big weekend for basketball @Harvard/@Dartmouth

Hopefully this will be the result of the Harvard game. But this game is critical, since it looks like they will still be missing two of their big men, Keith Wright and Andrew Van Nest, we will need a monster game from Foote, especially this mini 3 pt shooting drought we have been in. A win would effectively eliminate Harvard while a loss would make the next 2 weekends painful and make the one game playoff for the Ivy title a real possibility.

phillysportsfan
the one game playoff for the Ivy title

[pedant]If two are more teams are tied, they are both/all Ivy co-champions. The playoff is just for the NCAA bid.[/pedant]

jtwcornell91

phillysportsfan
the one game playoff for the Ivy title

[pedant]If two are more teams are tied, they are both/all Ivy co-champions. The playoff is just for the NCAA bid.[/pedant]

True, but only one of those teams cares.

They still get rings...

Harvard 70, Cornell 69 Friday night
Cornell 82, Dartmouth 48 Saturday night

Get ready for a playoff!!

Willy '06
They still get rings...

An Ivy league title is meaningless without going to the NCAA tournament.

My girlfriend's volleyball team would disagree with you. They shared the Ivy Title 4 ways her freshman year (made it to the finals in the playoff where they lost to Yale). That was a big step for the program. They won the championship outright the next two years.

Yes, for basketball it would be a big step back and a disappointment, but not completely meaningless.

phillysportsfan

Willy '06
They still get rings...

An Ivy league title is meaningless without going to the NCAA tournament.

Argh!!!!!!!

Everything I hate about March Madness in one sentence.

The NCAAs is a cute way for networks to make money, but beating traditional rivals and winning the conference championship has a value that, for many of us, is much greater.

See also: bowls > BCS, c.f., my lawn comma get off

I would agree that 2 years ago I would have taken an Ivy league title in a 4 way tie or any tie for basketball but anything less than making the tournament will be a disappointment for this team.

phillysportsfan
I would agree that 2 years ago I would have taken an Ivy league title in a 4 way tie or any tie for basketball but anything less than making the tournament will be a disappointment for this team.

"for this team", yes, but that's not the same as your broader original statement:

phillysportsfan
An Ivy league title is meaningless without going to the NCAA tournament.

Yes, for this particular group of players that set an extremely high bar by running the league schedule two years ago and have made the NCAA tournament two years running, and have a decent shot to win a game in the tournament this season, it would be a disappointment not to make the tournament. Your original statement seemed to be implying more than that, though.

Sorry what I meant was for this team because 2 years ago no one could be disappointed if we had a tie for an Ivy league title considering we had not won one in 20 years

Score of hockey is 0-0 after 1 period. Could someone please post BB score at halftime? Thanks.

Alex
The basketball score is 43 - 34 Cornell at the half.
Doug

sockralex
Score of hockey is 0-0 after 1 period. Could someone please post BB score at halftime? Thanks.

43-34 Cornell, despite being outrebounded 14-11 and outscored from the foul line 16-6. Foote had scored only 3 and Cornell was up only 28-25. At the half he had 9 and Cornell was up by 9. Harvard's big guys are hurt so Cornell has to get the ball inside to Foote to take advantage.

Thank you. CU is up 2-0 after 2. Two great goals off of passing plays after 5 minutes of sustained pressure.

79-68 CU with :25 left

Yes we won 79-70!!!!! Take that Lobo

CU win sets up next weekend with Princeton to hopefully decide it all..

Great game for Wittman. Led all scorers with 27 points including 6-12 from three-point range (Cornell overall was 12-23 from outside), and also led the game with 8 rebounds. Cornell defense fouled a ton - Foote and Wire with 4, Wittman and Jaques with 3, four other guys with 2, but nobody fouled out. Harvard was 32-34 from the line, but it wasn't enough for them.

Cornell needs to rediscover its defensive intensity. Too much fouling reminds me of Seton Hall game...

upperdeck
CU win sets up next weekend with Princeton to hopefully decide it all..

Got to beat Dartmouth first, they picked up their first league win tonight against Columbia.

Josh '99
Great game for Wittman. Led all scorers with 27 points including 6-12 from three-point range (Cornell overall was 12-23 from outside), and also led the game with 8 rebounds. Cornell defense fouled a ton - Foote and Wire with 4, Wittman and Jaques with 3, four other guys with 2, but nobody fouled out. Harvard was 32-34 from the line, but it wasn't enough for them.

Yeah Wittman really put on a show for the 14 NBA scouts in attendance

phillysportsfan
Yeah Wittman really put on a show for the 14 NBA scouts in attendance

Also in attendance were some "name" media, among them Andy Katz, who posted this on ESPN.com.

Aside: It seems from Katz's tweets that Sucks basketball normally does its postgame pressers in a "utility closet."

Wittman was on tonight...when he's on fire, Cornell is tough to beat. I wish he had one of these Jimmer Fredette type performances more often, and he'll need to have them in the tournament for Cornell to advance.

Princeton destroyed Yale tonight so the pressure is still on the Red to keep winning.

phillysportsfan
Yes we won 79-70!!!!! Take that Lobo

We were good.

But were we New Mexico good?

Andy Katz piece at ESPN: [espn.go.com]

French Rage

phillysportsfan
Yes we won 79-70!!!!! Take that Lobo

We were good.

But were we New Mexico good?

No we are not as good as New Mexico but Lobo said we would lose

Al DeFlorio
Andy Katz piece at ESPN: [espn.go.com]

Katz
Harvard’s students were amped up for this one with chants of “safety school,’’ a halftime change from white to black t-shirts and plenty of noise.

In order: old hat, I don't get it, and I didn't think Harvard students were capable of noise.

If anyone can explain the t-shirt thing, please let me know.

Did anybody on this board go to the basketball game instead of the hockey game? Care to file a report? I'm interested in how many CU fans there were, if a basketball sell-out at Harvard is the same as a hockey "sell-out" at Harvard, the general atmosphere, etc.

RichH

Did anybody on this board go to the basketball game instead of the hockey game? Care to file a report? I'm interested in how many CU fans there were, if a basketball sell-out at Harvard is the same as a hockey "sell-out" at Harvard, the general atmosphere, etc.

The Harvard Athletics web site has a so-called "highlights" video (all show Crimson baskets; one would wonder how Cornell scored 70 points) that will give you a sense of the crowld.

Harvard really had to push it to find highlights considering the 32 points they got off free throws

Harvard students arent capable of noise, from watching the game online the student section sounded quiet, occasionally they made some noise but not much. Then again their student section is only about 400 people.

I didnt go to the game but watched it online and it seemed that the whole section behind our bench was Cornell fans, there might have been more

Princeton falls to Brown @ home.

Yeah next weekend is a bigger weekend, convincing win over Dartmouth tonight so with a weekend sweep we clinch a share of the Ivy title and with a Saturday Princeton loss at Columbia we clinch the Ivy title outright

[www.nytimes.com]
Great article in the NY times

Interesting passage at the end. In this quote Donahue sounded much more convincing about wanting to stay here.

As the Big Red motors toward March, the rumblings about Donahue being a candidate for high-profile jobs will inevitably grow. He said he was very comfortable in the Ivy League, where he has been the past 20 years, 10 at Cornell and the 10 before that as a Penn assistant. A job at a larger college, he said, would have to be a home run for him and his family because it would be difficult for him to leave Cornell.

“I’m not the kind of guy who jumps at different things,” he said.

Cornell Athletic Director Andy Noel joked he would refer to the potential of Donahue’s leaving as “the unspeakable,” and said he hoped that Donahue could have a run of longevity and success similar to what Pete Carril had at Princeton from 1967 to 1996.

“What Steve has already done at Cornell is phenomenal,” Noel said. “I like to focus on what else could be done.”

phillysportsfan

French Rage

phillysportsfan
Yes we won 79-70!!!!! Take that Lobo

We were good.

But were we New Mexico good?

No we are not as good as New Mexico but Lobo said we would lose

I picked Cornell to lose at Harvard, and I was very wrong. I didn't see Wittman having the performance he did in that game. I've said before, if Wittman is on, Cornell is tough to beat. If Wittman is on, they can make the 2nd round this year. But Wittman, as good as he is, isn't the impact player he needs to be for Cornell to win a game like they lost at Kansas. That's why I made the reference to Jimmer Fredette, the guard at BYU. He has 20+ pt games every time he's out there. Wittman is not as good as Fredette, not even close really, but for a guy that averages 1.7 assists per game and is widely thought of as a great 3 pt shooter, I don't think Wittman looks for his own shot enough. He's not even averaging 13 shots per game this year.

Yeah Wittman has really stepped up the last 2 games, he has got to be POY over Lin if we win out

By the way, New Mexico BARELY escaped tonight at home vs Air Force, the worst team in the MWC. The Princeton offense is difficult to watch, but the slowing of pace almost took down the 12th ranked team in the country on an off night. Glad Cornell was able to pull that one out vs Princeton last week.