News and Notes

Below, some news and notes...

• On Saturday, prior to the tip-off of the Columbia-Cornell game in Ithaca, Cornell held a RPI ranking of No. 31 while it faced a Lions team with a RPI of 256. Following Cornell's dominant win, the Big Red's RPI fell six places and currently sits at No. 37.

• What a week for rankings and awards for Cornell. The Big Red's Jeff Foote is named Ivy Player of the Week, while Cornell picks up votes in the A.P. and Coaches' Polls, placing Cornell 34th and 30th in the nation respectively in the polls. Additionally, Cornell holds onto the No. 4 spot in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 Poll. The latter poll is certainly significant as the nation's "mid major coaches" vote on the poll and CollegeInsider.com promotes and manages the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, a consolation prize should Cornell fail to earn invites/bids to the NCAA or NIT tournaments.
  

• The New Haven Register writes, "If Rutgers decides to bail on embattled men’s basketball coach Fred Hill after four years of horrible results, you can write the name Steve Donahue of Cornell as the place Rutgers will start its search." While The Cornell Basketball Blog agrees that Donahue will be among the top candidates for several BCS level jobs this spring, we are also expecting Harvard coach, Tommy Amaker to be on those same candidate lists. In fact, we'd be quite surprised if either coach was in the Ivy League next season. Both have proven they can turn a program in the right direction, at least on the Ivy League level.
  

• The Columbia Spectator reviews the Lions' loss to Cornell, previews the upcoming rematch and details the numerous injuries to the Lions' roster.
  

• Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe and Boston.com writes:

  Harvard gets back into action Saturday against Dartmouth. The Crimson have won five straight and are 12-3. We can't expect them to beat defending champ Cornell, a senior-laden club that recently frightened third-ranked Kansas at home, but the pressure is on them to go at least 11-3 in the league, finish second, and win a school record 23 games. The Dartmouth game is the first of three roadies, culminating in a Jan. 30 clash at Ithaca. Now if you call yourself a college basketball fan, you will make sure you're in Lavietes Pavilion on Friday night, Feb. 19, when Cornell comes to town.

• Kansan.com, the student newspaper of the University of Kansas notes, "The Jayhawks struggled against Cornell at home on Jan. 6. They trailed most of the game and were fortunate to come out with a 71-66 victory. As a team, the Jayhawks made just 37 percent of their shots. Collins had 33 points, almost half of the team’s total points. Only two other players scored in double digits."

• Seth Davis of CNNSI.com writes, "[Seton Hall's] road win at Cornell is going to look good on Selection Sunday [for the Pirates]..."
  
  
• Spencer Van Etten Town Talk notes, "Jeff Foote, our SVE grad playing basketball at Cornell University, continues to make us proud by his stellar performance under the net. He and his teammates gave Kansas quite a scare a few weeks ago and showed what a high-caliber team they really are by almost beating them."

• Below is the Ithaca Journal's Brian Delaney's latest entry from his Around the Rim blog:

Reviewing Cornell-Columbia

Haven't had my coffee just yet, but let's take a crack at yesterday's 74-53 decision at Newman Arena.

Cornell's 40 minutes of defense stood out to me like that second half of the St. John's game. A few intricacies are different with this showing (Cornell jumping out in passing lanes for breakouts, rather than the more-rotation driven, charge-taking D necessary to contain the Johnnies athleticism on the wing, etc.), but it was darn impressive. Dale, Wroblewski, Reeves, Wittman really defended well, and I thought Dale was terrific all-around. His scoring numbers are going to dip this year, but 13 more games like that and he's a sure-fire first-teamer with Foote and Wittman.

My brain feels a little disorganized this morning, so let's go with a random-ordered Did You Notice ?

Did You Notice?

• Jon Jaques playing the passing lane with two open-court steals? He's a unique "4 man", certainly. Wroblewski said after yesterday he's a guard in a 6-7, 6-8 man's body with light feet. In the starting lineup, he gives Cornell a fourth threat from 3, a lot of smarts and the ability to make a few defensive plays (13 steals in 15 games now).
• Columbia gave Cornell fits on inbounds plays under the basket. On multiple occasions, the Big Red had trouble or failed to inbound the ball, with Wroblewski getting whistled for a five-second violation.
• Kevin Bulger's defense. Great role guy in the Ivy who's asked to start but is probably best coming off the bench. He really guarded Dale and Wroblewski hard and forced a few turnovers along the way.
• Mark Cisco's freshman mistake. He overplayed a dribble handoff from Foote to Dale. Recognizing this, Foote faked it, turned and took advantage with two dribbles to the basket and a monster one-handed dunk. He got fouled, but missed the free throw.
• Cornell's 1-2-2 trapping press. This gave Columbia some trouble, and Dale said afterward this may be a staple throw-in down the road. Donahue said his guys made some plays yesterday they never would have made as sophomores.
• Mark Coury struggled. It hasn't happened often, but Coury wasn't his typical self yesterday. He gave up a few 50-50 rebounds or tip-outs and got scored on once or twice in the post. Didn't matter though. Wire, Peck and Jaques helped make up for it.
• Alex Tyler's absence. A groin injury is keeping the 6-7 forward out. It was suffered against Clarkson. He said it's hurt his mobility to the right, but he hopes to play next week.
• Both coaches. Yesterday was the least amount of grief I've seen two coaches give the referees this year. Not many calls were argued along the way.
• Double figures. Like this stat. Last year in 2 games, Cornell had 9 double figures scorers against Columbia. Columbia had 3. , Cornell had 3 and Columbia 0. Says quite a bit about each team's offensive depth.
• Barry Leonard mentioned this in his broadcast - Ryan Wittman cracked the top 10 all-time Ivy League scoring chart yesterday. He's now No. 10 after passing Columbia's Jim McMillian (1966-70).
• Pete Thamel of the New York Times attended the game.
• It was a large crowd, over 4,100. But not necessarily a good crowd, as Donahue hinted in the post-game presser. With students still on break, this was mostly Cornell employees on Cornell employee celebration day. Wasn't a terrible amount of Basketball Fan IQ in the stands.
  

This will be my last blog post for a week. I'll be back on Monday, Jan. 25. Notebook will still run on Tuesday, and next week's preview will run on Saturday.

• The Birmingham News notes that several of Alabama's top high school basketball products were unsuccessfully recruited by the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball program. Among those listed is "Cornell's Louis Dale, who has been a two-time All-Ivy League pick, the league's player of the year and a Cousy candidate for the nation's top point guard for the 15-3 Big Red."

• The Olean Times Herald notes that St. Joseph's played a very difficult non-league schedule "with losses to Purdue, Villanova, Cornell and Minnesota."

• T.R. Peterson of the Bleacher Report writes,"It would be hard pressed for Cornell (13-3, 1-0, 38, 132) or Harvard (11-3, 1-0, 49, 175) to be considered as an at-large due to lack of quality wins."
  

• Pete Thamel of the New York Times published a brief recap of Cornell's win over Columbia. Following the game Thamel tweeted, "Cornell beats Columbia, 74-53. The score does not indicate the dominance, as they led by 30-plus most of the game." His NY Times recap follows below while other recaps from the game can read by clicking here:

Cornell Opens Defense of Ivy Title With Win Over Columbia

ITHACA, N.Y. — Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said earlier in the week that he would seed the Cornell basketball team from a No. 4 to a No. 6 seed in this year’s N.C.A.A. tournament.

The two-time defending Ivy League champion Big Red has victories this season at Alabama, at Massachusetts and at St. John’s. The team also led Kansas, then ranked No. 1, late in a near-upset in Lawrence, Kan., on Jan. 6.

Cornell opened Ivy League play Saturday by routing Columbia, 74-53, showing why it is the heavy favorite for a third consecutive league title.

“This is the best team they’ve had since I’ve been here,” Columbia Coach Joe Jones said. “No question.”

The senior Ryan Wittman and the sophomore Chris Wroblewski led Cornell with 13 points each, and the senior center Jeff Foote added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Cornell jumped out to a 24-8 lead and was never threatened.

• WVBR also published a brief recap which quotes Jeff Foote as saying that “everyone's coming to beat us,” and after winning two straight Ivy League championships, “that target just grows even more.”

• Cornell RPI Watch: The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider the margin of victory, but only whether or not a team won and where the game was played (home/away/neutral court). The formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). (See: CollegeRPI.com for a further explanation of the formula.) The RPI may be the most influential factor in NCAA Tournament seeding. Cornell's (15-3) RPI rank as of January 19 is No. 37 out of 347 total Division I teams.
  

Neither the Ken Pomeroy or Jeff Sagarin rankings are used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. Nevertheless, the KenPom.com site ranks Cornell No. 69 in the nation, while the Sagarin rankings have Cornell at No. 47. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

• Below are links to our game recaps from each of Cornell's games this season. Associated press recaps courtesy of Rivals.com/YahooSports.com are always available by clicking on Cornell's schedule/results on the right column of this blog.

1. at Alabama (W 71-67)
2. at UMass (W 74-61)
   
3. vs. Seton Hall (L 79-89)
   
4. at Syracuse (L 73-88)
   
5. Toledo (Phil.) (W 78-60)
   
6. Vermont (Phil.) (W 67-59)
   
7. at Drexel (W 61-54)
   
8. at Bucknell (W 104-98) (OT)
   
9. vs. St. Joseph's (W 78-66)
10. Davidson (W 91-88) (OT)
11. at St. John's W 71-66
12. at La Salle (W 78-75)
    
13. vs. PSU Behrend (W 73-49)
    
14. vs. Bryant (W 75-49)
15. at Kansas (L 66-71)
16. at South Dakota (W 71-65)
17. vs. Clarkson (W 82-37)
18. vs Columbia (W 74-53)
    

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

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 63 Dartmouth 58 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 2
Holy Cross 85 Brown 79 (OT) Box Score - Recap
Cornell 104 Bucknell 98 (OT) Box Score - Recap
Yale 48 Hartford 46 Box Score - Recap
Rice 64 Harvard 85 Box Score - Recap

Thursday, December 3
Lehigh 75 Columbia 70 Box Score - Recap
Princeton 44 Rutgers 58 Box Score - Recap

Friday, December 4
Penn 67 Navy 73 [CBS College Sports] Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 5
Columbia 60 Stony Brook 63 Box Score - Recap
Brown 55 Minnesota 91 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, December 6
Harvard 73 UConn 79 [SNY/ESPN Fullcourt] Box Score - Recap
Lafayette 48 Princeton 62 Box Score - Recap
Cornell 78 St. Joseph's (PA) 66 Box Score - Recap

Monday, December 7
Brown 62 Providence 78 Box Score - Recap
Vermont 72 Yale 60 Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, December 8
Columbia 102 Wagner 91 Box Score - Recap
Albany 78 Penn 60 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 9
Harvard 74 Boston College 67 Box Score - Recap
Bryant 54 Yale 69 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 12
Columbia 69 Bryant 57 Box Score - Recap
Army 59 Dartmouth 46 Box Score - Recap
Penn 75 Monmouth 80 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, December 13
Princeton 65 UNC Greensboro 50 Box Score - Recap
Lyndon State 54 Dartmouth 83 Box Score

Wednesday, December 16
Monmouth 42 Princeton46 Box Score - Recap

Thursday, December 17
Dartmouth 58 Lehigh 66 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, December 20
Cornell 91 Davidson 88 [MSG Holiday Festival, Fox Sports Atlantic/MSG] Box Score - Recap
Dartmouth 59 New Hampshire 69 Box Score - Recap
Princeton at Maine- Weather Cancellation

Monday, December 21
Yale 78 Providence 87 Box Score - Recap
Cornell 71 St. John's 66 [MSG Holiday Festival, Fox Sports Atlantic/MSG] Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, December 22
Colgate 63 Dartmouth 44 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 23
Harvard 70 Georgetown 86 [ESPN Full Court/ MyTV9/ SNY] Box Score - Recap
Columbia 51 Quinnipiac 63 Box Score - Recap

Monday, December 28
MIT 61 Harvard 88 Box Score
Kean 63 Brown 74 Box Score - Recap
Penn 50 Davidson 79 Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, December 29
Yale 59 Colorado 70 [FSN Rocky Mountain] Box Score - Recap
Cornell 78 La Salle 75 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 30
Dartmouth 51 Quinnipiac 73 [NESN] Box Score - Recap
Brown 78 Sacred Heart 83 Box Score - Recap
George Washington 53 Harvard 66 Box Score - Recap
Maine 65 Columbia 59 Box Score - Recap
Wagner 42 Princeton 45 Box Score - Recap

Thursday, December 31
Yale 71 Colorado State 93 Box Score - Recap
Penn St. Erie-The Behrend College 59 Cornell 73 Box Score - Recap
Penn 55 Duke 114 [ESPN2] Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 2
American 76 Brown 68 Box Score - Recap
Bryant 49 Cornell 75 Box Score - Recap
Harvard at Seattle, 5:10 pm
Princeton 70 St. Joseph's 62 [The Comcast Network] Box Score - Recap

Sunday, January 3
Penn 62 Lafayette 77 Box Score - Recap
Yale 68 Albany 89 [Time Warner Cable (TW3)] Box Score - Recap

Monday, January 4
Wagner 71 Brown 72 Box Score - Recap
American 51 Columbia 56 Box Score - Recap
Bucknell 43 Dartmouth 49 Box Score - Recap
Princeton 50 Maine 52 Box Score - Recap
Harvard 74 Santa Clara Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, January 5
Yale 69 Lehigh 75 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, January 6
Brown 51 Army 59 Box Score - Recap
Columbia 74 Lafayette 91 Box Score - Recap
Penn 82 UMBC 71 Box Score - Recap
Princeton 77 Marist 58 Box Score - Recap
Cornell 66 Kansas 71 (ESPN Fullcourt/ESPN360) Box Score - Recap

Thursday, January 7
Albertus Magnus 71 Yale 92 Box Score

Friday, January 8
Cornell 71 South Dakota 65 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 9
*Dartmouth 47 Harvard 76 Box Score - Recap
NJIT 48 Yale 79 Box Score - Recap

Monday, January 11
Brown 75 Quinnipiac 88 Box Score - Recap
St. Francis (N.Y.) 59 Columbia 53 Box Score - Recap
Clarkson 37 Cornell 82 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, January 13
Temple 60 Penn 45 Box Score - Recap

Friday, January 15
*Brown 75 Yale 66 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 16
*Columbia 53 Cornell 74 (Time Warner Sports) Box Score - Recap

Monday, January 18
St. Francis (N.Y.) 64 Dartmouth 65 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, January 20
La Salle at Penn, TBA

Friday, January 22
*Yale at Brown, 7 pm

Saturday, January 23
*Cornell at Columbia, 7 pm
*Harvard at Dartmouth, 7 pm

Sunday, January 24
Goucher at Princeton, 3pm

Monday, January 25
St. Joseph's at Penn, 7 pm [Comcast Network]

Friday, January 29
*Penn at Yale, 7 pm
*Princeton at Brown, 7 pm
*Dartmouth at Cornell, 7 pm
*Harvard at Columbia, 7 pm

Saturday, January 30
*Penn at Brown, 7 pm
*Princeton at Yale, 7 pm
*Dartmouth at Columbia, 7 pm
*Harvard at Cornell, 7 pm