News and Notes

Below, some news and notes...

• Vermont head coach Mike Longeran told the Burlington Free Press after the Legends Classic, "Hopefully we can get on a little bit of a roll and hopefully playing teams like Drexel and Cornell toughens us up."

• “We’re a Big East team and we’ve got to come out with energy,” Seton Hall's sophomore point guard Jordan Theodore told NJ.com. “Whether we’re playing NJIT or West Virginia, Syracuse, Cornell — it doesn’t matter. We have to go out there and bring the energy. You can’t come out here sluggish. That’s just not how we do things.”

• Wednesday's Cornell at Bucknell game will have online video via CBS All Access.

• Barry Leonard's audio-only Redcast broadcast of the Bucknell game will feature a pregame chat Jon Jaques. The halftime interview will be with former NBA player Steve Mix. Mix did the color commentary for Toledo radio during the Cornell-Toledo game at the Legends Classic.

• Harvard has played arguably the least challenging schedule to-date among the Ivies. The Crimson will finally step out of the low-major competition and take on a series of intriguing opponents during their next five games between December 2 and December 30 with games at Rice, at UConn, at B.C., at Georgetown, and vs. George Washington.
  

• Below, check out recent results and upcoming action around the Ivy League. (click here for a composite Ivy League schedule)
  

Friday, November 13

Yale 86 Sacred Heart 92 (Connecticut Six) Box Score - Recap

Brown 68 St. Francis (N.Y.) 64 Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 58 Boston College 89 Box Score - Recap

Harvard 87 Holy Cross 77 Box Score - Recap

Penn 55 Penn State 70 Box Score - Recap
Saturday, November 14

Princeton 71 Central Michigan 68 Box Score - Recap
Cornell 71 Alabama 67 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, November 15

Brown 55 Virginia Tech 69 Box Score - Recap

William & Mary 85 Harvard 87 (3OT) Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 44 George Mason 60 Box Score - Recap
Monday, November 16
Yale 63 Hofstra 68 (NIT at Storrs CT) Box Score - Recap

Penn 65 Villanova 103 Box Score - Recap
Tuesday, November 17
Yale 65 Colgate 55 (NIT Storrs CT) Box Score - Recap

Columbia53 DePaul 59 [SNY] Box Score - Recap
Wednesday, November 18
Rhode Island 78 Brown 57 Box Score - Recap

Manhattan 54 Princeton 61 Box Score - Recap

Cornell 74 UMass 61 Box Score - Recap
Friday, November 20
Brown 76 St. John's 79 Box Score - Recap

Longwood 61 Columbia 72 Box Score - Recap

Seton Hall 89 Cornell 79 Box Score - Recap
Bryant 51 Harvard 77 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, November 21
Army 56 Princeton 52 Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 60 Furman 83 Box Score - Recap

Delaware 97 Penn 94 2OT Box Score - Recap

Quinnipiac 71 Yale 64 Box Score - Recap
Sunday, November 22
Maine 62 Brown 75 Box Score - Recap

Monday, November 23
Harvard 53 Army 56 Box Score - Recap

Charlotte 88. Yale 74 NIT Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, November 24

Princeton 50 George Washington 65 Box Score - Recap

Cornell 73 Syracuse 88 Box Score - Recap
Loyola (Md.) 58 Dartmouth 41 Box Score - Recap

Bucknell 59 Columbia 73 Box Score - Recap

Drexel 58 Penn 49 Box Score - Recap

Elon 65 Yale 69 NIT Box Score - Recap
Wednesday, November 25
Brown 70 Bryant 68 Box Score - Recap
New Hampshire 60 Harvard 78 Box Score - Recap
Friday, November 27
Cornell 78. Toledo 60 (Legends Classic at Philadelphia, Pa.) Box Score - Recap
Brown 79 Siena 99 (Philadelphia Hoops Classic) Box Score - Recap
Yale 48 Army 64 Box Score - Recap
Hartford 56 Dartmouth 68 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, November 28
Cornell 67 Vermont 59 (Legends Classic at Philadelphia, Pa.) Box Score - Recap

Brown 79 Siena 99 (Philadelphia Hoops Classic) Box Score - Recap

Yale 48 Army 64 Box Score - Recap

Hartford 56 Dartmouth 68 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, November 29
Cornell 61 Drexel 54 (Legends Classic at Philadelphia, Pa.) Box Score - Recap
Harvard 78 Boston U. 70 Box Score - Recap
Princeton 60 California 81 [CSN California] Box Score - Recap
Monday, November 30
Columbia 55 Sacred Heart 60 Box Score - Recap
Tuesday, December 1
Vermont at Dartmouth, 7 pm

Wednesday, December 2
Holy Cross at Brown, 7 pm
Cornell at Bucknell, 7 pm
Yale at Hartford, 7 pm
Rice at Harvard, 8 pm
Thursday, December 3
Lehigh at Columbia, 7 pm
Princeton at Rutgers, 7:30 pm
Friday, December 4
Penn at Navy, 7 pm [CBS College Sports]

Saturday, December 5
Columbia at Stony Brook, 2 pm
Brown at Minnesota, 3:30 pm
Sunday, December 6
Harvard vs. UConn, 1 pm
Lafayette at Princeton, 5 pm
Cornell vs. St. Joseph's (PA), 2 pm

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Big Red Brackets

The Cornell Basketball Blog monitors the Ivy League's bracket and seeding projections until the 2010 NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday.  Below are links to updated projections of the 2010 NCAA Tournament brackets.

• CollegeHoopsNet.com (Cornell No. 13 seed as of 12.1.09)
  
• ESPN.com/Joe Lunardi Cornell No. 13 seed as of 11.11.09)
• CBS Sports (Cornell No. 14 seed as of 11.9.09)
  
• Blogging The Bracket (Cornell No. 14 seed as of 11.9.09)
• CollegeHoopsNet's MarchMadness All Season blog (Cornell No. 13 seed as of 11.9.09)
  
• Jeff Goodman/FoxSports.com (Cornell No. 14 seed as of 11.9.09)
  
• Bleacher Report (Jameson Flemming) (Cornell No. 13 seed as of 11.3.09)
  
• RushTheCourt (Cornell No. 13 seed as of 11.2.09)
  
• Boston Globe (Cornell Ivy League automatic bid as of 10.22.09)
• Rivals.com (Cornell No. 14 seed as 8.7.09)
• CollegeHoopsNet.com Preseason Bracket Preview (Cornell No. 13 seed)
• Yahoo Sports College Basketball 2009-2010 Preview (Cornell 14 seed)
• RushThe Court Ivy League Correspondent Season Preview (Cornell No. 11 seed)
• Sporting News College Basketball 2009-2010 Preview (Cornell No. 14 seed)
  
• Athlon Sports College Basketball Preview, 2009-2010 (Cornell No. 14 seed)

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Recruiting News

Below, some recruiting news from around the Ivy League.

CaliforniaPreps.com reports that St. Mary's, Syracuse, UCLA, Santa Barbara and Harvard are among those monitoring Max Hooper, a 6'6" wing from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California.

The WildcatReport notes that Pe'Shon Howard, a 6'2" guard from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, received a scholarship offer from Northwestern. He was previously reportedly considering South Florida and Harvard, but the Crimson may have been eliminated.

ChicagoHoops.com reports that Western Michigan, Marquette, Western Illinois and Yale are among those recruiting class of 2011 member and Belleville Althoff High School's (Illinois) Carson Sonnenberg, a 6'5" forward.

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Legends Classic Photos

Below, photo highlights from Cornell's three games in Philadelphia last weekend against Toledo, Vermont and Drexel during the Legends Classic.  Cornell swept through the field undefeated.

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Cornell Athletics Game Notes for Bucknell Game

Big Red Out To Keep The Momentum Going At Bucknell
CornellBigRed.com

Game Notes (pdf) I Buy Tickets I Live Video (must have Bucknell subscription) I Live Video (RedCast subscription) I Live Stats I Text Updates I 2009-10 Cornell Information Center I 2009-10 Cornell Statistics I 2009-10 Cornell Roster I 2009-10 Cornell Schedule & Results

GAME INFORMATION
Game #8: Cornell vs. Bucknell
Tip off: Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Sojka Pavilion (4,000), Lewisburg, Pa.
2009-10 Records: Cornell (5-2, 0-0 Ivy); Bucknell (4-3, 0-0 Patriot)
Series Record: Series tied 22-22
Last Meeting: Cornell won 75-64, Jan. 6, 2009 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Radio: 93.5 WVBR-FM (Barry Leonard, Matt Grassie)
Bucknell Web Site: www.BucknellBison.com
TV: None
Live Stats: Available at www.BucknellBison.com
Live Video: Available at www.BucknellBison.com

HEAD COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his 10th season at Cornell (122-135, .475) ... Donahue became the fourth Robert E. Gallagher ‘44 Coach of Men’s Basketball at Cornell on Sept. 6, 2000.

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ITHACA, N.Y. — After starting the season with a 5-1 record away from home base, Cornell will look to build on that lofty road record when it visits Bucknell on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 7:00 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. Barry Leonard will provide the calls on 93.5 WVBR-FM, which can be heard live on the internet as part of the RedCast subscription service.

Cornell brings a three-game win streak into the road game against the Bison, capping an undefeated run through the 16-team Legends Classic tournament with wins over Toledo, Vermont and Drexel in consecutive days this past weekend in Philadelphia.

The All-Ivy trio of Louis Dale, Jeff Foote and Ryan Wittman have lived up to their billing so far this season. Dale is averaging 10.7 points, 4.6 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game, while Foote is at 12.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. Wittman, the second all-time leading scorer at Cornell, paces the squad with his 17.1 points. Additionally, Chris Wroblewski, last season’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is putting up 10.1 points per game as the fourth double-figure scorer. Seniors Mark Coury, Jon Jaques, Alex Tyler and Geoff Reeves, juniors Max Groebe and Adam Wire and freshman Errick Peck round out the rotation.

The Bison enter the contest with a 4-3 record, including winning four of their last five outings. Head coach Dave Paulsen, in his second season with Bucknell, has his team playing lockdown defense, surrendering less than 70 points per game while limiting opponents to under 40 percent shooting overall and 33 percent from 3-point range.

ABOUT BUCKNELL
• Conference: Patriot League
• Head Coach: Dave Paulsen (Williams ‘87), second season.
• Bucknell has won four of its last five contests, with its only loss to Cornell’s Ivy League rival Columbia, after opening the season with consecutive losses.
• Darrly Shazier and Patrick Behan pace the team with 12.4 ppg., with Behan also grabbing 6.4 rpg. Shazier had 27 assists and just nine turnovers through seven games.
• Bryan Cohen is also in double figures at 11.0 ppg.
• The Bison have been outstanding defensively, limiting foes to .398 shooting overall and .333 from 3-point range.
• The Bison are coming off an impressive 85-61 win at Wagner on Nov. 28 behind a career-best 19 points by freshman Bryson Johnson.

CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
• Cornell is 135-111 all-time against current members of the Patriot League.
• The Big Red is 22-22 all-time against Colgate and has also played Army (20-13), Colgate (70-53), Holy Cross (2-3), Lafayette (7-11), Lehigh (12-8) and Navy (2-1).
• This is the only schedule game Cornell has against a Patriot League opponent.
• This is the only scheduled meeting between the Big Red and a member of the Patriot League in 2009-10.
• Head coach Steve Donahue is 20-19 against Patriot League teams at Cornell.

THE SERIES
• The series is tied 22-22 after the Big Red won last year’s contest.
• Head coach Steve Donahue has never led a team to victory on the road against the Bison. Cornell last won in Lewisburg, Pa., during the 1999-2000 season, a 59-56 triumph, and has lost all four games since by an average of 18.5 points..
• The two teams had their first meeting in the 1899-1900 season when the Bison won 29-10.
• The Big Red snapped a five-game losing streak to Bucknell in the series with last year’s 75-64 triumph.

THE STORY LINE
• Cornell will look for its first win at Bucknell under head coach Steve Donahue, who has lost all four games to the Bison in Lewisburg, Pa.
• The Big Red will also attempt to take a 23-22 edge in a series that started back in the 1899-1900 season.
• Cornell enters the game with a 5-1 record away from Newman Arena, including winning all four contests in the 2009 Legends Classic.
• The last contest at Bucknell, an 88-75 defeat at the hands of the Bison in 2007-08, is widely looked at as the turning point in Cornell’s consecutive Ivy League title run. After falling to Bucknell to slip to 4-3 on the year, the Big Red had a players only meeting at Sojka Pavilion. Out of its came a run where Cornell finished the season with an 18-3 finish, including an unblemised Ancient Eight schedule. Since that loss, Cornell has gone 44-15.

REVIEWING THE LEGENDS CLASSIC
• The Big Red joined Florida as the lone unbeaten teams in the 16-team Legends Classic with its 4-0 run.
• Cornell went 4-0, winning its games by an average of 11.5 points.
• Senior Louis Dale averaged a team-high 13.8 ppg. in the tournament, while classmate Ryan Wittman averaged 13.5 ppg. to earn tournament most valuable player. He was joined on the all-tournament team by senior reserve Jon Jaques.
• Four players averaged in double figures during the tournament.
• Defensively, the Big Red limited its four opponents to 43 percent shooting overall and 30 percent from 3-point range, while forced 18.0 turnovers per game and outrebounding its foes by 2.0 per game. Cornell averaged 9.5 steals in the four contests.

PLAYER NOTES
• The top four players in the backcourt, seniors Louis Dale, Geoff Reeves, Ryan Wittman and sophomore Chris Wroblewski have made 50-of-56 free throws this season (.893), including 9-of-10 in the final three minutes of games within 10 points.
• Senior Ryan Wittman had a career-low four points at UMass, but has averaged 18.6 points in the five games since.
• Sophomore Chris Wroblewski is 12-of-28 from 3-point range in his last five games (43 percent) after hitting just 1-of-5 (20 percent) in his first two.
• Junior Adam Wire has 16 of his 33 rebounds on the offensive glass, while 21 of Jeff Foote’s 57 rebounds have also come on the offensive end.
• Senior Louis Dale has 16 steals in seven games, twice as many as any other player on the team.
• Senior Jeff Foote has 12 blocked shots, four times more than any other player on the Big Red.
• In Cornell’s five wins this season, Mark Coury has made 11-of-13 shots from the floor (.846), while Geoff Reeves has hit 17-of-28 shots (.607).
• During Cornell’s three-game win streak, senior Louis Dale has 14 assists and just five turnovers.

TEAM NOTES
• Cornell has scored at least 70 points in five of seven contests.
• Since shooting 50 percent in the season-opening win over Alabama, the Big Red has hit on just 43 percent of its field goals despite going 4-2 over that stretch.
• The Big Red has held opponents under 60 points in each of its last two games.
• Cornell has a positive assist:turnover ratio in six of its seven games this season.
• The team has hit 23 more 3-pointers this season than its opponents and has 26 more assists.
• Its .760 free-throw percentage, if maintained, would be just off the school record of .761 set in 2007-08.
• Excluding the Syracuse game, where the ninth-ranked Orange shot better than 50 percent from the floor and from 3-point range, Cornell’s defense has held opponents to .436 shooting overall and .329 from the arc.
• One area Cornell will look to for improvement will be keeping its opponent off the foul line. The Big Red has committed at least 18 fouls in six of seven games and has averaged 20.1 per game. Those fouls have sent its opponents to the line an average of 24.6 times per game. Cornell’s foes have attempted 47 more free throws over the first seven contests.
• The Big Red has hit more 3-pointers than its opponent in all seven games.

NEXT UP
• Cornell returns home on Sunday, Dec. 6 when it meets Saint Joseph’s at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena. The Hawks captured a 71-67 victory a season ago at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Cornell will the have a two week break before returning to action in the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. The Big Red will face Davidson on Sunday, Dec. 20 at noon at Madison Square Garden, then will meet either St. John’s or Hofstra in the finale.

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GW is taking the George Mason game very seriously

If you can't remember the last time George Mason played George Washington in hoops (the universities, not the men) your not alone. It's been years, 11 actually. For most of recent history George Washington felt they had nothing to gain being a mighty Atlantic 10 team playing a lowly CAA team, despite the close proximity. But then something happened. The NCAA banned schools like GW from recruiting players from these high school "diploma mills" that had helped the school produce a winner. Left having to recruit locally against others GW hasn't adapted well and have recently been in the basement of the A-10 conference. Guys like Pops Mensah-Bonsu who starred for the Colonials would not be allowed to play in today's NCAA rules.

So now that George Washington is no longer an Atlantic 10 power, their marketing department says George Mason vs GW is a rivalry now and they have the website to prove it! The "Battle of the Orange Line" slogan is good but I really want to know how much the school paid for this whole "Beat George Mason" campaign. And look there's more video!:



Very cute. I'm glad George Mason is their superbowl for this season. It will be interesting to see how many George Mason fans are in attendance because I know plenty are buying up the tickets. Through all of GW's promoting there still seems to be a lot of tickets left for seats in that high school gym of their's. I really hope this rivalry idea sticks, and next year's GW - Mason game at the Patriot Center should draw a great crowd.

GW fans love to remind us that Mason is 1-9 all-time against them but here's a fun fact about the game I noticed: George Washington, despite having a basketball program for 102 years, has the same number of NCAA tournament wins as George Mason.

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George Mason vs Tulane Video Highlights

[Video by Thuc Phan]

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