Great win! Some thoughts on the game below, but first some house keeping....
Jafar Kinsey has officially left the team. There were some rumblings this week that Kinsey may have left the team, and RMU radio man Chris Shovlin made it "official" during the game broadcast. More on that later. Freshman walk-on Ryan Skovranko has not been with the team the past two games either, but no official word on him yet.
Now to the good stuff:
Start to finish, this was likely RMU's best performance of the season. Right from the tip they looked like a complete team. It all starts with the play of Kavon Stewart. He was sensational today. 4 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds does not do his game justice. He broke down the Mount 1-3-1 press all game and created easy looks for his teammates in goos spots. If he plays with that type of poise all season, RMU will win 14-15 NEC games.
A balanced scoring attack helped RMU run away from the Mountaineers. Lucky Jones led the way with 17 (and 10 boards) but got a majority of those points late in the game when RMU was in control. Marcquise Reed and Rodney Pryor each had 12. We saw the old Lucky Jones today, doing it all for RMU on both ends. Great sign.
Speaking of Jones and Pryor, each were very active in the 2-3 zone and showed off their versatility and athleticism. They both seem to read the game well on the wings. That is one main reason the zone was so effective.
While RMU may have played their best game of the season, it needs to be said.... The Mount stinks right now. This team lost three 1000 point scorers, and did not resemble last year's NEC tournament champion team in any way. They were putrid on offense, could not get any type of press going, and looked over matched from the start. Andrew Smeathers can really shoot, and Greg Graves is a nice interior athlete, but you have to wonder how they will score enough points to make any noise this season. Today's 45 points were actually a 10 point increase from the 35 they scored in a loss to Old Dominion in their last game. Ouch.
Have a feeling coach Toole is going to be up all night tonight...why? One, he will think back to every thing he has done with the team this past week to figure out how they came up with this type of performance. If the Colonials can bottle this, they will be right there come March once again. Two, WHY COULDNT THIS OF HAPPENED LAST MARCH. Okay, maybe Andy wont be up thinking that, but I sure will. Nice to get some revenge (even if it's pint size) though.
But we've moved on from that defeat last March and are focused on the here-and-now, as well as the future! Speaking of the future...boy is it bright with Marcquise Reed and Elijah Minnie in the fold. Minnie gets better and better each day. He's a freak athlete too. He scored 10 points off the bench including a key four in a row in the first half to help RMU build its lead. It's crucial that these two stay with the program. Reed looks like a seasoned vet now, and he's only played 13 games in his career. He continues to be the team's best creator off the dribble.
As for Kinsey, not a big loss this season. Jafar was squeezed out of the rotation with App taking over the backup point, and RMU has plenty of options at the two. However, it is upsetting and somewhat worrisome to see another kid leave the program.
For now though, not going to focus on the negative. The Colonials are 1-0 and just dominated the Mount in the NEC title game rematch. Huge game coming up Monday night at St Francis PA, who looks like the class of the NEC. Not only did they destroy Wagner today, but they have by far the best non-conference resume. RMU has won 14 straight in the series, but things are certainly tightening up.
Jafar Kinsey has officially left the team. There were some rumblings this week that Kinsey may have left the team, and RMU radio man Chris Shovlin made it "official" during the game broadcast. More on that later. Freshman walk-on Ryan Skovranko has not been with the team the past two games either, but no official word on him yet.
Now to the good stuff:
Start to finish, this was likely RMU's best performance of the season. Right from the tip they looked like a complete team. It all starts with the play of Kavon Stewart. He was sensational today. 4 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds does not do his game justice. He broke down the Mount 1-3-1 press all game and created easy looks for his teammates in goos spots. If he plays with that type of poise all season, RMU will win 14-15 NEC games.
A balanced scoring attack helped RMU run away from the Mountaineers. Lucky Jones led the way with 17 (and 10 boards) but got a majority of those points late in the game when RMU was in control. Marcquise Reed and Rodney Pryor each had 12. We saw the old Lucky Jones today, doing it all for RMU on both ends. Great sign.
Speaking of Jones and Pryor, each were very active in the 2-3 zone and showed off their versatility and athleticism. They both seem to read the game well on the wings. That is one main reason the zone was so effective.
While RMU may have played their best game of the season, it needs to be said.... The Mount stinks right now. This team lost three 1000 point scorers, and did not resemble last year's NEC tournament champion team in any way. They were putrid on offense, could not get any type of press going, and looked over matched from the start. Andrew Smeathers can really shoot, and Greg Graves is a nice interior athlete, but you have to wonder how they will score enough points to make any noise this season. Today's 45 points were actually a 10 point increase from the 35 they scored in a loss to Old Dominion in their last game. Ouch.
Have a feeling coach Toole is going to be up all night tonight...why? One, he will think back to every thing he has done with the team this past week to figure out how they came up with this type of performance. If the Colonials can bottle this, they will be right there come March once again. Two, WHY COULDNT THIS OF HAPPENED LAST MARCH. Okay, maybe Andy wont be up thinking that, but I sure will. Nice to get some revenge (even if it's pint size) though.
But we've moved on from that defeat last March and are focused on the here-and-now, as well as the future! Speaking of the future...boy is it bright with Marcquise Reed and Elijah Minnie in the fold. Minnie gets better and better each day. He's a freak athlete too. He scored 10 points off the bench including a key four in a row in the first half to help RMU build its lead. It's crucial that these two stay with the program. Reed looks like a seasoned vet now, and he's only played 13 games in his career. He continues to be the team's best creator off the dribble.
As for Kinsey, not a big loss this season. Jafar was squeezed out of the rotation with App taking over the backup point, and RMU has plenty of options at the two. However, it is upsetting and somewhat worrisome to see another kid leave the program.
For now though, not going to focus on the negative. The Colonials are 1-0 and just dominated the Mount in the NEC title game rematch. Huge game coming up Monday night at St Francis PA, who looks like the class of the NEC. Not only did they destroy Wagner today, but they have by far the best non-conference resume. RMU has won 14 straight in the series, but things are certainly tightening up.
