game with 4 players, but not 3. If one guy got hurt in practice, 1 guy got hurt in the game, and 3 guys fouled out, they would have had to forfeit. The "8 is Enough" thing sounds cool and if they win on Tuesday, I'm sure CBS will play that up, but I think its unacceptable that RMU couldn't find a couple decent former HS players that they could have sat at the end of their bench in case of emergency.
RMU has separate student managers who have been around all season. The other guys are there solely for practice and are thanked for helping out by getting a seat on the bench, in street clothes, during home games. They'll be there Tuesday night.
Robert Morris hasn't come close to being in a situation where they'd have to forfeit. They play a 2-3 zone defense almost exclusively, which helps keep fouls on the perimeter down.
In the 14 games since they dropped to eight players, Robert Morris has had a player foul out just once. It's had two players with four or more fouls in a game three times, none in the last six games. It's really not a concern.
And it's not as simple as finding a couple former high school basketball players on campus and throwing them onto the bench. This happened after the spring semester already began. Robert Morris has a set practice and travel schedule, one that's already been in place based off of those already on the team. You'd have to find someone without any conflicts or with the flexibility to adjust their schedule.
And you'd have to find someone in good enough shape who is willing to endure intense practices for three months. That list gets pretty small pretty quickly.
Practices were the major concern when the suspensions went down. RMU made it work.
Robert Morris hasn't come close to being in a situation where they'd have to forfeit. They play a 2-3 zone defense almost exclusively, which helps keep fouls on the perimeter down.
In the 14 games since they dropped to eight players, Robert Morris has had a player foul out just once. It's had two players with four or more fouls in a game three times, none in the last six games. It's really not a concern.
And it's not as simple as finding a couple former high school basketball players on campus and throwing them onto the bench. This happened after the spring semester already began. Robert Morris has a set practice and travel schedule, one that's already been in place based off of those already on the team. You'd have to find someone without any conflicts or with the flexibility to adjust their schedule.
And you'd have to find someone in good enough shape who is willing to endure intense practices for three months. That list gets pretty small pretty quickly.
Practices were the major concern when the suspensions went down. RMU made it work.
