News and Notes: Around the Ivy League [updated 3:39 pm]

Below, some news and notes around the Ivy League.The Daily Pennsylvanian updates its readers on the summer workouts of the Penn Quakers.In scheduling news, Yale becomes the third Ivy school to release its schedule for 2009-2010. Brown and Princeton previously released their schedules earlier this month. While the Bulldogs schedule is not exactly soft, it is not all that challenging either. Yale will face UConn in the Preseason NIT with the other highlight games coming in the form of visits to Providence, Colorado and Colorado State.The Yale schedule looks somewhat soft in comparison to Cornell's, which is projected to include games at Syracuse, Kansas, Alabama, La Salle, and UMass and home games versus Seton Hall and St. Joseph's. Cornell...

Read more »

Interview with Kathy Orton and Her 2005-2006 Season with the Big Red

Above, Lenny Collins ('06), the captain of the 2005-2006 Big Red. Collins was a 2006 Third Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American. He earned All-Ivy honors twice in his career. A first-team All-Ivy pick as a junior during 2004-2005, Collins was a second-team pick as a senior in 2005-2006. Below, in anticipation of Kathy Orton's new book on Ivy League basketball, set for publication during November 2009, we post an archived interview with Orton from the Cornell Daily Sun. Orton followed Cornell during the 2005-2006 season.Orton Chronicles Ivy M. BasketballCornell Daily SunMay 2, 2006After bumping into Kathy Orton of The Washington Post at basketball games all winter as she did the legwork for her upcoming book on men's basketball in...

Read more »

Schedule Update: St. Joseph's Date Revealed, or Maybe Not

Below, we provide some updates on the 2009-2010 schedule.Season ticket prices have not been announced but reserved seats were sold out last year at a rate of $117 per seat regardless of age. General admission season tickets were $78 per adult ($39 per child).Last season's home schedule included 13 games in Newman Arena (seven Ivy opponents plus South Dakota, La Salle, Boston U., Quinnipiac, Ursinus and Bucknell).The 2009-2010 home schedule will once again include the seven Ivy opponents as well as Seton Hall, St. Joseph's and Bryant. Other home games are still being negotiated.St. Joseph's is reporting that it will visit Cornell on December 6. Obviously the date would be very attractive because Cornell students would still be on campus....

Read more »

Recruiting News

Above, Cornell's Alex Tyler, Jon Jaques and Jeff Foote sport their championship rings. Background, Cornell fans surround Cornell coach, Steve Donahue as he prepares the final cut of the Ivy League championship net. Cornell is the winner of two consecutive Ivy League titles. Below, some recruiting news from around the Ivy League.Scout.com reports that Ben Vozzola, a 6'5" wing from Centennial High School in Las Vegas committed to the University of San Diego. Vozzola was recruited by Cornell, Washington State, Nevada, Fresno State, Arizona State and Utah.Northstar Basketball reports that Marcus Blake, a 6'7" forward from American Heritage High School in Plantation, Florida is receiving recruitment attention from Columbia, Stetson, Auburn,...

Read more »

Groebe's Return to Amherst

So far, it seems that only the Daily Hampshire Gazette has picked up on the underlying storyline of Max Groebe's return to UMass when the Big Red face off with the Minutem...

Read more »

Alumni News: Toppert '05 and Mercedes '01

We recently updated the whereabouts of some young alums of the Cornell Basketball program. Below are some additional updates on a pair of Cornell's all-time leading scorers. Above, Cody Toppert ('05).Ray Mercedes ('01), a former All-Ivy League Honorable Mention selection for the Big Red during the 1999-2000 season, played professionally with San Carlos (Dominican Republic) after graduating Cornell. He subsequently graduate from Boston College School of Law and is now practicing law with the global firm, Weil Gotshal in the Corporate Department in New York City.As we previsouly reported, Cody Toppert ('05) has signed for the 2009-2010 season with MEG Goettingen of the Bundesliga (the BBL), the highest level professional basketball league in...

Read more »

The Case for Cornell Big Red Basketball

Above, Cornell's media guide covers during the Steve Donahue era. (Click picture for a larger image). Below, a continuation in our summer series, The Case for Cornell Basketball.For a high school recruiting prospect looking for the best balance of basketball and academic success in a college, Cornell has to be in the discussion of the nation's elite programs and certainly at the top of the Ivy League schools after the Big Red won two consecutive Ivy League titles.Last March, ESPN Rise wrote, "Boston College, California, Cornell, Notre Dame, Penn, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest and Washington are among... brainy schools that have flashed significant basketball brawn recently, as each has qualified for at least one Big Dance in the...

Read more »

When Will The Ivy League Produce Another NBA Talent?

Above, Cornell's Ryan Wittman pulls up for a jumper against the Minnesota Gophers last season. The following excerpt is from the article When Will The Ivy League Produce Another NBA Talent?, published by The Bleacher Report:Does the near future hold an NBA talent from the Ivy League? Chances look faint, but Ryan Wittman may be the league's best NBA prospect. Wittman plays for Cornell, the back-to-back Ivy League champions from 2007-08 and 2008-09. The 6'6" guard certainly has the basketball pedigree. His father, Randy Wittman, played and coached in the NBA after winning a national championship and Big Ten player of the year at Indiana University. The younger Wittman averages 16.5 points. He led the league in scoring this past season with...

Read more »

News and Notes: Around the Ivy League

Above, Cornell's Chris Wroblewski in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Below, just some random news and notes around the Ivy League this week...Yale head coach, James Jones is quoted in a New York Times article by Pete Thamel about the business-side associated with this summer's AAU tournaments. Jones' comments were later attacked in the Sporting News by Mike DeCourcy.Columbia has named its 2009-2010 captains.Columbia's Blaise Staab is playing summer ball in LA's Say No League. On Staab's team is Princeton's Kareem Maddox. And as is usually the case each year, most of the Penn Quakers are in Philadelphia for the summer playing in Philadelphia city summer leagues.After leaving Penn because "Glen Miller wasn't the coach" for him, Harris Gaines is...

Read more »

News and Notes

Some news and notes that relate to Cornell Basketball...Cornell's Ryan Wittman made five NBA three-pointers en route to 21 points on Tuesday night, including 7/14 shooting from the floor and 7 rebounds, but it was not enough as his team B-2-X fell to El Amin's Fish House 100-95 in a playoff game of the Howard Pulley Pro City League.Potential Legends Classic opponent, Vermon is ranked No. 133 in CollegeHoopsNet's Preseason Top 144.ESPN's Andy Katz reports the following on Siena's continued scheduling efforts:Siena finally got a high-profile team to at least play in a one-way, guarantee game next season. It took a former Siena coach in Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt to make it happen. Siena coach Fran McCaffery said the Saints will play at Georgia...

Read more »

Recruiting News: With Recent Success, Cornell is Becoming an "Easier Sell" to Recruits

In recruiting news, Cornell and other Ivy coaches are still in the midst of this 10-day NCAA regulated recruiting period. Reports suggest that Cornell could be hauling in a tremendous recruiting class this season, which would likely continue to involve both freshmen and impact transfers.From the names we have read and heard, the program is certainly recruiting players at a very high level, albeit under the radars of the national media which is the way Cornell prefers to operate. But more importantly, the Cornell Big Red coaching staff certainly has plenty of academic and basketball aspects to market to these potential recruits.Outside of the classroom, Cornell is riding upon two consecutive Ivy League Basketball Championships and NCAA Tournament...

Read more »

Looking Back on Brown at Cornell, 1/31/09

Continuing our series of posting video clip highlights from the 2008-2009 season, we look back on Cornell's January 31, 2009 90-58 dismantling of Brown in Ithaca, Later in Providence on February 21, 2009, it would only get worse for the Bears as Cornell crushed Brown, 85-45. Video clips courtesy of Slope...

Read more »

Schedule Update: Two More Legends Classic Participants Identified

The University of Florida released its 2009-2010 schedule and with the announcement, the Gators have identified two additional participants (and potential Cornell opponents) in the Gazelle Group's Legends Classic.We have now identified eleven of the twelve participants.The Florida pod of the tournament will feature Georgia Southern and Troy State. The Trojans of Troy received a postseason invite to the College Basketball Invitational last year and finished 14-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. Cornell is expect to land in the UMass pod with Drexel or possibly Vermont.Below is an updated projection of the Legends Classic field:UMass RegionUMass (host)CornellDrexelRutgers RegionRutgers (host)VermontTeam 3 tbaFlorida RegionFlorida (host)Troy StateGeorgia...

Read more »

Cornell in New York

As we previously reported, Cornell is participating in Madison Square Garden's annual Holiday Festival between December 20-21. The Big Red will play in two games with St. John's hosting the event. The other tournament participants include Davidson and Hofstra. MSG Network is expected to provide television coverage. Cornell opens the event against Davidson on December 20 and will face either St. John's or Hofstra the following day.Cornell was an attractive participant to Madison Square Garden because of Cornell's deep connections to New York. In addition to a large alumni base in the New York City area, Cornell University maintains a major physical presence in New York. The following schools, departments and centers are located in Manhattan....

Read more »

George Evans "The Patriot" Highlight Video

Really well put together highlight reel on Mason basketball legend George Evans. I'm really glad to be able to show this to young fans who didn't get to witness his CAA dominance. If not for bouncing a ball off his foot and out of bounds against Maryland in the 2001 NCAA tournament, there could have been a different national champion and Mason could have gotten it's first tournament win 5 years earlier. Evans was a three time CAA player of the year and ranks first all time at George Mason in steals (218) and blocked shots (211). Also, he is one of just four players in NCAA history to record more than 200 steals, assists and blocked shots for a career, joining former Kansas star Danny Manning, former LaSalle standout Lionel Simmons and current NBA player Shane Battier.(http://www.youtube...

Read more »

Recruiting News

Above, Cornell's Louis Dale and Jason Battle celebrate a thrilling last second victory at Harvard during 2008.In recruiting news, NJHoops.com reports that 6'8" Logan Buckner of Nease HS in Ponte Vedra, Florida earned the MVP of Hoop Group's Academic Elite Camp. Cornell, Yale Winthrop and Emory are showing interest.Princeton's coaching staff was spotted at the Hoops City Classic in Kansas City.In other recruiting news, Harvard's hopes of landing its top recruiting target may be crushed. The CardinalReport.com reports that Dwight Powell, a 6'9" forward from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida just received a scholarship offer this week from the Cardinal and it appears more than likely he will accept the Stanford offer. "If I am accepted, Stanford...

Read more »

Penn Basketball Joins Twitter World

The Daily Pennsylvanian's Zach Klitzman reports the following on Twittering in Ivy League Basketball:Two months ago Steve Donahue, the Cornell basketball coach, launched a Twitter account. I joked that maybe a Glen Miller account would look something like our joke issue Buzz post. Well turns out I’m wrong. Although technically Miller’s name doesn’t appear anywhere, a Penn Basketball twitter account has been launched. Again, it doesn’t say it’s from Miller, but I don’t know how it could be from anyone else. There are 40 tweets from the last month, which isn’t a bad amount. However, it remains to be seen if Miller will post that often during the actual season. But regardless, it will be quite interesting to see if this account has some degree...

Read more »

Schedule Update: Cornell Visits South Dakota on December 7

Above, Cornell's Ryan Wittman brings the ball up the court against the University of South Dakota last season in Cornell's Newman Arena.We already reported that Cornell would visit South Dakota this season. But now we have the date. The University of South Dakota newly released 2009-2010 schedule confirms that Cornell will visit the Coyotes on December 7.In a follow-up story, the Argus Leader writes, "home games against Cornell and Morehead State (Ky.), both Division I NCAA tournament participants a year ago, will headline [South Dakota's] DakotaDome portion of the schedule." (see the related story here by clicking here)Below is a glimpse of the 31 projected games on the Cornell Big Red's 2009-2010 schedule. All games are tentative until...

Read more »

A Date in Cornell Basketball History: Court Storming '65 Style

Legendary Cornell Head Basketballl Coach, Sam MacNeil with members of the 1964-1965 Big Red team-- Marvin Van Leeuwen, Dave Bliss, Jim Maglisceau.Cornell fans had the opportunity to "storm the floor" during both the 2008 and 2009 seasons when the Big Red captured consecutive Ivy League titles. Although video clips of those Cornell court storms made it onto Sports Center and other national media outlets, Cornellians stormed the floor long before these banner seasons and the existence of ESPN.One such memorable court storm occurred on January 16, 1965. In front of 9,000 fans in Cornell's Barton Hall, the Big Red faced the Princeton Tigers and its star, Bill Bradley.With under a minute left, nationally ranked Princeton led 69-68. But on the...

Read more »

Alumni News: Updates on Young Alums

Joining the Cornell Basketball program involves more than playing Division I basketball. Cornell players also are expected to succeed in the classroom and contribute in their community. In every sense, they are true student-athletes.Not surprisingly, following graduation, alumni of the Cornell Basketball program have established very successful career paths. Some are playing basketball professionally, while others have moved onto professions away from the basketball court. Notably, the alums are loyal to the program for life. Many alums of Cornell Basketball can be spotted attending both the Big Red's road and home games.Below, we provide updates on some young alumni of the Cornell Basketball program. Cornell alums currently playing professionally...

Read more »

Recruiting News

Below, some recruiting news from around the Ivy League. Above, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Cornell's Chris Wroblewski. Cornell rookies have capured the Rookie of the Year award four of the last seven years (including three of the last four years).John Carroll, head coach of Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts reports that over 30 college coaches attended Hector Harold's AAU game with the Double Pump Elite at the Super 64 tournament in Las Vegas last week. Schools represented in the crowd included Penn, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, Virginia, Wyoming, and St. Mary's. Harold is a 6'5" wing forward.Cornell's coaching staff was also well represented in Las Vegas and the Big Red are hot on the recruiting trail of several...

Read more »

Cornell's 2009 Ivy League Opener, Victory at Columbia

Continuing our series of posting video clip highlights from the 2008-2009 season, we look back on Cornell's 2009 Ivy League opener, a 71-59 Big Red win at Columbia on January 17, 2009. In front of "Newman Nation Downstate," Cornell extended its win streak over the Lions.The Big Red have defeated the Lions in seven consecutive games.Highlights from Slope...

Read more »

Wittman and Foote Summer League Action

Ryan Wittman's and Jeff Foote's B-2-X team finished as the 6 seed headed into the Howard Pulley Summer Pro City League Playoffs in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nevertheless, B-2-X stormed into the Championship Game on Wednesday night with yet another upset win, defeating A&A Millworks 104-85.The Minneapolis Tribune noted, "Cornell’s Ryan Wittman, son of Randy Wittman former Wolves head coach, hit some big 3’s to lead his team to victory."The Championship Game was last nig...

Read more »

The Case for Cornell Big Red Basketball

We write this Blog because of our passion for a university and its basketball program. Below is our Case for Cornell Big Red Basketball.If a prospective Division I basketball player wants the best balance of academics, athletics, and social atmosphere in the Ivy League, then Cornell is the choice, hands down.Cornell teams are called "The Big Red" and Cornell is indeed big in every respect.Where to start? Well, consider the following.Cornell is the two-time defending Ivy League Champions in men's basketball. The program is showing no signs of slowing down.A great environment to play college basketball, last season the Big Red led the Ivy League in home attendance. Cornell's fans known as the "Newman Nation," made Cornell's home gym, Newman...

Read more »