The Colonials are headed to Cleveland.
The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament bracket was released on Sunday, and Robert Morris was announced as a No. 15 seed. The Colonials will face No. 2 Alabama on Friday at Rocket Arena in Cleveland. The winner will advance to play No. 7 St. Mary’s or No. 10 Vanderbilt on Sunday.
Friday’s game will be at 12:40 p.m. on TruTV.
At their watch party at the UPMC Events Center, the Colonials were thrilled to not only hear their name, but to know they’ll only be headed two hours away. Many of the Robert Morris fans in attendance reacted with dismay when the first Cleveland games were announced, as Robert Morris wasn’t one of those teams, but they cheered louder when they found out the Colonials were in Cleveland after all.
Junior forward Amarion Dickerson, and his assembled family members, cheered louder than most. He’s a Cleveland native who will play his first NCAA tournament game in his home city.
“Being able to get to this stage and I’m playing in front of a hometown crowd? Man, it’s a blessing,” Dickerson said.
His teammate Alvaro Folgueiras, the Horizon League Player of the Year, didn’t realize how big of an event Selection Sunday was. Growing up in Spain, he knew all about the NCAA tournament — but this was a step he didn’t know the importance of.
“In Spain, [you grow up hearing] about March Madness, the Big Dance, college basketball and everything, but you never know the details,” Folgueiras said. “... It’s nice to discover it [for myself].”
He was also excited to be in Cleveland, adding that he hoped students and community members would make the drive.
The Colonials (26-8) earned their berth by winning the Horizon League tournament, defeating Wright State at home and Oakland and Youngstown State in Indianapolis. It’s the first time the Colonials have qualified for the NCAA tournament since 2020 but the first time they will actually play in it since 2015, as the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It’ll be an uphill battle to advance in the tournament. Robert Morris has never won a first-round NCAA tournament game, beating No. 12 Georgia Southern in the preliminary round in 1983 and No. 16 North Florida in the First Four in 2015. They have come close multiple times, falling to No. 5 Purdue by two points in 1983 and forcing overtime against No. 2 Villanova in 2010.
Alabama (25-8) is an extremely challenging opponent, too. The Crimson Tide went to the Final Four last year and are considered one of the favorites to win the entire tournament this season. The NCAA ranks all teams from 1 to 68. Alabama is ranked No. 6 overall. Robert Morris is No. 59.
“We knew we were going to get a super team, whoever we played,” Colonials coach Andy Toole said. “You look at anybody that’s going to be a 14 or a 15 [seed], look across the line and you’re going to see the Iowa States and the Wisconsins and the Texas Techs and the Kentuckys and all of those people. We knew it was going to be one of those.”
He knows it would take a monumental effort for Robert Morris to beat Alabama.
“Obviously, across the board, they’re going to be bigger. They’re going to be faster. Potentially stronger. More talented,” Toole said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to do it as a team.”
His players weren’t thinking of that when their name was called. They were just excited to play again.
“It was an unbelievable feeling, for sure,” Dickerson said. “Just knowing all the hard work and dedication we put in leading up to this year and leading up to the [Horizon League] playoffs and finally seeing it work out. And now we get a chance to showcase our talent across the world.”
Other local men’s teams
Robert Morris wasn’t the only team in the region to hear its name called Sunday. St Francis, which earned its first NCAA bid since 1991 by winning the Northeast Conference tournament, received a No. 16 seed.
St Francis (16-17) will face No. 16 Alabama State in the First Four on Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio. Tipoff is set for 6:40 p.m. on truTV. The winner will advance to Lexington, Ky., to face No. 1 overall seed Auburn on Thursday.
West Virginia (19-13) was expecting to qualify as an at-large team but did not receive a bid. The Mountaineers were controversially considered as the “First Team Out,” despite being widely expected to be part of the tournament. They may choose to play in the College Basketball Crown, a new 16-team tournament in Las Vegas.
Statement from coach Darian DeVries. pic.twitter.com/AWPchdJ3du
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) March 17, 2025
As a top-two team in the Big 12, the Mountaineers receive an automatic bid to the Crown, if they choose to accept it.
West Virginia women going dancing
The West Virginia women’s basketball will begin its quest for a national championship as a sixth-seed in the regional 2 in Birmingham of the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament as the Mountaineers meet either the winner of No. 11 seeds Washington or Columbia in the second round in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Duquesne women into the WNIT
The Duquesne women announced an invitation to the WNIT. The Dukes (19-12) will play in this postseason event for the second straight season. The WNIT will release its full bracket on Monday with matchups.
First Published: March 16, 2025, 10:43 p.m.
Updated: March 17, 2025, 3:01 p.m.
