2013-2014 Basketball

[Ken711]

Beating an undefeated #1 on the road may not save Donahue's job, but it's a nice night for him.

Nice to see a signature win in what unfortunately could be his  last season.

[mountainred]

Cherry has a career night (29 points), but it isn't nearly enough:  Yale 82 Cornell 65.

[ugarte]

Cornell up by 2 at the half, 36-34 over Brown. Airing on NBC Sports Network.

[ugarte]

Cornell has a one point lead, the ball and a fresh shot clock coming out of a timeout with 38.6 seconds left. LET'S GO RED!

[ugarte]

Cornell can't buy a bucket in OT and just got a terrible call against them in OT on what was a clean block. Down 1, 2:36 to go.

[ugarte]

Cornell can't buy a bucket in OT and just got a terrible call against them in OT on what was a clean block. Down 1, 2:36 to go.

AND THEN THE RAINS CAME

It all went south in a hurry, Cornell went down by 8 and ended up losing by six after a meaningless basket at the buzzer.

They played a pretty decent second half (didn't see the first) and really had a chance to win. Cressler, in the middle of a career game, went 1-for-2 from the line with ~35 seconds left to give CU a two point lead. Brown quickly tied it up, and the play drawn up was Devin Cherry hero ball. Cherry held the ball at the top of the key as the clock wound down and front-rimmed a 17 footer at the buzzer. Honestly, an insane decision and almost enough for me to say "Courtney has to go." Brown was fouling almost every time Cornell drove. No reason to scheme for a long jump shot from a guy who hit his first three of the season on February 22d.

[mountainred]

Cornell can't buy a bucket in OT and just got a terrible call against them in OT on what was a clean block. Down 1, 2:36 to go.

AND THEN THE RAINS CAME

It all went south in a hurry, Cornell went down by 8 and ended up losing by six after a meaningless basket at the buzzer.

They played a pretty decent second half (didn't see the first) and really had a chance to win. Cressler, in the middle of a career game, went 1-for-2 from the line with ~35 seconds left to give CU a two point lead. Brown quickly tied it up, and the play drawn up was Devin Cherry hero ball. Cherry held the ball at the top of the key as the clock wound down and front-rimmed a 17 footer at the buzzer. Honestly, an insane decision and almost enough for me to say "Courtney has to go." Brown was fouling almost every time Cornell drove. No reason to scheme for a long jump shot from a guy who hit his first three of the season on February 22d.

That is the Cornell end of half play, though sometimes it is Cressler in the hero role and once Tarwater (he missed).  It almost never works, but Courtney seems to love the play.

[Ken711]

2-22?  How sad this program has collapsed so far.

[CAS]

Cornell has now lost 28 of its last 29 games versus D-1 opponents.  Hard to believe...

[Ken711]

Cornell has now lost 28 of its last 29 games versus D-1 opponents.  Hard to believe...

Make that 29 of 30 after a one-side loss to Harvard 47-72.

[RichH]

Cornell has now lost 28 of its last 29 games versus D-1 opponents.  Hard to believe...

I'll say it. What's so hard to believe? This is a historically poor program who had the fantastic fortune to have a 2-year recruiting blip that we fans were able to ride to wonderful, unimaginable heights. The coach who pulled it off took the first offer to the "big-time" he got, and we have returned to where they were before.  I enjoyed the exposure, but it's not like this was ever an elite basketball program for decade after decade.

I'll cheer for our student-athletes however far they are able to perform, but c'mon. We've never been a basketball school, and I don't expect them to match the run we recently enjoyed ever again.

[CAS]

There are no excuses to lose 29 of 30, and 18 of 19 in the Ivies.  If you accept losing, you will.  I'm not calling for Cornell to return to the Sweet 16.  Is it unreasonable to expect a competitive Ivy program?  Do Columbia and Brown have winning traditions?  Both are 7-4 in the league this year.

[mountainred]

We've never been a basketball power, true, but historically the league conceded that title to the Penn/Princeton winner, so you can say that about the other six schools.  Other than a span in the early 70's when we may have had the worst program in the nation, we've been fairly competitive in the Ivies.  Not the P's, but not nearly as bad as Dartmouth or Columbia.  Generally, you'd find the Big Red around 4th or 5th place.

Now, just four year removed from the pinnacle of our basketball success (and I agree success that is highly unlikely to be repeated), we will set a school record for losses.  The only other time Cornell lost 23 basketball games in a season, the coach was fired (well, told to resign) with 9 games left reportedly because of excessive drinking.  That's quite the precipitous fall.  And keep in mind your top four in the league standings right now are:  Harvard, Yale, Brown and Columbia.  Granted Amaker is playing fast and loose with AI, but it's not like any of those programs have a basketball history that is any better than ours.

The term "paradigm shift" is overused, but the three straight league titles and sweet 16 run were truly an opportunity for Cornell to recast itself as an Ivy contender, especially in light of the P's dropping off.  That kind of opportunity comes along once a generation and has been lost.

[Ken711]

Now 30 of 31 losses going back to last season after tonight's loss at Dartmouth.

[Trotsky]

Now 30 of 31 losses going back to last season after tonight's loss at Dartmouth.

We moved up in RPI.

Still 25 teams below us.