Borst: Amarion Dickerson’s Departure from Robert Morris Leaves Massive Hole

Amarion Dickerson left a lasting impact on the Robert Morris men’s basketball program despite spending just one season with the team. The Cleveland native announced his intentions to transfer on Monday, just three days after nearly guiding the Colonials to an opening-round upset over Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.

In the current day and age of college athletics, it is no surprise that Dickerson is testing the waters and seeing if a better opportunity awaits in the transfer portal especially after the season that he just had.

The ability to move up into better conferences and to get better NIL opportunities definitely helps players that are in situations like Dickerson is. He spent his first two years of college basketball at the JUCO level so with the chance to play for a high-major program, it is a no-brainer to at least see what opportunities are out there.

That does not make his departure any less impactful on Robert Morris as his absence leaves a massive hole on the Robert Morris roster and in the hearts of Colonial fans.

The high-major athletic ability that Dickerson displayed was like catching lightning in a bottle for a Horizon League team. While Andy Toole and his staff will fill the spot with a talented player, whoever it is, will not be able to replicate the style of play that Dickerson brought.

In his lone season with the Colonials, Dickerson raised his stock as he broke the program’s single-game block record twice, broke the single-season block record, won the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year award but most importantly, he was a key component in Robert Morris’ trek back to the Big Dance.

Despite winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award, Dickerson added value in all facets of the game. Dickerson’s 2.34 blocks per game ranked 12th in the entire country and his 82 total blocks ranked second in the Horizon League. On top of his ability to take a shot away, he averaged 13.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game on an efficient 53% shooting from the field.

Then, in the team’s tournament game against Alabama, his stock went even higher as he scored a game-high 25 points and added nine rebounds against one of the best team’s in all of college basketball.

Robert Morris guard Amarion Dickerson was emotional after fouling out 😢 pic.twitter.com/sj7VchmiH1

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 21, 2025

The Colonials nor Dickerson’s season started as well as it wrapped up. The team found themselves at 2-5 in conference play before they kicked into another gear and went on a tear through the Horizon League in route of their first Horizon League regular-season title and first Horizon League Championship.

It is no coincidence, that right around that same time, Dickerson kicked his game up a notch. The “breakout” game for Dickerson came on Dec. 29 when the Colonials took down Northern Kentucky in a triple-overtime thriller. In that game, Dickerson posted an insane stat line of 27 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.

Following that performance, Dickerson and the Colonials won 17 of their next 20 games before falling to the Crimson Tide in the NCAA Tournament.

Even if his front-court mate and Horizon League Player of the Year honoree, Alvaro Folgueiras, returns to Robert Morris next season, the massive hole left from Dickerson’s departure will still be felt as the two played different styles of basketball.

Folgueiras, who took an individual massive leap forward during his sophomore season, credited Dickerson as a huge reason that he had so much success this year. Toole often spoke throughout the season about how the two played off and through one another which was a key part of the team’s overall success.

While it is unclear as to where Dickerson’s next basketball stop will be, his departure sure does make Toole’s job and the Colonials’ quest for back-to-back tournament appearances that much harder.