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References to Cornell Basketball in the news media today...From Ithaca College IC Sports Radio:
From the Columbia Spectator:We are less than 7 days away from the first automatic bid. It is the Ivy League. For a while it seemed as though Cornell and their 7 foot center had a “Foote” hold on the conference, but since then the competition has stepped up their game. The Big Red came out of New England with a win over Dartmouth, but a loss to “Haaavahd.” The IVY League bid will most likely come down to this weekends matchup against Princeton and Cornell, but it will all be for nothing if Columbia plays spoiler against Princeton on Friday night.
From the Harvard Crimson:Harvard Delays Cornell's Title Bid
Needing only two wins to clinch its second straight Ivy title, Cornell (19-9, 9-3 Ivy) traveled to Dartmouth and Harvard in its quest to seal the deal. When all was said and done, the Big Red were unable to punch their ticket to March Madness.
Friday night’s game in Hanover went according to plan, as the Big Red simply outclassed Dartmouth (9-17, 7-5) in every facet, cruising to a 75-57 win. After a three-pointer by David Rufful cut the Cornell lead to only two, the Big Red unleashed its balanced attack, closing the half with a 12-4 run.
In the second half, momentum seemed to shift sides as Dartmouth cut its deficit to three. But the Big Red stayed calm, hitting three straight three-pointers to put the game out of reach.
Cornell had four players in double figures, led by Ryan Wittman’s 20 points and six rebounds. The Big Red were also able to stymie Dartmouth’s offense, holding them to a 34.6 shooting percentage.
Looking to spoil Cornell’s title run, Harvard (13-13, 5-7) received solid performances from Drew Housman and Jeremy Lin as the Crimson edged the Big Red 71-70.
After Wittman hit one of two free throws to give Harvard a narrow one-point advantage with 1:46 to go, neither team was able to score down the stretch. Cornell had one more opportunity to take the lead, but Louis Dale’s last-second shot was deflected by Keith Wright to secure the victory.
Harvard shot an astounding 52.3 percent in the win. Both Lin and Housman scored 20 points and had four assists in leading the Crimson to its first weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell in the last seven years. Wittman led the way for Cornell with 24 points.
From the Daily Pennsylvanian:[Drew Housman's] defense has been superb recently too, especially last weekend. Against Cornell, he clearly got the better of reigning league Player of the Year Louis Dale. Housman led an excellent harassing effort all night to keep the clamps on the explosive guard in one of the biggest wins in his time at Harvard in his final home game—a fitting end to his time at Lavietes Pavilion.
“It was nice to get a win against a team that’s going to the NCAA Tournament,” Housman said. “Especially on Senior Night when we had a good crowd with lots of family and friends and some people flew out a long way to see us.”
From WVBR:The Glen Miller era suffered through a surprisingly nasty sophomore slump last year, losing Darren Smith to injury in the first game. Next thing you knew, the team was getting a press-conference scolding from Brian Grandieri, scoring 30 points against Florida Gulf Coast, losing all four Big 5 games and finishing third in the Ivies behind champion Cornell, which is now a virtual lock to repeat this year.
From CollegeHoopsNet.com:Men’s Basketball also went one and one on the road this weekend, defeating Dartmouth but falling by a point to Harvard. The loss to the Crimson prevented Cornell from clinching at least a share of their second straight Ivy League title. Still, the Big Red are 9-3 and control their own destiny heading into their final weekend of Ivy League play. Cornell hosts Penn and Princeton, and wins in both games would secure the Ivy League for the Red. However, a loss to Princeton would be especially damaging, as the Tigers are in second place at 7-4. Princeton already beat Cornell by 20 in New Jersey earlier this year, and if the Tigers win out, they would be league champions, which means Saturday night’s tilt at Newman could very well determine this year’s Ivy League champion. Despite the loss this past weekend, the Big Red are still projected to be a 14 seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology, and sit at 120 in the RPI.
Team of the Week: Princeton(12-12, 7-4 Ivy)
Last week's results: Beat Brown (56-48) and Yale (62-54) to move within a game in the loss column of first-place Cornell.
Believe it or not the Tigers have a serious shot at snatching the Ivy League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with three games remaining. First up is the treacherous road trip to Columbia and Cornell, a pair of teams that Sydney Johnson's squad beat in impressive fashion earlier this season. The first weekend of February saw the Tigers rout both in Jadwin Gym, following a 61-41 beating of the defending league champs with a 63-35 pasting of Columbia the following night. Princeton's just 4-6 on the road this season, but with Douglas Davis and Dan Mavraides playing solid basketball the Tigers can get the job done. And keep with Coach Johnson moving Davis into a sixth-man role, the bench scoring becomes far more potent than it was with him in the starting five.
