At the beginning of the season, I sat down with men’s basketball Head Coach Andy Toole, and we spoke about the team’s optimism heading into the new season.

The team added some new pieces that were supposed to push this program forward rather than take a step backward, but this season, this team has taken a step back.

After ending last season on a sour note last March in Cleveland State in the Horizon League Tournament, there was a sense of pride about how the entire season went and left a reason for optimism for 2023-24.

After some changeover within the program, the Colonials saw some key players leave but also some new arrivals. Head Coach Andy Toole went out and got two stellar transfers in the portal: Markeese Hastings, a graduate student from Western Michigan, and Justice Williams, a transfer from LSU.

The Colonials paired those key transfers with some good freshman recruits in the duo of Alfredo Boglio and Alvaro Folgueiras.

With all of that being said, the core of this team was still here, with Josh Corbin, TJ Wainwright, Stephaun Walker, Jackson Last, and Chris Ford all returning to the program.

When you look at all of these players on paper and their roster, their rotation should be going eight deep, and all of them have the qualities to be producing on the court.

Now, getting into the actual start of the season, these Colonials are struggling to start the season, and I say that lightly. Robert Morris is now 2-7 on the season, 0-2 in early conference play, 0-5 away from the UPMC Events Center.

This Colonials team is now on a three-game losing streak after their most recent loss on Wednesday against Canisius.

I think when you have so many new players that will be playing a big role within this team, there has to be an expectation for early season struggles. But I did not think the struggles would be this bad with the caliber of players they have to their exposal.

If we dive deep into this team, the problem has been their depth scoring after the four key players of Hastings, leading the team in scoring, followed by Corbin, Williams, Wainwright, and Walker. Those four players are carrying this team right now and doing their best to try and bring this team victory every night.

After the four key players, there is a major drop off in scoring from this team, with the fifth-best scorer being Jackson Last, averaging 4.7 points per game. His average is almost six points worse than the core four.

And even after Last, the scoring doesn’t get any better, with Boglio averaging 3.4 and even Cyril Arvanitis averaging 3.0 points per game, which is more than Alvaro Folgueiras (2.8). Folgueiras has appeared in every game for the Colonials and is not producing as much.

That is the biggest problem with this team, and in the future, players will need to step up and produce more off the bench if the Colonials want to get back on track and win some games.

Chris Ford, who has appeared in seven games, averages just under 13 minutes per game. However, he has not appeared in the last two games due to a matchup situation. Ford can produce for this team but hasn’t been able to do it consistently.

After the team’s most recent conference game versus Youngstown State, I asked coach Toole if there was a sense of urgency from the players and coaches to get back on track and figure things out. “I hope so,” Coach Toole said.

After the game against the Penguins, Coach Toole said the theme was “consistency,” and I couldn’t agree more. Especially on the offensive side of the ball, the team goes on runs where they get streaky and don’t score for long stretches.

This team has the ability and quality to get back on track, but it is up to the players whether they do so or not. The squad needs more depth, scoring, and consistency on both sides of the ball.

The Colonials will return to action Monday, Dec. 11, to face off against Delaware.