New-look Robert Morris begins quest to defend Horizon League championship

Can he do it again?

Will ultra-persistent coach Andy Toole succeed in inducing another fresh roster of basketball players to bond at Robert Morris and make a run at back-to-back Horizon League championships?

“We’ll see how it all plays out,” Toole said last week while putting the finishing touches on his newest-­look lineup in advance of the Colonials’ regular-season opener Tuesday night at Iowa.

The latest group, which includes IU Indianapolis transfer DeSean Goode, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound Horizon all-freshman team selection, replaces RMU’s original new-look lineup that won 26 games and earned the Colonials a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years.

“It’s new firsts now every time we enter a new season,” said Toole, beginning his 16th year as RMU’s coach. “We tried on paper to fill all the voids we lost. We’ll see how that stacks up on the court Tuesday.”

Just when Toole had assembled a team last season that evolved into a championship-caliber unit — one that ultimately made things uncomfortable for No. 2 seed Alabama in a nine-point, first-round NCAA Tournament loss to the Crimson Tide — he found himself rebuilding again.

The Colonials lost their entire starting lineup through the transfer portal.

“As the year went on, we had an understanding that there were going to be a lot of guys who were going to be pursued,” Toole said. “We knew they would be interested in trying to find new places and capitalize on the success they were having. As much as you hate to see it happen, you’re also proud and excited for the guys that they get to go out and kind of conquer a new challenge and create a new opportunity for themselves.

“They earned opportunities to make those kind of decisions.”

Gone is the dynamic duo of 6-10 Alvaro Folgueiras, the Horizon Player of the Year, who averaged 14.1 points and finished second in the league with 9.1 rebounds per game, and 6-7 Amarion Dickerson (13.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg), the Horizon Defensive Player of the Year, who ranked second in the league in blocks (82).

In addition, the loss of guards Josh Omojafo (South Florida), D.J. Smith (Campbell) and leading scorer Kam Woods (14.9 ppg) leaves only reserve forward Ryan Prather Jr. from that original new-look RMU team.

Woods, who spent the 2023-24 season as a member of N.C. State’s Final Four team, was unable to latch on to a new school this season.

“It’s a shame. He should be playing somewhere,” Toole said.

But a failure to settle on a suitable name, image and likeness financial deal, prevented Woods from continuing his college career.

“He was one of the guys who came in right at the end of the year and said, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’” Toole said. “He said, ‘I did that. I’ve been there.’ Conversations continued to happen outside of this building and that decision changed. He should be playing somewhere. He should be getting a significant (NIL) paycheck to be playing somewhere, and he’s not. It’s a shame. There were some opportunities for him … Those things just kind of went away. It’s real.

“As much as it seems there’s an unlimited amount of money out there, a lot of programs only have so much to spend. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. If you don’t take advantage of your opportunity, you could end up in a tough spot. It’s unfortunate. We’d love to have him, but it just didn’t work out. What they were looking for was much more than we could afford.”

Folgueiras, coincidentally, landed at Iowa and will face his former team Tuesday. Dickerson moved on to Southern California, which opens at home Monday against Cal Poly.

“I wanted to go to (another) winning program, and coach (Ben) McCollum is a big part of it,” Folgueiras told reporters in Ames, Iowa, last week. “I really value his conversations with me. I have a lot of things to prove.”

But, he said, the transition has been smooth.

“I know the guys we have. The chemistry is already there,” Folgueiras said.

McCollum enters his first season at Iowa after leading Drake to a school-record 31 wins and a first-round NCAA Tournament victory over Missouri in his only year with the Bulldogs. He also has led Division II Northwest Missouri State to four national championships prior making the jump to Division I last season.

Meanwhile, Toole said the Colonials will present Folgueiras with his Horizon League championship ring prior to the start of the Tuesday’s game at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I told him I’ll be giving him (the business) from the sidelines,” Toole joked.

Goode heads a list of incoming transfers at Robert Morris that also includes 6-11 Josh Hill (Arkansas State), 6-7 Kaleb Brown (Missouri), 6-9 Nikolaos Chitikoudis (North Carolina A&T) and Ubong Okon (Chipola College, Fla.), a 7-1, 230-pound senior, who began his college career at Alabama State.

Other transfers are 6-6 Cam Wilds (Division II Clarion), 5-10 Albert Vargas (Division II Southern Connecticut State), 6-3 Ta’Zir Smith (State Fair Community College in Missouri) and 6-5 Jeremiah Little­john (Kirkwood Community College in Iowa).

Prather was excited for the opportunity to shoot for another Horizon title.

“It’s definitely a blessing to be back,” said the 6-5 junior, who played two seasons at Akron before joining Robert Morris. “Just kind of working for back-to-back championships. We’ve got a great group of guys. Last year set the bar super high, so, as a team, we understand that and we’re going to have to work even harder because we’ve got a target.”

A starter in 12 of 35 games last season for the Colonials, Prather averaged 8.3 points per game while shooting 44.5%, including 39.7% (54 for 136) from 3-point range.

It’s a new era at Robert Morris — again — and Toole’s energy already was radiating in the days leading up to the start of the season. He already has observed his new team in closed scrimmages last month against Buffalo and Eastern Michigan.

“We’ll start to know a lot more in the next couple weeks, as the lights come on and we’re playing opponents with guys having to make real real-time decisions,” Toole said. “I’ve been told by some people here that I’m too competitive, (but) you’re supposed to coach to try to help guys improve and get better and grow and develop.

“Obviously, it’s great to be able to win championships and win big games, but if that’s the only way you’re measuring this, then you’re probably missing out on some of the fun part of it.”