Visit the Redesigned CornellBigRed.com

CornellBigRed.com, the official website of Cornell Athletics has a new look. Check it out and visit the men's basketball page.

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Allen Iverson Cool Haircuts

Allen Iverson cool Haircuts

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News and Notes: Tuesday Edition

Below, some news and notes for Tuesday...

• TexasHoops.com published the above story on the commitment of Holt Harmon (Plano West HS), Plano, TX, 6-9, F to Cornell. Parsing The WAC blog, notes, "Texas prep frontcourter Holt Harmon has given a verbal to Cornell and cancelled his other trips, one of which was to be Logan [for Utah State]." The Parsing the WAC site previously speculated of Harmon and Utah State, "Based on his current skills set and potential, he looks like a priority recruit."

• Aaron Osgood ('11) and Adam Wire ('11) report from their blog, Danish Duo, that their first game is on Saturday. Osgood and Wire play for the Vaerlose club in Denmark. Vaerlose will face the Aalborg Vikings in the opener which features a familiar face to the Cornellians, former Lehigh stalwart point guard, Marquis Hall. Below, Louis Dale ('10) defends Hall in 2008 while in the background, Wire and Osgood watch the action from the bench.
  

• The Bleacher Report writes on the topic of "Showdowns We Can't Wait to See" in regards to the newly aligned ACC and states of a highly anticipated Boston College vs. Syracuse match up, "Boston College coach Steve Donahue has faced Jim Boeheim a handful of times in the past while coaching the underdog Cornell Big Red- and he gave the Orange a run for their money."

• Below, our Tweets of the Day from the world of Cornell Basketball...

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Apparently Andre Cornelius was arrested for credit card fraud

We have learned that senior guard Andre Cornelius was arrested and will be arraigned tomorrow on felony credit card fraud charges.

Not news you want to hear with less than a month to go before official practices start.

Here is the official statement from the University I received:

"[Andre] Cornelius has been summarily suspended from the team as a result of the charges filed against him. The suspension will be in effect until the legal and University judicial processes have been completed."

If you are keeping score this isn't the first time Cornelius has been suspended by the team.

More on the story here from the Post's Steven Goff.

9/20 UPDATE: Cornelius was arraigned today and agreed to appear in court in November, where he will then enter his plea. I think it's safe to say he won't be available for the all important NIT Tip-off games which start November 14. Would have to imagine he ends up pleaing to a lesser charge and doing community service. All this would most likely result in him being suspended for anywhere between 3-5 games this season. That's just my guess though as their could be a bunch of other circumstances we don't know about.

[via @Cody_Gaines, @NOVAsOwnJP]

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Holt Harmon Highlights

Incoming Cornell recruit, Holt Harmon (Plano West HS), Plano, TX, 6-9, F (No. 33 above) was a starter for his elite AAU team, Texas Assault, which faced Dream Vision of California in the Adidas Super 64 Championship Game in Las Vegas, Nevada this summer. The game which featured multiple top 100 recruits was televised on CBS College Sports. Harmon's first half performance propelled Texas to the 93-78 championship victory. Highlights are below:

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News and Notes: Monday Edition

Above, Eric Taylor ('05), joins Barry Leonard this season as an analyst for Cornell Basketball radio and online broadcasts. Below, some news and notes for Monday...

• Above, a look back at assistant coach Mike Blaine's profile from his college basketball playing days at Johns Hopkins.
  

• Below, our Tweets of the Day from the world of Cornell Basketball.

• Check out our profiles of Cornell's three committed recruits from the classes of 2012 and 2013, Holt Harmon (Plano West HS), Plano, TX, 6-9, F; Nolan Cressler (Plum HS) Plum, PA, 6-4, G (class of 2012); and Tim Higgins (Paul VI HS) Fairfax, VA, 6-10, C (class of 2013). Cornell head coach Bill Courtney, below, the architect of George Mason's Final Four team from 2006 has no shortage of ambition with this Cornell program which just appeared in the Sweet Sixteen in 2010.
  

• In alumni news, Jason Hartford ('08) has signed with the Cader club in Uruguay's premier league. Hartford played the last two seasons in Portugal.

• Also in alumni news, in Europe, Ryan Wittman ('10) and Jeff Foote ('10) were in action in a 3-game exhibition tournament in their city of Zielona Gora, Poland with their Polish club, Zastal. (Immediately above, Foote and Wittman line up with their teammates for player introductions) On Friday, September 16, Wittman finished with 19 points while Foote added 10 in a 93-92 loss to Slovakian team, Spisska. The following day, Wittman was reportedly ice cold shooting, going 1/8 from the floor and finished with 3 points while Foote added 10 points and 7 rebounds in a 77-74 defeat to PLK league rival, Silesia Wroclaw. In the Sunday game, Zastal fell to 0-3 in the tournament with a loss to PGE Turow, a league rival, 78-60. Once again Wittman finished with 3 points while Foote added 9. While there has been no official announcement from Zastal, some media sources, including the Zielona Gora Gazetta have speculated that the club might part ways with Wittman and that he and his agent are already looking at other clubs. Also in Europe, Louis Dale ('10) (No. 12 below) scored 8 points but his Goettingen club of Germany's premier league fell to league rival Artland in the Niedersachsen Cup, a preseason tournament. Meanwhile, Cody Toppert ('05) netted 14 points as his Spanish 3rd division club, Ourense (LEB Silver) picked up a 91-79 win over Breogan of Spain's higher 2nd division (LEB Gold) on Saturday in the semifinal of the Copa Galicia preseason tournament. Toppert followed up on Sunday with 6 points in a 72-70 loss to Obradoiro of Spain's elite ACB league in the championship game. Toppert (No. 33 below) holds his team's runner up trophy. Most of the European leagues commence their regular seasons during the first and second weeks of October. Further down below in this post, additional alumni updates.

• Check out The Cornell Basketball Blog's Season Preview Index for a listing of 2011-2012 Cornell and Ivy League basketball season previews.

• On Cornell's 2011-2012 schedule, the Dagger blog of YahooSports previews the Big 10 and a pair of Cornell opponents, Illinois and Penn State. Additionally, several websites have already started with daily countdowns of preseason national rankings. Below are the Cornell opponents ranked thus far:
  

The Sports Bank- Top 111
-Penn State (No. 109)
-Yale (No. 84)
-Maryland (No. 78)

CollegeSportsMadness.com- Top 144
-Lehigh (No. 134)
-Boston U. (No. 118)
-Maryland (No. 108)
-Bucknell (No. 91)
-Princeton (No. 89)
-Illinois (No. 63)

TheHoopsReport.com- Top 68
-Princeton (No. 59)
-Maryland (No. 58)
-Harvard (No. 41)
-Illinois (No. 35)

• If you have not had the opportunity to check it out yet, take a look at the exclusive Inside Tour of Cornell Basketball. The tour video was produced by the staff of Slope Media with background music performed by Cornell alumnus, Alex Kresovich. The background song, "The Return" will also be the main theme song for the upcoming 2012 version of the video game, NBA2K. Also a must see-- check out the three-year combined highlight video package produced by Slope Media from the '08-'09, '09-'10 and '10-'11 Big Red seasons.

• Below is an updated directory listing of some Twitter feeds associated with the Cornell basketball program. You can also follow The Cornell Basketball Blog on Twitter.

-Josh Wexler ('88)
-Steve Cobb ('05)
-Ryan Rourke ('06)
-Andrew Naeve ('07)
-Jason Canady ('08)
-Khaliq Gant ('09)
-Conor Mullen ('09)
-Ryan Wittman ('10)
-Pete Reynolds ('10)
-Jon Jaques ('10)
-Louis Dale ('10)
-Alex Tyler ('10)
-Geoff Reeves ('10)
-Jeff Foote ('10)
-Andre Wilkins ('10) (inactive)
-Aaron Osgood ('11)
-Adam Wire ('11)
-The Cornell Rebounders Club
-Max Groebe ()
-Andrew Ferry ()
-Peter McMillan ()
-Errick Peck ()
-Josh Figini ()
-Galal Cancer ()
-Ned Tomic ()
-Dominick Scelfo ()
-Jake Mathews ()
-Dwight Tarwater ()
-Manny Sahota ()
-Dave LaMore ()
-Shonn Miller ()
-Devin Cherry ()
-Nolan Cressler (committed recruit)
-Tim Higgins (committed recruit)
-Assistant Coach Mike Blaine ()
-Assistant Coach Marlon Sears ()
-Assistant Coach Arlen Galloway ()
-Brian Delaney, WPIE/ESPN Radio Ithaca ()
-Cornell Daily Sun Sports ()
-Slope Sports ()
-WVBR Sports ()
-Former assistant coach, Jay Larranaga ()
-Former head coach, Steve Donahue ()
-Former assistant coach, Nat Graham ()
-Former assistant coach, Woody Kampmann ()
-Former Assistant Coach Ricky Yahn ()
-Former Intern Assistant Ryan Woerner ()

• Throughout the year we provide periodic updates on Cornell's alumni playing professionally. Below, some updates:
  

-John McCord ('97) (SIG Strasbourg, Pro A France premier league)-2010-2011 season concluded. The 6'6" forward and long time veteran of the European leagues averaged 11.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Strasbourg finished 12-18 and in 12th place in the 16 team league. During his roughly fifteen year pro career, McCord, a former 1st Team All Ivy League selection, has played in France's pro leagues, Venezuela and in the United Kingdom. McCord retired from professional basketball following the 2010-2011 season.

-Jeff Aubry ('99) (Halcones Rojos, LNBP Mexico premier league/Arecibo Capitanes, BSN Puerto Rico premier league)-2010-2011 season concluded. Aubry and his Arecibo club in the Puerto Rican league clinched the league title. He averaged 4.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Aubry splits his time in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican professional leagues. He played several seasons in the NBA D League in the early part of his career with the Fayetteville Patriots and Florida Flame and earned honorable mention all D-League in 2002. During his more than a decade of pro experience, Aubry has also played professionally in the ABA and abroad in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Poland, Argentina, Uruguay and Peru. Once again Aubry is expected to sign for the 2011-2012 season with Halcones and Arecibo.

-Cody Toppert ('05) (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd Division)-2010-2011 season concluded. Toppert, a 6'4" shooting guard was averaging 9.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game for Forli of Italy's second division, Lega Due, before the franchise terminated his contract during March. Toppert previously played during the 2010-2011 season with the Plymouth Raiders of the British Basketball League where he was averaging 14.2 points per game before moving to Italy. Like Aubry, Toppert is a veteran of the NBA D League, a former Albuquerque Thunderbird. During his pro career, Toppert has also played in the CBA as well as in Portugal, Germany and New Zealand. Toppert is signed for the 2011-2012 season with Ourense of the LEB Gold Spain 2nd division.

-Jason Hartford ('08) (Ginasio, LPD Portugal premier league)-2010-2011 season concluded. The 6'9" Hartford concluded his season averaging 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Ginasio finished the year 10-12 and in 6th place in the 12 team league and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. During his career, Hartford has played professionally in Finland and Africa (Mozambique). Hartford will play the 2011-2012 season with Cader Rocha of Uruguay's premier league, the LUB.

-Louis Dale ('10) (Goettingen, Bundesliga Germany premier league)-2010-2011 season concluded. Dale completed the regular season averaging 8.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Goettingen ended up 17-15 on the season and in 7th place out of 18 teams in the Bundesliga. Dale signed a new contract and will return to Goettingen for the 2011-2012 season.

-Ryan Wittman ('10) (Ft. Wayne Mad Ants, NBA D-League)-2010-2011 season concluded. With the 2010-2011 season finished, Wittman averaged 7.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game for the Mad Ants of the NBA D-League. Ft. Wayne finished 24-26 on the season and in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. Before moving to the D-League during January, Wittman averaged 14.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for Forli in Italy's 2nd division, LegaDue, this season. Wittman signed for the 2011-2012 season with Zastal, PLK Poland premier league..

-Jeff Foote ('10) (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel Loto League premier league/Melilla, LEB Gold Spain 2nd division)- 2010-2011 season concluded. Foote averaged 7.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 52.7 percent from the floor. Melilla did not qualify for the playoffs finishing with a 14-20 record and 11th place finish in the 18 team league. Foote is on loan from Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv and signed for the 2011-2012 season with Zastal, PLK Poland premier league.

-Jon Jaques ('10) (Ashkelon, Israel Loto League premier league)-2010-2011 season concluded. Jaques finished his season averaging 3.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Ashkelon was 6-21 and ended in 10th place in the 10 team Israeli league. Jaques retired from basketball following the 2011-2012 season.

-Adam Wire ('11) (Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league)-The 2011-2012 season will be his rookie year.

-Aaron Osgood ('11) (Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league)-The 2011-2012 season will be his rookie year.

Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board to interact with other fans of Cornell and Ivy League basketball. Membership is free! You may also follow us on Twitter.

Blueprint for Success, the yearbook commemorating Cornell's memorable 2009-2010 season is now on sale and available for delivery. Visit the Cornell Athletics website to order your copy today! Or pick up a copy sold in the Cornell Store on campus.

Fans of the basketball program in the Ithaca area should not miss the opportunity to join the Cornell Rebounders Club.

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Say It Ain't So. Allen Iverson

Say it Ain't So. Allen Iverson

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