RMU's Abraham suspected of drinking and driving

Robert Morris star and last season's Northeast Conference Rookie of the year is suspected of drinking and driving. He was recently suspended from a matchup with Pittsburgh because of a "violation of team rules," and now the Beaver County Times is reporting that, "Abraham, who struck both a moving car and a parked car, has been charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content above 0.159 percent, underage drinking and careless driving, according to the Moon police report. The report did not list his blood-alcohol level."


(Thanks to Richard for sharing the link.)


A couple thoughts:


1. Definitely nice to see Robert Morris lose its best player in a manner where no one was physically injured.


2. As Mount fans, let's not be too critical. We saw one of our starters, Joey Butler, get caught making a huge mistake that altered his life. Joey's a great guy and still a close friend, and has moved well beyond his mistake to become successful.


So yeah, Karon screwed up, what's bad for Robert Morris is good for us, but let's not go overboard kicking the kid while he's down. I'll be very interested to see how the administration handles this compared to the Mount.


I can tell you for a fact that you can get a DUI at the Mount and not only keep some or all of your scholarship, but not even be forced to sit out an entire season. I have seen multiple occasions where Mount student-athletes got DUIs and served suspensions that did not even amount to half of the season. (No one from within the school will call me out on this because it's true.)


Here's hoping Abraham is given a second chance at Robert Morris or some other school. A kid with his talent should be put on a strict probation and be allowed to play again after serving a just punishment.

Mar-teeny: Kansas State coach calls out Mount

Whether the comment was a shot at Mount St. Mary's, its coach, or just a shot in the dark, it's hard to say. But Kansas State head coach Frank Martin's remark featured on "The Pitch" that, "It's not like we're Mount St. Mary's. We've played these kinds of games before," should ruffle a few feathers.

The quote was used to essentially say that the Wildcats will not be scared of Duke like he suggests our Mountaineers would be. I hate to break it to the polarizing general from Manhattan, Kansas, but the Mount would be plenty comfortable – though still overmatched – in a game with Duke. Under Milan Brown, the Mount played the toughest non-conference schedule in the NEC every single year, and Robert Burke has accepted a beefy slate this year as well.

I don't think this Duke team is so high and mighty that it could not be compared to a matchup with: Cincinnati, Penn St., Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Oregon, Siena, Old Dominion, George Mason, Winthrop (when there were awesome), Georgetown or, best of all, the Tyler Hansbrough/Ty Lawson (as juniors) North Carolina team. Hell, there's more pressure when we play Robert Morris than there would be against Duke.

So no, this isn't a diss on Martin. And it's certainly not to say that the Mount is as good on paper as Kansas State, but I sure as hell would like to go play them next year. Or better yet, around the third weekend in March.

If I get an update, and you better believe I'm digging, I'll post it. Go 'Cats.

Mount baseball lands monster catcher

I attended a mock signing for three baseball players at a high school in my Patch, and one of them, Andrew Clow, is headed to the Mount. See his video interview and gaudy stats here.


His team (C. Milton Wright) went undefeated and won the state title last year with Clow behind the plate for every game.


Another coach in the county told me he thought Clow had a chance to play for an ACC school. Great signing by the Mount.

Burke's First 'Dayt'

I have some observations from today's 67-52 loss to Dayton based purely on the box score. In other words, I'm not giving any game analysis – that would be impossible – just pointing out a few statistics of note.


Brown, Krajina didn't play


Pierre Brown and Kristijan Krajina both have a fractured foot. They should be out for a few weeks. The interesting part will be whether Brown plays when he comes back. If the team is struggling, or if coach Robert Burke just believes Pierre would be more useful with a full and more healthy final season, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a red shirt. That's pure speculation.


Barber only took three shots


If Raven Barber didn't have more than two fouls, and if he had played less than 23 minutes, this wouldn't stand out so much. There could be a dozen reasons for this, but it's still pretty curious.


Norfleet led the team in scoring in his college debut/Norfleet took 13 3s


I would be me encouraged by Julian Norfleet leading the team in scoring if he didn't take 16 shots to do it. The kid was either A. a gunner B. highly-trusted by Burke or C. wide open and missed a lot of shots. On the other hand, it's definitely encouraging that he wasn't afraid to put the rock up in his first college game against a very good team. With Pierre out, we will need a guard to step up as our primary perimeter scorer (in my opinion) so maybe Norfleet is the guy.


12 team fouls, only one player with three


I mean, it's about time. In my five years, every time we played a major program (I consider Dayton major) we would be lucky if we only had 12 fouls called on us in a half, let alone an entire game. For the record, Lamar Trice had the three fouls.


Atupem's line


Fourteen points on 5-for-11 from the floor and nine rebounds (Shawn Atupem only has one career double-double to my knowledge.) He was also 4-for-5 from the line; if he can make 80 percent of his free throws this year, he'll score at least 14 points a night. The best stat of all, though, is that Atupem only had one foul in 33 minutes. Early, I know, but it's encouraging.


Point guard play


Trice: Five assists, three turnovers to go with eight points and two steals
Josh Castellanos (freshman): Four assists, no turnovers to go with four points, all from a perfect night at the line.
I heard Trice improved a lot in the offseason (as he did the year before) and this line reflects that.


I could say a lot more about the stats, especially by comparing and contrasting to Dayton (we were out-rebounded 54–31,) but overall the numbers are encouraging. Great point guard play, great game from Shawn and a respectable showing at a tough venue in the first game under a new coach. It doesn't look like Dayton cleared the end of its bench until the very end, either, so it's not like we would racked up a bunch of stats against their walk-ons (as it appears.)


---


-Someone found this site by searching for "mount st marys, md coach brown fired." So just to clarify, he wasn't fired.


-Holy Cross also had its season opener today. The Crusaders lost to College of Charleston, (who just lost to Maryland practically at the buzzer) 93–84. They trailed 48–30 in the first half, so a nice comeback, and definitely not the low-scoring game we're used to seeing from coach Milan Brown's teams.


---


NEC Scores


Fairfield 62 Sacred Heart 45
Kent State 90 Bryant 49
Robert Morris 55 St. Peter's 30 (Think they were going to forget how to play defense without Mike Rice there? Nah. Also, why the hell wouldn't the coaches vote them No. 1? They won the last two NEC titles. Thanks for adding fuel to the fire, everyone.)
Central Conn. St. 64 Hartford 62
Quinnipiac 75 Yale 64 (3:25 remaining in game as I type this)

Mount Signs Fredericksburg Forward Danaher

According to this story from fredericksburg.com, the Mount has signed 6-foot-10 (not 6-foot-6 as an earlier typo indicated) Taylor Danaher from Fredericksburg, Va. He will play his senior season at Fredericksburg Christian School after averaging 24 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in his junior season in the Central Virginia Homeschool Athletic Association.

He chose the Mount over Longwood.

Thanks to Richard for sharing this link.