Basketball Season Opener

[CornellFan]

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.

[ugarte]

[quote CornellFan]Guys, I picked Cornell to finish 3rd in my blog[/quote]

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.

[CornellFan]

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.

http://cornellbasketball.blogspot.com/2007/10/cornell-basketball-blogs-ivy-league.html

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.

[ugarte]

[quote CornellFan]Ugarte, before the season started, i published my predictions on my blog. [/quote]
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.

[CornellFan]

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.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote 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.[/quote]
Allowing 59 point second-halfs is not a formula for success.

[CornellFan]

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

[Ben Rocky '04]

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

http://www.cornellbigred.com/News/mbball/2007/11/20/ArmyStory1120072.asp?path=mbball

[CornellFan]

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

[ugarte]

[quote CornellFan]Army was scrappy but we pulled through.  Up next, a tough Siena team on Sunday in Ithaca that beat #20 Stanford last week.[/quote]
Since Yale played Stanford (kind of) close, I'm not sure what to make of any of this so early in the season.