Pitt @ Robert Morris
- Thread starter PittCity
- Start date
This game scares me a bit, but hopefully I’m wrong. Sewall was a dump even by WPIAL 6A Standards, let alone a D-1 program. With that new barn, combined with Toole being a heck of a coach, that program is really going to take off. I’ve always found it amazing that they’ve been able to keep Toole around this long, but good for them. It will be great if all three local programs are competing for tournament spots each year
Its definitely a "you never know" type of game. I expect it to be pretty close.
That is the nicest arena in the NEC by far and should allow RMU to become the dominant team in that league but realistically, it was built to get them into the MAAC, Horizon, or CAA. However, keep an eye on the Ohio Valley. It's a good FCS football league and with 2 traditionally strong mid-major in Murray State and Belmont, that would be a major step up and the travel to Tennessee and Kentucky for games wouldn't be much more than traveling to NY and New England.
In the last 4 years these are RMU’s conference records:
11-7
9-9
9-9
8-10
They are nothing more than an average NEC team right now, if they played in those other conferences you mentioned they would be an absolute bottom feeder.
In their defense, they get absolutely crushed by the grad transfer rule. Every time they find a gem, the kid inevitably moves to a P5 so I give Toole a ton of credit for keeping things somewhat above water while they waited for their new building.
I know they’ve had their eyes set on a new conference for a while now, so hopefully this helps get them over the top. I wasn’t aware the building has a practice gym as well. That’s got to be pretty rare for a school at that level
Im glad Pitt fans are smart to know this game is something you have to dig deep down and prepare for.
They are in arguably the worst D1 conference. The NEC has never been to the Round of 32 (the only conference that can say that) and rarely gets a seed better than a 15. In a mid-major league, they would be able to recruit mid-major type talent. That said, Toole has done a great job of finding major D1 talent to play at RMU. A team of Marcquise Reed, Rodney Pryor, and Elijah Minnie would have been one of the NEC's best ever.
RMU has a nice program but if PITT loses to RMU they should turn The Pete into a Sat & Sun flea market.
It is true they’ve lost many guys, but so have a lot of small conference teams across the country. It’s almost an epidemic. To me it’s more telling that when they’ve had these talented players for a year or two they’re still not winning.
Ya the wins in the tournament haven’t been there (RMU got robbed as a 15 seed in 2010 to Villanova for those that remember-& lost in OT). But...the NEC is definitely above the SWAC & MEAC rn & for the most part is a lot better. The NEC gets reamed by transfers each year too that hurts it a lot too.
Also, SMF the team of Rod, Reed, & Minnie did exist but only in 2015 during the tourney year & Reed (only a freshman) left to Clemson after it.
Careful, Gallagher may just take you up on that. "Could we have an avocado toast booth?"
The NEC is deeper than the SWAC and MEAC...but 1 through 4 or 5, there is really no difference. The NEC is really bad. It's closer to the PSAC than say the Horizon.
It's one of the 3 worst conferences and the only to never make the Round of 32.
Hey, BTW, I bought RMU season tickets. They were like $200 for the season. I figured it gets me the Pitt game, which I doubt will be available to the public and I'll try to go to 4 or 5 other games. I'm proud of my grad school alma mater. Built an $80 million arena that they didn't need without spending 1 of their own dollars. Raised the money without even breaking a sweat. Didn't even ask me for a donation for it.
I'll be there for sure
I always root for Bobby Mo and the Dukes except when playing PITT.
Bobby MO's campus is pretty nice...
Sure it’s nowhere even remotely close to the Horizon, but I think you’re selling the NEC a little short. If they had a NEC/SWAC or NEC/MEAC Challenge I see the NEC as a large favorite to win both of those.
RMU should have but for the jobbing they got against Nova.
Yes but in all honesty, I think that's the only time the NEC has even been close to making the Round of 32. I remember LIU giving Nova a tough game like 20 years ago but can't really remember any others. It's a really bad league. As for the NEC/MEAC/SWAC challenge, yes I think the NEC wins because it's better at the bottom but 1 through 4 or 5, there's no real difference.
There was a period around the time of Robert Morris' game against Villanova where the NEC was actually around 20th in RPI and comparable to the MAAC. It slipped for a little bit, and then the transfer market exploded.
All mid-to-low majors have been hit by transfers, but few leagues have been impacted like the NEC and even fewer schools have been hit harder than Robert Morris. To lose your leading scorer for something like four years in a row via transfer to a larger school is just insane.
RPI, RPI. The NEC, MEAC, and SWAC have the 3 lowest budgets on average and thus, are 3 worst leagues.
With the current Pitt squad going into that game I think I'd place my bet on a Robert Morris upset.
As long as RMU plays a good game that day & no one major transfers from here on out, they absolutely can give Pitt a run for its money in their home gym. Could Pitt win by 20 plus? Absolutely. Could RMU pull an upset too? I think they have a chance.
It really depends how well the new players on each team play in this early November game. RMU has two nice top 50 JUCO recruits coming in that could be real good.
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