RMU hoops eying Jucos for 2014

Robert Morris has never hesitated to fill holes on its basketball roster with junior college players. Over the course of the Mike Rice and Andy Toole eras, the Colonials have had significant success with JuCo players such as Bateko Francisco, Rob Robinson, Josiah Whitehead, Lawrence Bridges and Karvel Anderson.

Toole hit the JuCo ranks again this offseason, bringing in Aaron Tate, Desjuan Newton and Charles Oliver to help flesh out the roster.

And with four openings for the Class of 2014, Robert Morris is looking to the junior college level for more potential answers. RMU already has verbal commitments from high school guard Jafar Kinsey and forward Andre Frederick, and they still have offers out to a number of high school prospects.

But they've also extended a number of offers recently to junior college prospects, including three at one school. Devaugntah Williams, Justin Jamison, and Malcolm Henderson of Missouri State-West Plains have all landed on Robert Morris' radar, and Williams and Henderson both have confirmed offers.

On the east coast, Pensacola Junior College guard RaAnthony Sanders also. recently picked up an offer from RMU.

The Colonials obviously won't take all four, but each provides a different look and could fill a different holes. Jamison is 6-foot-9, 260 pounds, and he's working his way back from a stint playing minor league baseball after being drafted by Texas in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB Draft. The Strongsville, Ohio native is a big body and fits the classic center mold, though he didn't play last year.

Henderson is another big body at 6-foot-7, 255 pounds. A graduate of Vanier College High School in Chatequguay, Quebec in Canada, Henderson played sparingly last year as a freshman but impressed on the summer circuit and figures to play a larger role this year.

Williams is a 6-foot-3, 200-pound shooting guard who led Missouri State-West Plains with 13.1 points per game last year. He's more of an athletic scorer than a perimeter threat, although he can hit it from beyond the arc. Williams sank 44 percent of his field goals last year, including 35.8 percent of his 3-pointers.

Sanders, meanwhile, is the only recent JuCo target with Division I experience. He signed with Tulane after graduating from Holt High School in Alabama. Sanders played in just nine games before leaving Tulane for Pensacola Junior College. This will be his first year at the college, and he already has offers from Albany, Arkansas-Little Rock and Jacksonville to go with his RMU offer.

Odds are Robert Morris takes one more big man and one more scorer. We'll see how it plays out.