The past week has been a busier than normal for Robert Morris men’s basketball coach Andy Toole since the university made the announcement that the Colonials were leaving the Northeast Conference and upgrading to the Horizon League.

The announcement left Toole and his staff scrambling to study the strength and weaknesses of the new conference teams.

While the NEC was generally considered a guard-oriented league, Toole said he and his staff will be hard at work scouting new opponents.

“We’re excited about the new challenges we’ll face in preparing for the new teams in the conference and in recruiting,” Toole said. “Hopefully being in the Horizon League will open up more doors for us and give us more exposure. We’ll see how things go.”

Toole is also in the midst of hiring a new assistant basketball coach to replace Shane Southwell, who left for Kansas State. He said an offer has been made and he’s awaiting word.

The staff is also finalizing the nonconference basketball schedule and finding replacements for Cleveland State and Youngstown State, both Horizon League schools that were originally part of the 2020-21 schedule.

Toole said the rest of the schedule, which includes matchups with Indiana and West Virginia, should be announced shortly. RMU usually plays in a preseason tournament as well.

Finally, Toole received an verbal commitment from 6-foot-8 forward Patrick Suemnick to round out his recruiting class. NCAA rules prohibit Toole or any coach to talk about a commit.

Because the letter-of-intent period is over, late commits must sign a scholarship agreement before a coach can comment.

— Patrick Suemnick (@SuemnickPatrick) June 17, 2020

Suemnick averaged 19 points and 10.7 rebounds per games as a senior at Denmark High School near Green Bay. He attended Don Bosco Institute in Indiana last season.

Suemnick joins four freshmen and a transfer as newcomers to the program. He announced his commitment on Twitter.

Those who signed letters-of-intent were forward Tyson Brown (Kempville, Va.), guard Enoch Cheeks (Providence, R.I.), guard Kam Farris (Burlington, Vt.) and guard Trayden Williams (Charlotte, N.C.).

The transfer, who must sit out this season per NCAA transfer rules, is former Bucknell forward Kahliel Spear (Colony, Texas). Spear will have two seasons left to play at Robert Morris.

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