Basketball Season Opener

Anyone going to the game on Saturday night in Ithaca? Anyone watching over the internet on RedCast?

Anyone think that now that Gardner-Webb beat Kentucky and Findlay beat Ohio State that, since these things happen in threes we should now be expected to beat Duke? No? Me either.

Unfortunately I can't watch the season opener, but ... LET'S GO RED!

ugarte
Anyone think that now that Gardner-Webb beat Kentucky and Findlay beat Ohio State that, since these things happen in threes we should now be expected to beat Duke? No? Me either.

Unfortunately I can't watch the season opener, but ... LET'S GO RED!

G-Webb beating Kentucky in the regular season? Findlay over OSU and Grand Valley State over Michigan State in exhibition games? That's tough to swallow for me. Of course, St. Rose almost beat Syracuse in an exhibtion as well. This could be one crazy year.

Strange things can happen.
1966 Cornell at Kentucky:

[www.bigbluehistory.net]

Findlay and GVSU don't consider them "exhibitions." They may not count for RPI but I'll bet that the committees remember those games all the same.

jkahn
Strange things can happen.
1966 Cornell at Kentucky:

[www.bigbluehistory.net]

Lotta talent on that Cornell team.

jkahn
Strange things can happen.
1966 Cornell at Kentucky:

[www.bigbluehistory.net]

That is crazy. A down year for Kentucky in between two top-5 teams including the famous loss to Texas Western in the National Championship game.

In Game 2, Cornell loses to Ohio U 102-89. Not bad, actually.

ugarte
In Game 2, Cornell loses to Ohio U 102-89. Not bad, actually.

Well, considering they were up by 8 with 14 minutes to go, it would have been nice to see them finish close, at least.

BCrespi

ugarte
In Game 2, Cornell loses to Ohio U 102-89. Not bad, actually.

Well, considering they were up by 8 with 14 minutes to go, it would have been nice to see them finish close, at least.

Depends on which part you consider the anomaly. I expect a good MAC team to beat us by more than 13, so if we happened to hang for a half I consider that a good sign.

I hear you, and agree, but a 21 point swing in 14 minutes is rather unfortunate.

This is an Ohio team that beat New Mexico State last week by 8. The Bobcats are an NCAA tournament caliber opponent. It was a tough loss, but not a bad loss.

The Big Red will improve defensively when Jeff Foote joins the team on December 19.

Siena on November 25 in Ithaca, looks dangerous after downing #20 Stanford.

Big Red gets Army tomorrow night. We need a big win.

It isn't clear to me why we have so much confidence in Jeff Foote at this point in time. Would someone tell me what he has to offer other than his height? Has he scored in double figures at the college level? Has he averaged several blocked shots a game at the college level? I don't think so. Every web site I can find shows NO games played--ever--and something about "possible red shirt year." Yet he is going to be our savior.

Oh, the Ivy champion Princeton teams of Pete Carril would never have lost to Ohio by 14 after leading by 8 in the second half. I'll believe this team has Ivy championship capabilities when they show they can play even ordinary defense (neither the Lehigh nor Ohio game showed such) and can hold onto a lead without folding under a press late in the game.

The hype is getting tiresome. Show me some results...the hype can follow.

Al DeFlorio
Oh, the Ivy champion Princeton teams of Pete Carril would never have lost to Ohio by 14 after leading by 8 in the second half.

I don't know that anyone besides CornellFan (and even CornellFan, in his private honest moments) thinks this team is as good as the ranked Princeton/Penn teams.

Al DeFlorio
It isn't clear to me why we have so much confidence in Jeff Foote at this point in time. Would someone tell me what he has to offer other than his height? Has he scored in double figures at the college level? Has he averaged several blocked shots a game at the college level? I don't think so. Every web site I can find shows NO games played--ever--and something about "possible red shirt year." Yet he is going to be our savior.

The hype is getting tiresome. Show me some results...the hype can follow.

Agreed. I don't think Foote is going to be much of a contributor. Let him surprise us.

Guys, I picked Cornell to finish 3rd in my blog--- so I am not here to hype the team. But I will say the following:

(1) Steve Donahue expects Foote to play significant minutes. Coach D does not say such things about all of his players. So, you will see this kid on the floor quality minutes.

(2) Foote has not been eligible for a single NCAA game to date (at either Cornell or St. Bonaventure). So, don't count his ineligibility against him.

(3) Foote looked very good against some solid D-III, D-II and D-I competition over the summer during the Empire State Games. Ok, so these were not NCAA games. But bear in mind, we don't need this kid to put up 10 points per game. We just need a long kid who can alter shots in the lane and grab 5-6 boards. Coach D has compared his defensive ability with Naeve. Maybe such a comparison is a bit too much, but, he should be a solid defender. Pair him with Hartford and/or Tyler and our defense gets much, much better. The offense won't suffer or struggle with any combination of our three guards on the floor (plus Tyler or Hartford as a 4th scorer.

In short, we are going to get better defensively. It is only a question of how much better.

CornellFan
Guys, I picked Cornell to finish 3rd in my blog

That is some superstitious bullshit. You've been saying that Cornell was going to take the Ivy League this year since midway through last season.

Ugarte, before the season started, i published my predictions on my blog. I HOPE I am wrong and that Cornell wins it. But I am picking Big Red for 3rd.

[cornellbasketball.blogspot.com]

We'll learn a bit more about this team once they play some more of the winnable opponents (ie Army, Colgate, Bighmaton, NJIT etc). If they go through the nonconference slate only losing to Ohio, Siena, Syracuse and Duke-- then I think this team is better than I predicted. Lets see what they do against the Patriots and America East types.

CornellFan
Ugarte, before the season started, i published my predictions on my blog.

I know you said it in your predictions, but I don't believe that you believe it. You spent time on the Penn boards last year telling the Penn people that their reign was about to end. I don't believe that you changed your mind over the summer.

I did. Reason for the change? Penn's freshmen-- mainly Tyler Bernardini, have looked awesome during summer ball and fall workouts. I did not think Penn was going to find any offense (without Jabber and Zoller), but Bernardini may give it to them by the time January rolls around.

Again-- I want to be wrong. But I think Penn pulls together by January.

To overcome Penn, Cornell needs to upgrade its frontcourt defense-- whether it comes from Jeff Foote, or by an increased commitment to the defensive end from Hartford and Tyler.

CornellFan
To overcome Penn, Cornell needs to upgrade its frontcourt defense-- whether it comes from Jeff Foote, or by an increased commitment to the defensive end from Hartford and Tyler.

Allowing 59 point second-halfs is not a formula for success.

I think we all agree that the defense needs to improve.

Looks like sometimes we can keep the lead at the end. LGR & happy thanksgiving!

[www.cornellbigred.com]

Army was scrappy but we pulled through. Up next, a tough Siena team on Sunday in Ithaca that beat #20 Stanford last week.

CornellFan
Army was scrappy but we pulled through. Up next, a tough Siena team on Sunday in Ithaca that beat #20 Stanford last week.

Since Yale played Stanford (kind of) close, I'm not sure what to make of any of this so early in the season.