RMU needs a miracle
By Joe Starkey, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
It's not that Robert Morris University, the No. 15 seed in the Midwest Region, has no chance to beat second-seeded Michigan State tonight.
It's just that doing so would make the Miracle on Ice look like a mild upset.
Since the NCAA Tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 15 seeds were 4-92 against No. 2 seeds, entering Thursday. Transform that to a batting average, and it's .042, or about what Adam LaRoche hits every April.
The Colonials are a 17-point underdog, which, quite frankly, sounds low. I jokingly asked coach Mike Rice if he fears his team might look past the Spartans -- who lost in the Big Ten semifinals -- to a matchup against Southern Cal or Boston College.
"One of my assistants actually made that comment, (saying), 'Ah, do we need to get films of USC and BC?' " Rice said. "I'm like, 'Fellas, could we just focus on Michigan State? I love that you're confident we can beat Michigan State and (coach) Tom Izzo, who hasn't lost back-to-back games in like 3 1/2 years, but ... ' "
Joking aside, know this: Rice is a ferocious competitor. If he's going down, he's going down with his hands around your neck. Tell him No. 15 seeds are 4-92, and he's liable to respond like Jim Carrey in "Dumb and Dumber," when the object of Carrey's affection tells him that odds of their hooking up are about a million to one.
"So you're tellin' me there's a chance!"
Of course there is.
Mike Eruzione, hero of the Miracle on Ice, can vouch for that.
What would Eruzione say to Rice's team tonight?
"Twos have lost to 15s; I would build on that, saying, 'Don't think this has never happened before,' " Eruzione said Thursday in a phone interview. "In our case, it was college kids versus pros. I mean, if Robert Morris was playing the Celtics, I'd say no chance. But they're kids. (Michigan State) may come out and not shoot well. They might panic if they get behind.
"I know this: The more you let (the underdog) hang around, the more they start to believe they can win. Robert Morris has to enjoy the opportunity they have to create a great upset."
Last year, No. 15 seed Belmont had Duke on the ropes before losing, 71-70, in a West Region opener. Eleven years earlier, here in Pittsburgh, No. 15 seed Coppin State lit up Mellon Arena in a first-round East Region game, shocking 30-point favorite South Carolina, 78-65.
Two days later, Coppin State nearly struck again, losing to Texas, 82-81. The two largest basketball crowds in Pittsburgh history (17,509) watched those games and cheered madly for the little school from Baltimore.
Ronald "Fang" Mitchell still coaches Coppin State. Earlier this week, he reveled in the memory of that magical weekend.
"The people of Pittsburgh made our kids feel as great as they've ever felt," Mitchell said. "Before our game against Texas, we were sitting in the stands. When we got up to go to the locker room, the crowd just roared.
"I will never forget that."
Mitchell says RMU must make an early statement and thus generate crowd support tonight at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Of course, the overriding factor in any upset, Mitchell said, is this: "Do you have enough talent?"
That helps, like when 15th-seeded Santa Clara, a 20-point underdog, stunned No. 2 Arizona in a 1993 West Regional, thanks largely to a point guard named Steve Nash.
The other two No. 15 seeds to win first-round games were Richmond in 1988 (against Billy Owens-led Syracuse) and, most recently, Hampton in 2001 (against Iowa State).
Rice probably needs Northeast Conference MVP Jeremy Chappell to play the game of his life. The coach will divide the contest into four-minute increments, each with a different game plan.
"If you can be somewhere within a couple of possessions in the last 5-6 minutes," Rice said, "I think all the pressure goes on those guys."
Anybody got a spare miracle?
