Alumni News: Hartford Reportedly Back to Finland

Jason Hartford ('08) is reportedly headed back to Finland to play for another season. Hartford played with Huima in Finland's 1st Division during the 2008-2009 season. He also played briefly this summer with the Yamhil Flyers of the International Basketball League.

Read more »

Recruiting News: Yale Nabs Commitments

Below, some news and observations on the Ivy League recruiting scene...



NJHoops.com is reporting that Ridge, New Jersey's Andrew Madlinger, a 6'2" guard, is receiving recruiting interest from Princeton, Penn, Cornell and Columbia along with Bucknell and Holy Cross.



ArizonaPreps.com reports that San Diego, Colorado, Penn, Cornell, Lamar, William & Mary, Lehigh and Boise State are interested in Shawn King, a 6'5" wing from Gilbert, Arizona. The wing forward, however will not play on the AAU circuit this summer due to a knee injury.



New England Recruiting Report (NERR) notes that Yale received two verbal commitments over the holiday weekend from a pair of strong prospects out of New England. Both Greg Kelley, a 6'8" forward from Newton, MA and Isaiah Salafia of Crowell, CT gave their pledges.



Kelley is ranked as the No. 28 prospect in New England by NERR while Salafia is No. 40. Some sources are projecting that the No. 18 ranked prospect in the region, Matt Brown, a 6'3" guard from the Northfield Mount Hermon School will commit to Harvard.



Kelley was receiving heavy interest from Cornell, Harvard, Holy Cross, and Richmond, but opted for Yale. “I feel like I’ll have an opportunity to play right off the bat as a freshman,” he said. “They didn’t have too many big men come in last year and I’m the first player to commit for 2010.

Speaking of Harvard, give its coaching staff some credit. After head coach, Tommy Amaker cleaned house and cut half a dozen players from the roster that were recruited by his predecessor, Amaker has created a deep bench of young talent in Cambridge.



Amaker can now claim that he has recruited twelve of the current Harvard players. Both of Amaker’s recruiting classes of 2008 and 2009 consist of several blue chip recruits in the backcourt and frontcourt. Most of these recruits passed up scholarship opportunities at other Division I schools so they could play in the Ivy League. But now with a bench overcrowded with so much young talent, it will be very interesting to see if Harvard is capable of drawing additional elite recruits to Cambridge in the class of 2010 where playing time will be scarce.



For example, Harvard’s 2010-2011 roster will feature twelve returning veterans from the upcoming season, none of which will be seniors. Five of the players will be sophomores, the other seven will be juniors. Six of the twelve returning players are perimeter oriented guards or small forwards, while the other half consists of frontcourt players. So how does Harvard offer playing time to the current high school seniors in the class of 2010? Answer: Harvard can’t.



The Crimson coaching staff should rightfully feel the need to recruit additional players to fill out the 2010-2011 roster. After all, most Ivy rosters consist of at least fifteen players. But it remains to be seen whether high profile class of 2010 recruiting prospects such as Matt Brown want to join a program where they could be relegated to the bench for at least two seasons, if not more. These prospects might want consider other Ivy League options, or alternatively, play outside the Ivy League on scholarship elsewhere in Division I.



Below, a glimpse of Harvard's 2010-2011 roster. Note, this roster does not include members of the high school class of 2010.



Guards/Wings



Christian Webster Sophomore 6-5 Bethesda, Md.Landon School

Kyle Casey Sophomore 6-5 Chestnut Hill, Ma. Brimmer & May School

Dee Giger Sophomore 6-5 180 Arden, NC Arden Christ School

Brandyn Curry Sophomore 6-1 Charlotte, NC Hopewell HS Max

Kenyi Junior Guard 6-4 180 Silver Spring, Md. Gonzaga College HS

Oliver McNally Junior Guard 6-3 180 San Francisco, Calif. Branson



Frontcourt



Andrew Van Nest Jr F 6-10 235 Weston, Ma. Northfield Mt. Hermon

Keith Wright Junior Forward 6-8 240 Suffolk, Va. Norfolk Collegiate

Jeff Georgatos Sophomore 6-8 215 Dallas, TX Episcopal

Peter Boehm Junior Forward 6-6 200 Winnetka, Ill. New Trier

Hugh Martin Junior Forward 6-5 215 Anderson, S.C. T.L. Hanna

Peter Swiatek Junior Center 6-7 240 Tulsa, Okla. Cascia Hall

Read more »

Cornell Basketball in the News

Cornell Head Basketball Coach, Steve Donahue was quoted in the New York Times in connection with Sean Kearney's hiring as head coach at Holy Cross.

Cornell Assistant Basketball Coach, Zach Spiker is running a basketball camp for boys and girls entering grades 2 through 7, which will be held Aug. 24-27 at Ithaca High School. The camp, called "Drills 4 Skills,"will be staffed by members of the Cornell men's basketball team.

Read more »

Cornell Basketball in the News

The Chisago County Press lists Cornell recruit, Josh Figini's senior season as one of the top 5 sports stories in the region for 2008-2009 school year. The Press writes:

Josh Figini's senior season for the record books

Chisago Lakes senior Josh Figini is my Karl Malone.

Despite two fantastic seasons in which he stuffed the stat box and did everything he could to propel the Wildcats to a top tier team, he just didn't get into the number spot.

He's the best guy to not win my proverbial championship, and I bet he'll really lose some sleep over that.

Coming into his senior season, Figini was touted as one of the best players in the state. A lengthy shooter who could rebound and had a few fluid post moves to boot.

And if someone had their doubts about a basketball player from Chisago Lakes dominating at a high level, Figini quieted them very quick with a 46 point, 24 rebound performance in a season-opening win against Princeton.

Although he didn't keep up that torrid a pace through out the season, he put up some gaudy numbers along the way. He averaged nearly 25 points per game and over 14 rebounds per game. He created one-man rallies for the Wildcats and was the team's leading assist man, too. Late in the season, he became the Wildcats all-time leading point scorer.

Although the team didn't have the success they hoped for, Figini's accolades came pouring in all year. He was nominated for the McDonald's All-American team, he was one of 15 finalists for Minnesota's Mr. Basketball Award, and he made the Pioneer Press's third-team All-Metro team.

Figini's Chisago Lakes career may be over, but he'll continue his basketball life out East at Cornell. Figini signed on to play for the Division 1 Big Red for the next four years.

Read more »

Cornell Basketball in the News

It is not exactly news, but Hofstra Athletics references Hofstra's participation in Madison Square Garden's Holiday Festival on December 20 and 21 with Cornell, St. John's and Davidson also in the field.

ESPN's Andy Katz of ESPN also mentioned the Holiday Festival today in his blog and noted that Anthony Mason Jr. (insert, lower right, driving to the hoop over Cornell's Jason Battle, No. 5) of St. John's is now healthy and is expected to play this season. Mason Jr. had a season ending foot injury in the NIT Season Tip Off against the Big Red last November.

Read more »

Join The Cornell Rebounders Club

Are you a fan of Cornell Basketball? Are you interested in becoming more involved with the program? Then consider joining the The Cornell Basketball Rebounders Club! This organization is comprised of fans of Cornell Men's and Women's basketball who meet regularly throughout the year at social gatherings such as lunches, dinners and other speaking engagements to discuss the Cornell Basketball Programs. Members of The Rebounders Club get to meet with players, coaches and other key personnel associated with the basketball programs and Athletics Department and obtain "insider" information on recruiting, scheduling, opponents and other news related to the basketball program.

Membership dues are $75 per family for the year and is not limited to alumni or persons living in the Ithaca area.

The Rebounders Club is not affiliated with Cornell University or the Cornell Athletics Department.

For more information, contact Club President, Paul Blanchard (paul.w.blanchard@verizon.net).

Read more »

Recruiting News

Below, some Ivy League recruiting news...

Paul Garnica, a 5'11" combo guard from Lee High School in San Antonio and the Texas Ambassadors AAU program told TexasHoops.com that he was offered a scholarship this week from Long Island U. In addition to LIU, Weber State, Cornell and Utah State have showed significant interest as well as Pacific, TCU, Arkansas-Little Rock and Florida International.

James Moore, a 6'9" post player from Carmichael, California and Jesuit High School has a college suitor list of Stanford, Cal, Oregon State, Washington State, Portland, St. Mary's, Santa Clara, Harvard, Penn State, Creighton and recently USC. Moore plays AAU ball with the Bay Area Hoosiers. "I am just looking for a school that is a good fit for me and has really good academics," Moore told NorCalPreps.com. "But, as of right now, I do not have a preference."

Ryan McCoy, a 6'6" forward from Montgomery High School in New Jersey and member of the class of 2011 told Scout.com that he received his first scholarship offer earlier this week from Citadel. Others showing interest in the rising junior include Cornell, Fairfield, American, Robert Morris and Davidson.

Will Regan, a 6'9" forward from the Nicholls School in Buffalo committed to Virginia after receiving an offer from Harvard.

Read more »