Robert Morris' Amarion Dickerson, Duquesne's Kareem Rozier among area players to enter transfer portal

It took a full season, capped by a spectacular performance last week in the NCAA Tournament, for Amarion Dickerson to make his mark on the local sports scene.

It took the Robert Morris basketball star barely any time at all to say his goodbyes.

Dickerson, a 6-foot-7 small forward, who scored 25 points in Robert Morris’ 90-81 loss to Alabama in an NCAA East Region first-round game, was among a handful of Division I men’s players in the region Monday to enter the NCAA transfer portal on the first day of a 30-day period to provide players an opportunity to choose another school.

“Thank you, Robert Morris University, for an unforgettable journey,” Dickerson revealed on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I’m beyond grateful for coach Andy Toole, the entire athletic department, and the amazing Bobby Mo fans for their support. Together, we made history, and every moment will stay with me forever.”

Another Robert Morris player — senior guard Justice Williams, the team’s third-leading scorer a year ago — has also entered his name into the portal, according to recruiting service verbalcommits.com.

The 6-foot-5 Williams averaged 12.3 points per game in 2023-24 before sitting out this season recovering from knee surgery.

Dickerson, a junior college transfer, put on a show and became an instant hit on Friday in his hometown of Cleveland by nearly leading No. 15 seed Robert Morris to an upset of No. 2 Alabama.

In addition to his 25 points, Dickerson added nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks and shot 11 for 22, including 10 for 14 from inside the 3-point arc.

He previously was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year in helping Robert Morris (26-9) to its first Horizon League championship as the team’s third-leading scorer (13.3 ppg) and its second-leading rebounder (5.9 rpg), while finishing second in the conference in blocked shots (82).

• Duquesne also lost a pair of players on the first day of the portal’s opening, when the school confirmed that junior guard Kareem Rozier and junior forward Matus Hronsky entered their names.

Rozier, who played in 101 games, including 31 starts, the past three seasons, averaged career highs in points (6.7 ppg) and assists (3.2 apg) this season.

Known for his fiery persona and self-proclaimed team-leadership role, Rozier often served as an unofficial assistant and was a frequent team spokesman in postgame interviews.

He was more visible in those roles last season as a sophomore, when Duquesne qualified for its first NCAA Tournament in 47 years in former coach Keith Dambrot’s final season before associate head coach Dru Joyce III was elevated to the top spot.

The 6-8 Hronsky, a native of Poruba, Slovakia, battled injuries in his first two seasons at Duquesne. He is coming off his most productive year, starting 11 games among his career-high 32 appearances and averaging 5.2 points while shooting 35.2% from 3-point range.

• Pitt redshirt freshman forward Marlon Barnes Jr. has also entered the portal, according to a post on X.

Barnes, a member of Pitt’s 2023 recruiting class that included Bub Carrington, Jaland Lowe and Papa Kante, did not play as a freshman and appeared in only eight games for 12 minutes this season.

At Cleveland’s Brush High School, Barnes was rated a 3-star recruit and the ninth overall prospect in Ohio by 247Sports.

• Saint Francis, which made just its second NCAA Tournament appearance, losing to Alabama State in the last seconds of a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio, saw four players enter the portal, according to verbalcommits.com.

The most notable name was 6-8 junior forward Valentino Pinedo, the team’s second-leading scorer (10.3 ppg) and leading rebounder (6.4). Pinedo, from Murcia, Spain, previously played at East Carolina.

The other Red Flash players to enter the portal on the first day were 6-8 junior forward Miles Webb (29 games, 7 starts, 3.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg), 6-7 sophomore forward Aidan Harris (31 games, 1.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg) and freshman guard Zachary Jones.

• Also, three players each from Penn State and West Virginia were entered into the portal, according to verbalcommits.com.

At Penn State, freshman guard Jahvin Carter, 6-11 freshman forward Miles Goodman and 6-7 freshman forward Hudson Ward intended to transfer, according to the recruiting service. None of the three first-year players made a start for the Nittany Lions and all averaged less than nine minutes per game.

At West Virginia, senior guard/forward Tucker DeVries, who was averaging 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game before an upper-body injury forced him to have surgery and miss the rest of the season, entered his name in the portal on Monday, according to the recruiting service’s website.

He played in just eight games this season for West Virginia.

The 6-7 DeVries came to WVU from Drake, when his father, former Drake coach Darian DeVries, took over as coach of the Mountaineers this season.

But the elder DeVries left Morgantown last week after announcing he would be taking over as coach of Indiana following WVU’s failure to make the NCAA Tournament with a 19-13 record (10-10 Big 12).

Meanwhile, a pair of WVU freshmen guards also entered their names, according to verbalcommits.com — Jonathan Powell, the Mountaineers’ fourth-leading scorer (8.3 ppg), and K.J. Tenner (2.4 ppg).

The NCAA transfer portal, which opened following the second round of the NCAA Tournament, is open for 30 days until April 22, a period of 15 days shorter than in previous years.