Robert Morris held a press conference today to formally announce Andy Toole's three-year contract extension through the 2017-18 season, with Toole and Colonials athletic director Craig Coleman taking time to discuss the extension and give thanks, etc.

Here's a video of Toole talking about the contract, as well as a video of Coleman doing the same. I apologize if the video is a little shaky at times, guess I'm not used to shooting with my iPhone. I'll hope to make this a regular, and less nausea-inducing, thing.

Below are some notes and observations from the press conference today:

*** I talked to Toole about this on Thursday night, but the extension also includes raises for his assistant coaches and staff. Contract extensions typically include those sorts of all-encompassing raises, but figured it was worth clearing up.

*** It didn't get anywhere close to the sort of rage Toole shows when someone royally messes up in practice, but you can definitely tell he's not too happy about the circumstances surrounding Coron Williams'  departure. It's not so much about Coron's decision (though some of the people I've talked to seem skeptical about his ability to excel in the ACC), but rather about the existence of the fifth-year transfer.

He referred to it as "a bad rule" and added: "I don't think there's any sense to it."

*** I talked some with Robert Morris president Greg Dell'Omo for an article I'm going to be doing and it's pretty evident that basketball is a big factor in his plans for growing that school.

Frankly, it's one that makes sense. Whether academia likes to acknowledge it or not, athletics are the most effective way for a university to gain increased visibility and for a school with limited resources like Robert Morris, basketball is the easiest sport to work toward that goal with. As opposed to football, in which you need many excellent recruiting classes at many different positions, a basketball team (and program) can be drastically improved with just a few impact guys.

It's something programs like Gonzaga, Virginia Commonwealth, Butler and others have done successfully, and while every mid-major program aspires to be the next to join that elite group, Robert Morris has taken some tangible steps toward that goal.

*** It's become clear that the Kentucky win still resonates strongly for Robert Morris. Many of these top mid-major programs have the kind of cache where people can point to a singular moment that defines that school. For Butler, it was nearly beating a heavily-favored Duke team on a half-court heave in the national championship. For VCU, it was riding its "Havoc" style of play to a Final Four. Others like George Mason and Wichita State have replicated that feat in recent years.

I don't think that beating an underachieving Kentucky team in the NIT is anywhere near as impressive as those other accomplishments, but it got people talking about Robert Morris basketball, something which is hardly even done here in Pittsburgh.

Toole mentioned recruits he's talked to identified his program by that win and that assistant Joe Gallo remarked to a coach that a Robert Morris recruit was looking at some higher-level programs. The coach responded by saying, "Higher level? You guys beat Kentucky. What's a higher level than that?" A few weeks ago at practice, he also said assistant Robby Pridgen, while at the Final Four in Atlanta wearing an RMU shirt, was pulled aside by some Louisville fans that wanted to take a picture with him.

Being "the school that beat Kentucky" certainly carries more weight than "the school that almost beat Villanova that one time" and smaller programs that want to take the next step forward need that kind of a win/moment on their resume.

*** There was definitely a certain giddiness to most of the people there, from players to coaches to adminstrators. You could tell this was something they wanted to get done for some time.

*** A lot of Toole's family was there, including his son Ryan who apparently is already a better dresser at seven months old than I am at 23 years old.

*** Going back to Williams, Toole said that there are definitely some holes on the roster they're looking to fill. It looks like a certainty at this point that one of the incoming freshmen will go to prep school for a year, which will open up a scholarship. A junior college player would seem like the most viable option for that spot, but even though he's not a fan of the rule, Toole could look for a potential fifth-year transfer.

The recruiting class has to be finalized by May 24, so we'll have more answers by then.

*** In the Keightley Classic, Robert Morris will play at Kentucky, Eastern Michigan and Cleveland State, while getting a home game against Texas-Arlington. When Toole was asked about the potential of playing Pitt, he said he'd be open to it, but he added that games against the Panthers are usually a little lethargic because the players are so used to going against one another from pick-up games and summer leagues like the one out in Green Tree.

A lot of the team's schedule is not finalized yet -- much to the chagrin of assistant coach Michael Byrnes -- but it looks like the team will play 31 games this season, 15 of which will come in non-conference play. Games under current contracts like Duquesne and Savannah State are already set.

*** As a final thing, from talking to Toole and Dell'Omo, it really sounds like a push is being made to allocate resources and find a new home to replace the Sewall Center. An ideal setup would be something similar to what Quinnipiac has, with one building housing both hockey and basketball, but on different sides of the building (so not a single multipurpose arena).

It's something to keep an eye on going forward, even if it may not be materializing any time way too soon.

When I set out to look at who was returning next season for Robert Morris, I did so with the assumption that the roster would remain intact from the time that I wrote it moving forward. Not even a few hours after I did a post on Karvel Anderson and Coron Williams, I talked with some Wake Forest folks on Twitter who informed me that he was close to transferring to the Demon Deacons. After a week in which it was confirmed that he visited the Winston-Salem, N.C. school, Williams' transfer became official.

The move is one that took a while to register for most people that cover Robert Morris, but it's one that makes sense. By transferring, Williams (a Virginia native) will be closer to home and he'll be provided with a chance to get some major minutes on a team with a thin backcourt that plays in what's probably going to be the best conference in the country next season. Plus, what kid that grows up in that region of the country doesn't dream of playing in the ACC?

(Photo: Northeast Conference)

Williams started a good portion of the Colonials' games this season and put up respectable numbers: 9.1 points per game, 1.2 assists per game, 42.4 field goal percentage, 41.6 3-point percentage.

As I mentioned in my post on him (and Anderson) last week, Williams' role as an offensive threat can be boiled down pretty simply -- he was something of a 3-point specialist, as 69.2 percent of his shots came from beyond the arc. He was third on the team in 3-point percentage, behind Anderson and Lucky Jones (Mike McFadden's 1-for-1 line notwithstanding), and aside from Anderson, he probably had the best and most consistent shooting stroke on the team.

Some have mentioned his skill as a ball handler, but I never really saw it. In some stretches, he was forced to be more of a point guard when others were in foul trouble, but he wasn't much of a creator when he had the ball and I'm not really sure backcourt depth will be much of a problem for Robert Morris next season, given the recruits it has coming in. There will be plenty of warm bodies to be thrust into the games.

More than anything, I think this move will really alter the identity of the team going into next season, one that will force it to become more balanced.

Last season, the Colonials made their living beyond the 3-point arc, a dual marriage of aptitude and necessity that saw five players shoot better than the NCAA average (about 33 percent) from 3-point range. With Williams' departure, three of those players are now gone. Two of the team's returning guards -- Anthony Myers-Pate and David Appolon -- shot 25.4 and 22.9 percent, respectively, from deep last season.

If there's a crux to all of this, it's that Robert Morris won't be the same team that can shoot and make 3-pointers at will next season. Yes, Anderson and his 43.9 percent shooting clip are obviously back. But the next-best shooter is Jones, who is frankly too athletic and verstile to spend so much of his time hanging on the perimeter.

Where the Colonials have lost someone in the backcourt, they will get much stronger down low next season as Lijah Thompson (7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds per game in 2011-12) comes back from an ACL injury next season, Mike McFadden comes back after a solid junior year, Stephan Hawkins will look to build on a freshman campaign that showed signs of promise, particularly on the defensive end, and Keith Armstrong will still get some reasonable minutes. That's a pretty solid group to have, one that doesn't even include junior college forward Aaron Tate.

Don't get me wrong: Robert Morris will likely be led in scoring by Anderson and Jones, but by losing a player like Williams (along with Velton Jones and a more perimeter-oriented big like Russell Johnson) takes away from the pure 3-point depth that defined RMU last season. Whereas the team had one viable true post presence last year in McFadden, it will have a few more next year. Not really good or bad news, just how I see things playing out.

The loss of Williams isn't what I would call monumental, but it's also not something that can be dismissed as small or trivial. It's something that I think will put a lot more pressure on Anderson as a shooter and will shift more attention to how he responds from his wrist surgery, which happened today. The departure lessens what was a big strength of the team (3-point shooting), but it's still hard to scoff at a team that returns two players that made over 40 percent of their 3-point attempts.

Ultimately, Williams leaves behind a void that will have to be filled, but it's not one that's so large that it can't be overcome.

As fate, and the college basketball schedulers, would have it, Robert Morris' celebrated 59-57 victory over Kentucky in the NIT last season will have a sequel.

The Wildcats released their non-conference schedule Wednesday, one which included a home game Nov. 17 against the Colonials as a part of the Keightley Classic. The tournament also includes Texas-Arlington, Eastern Michigan and Cleveland State. As it was explained to me, Robert Morris will get two road games (one of them obviously being at Kentucky) and a home game as a part of this arrangement.

This was something that was in the works for the last couple of weeks. When I was at a practice a couple of weeks ago, Toole got a call from Calipari gauging his interest in participating in the tournament. Obviously, this threatens Toole's unblemished record against one of the game's most recognizable coaches, but it's a little tough for a school of RMU's stature to turn down the pay day that would come with this kind of a game.

It probably goes without saying that next season's game will feature two teams that bear little resemblence to the ones that walked off the Sewall Center court back in March. While Robert Morris retains all but three players from the 2012-13 Colonials team, Kentucky will be entirely overhauled -- in the best sense of the word.

The Wildcats lose center Nerlens Noel and guard Archie Goodwin to the NBA, but they bring back forward Alex Poythress, center Willie Cauley-Stein and forward Kyle Wiltjer to go along with what is thought to be the greatest recruiting class in college basketball history. Four of ESPN's top 10 recruits have committed to Kentucky and there's still a possibility that the school could lure Andrew Wiggins -- the top-ranked player that some have dubbed as the best high school prospect since LeBron James -- as the Wildcats are among the final four teams he's considering.

While Robert Morris will always have that one night in Moon Township where it surprised much of the college basketball world, it seems like this sequel, as far as the Colonials are concerned, resembles "The Hangover Part II" more than "The Godfather Part II." I'm not saying that Robert Morris is not going to win, but....yeah, it's probably not going to win.