Schedule Update:Cornell's 2009-2010 Schedule Picture Becoming Clearer

Here is a glimpse of the 31 projected games on the Big Red's 2009-2010 schedule. All games are tentative until formally announced by Cornell Athletics.Seton Hall (Home) Friday November 20, 2009@South Dakota@ Alabama@ KansasSt. Joseph's (Home)@La Salle@Boston UniversityBryant (Home)@Syracuse@ TBA Non-Exempt Holiday Tournament (2 guaranteed games, includes high and mid majors)@ TBA Exempt Tournament (4 guaranteed games, includes high and mid majors)Local New York State rival TBALocal New York State rival TBA14 Ivy League GamesSCHEDULE COMMENTS:Kansas is likely the preseason #1 team in the nation.Cornell will host Seton Hall (Big East) and St. Joseph's (A-10) in Ithaca this season. Cornell visits Seton Hall 2010-2011.Cornell Head Coach Steve...

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Recruiting News

In an interesting recruiting story appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle, a one-armed 6'11" prospect recently accepted a scholarship to Manhattan of the MAAC Conference after the Ivy League schools reportedly passed on taking him.In other news, according to CarolinaBlue.com, former Cornell assistant coach, Steve Robinson, now an assistant coach on Roy Williams' staff at North Carolina, is courting Middlesex School's Rod Odom, an athletic 6'8" forward from Massachusetts. Odom is the top recruiting priority for Harvard, Princeton and Columbia, but don't expect the class of 2010 product to land in the Ivy League, especially with Stanford already offering him a scholarship.Speaking of Harvard, there has to be some pressure building on Tommy...

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Cornell Basketball in the News

The following comes from the current issue (May/June 2009) of The Cornell Alumni Magazine.CHAMPS AGAIN What do you do for an encore after having one of the best seasons in Cornell basketball history? Have another one just like it. This season, Cornell became only the third team to record back-to-back outright Ivy League men's basketball titles, taking the crown with an 11-3 league record and making the program's third NCAA tournament appearance. Ryan Wittman '10 and Louis Dale '10 earned first-team All-Ivy honors, Jeff Foote '09 was named Defensive Player of the Year, and Chris Wroblewski '12 was chosen as Rookie of the Year. Like last year, the team's season ended with a loss in the first round of the national tournament—but with all...

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Recruiting News

Below, we provide a bit of recruiting news...MinnesotaPreps.com reports that 6'8" Ryan Duxbury of Stillwater, Minnesota is hearing primarily from Division II schools. However, the post player is also drawing some Division I interest and has heard from Cornell, Yale, North Dakota, and Montana State.PrepColorado.com reports that Beau Gamble, a 6'0" point guard and recent graduate of Boulder, Colorado's Fairview High School has opted to complete a postgraduate season at New Hampton Prep School in New Hampton, New Hampshire. Gamble’s current school list of schools includes Cornell, Colorado, Portland, Boise State, Tulsa, Holy Cross, Lehigh and U.C.-Riverside. He is playing with the Colorado Chaos AAU program this summer.Below are some related...

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The Wall Street Journal: Can the Ivy League Get Its Game Back?

Can the Ivy League Get Its Game Back? Lackluster teams prompt calls for change; a new chief’s listening tourBy Darren EversonThe Wall Street JournalMay 29, 2009The schools of the Ivy League are among the nation’s finest and richest, with billions in endowments under their command. From law to business to medicine, they’re No. 1 in practically every department but one: sports. Why are the Ancient Eight increasingly irrelevant in the most competitive arena of all? The short answer, the long-accepted one, is that they choose to be: that they won’t sacrifice their academic ideals by giving athletic scholarships to athletes. But other factors—like a long-standing ban on postseason football games and the schools’ academic standards for athletes—appear...

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News and Notes: Around the Ivy League

Yale Athletics announced its involvement in the Connecticut Six-- an annual men's basketball tripleheader played on a neutral site featuring six Connecticut schools. The members of the Connecticut Six are Yale, Fairfield, Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut, Quinnipiac, and Hartfo...

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Leading the way on mid-major recruiting

Over the last two years I've been gushing about how well Larranaga and his staff have been recruiting, grabbing players like Ryan Pearson and Andre Cornelius who could be playing on BCS teams right now. Last week Antonio Williams of ESPN and Scouts Inc. tabbed Mason #1 on his list of top mid-major recruiting. Williams seems to be high on Sherrod Wright and it's exciting to hear more about his ability to get to the rim. Johnnie Williams being referred to as a "dominant post player" really makes you hope the next Will Thomas is being groomed. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, the squad is packed with talent but chemistry is something you can't get overnight. What I'm really excited about is the depth this squad is building, and that...

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Yahoo ranks Larranaga in Top 5

Some good press for Coach Larranaga from Yahoo sports: "3. Jim Larranaga, George Mason: Jim Larranaga -- two "r's", one "n"; you can spell this right Eamonn, you can do this -- is known nationally for one thing: 2005-06. That's the year the Larranaga-coached George Mason Patriots made their legendary run from a No. 11 seed to the Final Four, the year they beat Michigan State, North Carolina, and UConn on their way there, the year that helped reaffirm everyone's faith (not that it was ever lost) that in the NCAA tournament, anything can happen. Larranaga was the architect, and for that alone he deserves inclusion on the list. That might be selling him slightly short, though. Larranaga's teams are consistently competitive. They've been to the tournament three other time, and would have gone...

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Recruiting News

Below, we bring you a bit of recruiting news from around the Ivy League...Jacob "Jake" Kreuser, a 6'11" 220 lb. center from Mendota Heights, Minnesota, Sibley HS told MinnesotaPreps.com this week, "The recruiting has really picked up in the spring, I recently have gotten offers for UW-Green Bay and North Dakota State, and earlier in the year I got an offer from Santa Clara. I have taken a lot of calls from Ivy League schools like Penn, Princeton, Yale, and Cornell. I have also received some notice from some schools closer to me like Loyola (Chicago) and South Dakota. I have also gotten some interest from Colorado State as well."Scout.com reports that Albany Academy's (NY) Nolan Hart, a 5'10" guard is hearing mostly from Dartmouth, Harvard,...

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Alumni News: J-Hart Back in Oregon, Joins Minor League Franchise

Jason Hartord ('08) is back in the United States after a successful rookie season of professional basketball overseas in Finland's First Division where he played with Huima. Hartford has since landed a roster spot in the International Basketball League with the Yamhill High Flyers and has played two games thus far in the minor leag...

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Recruiting News: Cornell Recruiting News, Columbia Announces Class

Below some recruiting news for Cornell and the Ivy League...In the leading news, Columbia formally announced their recruiting class.A pair of players that we've mentioned before on The Cornell Basketball Blog both announced on Scout.com their summer plans. Anthony Gaffney, a class of 2010, 6'2" 170 lb. football/basketball prospect from The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey has announced he will attend Cornell Basketball's Elite Prospect Camp, as well as camps at Columbia, Penn, Bucknell and St. Joseph's. He will be joined at each of these camps by his teammate, Chandler Fraser-Pauls, a 6'0" 160-pound class of 2011 guard who is also getting recruited for soccer.Several recruiting sources have indicated that Cornell could be closing...

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Men's Lax Reach the Big Stage

Congratulations to the Cornell men's lacrosse team for reaching the national championship game. The Big Red face Syracuse in Foxboro, Massachusetts on Monday at 1 p.m. in a game that will be televised by ES...

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The Steve Donahue Years at Cornell...

Since Steve Donahue assumed the position of The Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Basketball, the Cornell Big Red have achieved a stellar record of retaining recruited players in the program and ensuring their success on the hardwood and in the classroom.On the playing court, Cornell's year-by-year results speak for themselves. The Big Red has finished among the Ivy League's top three teams in each of the last five seasons, including consecutive Ivy League Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances during the past two campaigns.Outside the Ivy League, the Big Red strive to play the best and regularly schedule elite programs and participate in the most prestigious preseason tournaments. During just the last two seasons...

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Recruiting News

Today, the Indianapolis Star references Cornell's recruitment involvement with Erik Fromm, a 6'9" forward who recently committed to Butler this week. Pictured above, new Penn recruit, Tommy Eggleston (Heritage Christian High School, Indianapolis, IN) shoots over Cornell recruit, No. 32 Errick Peck (Cathedral High School, Indianapolis, IN) during high school action earlier this year. According to Peck's high school coach, Peck turned down a scholarship to Butler, among other mid-major offers, to attend Corne...

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Recruiting News

Below is a dosage of recruiting news from around the Ivy League...The Mississauga News reports that 6'4" senior, Nik Stauskas of the Loyola Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada) is hearing from Cornell and Baylor.EagleInsider.com reports that Rod Odom, the 6'8" forward from the Middlesex School in Massachusetts has scholarship offers from West Virginia, Boston College, Seton Hall, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State and Providence among others. Odom noted that he will narrow his final list to one Ivy League school along with several of his scholarship offers. “For me the educational opportunities will play the biggest role. At the end of the day I want to look at one Ivy league school. It is between Harvard, Princeton and...

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Gant Receives Inspiration Award

On Monday at Cornell's annual senior athletics banquet, men's basketball player Khaliq Gant was chosen to receive the Inspiration Award presented to the Cornell athlete who has overcome adversity with courage and dedication, and is an inspiration to teammates and the Cornell communi...

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Alumni News: J-Hart and Rourke Back on the Free Agent Market

And 'tis the life of a professional basketball player overseas. A new team, a new country almost every year. Time we catch up with a few Cornell alums playing professionally overseas. Pictured above, Jason "J-Hart" Hartford.Jason Hartford (Cornell '08) had his first season of professional basketball come to an end on March 31 with Huima (Finland) and his management agency, SBS Players is now listing him as an available free agent. Hartford's impressive rookie performance should earn him an opportunity in a more competitive national league elsewhere in Europe should he choose to continue his professional basketball career.Meanwhile, Ryan Rourke (Cornell '06) recently completed his second season of professional basketball overseas. After...

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Recruiting News

Cornell's Adam Gore (No. 23 background), the 2006 Ivy League Rookie of the Year watches Chris Wroblewski (No. 3), the 2009 Ivy Leaue Rookie of the Year during NCAA Tournament action last March.In recruiting news around the Ivy League...The Gwinnett Daily Post provides an update on Adam Demuyakor, one of five Harvard basketball players cut last season by Tommy Amaker just before the commence of fall practices. Amaker's decision drew criticism and made national headlines, including in the New York Times.Several Columbia players will play on a college travel squad this summer in the Bahamas including new Lions addition, Max Craig, a 7'0" transfer from Loyola Marymount. Craig could be a potential All-Ivy League player this coming season.Indiana...

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Schedule Update: Big Time Schedule for Cornell Big Red

Below, we provide a bit of an update on the 2009-2010 schedule. Above, a 1942 Cornell-Syracuse game program.A source confirmed for The Cornell Basketball Blog this week that while Cornell and Syracuse are expected to play during 2009-2010, no contract has been signed and the two schools have not yet agreed upon a date.Ivy League teams are permitted to schedule 28 regular season games. Exempt tournaments count as only 1 game against the 28 total. Thus, last season Cornell played 26 games, plus the Preseason NIT (4 games). As an exempt tournament, the NIT provided Cornell with 30 total regular season games. The Big Red were actually permitted to schedule an additional "27th game," but opted not to do so.Thus far for 2009-2010, we have published...

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Recruiting News

Pictured above, Cornell's Jeff Foote. Below, some Ivy League basketball recruiting news.ChicagoHoops.com is reporting that class of 2010 6'1" guard, Nick Kladis of Hinsdale Central High School in Hinsdale, Illinois and the Illinois Kings AAU program is receiving interest from Cornell, Yale, Harvard and Columbia.Below are some related recruiting links:For The Cornell Basketball Blog's list of Cornell Recruiting Targets and Ivy League Recruiting Commitments, click here.For The Cornell Basketball Blog's list of Ivy League Recruiting Targets, click here.For The Cornell Basketball Blog's "Transfer List"--- a list of Outgoing Transfers for 2008-2009, click here.For The Cornell Basketball Blog's archived stories on Cornell and Ivy League Recruiting...

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Recruiting News

Pictured above, Cornell's Alex Tyler takes the opening tip-off at Duke during January 2008.Information on Cornell Basketball's Elite Prospect Camp, held from June 26-28 on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York can be found by clicking here. The Cornell Basketball Elite Prospect Camp will provide basketball instruction by Cornell coaches and players and serves as an opportunity for high school prospects to gain invaluable exposure to the Cornell coaching staff. The Big Red are expecting a very strong turn out for the camp including some the program's top recruiting prospects in the class of 2010. In other Ivy League recruiting news this week, the Ravenna Record reports that 6'8" Mark Henniger of Ohio, a known recruiting target of Harvard,...

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News and Notes: Around the Ivy League

Below, some news tidbits from around the Ivy League... Cornell's Geoff Reeves above in action during the 2009 NCAA Tournament.Princeton Assistant Coach Scott Greenman will coach the U.S. junior Maccabi team in Israel this summer.Dime Magazine did a two-page feature on Harvard's Jeremy Lin in this month's issue. Dime did a similar feature on Cornell's Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman during September 20...

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Schedule Update: Big Season for Big Red

Cornell's Jeff Foote posts up during the 2009 NCAA Tournament against Missouri.Well, we have some lite bite teaser updates on the 2009-2010 schedule for The Cornell Basketball Blog's readers.First, there will likely be no game against Penn State this year despite some expressed interest and preliminary discussions between the schools.Second, Cornell could potentially be playing in two tournaments during 2009-2010, including an exempt tournament which would involve 3-4 "exempt" games for the Big Red. Both tournaments involve "name recognition" opponents from quality conferences. The venues could be extremely attractive to Cornell Alumni and fans.Next season's schedule appears to be the most exciting yet under Head Coach Steve Donahue. This...

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Big Red Champions (updated August 2009)

Congrats to the Cornell Men's Outdoor Track and Field team which won its seventh straight Ivy League-Heps championship this week!Below is a list of Cornell Athletic teams that have captured league, regional or national championships.Men's Outdoor Track (Ivy League-Heptagonal Champions)Men's Lacrosse (Ivy League Champions/NCAA National Championship Runner Up/Final No. 7 National Ranking)Women's Softball (Ivy League Champions)Men's Basketball (Ivy League Champions)Men's Indoor Track (Ivy League-Heptagonal Champions)Women's Indoor Track (Ivy League-Heptagonal Champions)Wrestling (Ivy League Champions, EIWA Champions, Final No. 2 National Ranking, 5th Place National Championships)Wrestling National Championships Final Team Standings1. Iowa 96.52....

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Penn Recruit Visited Cornell

Pictured above, Cornell Head Coach, Steve Donahue.New Penn recruiting commitment, Steve Rennard, a 6'0" guard from St. Joseph's High School in Metuchen, New Jersey confirmed in an interview with NJHoops.com that he visited Cornell and Princeton before ultimately committing to Penn. Several sources, including Rivals.com and Scout.com, noted however that Cornell did not continue to recruit Rennard.Rennard noted that the schools he was primarily involved with were Princeton, Brown, Vermont, Robert Morris and Iona. He had confirmed offers from Princeton, Vermont and Iona.Below are some related recruiting links:For The Cornell Basketball Blog's list of Cornell Recruiting Targets and Ivy League Recruiting Commitments, click here.For The Cornell...

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Wittman Ranked as a Top 100 Player

On May 9, OnLineSportsFanatic.com ranked Cornell's Ryan Wittman (No. 20 above) as the 86th best player in the country heading into the 2009-2010 season. The site's ranking of the Top 150 players does not include any other representatives from the Ivy League. OnLineSportsFanatic notes as follows:86. Ryan Wittman, Cornell: 18.5ppg-3.6rpg-2.6apg-0.9spg-0.2bpg-34.1mpg Comment: Playing in the Ivy League at Cornell, Wittman is very underrated. He is an excellent shooter and playmaker, leading the Big Red to the NCAA Tournament and an Ivy League tit...

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Big Red Miss Out on Talented Transfer

The Associated Press is reporting that former University of Iowa point guard, 6'3" Jeff Peterson (Washington, D.C./DeMatha Catholic High School) has verbally committed to transfer to Arkansas.Peterson reportedly selected the Razorbacks over interest from Cornell, Missouri State, Georgetown, and Georgia Tech according to multiple sources close to the situation. Peterson originally committed to Princeton coming out of high school, but later broke his commitment during his senior year and accepted a scholarship to Iowa.Pictured above, the Cornell Big Red huddle up at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena during 20...

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Should Cornellians Support an Ivy League Conference Tournament in Basketball?

The Cornell Big Red are back-to-back Ivy League champions in men's basketball. With all five starters returning for 2009-2010, including seven of the top eight players in minutes played, Cornell is the favorite to three-peat as Ivy League Champion in 2009-2010 and make its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.The Ivy League is the only conference in the country that does not use a conference tournament to determine its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Now that Cornell is on top of the Ivy League basketball world, should Cornellians be in support of an Ivy League Conference Tournament?Vote in the poll on the right column of The Cornell Basketball Blog. Share your thoughts by posting a comment to this post or leaving a message...

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Big Red and Crimson Scout Point Guard

Pictured above, Cornell point guard Louis Dale (No. 12) brings the ball up the floor against Missouri's pressured defense during the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Dale enters his final season of eligibility during 2009-2010.In recruiting news, Scout.com reports that Brennan Wyatt, a 5'10" point guard from Dudley HS in Greensboro, N.C. is drawing recruitment interest from Cornell, Harvard, Richmond, Bucknell, Appalachian State, Georgia State, UNCG, and Western Caroli...

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Penn Lands 2010 Commitment

Scout.com reports that Penn is the first Ivy League school to land a commitment from the class of 2010. This weekend, 6'0" combo guard Steve Rennard of St. Joseph's Metuchen, N.J. decided to play for the Quakers over offers from Iona and Vermont. Several other schools showed interest, including Brown, Princeton, Davidson, and Bucknell. Cornell reportedly showed isome interest serveral months ago.Below are some related recruiting links:For The Cornell Basketball Blog's list of Cornell Recruiting Targets and Ivy League Recruiting Commitments, click here.For The Cornell Basketball Blog's list of Ivy League Recruiting Targets, click here.For The Cornell Basketball Blog's "Transfer List"--- a list of Outgoing Transfers for 2008-2009, click...

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Offseason Excitement for Cornell's New Additions

The Big Red of Cornell are back-to-back Ivy League champions in men's basketball. With all five starters returning for 2009-2010, including seven of the top eight players in minutes played, it is no surprise that Cornell is the favorite to three-peat as Ivy League Champion in 2009-2010.The role as playing the favorite is nothing new to Cornell. The Big Red were projected to finish on top by the Ivy League media in both the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 preseason polls. The Big Red came through both seasons.But what makes this Cornell team especially intriguing for next year and beyond is the group of new players, especially the transfers. Only insiders with the program have had the opportunity to become familiar with or get to see these players...

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Cornell Basketball Elite Prospect Camp

Information on Cornell Basketball's Elite Prospect Camp, held from June 26-28 on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York can be found by clicking here. Pictured above, Cornell's Brian Kreefer ('09) inbounds the ball at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadi...

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