NEC coaches put Colonials second
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It doesn't help Mike Rice's sales pitch about Robert Morris having to play better defense this season when his players can look at last season's Northeast Conference statistics and note that Sacred Heart finished last in defense and still reached the league championship game.
Or that Sacred Heart was picked yesterday by the league's coaches to finish first this season -- one notch ahead of the Colonials.
"The hardest part for me in selling defense is that these young men have had success scoring the ball," Rice said. "Coach [Mark] Schmidt left me great scorers."
Senior guard Tony Lee has surpassed 1,000 points in his career. Senior forward A.J. Jackson will top 1,000 before November becomes December. Junior forward Jeremy Chappell could reach 1,000 before December becomes January.
"They would rather play offense," Rice conceded. "They'd rather have the ball in their hands. Hopefully, though, they'll see that defense wins."
Last night, Rice and the Colonials unofficially began their season with a 74-52 exhibition victory against Shippensburg at the Sewall Center.
It was a win fueled by defense.
The Colonials trailed, 30-18, with 4:50 left in the first half, cut it to two points at halftime and used a 17-3 spurt early in the second half to go up, 49-37.
"The last 25, 28 minutes we played team defense," Rice said. "We played with more of a purpose."
Jackson, like Lee a member of the preseason all-NEC team, scored 16 points despite being bothered some by a broken bone in his left (non-shooting) hand.
Lee and Jackson are two of four starters returning from last season's 17-11 team that finished 9-9 in the NEC and was knocked out of the tournament in the first round. Chappell, who led the Colonials with 20 points last night off the bench, and center Freddie Harris are the other two.
Rice, a former Pitt assistant coach, is in his first season as a head coach. And whoever winds up at point guard won't have nearly the experience of Derek Coleman, who graduated in May after starting for 31/2 seasons.
"It's an open spot," Rice said. "We'll have it by committee."
Last night, sophomore Jimmy Langhurst, who played very little last season, started at the point. Lee also will get some time there, as he did last season. Junior college transfer Bateko Francisco, who started at a two-guard spot, and freshman Gary Wallace will get some work at the point, too.
"Freshmen don't know what they don't know," Rice said. "He doesn't know how to win in Division I yet. Is he going to be part of the solution? Probably, I hope."
Iffy Ehirim, who would have started at center last night, didn't dress because of a slight concussion.
First Published November 1, 2007 12:04 am
