MOON TWP., PA (93.7 The Fan) – As Robert Morris departed for the NCAA Tournament, head coach Andy Toole said his team is locked in after three really good days of preparation getting ready to play Alabama Friday in Cleveland.
“I don’t think we’ve done anything differently than we would have a week ago, two weeks ago, six weeks ago and that’s what we talked about with our team,” Toole said Wednesday. “I’ve been a part of a number of different NCAA Tournament teams and there are times when you win that league championship and you get the bid to the NCAA Tournament and all of a sudden you don’t get back to work.”
“We talked about making sure we are getting back to work.”
It’s been eight days since Robert Morris won the Horizon League championship. Eight days since playing a game and it will be 10 when they tip off Friday. Toole said this team keeps working and preparing. They look at this simply as their next game and next opportunity.
“Look at what we’ve done all year,” said guard DJ Smith. “We’ve been counted out all year. It’s a basketball game at the end of the day. We all lace it up the same way. We’ve all played since we were kids. It’s the biggest stage, the biggest stakes. It’s going to be a dog fight.”
“The key is keep being us, that’s something that we have had to keep following the whole year,” said Horizon League Player of the Year Alvaro Folgairas. “Doesn’t matter where. Doesn’t matter how.”
“I didn’t know who was coming (in) at the beginning of the season. I didn’t know what was going on with teammates, but I had faith. I still had faith and I was telling everyone that this year was going to be special.”
“I didn’t lie I guess.”
Robert Morris is a 23.5-point underdog. ESPN gives the Colonials a 4% chance to pull off the upset as the 15-seed.
“Our plans are to be aggressive,” Toole said. “No one is expecting much of us, so let’s go play. Let’s do what we do. We don’t have to do anything spectacular. We just have to do what we’ve done all year long, at a high level. The best we’ve done it.”
“We know we all we got,” said Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year Amarion Dickerson. “We already know we are counted out by the sports analysts, whoever they are. We got to get it done by any means.”
“It’s good to appreciate the moment,” said Josh Omojafo, a transfer from Gannon University. “It’s also important not to get too caught up in it. You can see the stuff you don’t usually see, but after that you got to lock back in because we are looking to shock the world and I think we are capable of doing it.”