First Call: Recalibrating after last weekend’s Aaron Rodgers speculation; Paul Skenes faces frequent Pirates foe
Tuesday’s “First Call” reassesses the Aaron Rodgers situation after a weekend full of speculation yields no results. Gerrit Cole is still trying to come back to the Bronx. Paul Skenes takes the mound against a frequent Pittsburgh Pirates pest. And Robert Morris lands an intriguing basketball recruit from overseas. Nothing...
Tim Benz: Fans pushing back against expansion of NFL regular season, NCAA Tournament
The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are expanding to 76 teams. That news became official Thursday. The expansion is being positioned as a way to get more mid-majors into the field, when, primarily, the universities that will benefit the most by this move will still be the power conferences....
Jacksonville outshines Robert Morris in NCAA 1st-round lacrosse showdown at Joe Walton Stadium
On Tuesday, the country’s news cycle was honed in on the theory of “kamikaze dolphins.” Wednesday night at Joe Walton Stadium, it appeared that the Robert Morris lacrosse team was a victim of them. The Colonials were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the opening round on their home turf...
Transfer guard Ace Valentine officially joins Robert Morris men’s basketball team
Robert Morris has added for next season UMBC guard Ace Valentine, a second-team all-America East selection who averaged 11.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists for the Retrievers. The 6-foot-3 Valentine recorded 21 double-figure scoring games last season, including a stretch of nine in the final 10 contests. He was...
Mt. Pleasant grad Courtney Poulich wins national player of week award for Robert Morris
Robert Morris star Courtney Poulich has hit some towering home runs. Moon shots in Moon Township. Word of her historic softball season also has plenty of distance, because it landed her a national award. Poulich, a redshirt senior outfielder from Mt. Pleasant, was named a D1Softball Mid-Major Player of the...
Joe Starkey: Portal madness? Losing an NCAA Tournament folk hero? RMU’s Andy Toole is used to it
I thought of only one man near the end of Iowa’s landmark win over Nebraska on Thursday, when broadcaster Kevin Harlan exclaimed, “The legend of Alvaro Folgueiras continues to grow!” It was the same man I’d thought of the previous weekend, when Folgueiras dethroned the Florida Gators with a seismic...
First Call: Ex-Steelers QB says Aaron Rodgers delay may be about money; Pens need to rebound in Ottawa
Thursday’s “First Call” has an interesting angle on the Aaron Rodgers watch from a former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. A high-profile receiving target at Ohio State floats a theory about Will Howard. We preview the Penguins’ game in Canada on Thursday night. And Robert Morris’ top scorer is entering the transfer...
From Spain to the United States, former Robert Morris forward Alvaro Folgueiras’ basketball dream has Iowa in the Sweet 16
TAMPA, Fla. — Alvaro Folgueiras left Spain as a 16-year-old with a dream to play basketball in the United States. He made the biggest shot of his life in the national spotlight to eliminate the defending champions from the NCAA Tournament. On college basketball’s grandest stage and with his mother...
First Call: Linebacker appears on Steelers’ draft radar; Najee Harris’ comeback attemptVideo
Tuesday’s “First Call” shows us a potential position of interest for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the upcoming NFL Draft. A former Steeler is trying to prove he can still play. The Penguins are back at it against the NHL’s very best. And there is news from the ice and the...
First Call: Wild stats about Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields; Pens hold steady in Metro Division swirl
As we all monitor the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation, Monday’s “First Call” has some interesting stats surrounding Justin Fields and Aaron Rodgers. We’re also tracking the Eastern Conference playoff situation for the Penguins. A former Robert Morris Colonial had a shining moment in the NCAA Tournament. And a pair of...
Former RMU coach Mark Schmidt, back for A-10 Tournament, could be set for farewell game with St. Bonaventure
Mark Schmidt is back where he started. He’s back where his head coaching career began. Back in Western Pennsylvania. When the former Robert Morris coach leads No. 13 St. Bonaventure against No. 12 La Salle on Wednesday morning in the opening game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at PPG Paints...
Robert Morris falls short of NCAA return, but latest run shows its ability to adapt
Who’s coming? Who’s going? Who knows? For now, at least one thing appears certain in the Robert Morris men’s basketball camp: Anything can happen. When the Colonials entered the season with a brand-new lineup after the transfer of all five starters from their first Horizon League Tournament championship team, nobody...
Robert Morris dumped by Detroit Mercy in Horizon League semifinals
Robert Morris’ bid for a second consecutive Horizon League Tournament championship screeched to a halt Monday night in Indianapolis. Orlando Lovejoy combined for 21 points and six assists, and No. 3 Detroit Mercy upset defending champion No. 2 Robert Morris, 70-64, in the semifinals at Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis. Despite...
Robert Morris men carry proud history in Horizon playoffs
In 1983, Robert Morris captured its first NCAA Tournament victory in men’s basketball, beating Georgia Southern by 10 points in a play-in game. The Colonials, then members of the old ECAC Metro South, nearly won another one when they dropped a heartbreaker to Purdue by two points in the first...
Joe Starkey’s Cup of Joe: Pitt, Duquesne, RMU fight back, inject a little life into hoops scene
CUP OF JOE: Starkey on sports in 350 words or less This was shaping up as a horrific year for men’s college hoops around here. It still might not be great, but things are momentarily looking up after a wildly entertaining and unexpected stretch of basketball. Pitt was tracking to...
Robert Morris has new cast, same director looking to follow a familiar script
The path is very similar, even if the team is not. The Robert Morris men’s basketball team did this a year ago. The Colonials got scalding hot starting the first week of February and didn’t cool off until they won the Horizon League title. A postseason run started with a...