2013-2014 Basketball

[ugarte]

Not every key player from the Sweet 16 team graduated in 2010.

That team graduated Wittman, Dale, Foote, Jacques and Reeves. There were non-seniors on the team (notably Wroblewski) but that senior class was the entire three-year run.

[CAS]

And what's your defense for the performance of this year's team?

[ugarte]

And what's your defense for the performance of this year's team?

None. See above.

[rss77]

Here is the thing about this season:  The team was making the same mistakes on defense at the end of the season that it did at the start of the season which was the following:

No sliding over by players to help on interior defense which let opposing players drive to the basket
No rotation off of double teams thus leaving guys on the outside for wide open threes

It leads one to believe that either the players Courtney recruited are not capable or whatever message he was driving was not getting across

Yes-Shonn Miller returns next season but that is not the whole answer.  There are immense problems and leads one to hope that Courtney's recruits might bring some other scoring options besides Nolan Cressler and Devin Cherry.  Give him the final year of the contract.  Not blaming Andy Noel for the hire-Courtney had some great credentials but as a long time season ticket holder it has been painful to watch this mess.

[ugarte]

Here is the thing about this season:  The team was making the same mistakes on defense at the end of the season that it did at the start of the season which was the following:

No sliding over by players to help on interior defense which let opposing players drive to the basket
No rotation off of double teams thus leaving guys on the outside for wide open threes

It leads one to believe that either the players Courtney recruited are not capable or whatever message he was driving was not getting across

Yes-Shonn Miller returns next season but that is not the whole answer.  There are immense problems and leads one to hope that Courtney's recruits might bring some other scoring options besides Nolan Cressler and Devin Cherry.  Give him the final year of the contract.  Not blaming Andy Noel for the hire-Courtney had some great credentials but as a long time season ticket holder it has been painful to watch this mess.

This is basically my attitude. You let the contract play out, you see if 2014-15 shows real promise, but it isn't like I think he's earned a renewal.

[Trotsky]

That team graduated Wittman, Dale, Foote, Jacques and Reeves. There were non-seniors on the team (notably Wroblewski) but that senior class was the entire three-year run.

How did that class happen?  Was it just a pure fluke; did the admissions office pull a Brown and ahem "assist" the coaching staff?

tl;dr: was that a repeatable action?

[George64]

That team graduated Wittman, Dale, Foote, Jacques and Reeves. There were non-seniors on the team (notably Wroblewski) but that senior class was the entire three-year run.

How did that class happen?  Was it just a pure fluke; did the admissions office pull a Brown and ahem "assist" the coaching staff?

tl;dr: was that a repeatable action?

As I recall, it wasn't like Donohue was an ace recruiter.  Whittman wasn't recruited heavily because of an injury; Dale wasn't recruited, he sought out Cornell; and Foote transferred from St. Bonaventure after his mother, a nurse, met the Cornell team who was visiting a seriously injured player (Khaliq Gant, I think) in the hospital. Foote certainly developed, however, during his time on the Hill.  [Washington Post article]

[Chris '03]

That team graduated Wittman, Dale, Foote, Jacques and Reeves. There were non-seniors on the team (notably Wroblewski) but that senior class was the entire three-year run.

How did that class happen?  Was it just a pure fluke; did the admissions office pull a Brown and ahem "assist" the coaching staff?

tl;dr: was that a repeatable action?

As I recall, it wasn't like Donohue was an ace recruiter.  Whittman wasn't recruited heavily because of an injury; Dale wasn't recruited, he sought out Cornell; and Foote transferred from St. Bonaventure after his mother, a nurse, met the Cornell team who was visiting a seriously injured player (Khaliq Gant, I think) in the hospital. Foote certainly developed, however, during his time on the Hill.  [Washington Post article]

Agreed. The stars aligned brilliantly for that run. It wasn't a sudden influx of blue chip players.

[George64]

Cornell Chronicle article about Khalig Gant.

[ugarte]

That team graduated Wittman, Dale, Foote, Jacques and Reeves. There were non-seniors on the team (notably Wroblewski) but that senior class was the entire three-year run.

How did that class happen?  Was it just a pure fluke; did the admissions office pull a Brown and ahem "assist" the coaching staff?

tl;dr: was that a repeatable action?

As I recall, it wasn't like Donohue was an ace recruiter.  Whittman wasn't recruited heavily because of an injury; Dale wasn't recruited, he sought out Cornell; and Foote transferred from St. Bonaventure after his mother, a nurse, met the Cornell team who was visiting a seriously injured player (Khaliq Gant, I think) in the hospital. Foote certainly developed, however, during his time on the Hill.  [Washington Post article]

This is it: it was luck.

Wittman's dad played in the NBA (and is currently the head coach of the Wizards) and he was expected to play above the Ivy League, but he got hurt his senior year. One of the advantages of having a dad who is the coach of (at the time) the Timberwolves is that you don't need a scholarship. Donahue got him, which was a great get, because he was an amazing Ivy player.

Louis Dale was a 5'9" guard out of Birmingham. There is no reason he shouldn't have been recruited by all of the Ivies but Birmingham is a little off of the recruiting trail. He sent a tape to Cornell and Donahue and staff couldn't believe that nobody had heard of a kid that good with Ivy academic credentials. Snapped him up.

When Khaliq Gant, Cornell's best player at the time, broke his neck during a January 2006 practice, he ended up getting treated at an upstate NY hospital. One of his nurses was very impressed with the sense of camaraderie she saw in the Cornell team and coaching staff, who were regular visitors during Gant's recovery. She mentioned that her son, a 7'1" center at St. Bonaventure, was unhappy with his school and wondered if Cornell had a place for him since everyone seemed much happier. Donahue said yes, fed the kid like he was foie gras, and taught him how to improve his footwork.

And then when all of them were seniors, the NCAA tournament committee looked around the room, nodded silently, and put the Red in a bracket as a 12 seed with two plodding, low-scoring teams as the 4 and 5 seeds. Cornell destroyed both of them. Then faced a Kentucky team who took about five minutes to figure out that they actually had to try, but once they did try, the game was over.

[ithacat]

Steve inherited a much more difficult situation than Bill.  Steve's teams generally improved throughout his tenure, and Cornell went 6-8 in the Ivies in year 4. In year 5 Cornell went 8-6 and finished 2nd in the league.  Not sure how Steve's record is relevant in evaluating Bill.

I didn't say it was.

[Jordan 04]

And then when all of them were seniors, the NCAA tournament committee looked around the room, nodded silently, and put the Red in a bracket as a 12 seed with two plodding, low-scoring teams as the 4 and 5 seeds. Cornell destroyed both of them. Then faced a Kentucky team who took about five minutes to figure out that they actually had to try, but once they did try, the game was over.

While Kentucky certainly opened up a big lead after our initial punch, for whatever reason it's often overlooked that Cornell did cut the deficit to 6 with 5+ minutes to play.  6 straight Kentucky points later, it was essentially over.

[ugarte]

And then when all of them were seniors, the NCAA tournament committee looked around the room, nodded silently, and put the Red in a bracket as a 12 seed with two plodding, low-scoring teams as the 4 and 5 seeds. Cornell destroyed both of them. Then faced a Kentucky team who took about five minutes to figure out that they actually had to try, but once they did try, the game was over.

While Kentucky certainly opened up a big lead after our initial punch, for whatever reason it's often overlooked that Cornell did cut the deficit to 6 with 5+ minutes to play.  6 straight Kentucky points later, it was essentially over.

I mean... come on, Jordan. We opened on a 10-2 run. They then essentially did that to us three times and the score was 32-16 at halftime. After the half Kentucky put the game on cruise control.

[mountainred]

***
And then when all of them were seniors, the NCAA tournament committee looked around the room, nodded silently, and put the Red in a bracket as a 12 seed with two plodding, low-scoring teams as the 4 and 5 seeds. Cornell destroyed both of them. Then faced a Kentucky team who took about five minutes to figure out that they actually had to try, but once they did try, the game was over.

Careful ugarte, you are beginning to sound like one of those Penn fans who refuse to acknowledge Cornell's title run or sweet sixteen appearance as legitimate.  I know you don't want that.  :-)

I agree that while our guys competed hard with Kentucky and made a nice late run, there was never a moment in the second half when I thought we were actually going to win.  Still, they made a thinly-disguised NBA D-league team sweat a little and work for the win.

But the Temple and Wisconsin wins were hardly NCAA gifts.  Sure, Cornell was a trendy upset pick (good Ivy teams always are because it makes good copy), but there were plenty of basketball experts who thought Temple was underseeded and that the Big Red would never crack their top 10 ranked defense.  Plus, Dunphy and Temple knew the Ivy League wouldn't take an Ivy team lightly.  Wisconsin had wins over Duke, Michigan State and Ohio State.  Ken Pomeroy has both Temple and Wisconin in his final top 15.  They were good teams.

And Cornell waxed them.  These were not flukey buzzer-beaters; both games were basically over with 10 minutes left (not that I didn't hang on every play and worry about every small momentum change).  The guys saved their best two games for the NCAA tournament and crushed two very solid teams.

[mountainred]

Here is the thing about this season:  The team was making the same mistakes on defense at the end of the season that it did at the start of the season which was the following:

No sliding over by players to help on interior defense which let opposing players drive to the basket
No rotation off of double teams thus leaving guys on the outside for wide open threes

It leads one to believe that either the players Courtney recruited are not capable or whatever message he was driving was not getting across

Yes-Shonn Miller returns next season but that is not the whole answer.  There are immense problems and leads one to hope that Courtney's recruits might bring some other scoring options besides Nolan Cressler and Devin Cherry.  Give him the final year of the contract.  Not blaming Andy Noel for the hire-Courtney had some great credentials but as a long time season ticket holder it has been painful to watch this mess.

This is basically my attitude. You let the contract play out, you see if 2014-15 shows real promise, but it isn't like I think he's earned a renewal.

I guess my attitude is the evidence after four years is pretty overwhelming that Courtney isn't the right person for the job and letting him finish out his contract is merely delaying the inevitable.  And the message you send the world is "look, basketball really isn't that big a deal here; we'd rather save the money and not pay someone not to coach."  Of course, that message is probably the truth and Courtney seems like a good man and the team seems to like him.

The hiring decision made sense.  The recruiting arms race in the Ivy League has really escalated -- thanks largely to Tommy A and his AI games -- and Bill was known for his recruiting.  He's just needed to have a solid X and O guy on the bench and hasn't.  Jay Larranaga was supposed to be that guy, but he left town almost before he arrived.  His replacement, Marlon Sears, is a coach known best for being a good recruiter.  That has left the Big Red a real disadvantage, especially since the recruiting has been a mixed bag:  Miller and Cressler have worked out well; Cancer, Harmon and Bunce not as much.  That's probably sufficient if you develop great schemes, but not if you don't.