Well...that wasn't pretty

[ansky629]

Still great season...wrestled the league away from the P's, swept the road weekend at the P's and went undefeated in the league.  And we've still got 2 years with most of these guys.  Just couldn't deal with the size of Stanford.  As Cubs fans say...there's always next year (and hopefully another ivy title and a better first round matchup).

[Beeeej]

What was most disappointing to me is how undisciplined the team seemed compared to their game against Duke.  Stanford is not a team full of Gods, and we were making poor shot selection and trying to play a fast, major conference game of basketball.  That's not us, and we'll not only never win that game, we'll never be competitive in it.

The country saw us play far below our potential for a good 30 out of 40 minutes.  Stanford has big, fast defense, but we have weapons, and we weren't using them.

Maybe it takes two or three trips to the tournament before you figure out how not to be terrified.  But while I was proud of the Big Red for making it there, and proud of them for not giving up, I was not happy with how they used the opportunity.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote Beeeej]But while I was proud of the Big Red for making it there, and proud of them for not giving up, I was not happy with how they used the opportunity.[/quote]
Well put, Beeeej.  Night and day compared with the Duke game.

[Jordan 04]

Great season for the Big Red.

Our young squad was overwhelmed and probably quite nervous with the NCAA tournament scene.  Whether or not that's an excuse can be debated ad nauseum.  I look forward to the team making a run to return in the near future.

I think it's also quite unfair to expect the Duke game against any nationally-ranked opponent.  A lot of things broke our way that game; we were shooting extremely well that game, and Duke is a team that lives and dies by the 3 -- and was dying that day. We also likely match up better against Duke, because there's no real inside presence to contend with.

All in all, our true ability as a team probably lies somewhere in between the one that took Duke to the last minutes and the one that was woeful today in Anaheim.

[scoop85]

FWIW, Mike Francesca on the YES Network was moaning and groaning watching the Red try to force the ball inside with zero results.  He kept repeating how we were playing into Stanford's hands.  While he hadn't seen a Cornell game all season, it was evident to anybody watching that we just had nothing going.

[billhoward]

It would have been nice to have lost by 15 or maybe 10 ... but it didn't happen. I thought when we got it to 15-12, that was our moral victory for the day. But it's a far better way to go than the other Ivies ended up this year.

[nyc94]

Maybe Duke isn't as good as everyone thinks. They lead Belmont 51-50 in the second half. ::whistle::

[ebilmes]

[quote scoop85]FWIW, Mike Francesca on the YES Network was moaning and groaning watching the Red try to force the ball inside with zero results.  He kept repeating how we were playing into Stanford's hands.  While he hadn't seen a Cornell game all season, it was evident to anybody watching that we just had nothing going.[/quote]


Listening to a little of Mike and the Mad Dog during halftime....apparently Donahue had called into their show an hour before the game. They had both been expecting a close game, with Cornell's famed 3-point shooting leading the way. A couple guys at WFAN had picked Cornell in their brackets. I don't think anyone thought we'd have such a bad first half.

This was a great season, but our performance today was a little embarrassing. We just didn't look like we belonged in the tournament.

[French Rage]

A great season, regardless of the result today.  They ended 20 years of P/P dominance, and went undefeated in the Ivy League.  It's not a national championship, but it's the biggest step in the last two decades.

And with this team's youth the chances look good of coming back last year with experience under their belts.  To make a somewhat odd comparison, this Stanford team is virtually unchanged from last year, when they got routed by Louisville, but you can see how another year together, having already "been there" once, helps.

[Ben Rocky '04]

Well said French, well said BillHoward. I plan to go into work tomorrow with Wisconsin, GATech, LSU, GMason and Georgetown alumni, hold my head high, and stand in solidarity with them as we all hope for Duke to not make it to the 16.

Good season Men, and lets hope we can do as well next year.

[Josh '99]

[quote ebilmes]Listening to a little of Mike and the Mad Dog during halftime....apparently Donahue had called into their show an hour before the game. They had both been expecting a close game, with Cornell's famed 3-point shooting leading the way.[/quote]The problem, of course, was that the shooting wasn't there.  I don't think Cornell went into the game with a mindset to force the ball inside, but Dale and Wittman were both cold early on (well, so was everyone) and it seemed like they abandoned that too quickly in favor of trying to work inside.

[Jordan 04]

[quote Josh '99][quote ebilmes]Listening to a little of Mike and the Mad Dog during halftime....apparently Donahue had called into their show an hour before the game. They had both been expecting a close game, with Cornell's famed 3-point shooting leading the way.[/quote]The problem, of course, was that the shooting wasn't there.  I don't think Cornell went into the game with a mindset to force the ball inside, but Dale and Wittman were both cold early on (well, so was everyone) and it seemed like they abandoned that too quickly in favor of trying to work inside.[/quote]

It was also simply a product of Stanford's defensive strategy. From the start, they made it clear that if you were on the 3 point arc, you were going to have a defender in your face, playing you tight.

There's 2 ways to try and relax that pressure -- either start beating them off the dribble (which Dale tried to do on a handful of occasions) or get it into someone Foote or Tyler down low and hope they can put up some points in the paint that cause Stanford to think about double-teaming.

Unfortunately, we failed at both of these, mainly because of the presence of one or more Lopez.

[Jordan 04]

What a great picture:

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/misc/zoom.pbs&Site=AF&Date=20080321&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=803210348&Ref=AR&Profile=1002

[jksnake06]

My hope is that they use this debacle as motivation to get back to the tournament and play much better next year.

[Al DeFlorio]

In contrast, Siena crushed Vandy and San Diego slipped past UConn.