What Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole said about facing Alabama in NCAA Tournament

No. 2-seed Alabama will open the 2025 NCAA Tournament against 15-seed Robert Morris on Friday, March 21. Before facing the Crimson Tide in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena, Colonials head coach Andrew Toole spoke to reporters on Thursday. Here is everything he said.

ANDREW TOOLE: Obviously, excited to be here. Short drive from Pittsburgh, so we’re excited about the opportunity to have some fans come out and support us tomorrow. Proud of our team. This has been a great group for us to coach. They’re ultra competitive. They love to play the game, love to compete, and I think that’s what’s allowed us to be where we are today.

Q. Andrew, I wanted to ask you about Mark Sears for Alabama and what he means — he’s obviously kind of the spark plug for that team. How difficult is a guy like that to defend, and how much of an intention you have to put on him to slow that offense down?

ANDREW TOOLE: Yeah, it’s a hard question because there’s so many skilled and capable players that they have, right, and they play so aggressively, play so confidently, and obviously, Sears leads that charge. We actually scrimmaged him his freshman year when he was at Ohio U, and we were like, man, this guy is pretty good. Next year, obviously, he’s at Alabama.

He’s just so capable at any time of making a deep perimeter three. He puts so much pressure on your defense with his ability to get to the rim and get fouled.

Everybody has tried to keep him away from his left hand, but he keeps getting back to his left hand. He’s as experienced as you can be. He’s played in Final Fours. He’s played in SEC Championship games. He’s been through the gauntlet as a player.

So at any time the ball is in his hands as an opposing coach, it just leaves a pit in your stomach.

As cognizant as you have to be of him as a shooter and a play maker, he can really just put two on the ball and move it quickly on time with the decisions that he makes. Yeah, you’ve got to just constantly be aware of him. And in talking to some SEC coaches, one of the things they said, which I thought was amazing, is they have some people when shots go up, when they shoot a shot not by him, they will have guys go and find him because he gets so many kick-out threes.

Just every layer of your defense is going to be stressed by him at all times.

Q. I think what’s so impressive about this run is you’ve been able to flip the script in one year, but you’ve done so after going to the transfer portal and getting six or seven new guys in here, basically rebuilding your roster, and then going on this run. I think in today’s age with transfer portal affecting all of college sports right now, that’s just so impressive. How were you able to do that? I know in the past, you’ve given a lot of credit to the guys, but also you and your leadership, I think it speaks to that.

ANDREW TOOLE: And I’m going to keep giving credit to the guys because they’re the ones that make a choice whether they want to buy in or not.

I think alongside of the transfer portal debate, which you could talk about ad nauseam, one of the things that I think has been lost is the value of being on a team and the value of buying into a team.

Previously, I think when you were offered a scholarship and the excitement level of yourself, your friends, your family, you were automatically bought in, and now it’s like, we’ll come to your school and then when we get there, you’re going to have to convince us why we’re here and what this is going to do for us.

These guys, starting from the summertime, bought in. They allowed us to coach them. They created a connection with each other. Talking to some of the guys that returned from the previous season, as I’m doing temperature checks in the summertime, hey, how are guys getting along? What’s going on back at the dorms or the apartments? They’re like, this is a little different. We spend time in the locker room post-practice and guys are laughing and joking about practice and spending time and going to eat.

Those are all positive signs that you hope those connections are starting to be created, and then adversity will hit, and you’ll truly get an idea of who they are.

I think all year long, every time there’s been an adverse situation or a tough performance, they’ve always responded properly because, along with the connections they’ve created with each other, trust has been built in there, and then also the desire to win. Guys have really sacrificed all year long, and it’s a credit to them. It’s not anything that we’ve done. We’ve coached teams where guys haven’t sacrificed and guys haven’t bought into winning as the No. 1 priority, and it makes it a lot harder for your team to continue to grow and improve, and these guys have grown and improved all year.

Q. Talk to me a little bit about the preparations, especially with the questions on Grant Nelson. Does that change anything involving the game plan at all, or how are you kind of coaching up the guys in preparation if or if not he will play?

ANDREW TOOLE: We’re preparing as if he’s going to play. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t at least give it a go.

Obviously, we know how good a player he is. As much as Sears is probably the overall play maker, Grant Nelson, as a front court guy, is such a dynamic play maker, as well, whether it’s scoring, drawing the defense, making tough shots from the perimeter, timely shots from the perimeter. When he’s out there with Sears, there’s a lot of options they have to be able to create an advantage for their team.

We’ve prepared as if he’s going to be playing tomorrow. If he’s not, we know that there’s capable players that will also be on the floor, so our preparation has got to be tight, whether he’s playing or he’s not.

Q. What has keyed your defense or the way you guys have played defense this year, and what kind of effort is that going to take tomorrow afternoon?

ANDREW TOOLE: It’s going to take an incredible effort tomorrow afternoon. You’re playing against a 91-point scoring team, the No. 1 pace in the country. It’s going to take a monumentous defensive effort. It’s going to take a connected defensive effort where guys are constantly willing to make the next effort, make the next run, communicate the next screening action, rotate properly, contest everything.

Obviously, we’ve got to be able to try to, from 35 feet and in, be everywhere at all times. The hard part, too, is being able to get back and set before they get to 35 feet.

That’s going to be a huge part of it. But one of the things that we tried to do when we built this roster was improve our defensive ability by having some guys that can guard in space, by having some guys that can protect the rim. I’m not sure that we thought we’d have to be doing that against an SEC-level team, but we are, and we’re fortunate to be able to do that.

I’ve told the guys that what we need to do is everything we’ve worked on all year long, but we’ve got to do it at by far the highest level that we’ve done it all year. That’s going to be the challenge tomorrow.

Q. Two completely different questions here. From a local standpoint, Amarion and Ryan, what do they bring to the team? How do they help this team advance, number one. Then number two, curious on your opinion of a possible expansion in the NCAA Tournament. Does it help the smaller mid-major schools or is this going to be more for the power fours?

ANDREW TOOLE: Well, first off, Amarion and Ryan have been just incredible additions to our program this year. Both of them bring a winning mentality and a winning DNA in complete opposite ways. Mar is loud, personable, brash. Ryan is so quiet, zero to no maintenance at all times. But both of them have had immeasurable impacts on the program. Mar, obviously, his defensive ability, his athelism, the edge he brings, the intensity he brings to the court, even before some of the offensive plays that he’s made or the basketball plays he’s made.

And then Ryan is as consistent a guy as we have on our team. He is a guy who day in and day out is coming in to do his routine. He’s getting his shots up with an assistant coach. He’s doing his deal in practice. He’s taking care of his body.

I think he’s just so thankful to be a part of our rotation. Obviously, with Justice Williams going down for us prior to the season and missing the year, Ryan, as well as DJ Smith, their roles grew. Those guys have been able to accept that and handle that in a really important way. Ryan has hit some huge shots for us this year. He’s had some huge moments on the defensive side for us.

Early in the year when we were kind of sitting with guys doing individual meetings at the beginning of the year, I said, do you have anything for me? And he just said, hey, thanks for coaching me. Those kind of mindsets are rare these days. So to have him as a part of our locker room has dramatically changed the way that we approach our day-to-day.

In terms of the expansion, my fear is that most things that are getting decided are what’s best for Power Four. Meanwhile, one of the reasons that people watch this tournament is because of the mid-majors and the low majors. Hopefully, we don’t lose sight of that. So however expansion occurs, if and when it occurs, and usually when there’s a small groundswell of expansion talk, that usually means it’s coming down the pipe.

So we’ve got to get ready for it. I just hope that they keep the opportunity for mid-majors and low majors to be a part of this because I don’t care what anybody says; as much as it means to be in the NCAA Tournament across the board, when you win your regular season, you win your conference tournament championship, it’s different than when you come in sixth place.

If college athletics was all about the high majors and the power fours being what drives this, sure, when the Final Four comes, that’s what drives it, but the ratings for a FOX, ESPN, CBS Sports Network Monday night game that has Wake Forest/Florida State would be way higher if everyone just cared about the power four schools. For some reason, these games today and tomorrow, the 15-2s, 14-3s, the 12-5s, those draw the eyeballs of people that don’t watch basketball the other 363 days a year, and that’s a real unique thing that we can’t lose.

Q. Another Amarion question for you. How cool is it after the year he’s had to see him get this chance to play in his hometown as you guys get on this stage? Then looking at the year he’s had defensively, what makes him so special? Is it just that sort of edge that you were talking about earlier?

ANDREW TOOLE: Well, first of all, when Mar’s career is over, there’s a good chance, or if he hasn’t discussed it, he should work for the Cleveland City of tourism, the Visitors’ Bureau. There is no more prideful Clevelander, if that’s even a word, than MAR. He will argue with you about the Browns until death. When we come here to play Cleveland State, he’ll go through his list of favorite restaurants and all the attractions that make Cleveland what it is. So he has such great pride. So for him to be able to play a game here in the NCAA Tournament is awesome.

When we came to Cleveland State he had a huge turnout of fans, and it showed who he is and what he is because it was high school teachers, it was youth coaches, it was people that, like, just wanted to be there to support him and to see what he’s doing as a student-athlete.

As soon as we heard Cleveland, of course we knew what was coming next, right. We were going to get the long version of all the attractions of Cleveland.

Then defensively, obviously one of the things that makes him so good defensively is his athleticism, but there’s a lot of good athletes that aren’t good defenders. There’s some really good athletes that are terrible defenders, actually. His timing is unreal. I mean, there’s practices and games where you’re watching a guy go to the basket and you go, okay, there’s two points, and then I’m watching this film post-practice or postgame, and out of my TV screen comes this dude flying in to get a hand on a ball.

His timing is incredible. He defends with such pride. He takes the defensive side personal, and that’s not only for him, but for others. Like, he’s a guy who comes in time-outs and he’s saying, yo, you got to get back in front after that ball screen, or you didn’t rotate down and get a hand on so and so, or, yo, you’ve got to get your box-out.

So he takes all of that on such a personal level that I think it just drives him on the defensive side of the floor.

Q. A lot is made of the Kams and the Amarions and the stars of the team, but what’s it like to see some of your bench guys and role players get the NCAA Tournament experience, the gear, the trip to Cleveland, all the little things that come into this beyond just basketball?

ANDREW TOOLE: It’s a lifetime memory. It’s something that you’ll never forget. A couple things. One of the things that I was really happy about was, when we were at the Horizon League tournament, that DJ and Josh were named all-tournament team. I thought that was a great recognition of the years that they had.

Obviously, they had great tournaments, but they had great years for us, and so with Varo, with Mar, with Kam getting postseason accolades from the Horizon League, and then seeing DJ and Josh get that all-tournament team in the Horizon League, I thought it was really fitting. Again, all year long, we’ve had a group of guys that have been about winning and wanting to win.

Not speaking out of turn here, but our director of basketball operations, Matt sweet, a couple years ago had had a bout with cancer at 28 years old. Before the championship game against Youngstown, on the bottom of our scouting report, it said highlight of your life, and as we were going through our pregame stuff, when we got to that point, Coach Sweet spoke up and basically said, when you have an incredible death situation like I did with cancer you’re going to reflect on the highlights of your life, and going to the NCAA Tournament is a highlight of your life. He urged the guys, go make a highlight of your life.

So whether you play 40 minutes tomorrow or play zero minutes tomorrow, to be a part of this is a highlight of your life. I’m just happy as a coach and a coaching staff that we’ve been able to provide these guys this opportunity.

Q. In your transition from the NEC to the Horizon League, what’s made your partnership with Chris king work so well?

ANDREW TOOLE: Our arguments. I know he’s in the back of the room, so I think we’ll just start with that.

I think it’s twofold. I know both of us are very, very competitive. We want to be successful. We want to be on this stage of the NCAA Tournament. I think we’ve worked to help each other with what we’ve needed, whether it’s resources for the program, NIL. He has great experience as long as he’s been an athletic director. He always wants me to tell everyone about his wit and his charm. But he has great experience, and he has great expertise in what it takes to kind of continue to move the program forward.

It hasn’t always been easy. We made this move in the middle of a pandemic, so I’m not sure that that was always the most appropriate timing. But we did it, and we’ve tried to figure out how to make the best of it.

Obviously, last year was disappointing for us. I felt two years ago when we went 10-10 in the league that we kind of had found a little bit of a foothold after those two pandemic years, and then last year we slid in the wrong direction.

To have this kind of year I know is — I take great pride in it and I know he does as well, because there was a lot of days last spring where he’s in his office, I’m in my office and I’m not sure how many other people were in the hallway trying to figure out how we could get to this place, and so being here, I think, is great satisfaction from that experience.

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