Cornell beats Army in Hoops, 65-56

I took the short trek to West Point last evening (surrounded by about 200 other curious souls) to see the Men hoopsters tangle with Army. The Cadets are much improved, and Cornell had to play a solid game to take the win.

Solid game overall for the Red, which has an impressive array of young talent. Freshman Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman have all-league potential before they are through, while Soph Kreefer has come out of nowhere to help fill the hole left by the season-ending ACL injury to Adam Gore. Even given that a number of other key contributors are injured, the team showed a lot of depth and resiliency (although Donahue's insistence on substituting at every whistle can make one nuts).

The team does not rebound well, and that will hurt them against bigger opponents. Overall, I think the squad will have a solid season, and while I don't think they will quite challenge Penn for the Ivy title, I'd be surprised if they didn't finish in the top 3.

Next year, with the return of Gore and the maturation of the younger talent, not to mention the addition of transfer Collis Robinson (and even the possible return of Kaliq Gant), we should see the best Cornell team since the mid-80's.

From the Way Way Way Too Early Department, Cornell leads the Ivies in RPI at #32 (thanks in part to Stony Brook(!!) being #28.
[realtimerpi.com]

And Brown got destroyed by Northwestern last night.

Next year, with the solid core returning and Jabber hitting the road, the door is wide open for the Red to have a great season.