Robert Morris Head Coach Andrew Toole Discusses Opportunity to Play Alabama

The Colonials head coach opens up about his reaction to facing the Crimson Tide, who is "bigger, faster, potentially stronger and more talented" than Robert Morris.

Mar 11, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Robert Morris Colonials head coach Andrew Toole during the second half against the Youngstown State Penguins at Corteva Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

"You certainly get everyone's attention when Alabama comes across the [bracket reveal] line there."

Imagine reading that sentence as a Crimson Tide men's basketball fan just a few years ago. This is the first thing Robert Morris head coach Andrew Toole told the media following Selection Sunday as the 15-seed Colonials will face 2-seed Alabama in Cleveland on Friday for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Naturally, Alabama is the heavy favorite to win this Round of 64 matchup, which has added some bulletin board material and motivation for the Colonials to get their preparation underway.

"It doesn't take much to get [Robert Morris players'] attention," Toole said. "Obviously Alabama has had one of the best seasons in college basketball. Final Four team last year. A dynamic team. They know we've got a lot of work to do between now and Friday. As coaches, we'll start getting to the film and figuring out different things that we've got to try to accomplish in order to compete in the game. But I know that these guys will come out with great energy and ready to swing."

Toole shared his reaction to facing the Crimson Tide, who has been ranked inside of the top-10 of the AP Top 25 for the entire season. He actually has some past experience against Alabama head coach Nate Oats as well and is looking to find any sort of advantage.

"We knew we were going to get a super team, whoever we played," Toole said. "Anybody that's going to be a 14 or 15-seed team...we knew [our opponent] was going to be a team that is a top 10-15 caliber team, and obviously Alabama is a great program. They're a great team. Nate Oats, we played him when he was at Buffalo so we're familiar with him a bit.

"Obviously we know they're going to be at the top of their game and we've got to be as prepared as we can be, we've got to be competing as best we can and we have to figure out how to do it together. Across the board, they're going to be bigger, they're going to be faster, potentially stronger, more talented, so we've got to figure out a way to do it as a team."

The Colonials finished the regular season on an 8-game win streak and defeated Oakland and Youngstown State to take home the Horizon Tournament Championship title. In other words, Robert Morris is peaking at the right time, which is a big key for teams aiming to advance further into the NCAA Tournament. This is part of the message Toole is sending his team over the next few days.

"Let's prepare ourselves as best we can," Toole said. "Let's go out and be aggressive. Let's go out and give it our best shot. Come out of the gates swinging and keep swinging until someone tells us we can't. That's kind of the approach we've taken this whole second half of the season where we wanted to kind of dictate to our opponent.

"Obviously Alabama is as good an opponent as we'll face all year long, so those challenges are greater, but that means you've got to be a little bit better and a little more connected."

2025 NCAA Tournament Bracket

2025 NCAA Tournament / NCAA

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