Basketball 2015-16

billhoward · October 28, 2015, 11:22:01 AM

Basketball deserves a new thread each year. Here.

Men's Basketball Picked Eighth in Ivy Preseason Poll, as noted earlier, sounds better than "picked last."

Rank   School   Points
1.   Yale (5)   117
2.   Columbia (6)   114
3.   Princeton (6)   108
4.   Harvard   96
5.   Brown   54
6.   Dartmouth   50
7.   Penn   48
8.   Cornell   25

Trotsky · October 28, 2015, 11:22:54 AM

Nice contrast between image and caption. "SOAR! Shit, never mind."

KeithK · October 28, 2015, 01:04:46 PM

Quote from: billhowardBasketball deserves a new thread each year. Here.

"Deserve" is a rather strong term, under the circumstances. But a new thread makes sense.

Rosey · October 28, 2015, 01:22:15 PM

Quote from: KeithK
Quote from: billhowardBasketball deserves a new thread each year. Here.
"Deserve" is a rather strong term, under the circumstances. But a new thread makes sense.

"Picked" is a rather strong term. More like "By process of elimination".

RichH · October 28, 2015, 03:38:24 PM

Quote from: Kyle Rose
Quote from: KeithK
Quote from: billhowardBasketball deserves a new thread each year. Here.
"Deserve" is a rather strong term, under the circumstances. But a new thread makes sense.
"Picked" is a rather strong term. More like "By process of elimination".

The minimum total seems to be 17 points. That we got 25 means that at least two voters didn't rank us 8th.

marty · October 29, 2015, 12:42:39 PM

Quote from: KeithK
Quote from: billhowardBasketball deserves a new thread each year. Here.
"Deserve" is a rather strong term, under the circumstances. But a new thread makes sense.

Thread Bear.

mountainred · November 01, 2015, 10:37:36 AM

Ken Pomeroy is pretty down on the team too. He released his first set of 2015-16 ratings and has Cornell #311 overall, which is significantly behind 7th place Brown (#243). That rating, and Cornell's schedule, translates to a predicted 8 win season (4-10 in the league). The losses of Miller, Cherry and Cancer from what was a pretty poor offensive team last year result in a dreadful offensive rating that is nearly the worst in the nation.

In fairness, Ken underestimated Cornell last year. The Big Red started in the 300's, but steadily climbed to spend most of the season in the 175-200 range (which translates to "slightly below average" nationally). His pre-season ratings are based on incomplete information, such as the impact of newcomers.

And this team could have some serious newcomers. There are 8 freshman; Stone Gettings out of Los Angeles was highly regarded by ESPN and Matt Morgan was a huge scorer (2000 career points) from a suburban Charlotte high school. Throw in that last year was pretty much a lost season for Soph. Pat Smith, but he played well when injuries didn't keep him off the court. If the kids earn some PT, this team could be interesting to watch in a rebuilding kind of way. If they rely on Junior class (there are no Seniors of note), this is going to be a long slog of a season that will see Hatter lead the league in scoring but likely break the school record for shots taken to get there.

mountainred · November 02, 2015, 05:17:14 PM

Voice of the Red Barry Leonard did a season preview for Ivy Hoops Online: http://ivyhoopsonline.com/2015/11/02/cornell-season-preview-youth-must-be-served/

10-14 wins is probably a bit optimistic, but Harvard has already lost Siriyani Chambers to an ACL injury and Penn's leading returning scorer, Tony Hicks, has left the team.

Ken711 · November 02, 2015, 07:22:45 PM

Quote from: mountainredVoice of the Red Barry Leonard did a season preview for Ivy Hoops Online: http://ivyhoopsonline.com/2015/11/02/cornell-season-preview-youth-must-be-served/

10-14 wins is probably a bit optimistic, but Harvard has already lost Siriyani Chambers to an ACL injury and Penn's leading returning scorer, Tony Hicks, has left the team.

"...the upside is huge!" Assuming no more key players leave the program as been the norm in the last few seasons.

mountainred · November 11, 2015, 09:55:54 PM

Quote from: Ken711
Quote from: mountainredVoice of the Red Barry Leonard did a season preview for Ivy Hoops Online: http://ivyhoopsonline.com/2015/11/02/cornell-season-preview-youth-must-be-served/

10-14 wins is probably a bit optimistic, but Harvard has already lost Siriyani Chambers to an ACL injury and Penn's leading returning scorer, Tony Hicks, has left the team.

"...the upside is huge!" Assuming no more key players leave the program as been the norm in the last few seasons.

Not a fan of Bill's, but the only key player to "leave the program" was Cressler (okay Cancer left, but he came back). Peck, Miller, Tarwater, and (later) Cancer all graduated. To me, that's more on archaic Ivy League rules than BC.

If the game notes are to be trusted, the starters will be Robert Hatter, Daryl Smith, Matt Morgan, Jordan Abdur Ra'oof, and David Onuorah. I think Jordan and David can defend well (though maybe not against Ga Tech), but neither has had much of an offensive presence; Onuorah doesn't shoot unless it is a dunk or putback and Jordan was 4-21 from inside the arc last season. That's going to make the offensive very one dimensional.

Interesting, and promising, is that Freshman Morgan should start. His high school game was scoring and this team needs someone other than Hatter to take shots.

billhoward · November 13, 2015, 10:32:01 PM

Season opener for Big Red: Georgia Tech 116, Cornell 81. Halftime, a reasonable 57-49 deficit, Cornell got it down to a couple early in the second, then the roof fell in. Fr Matt Morgan gets 20, Robert Hatter 19, fr Stone Gattings 11. We score 80 every game in the Ivies, we'll win quite a few.

mountainred · November 13, 2015, 10:36:45 PM

116-81 Georgia Tech. Losing at an ACC school isn't a surprise, but this wasn't the way I expected it to happen.

The Big Red fell behind early, but closed to within 2 early in the second half. Then it got ugly.

The good news is that Freshmen Matt Morgan and Stone Gettings played well - I think they combined for 34 points or so and most of those were while the game was still in reach.

The bad news is GT scored at will and outrebounded the Red by 50 (at least it felt that way). Shonn Miller's absence was felt.

Oh well, it wasn't like I had much hope of beating an ACC team. Colgate and Bingo will be better assessments of where this team is.

ugarte · November 13, 2015, 11:37:55 PM

The second half was really ugly. No attempt at ball movement, Hatter kept trying to drive the lane on multiple defenders, shooting went cold, and this was not a team we were remotely capable of defending against. I really wish I'd seen the first half instead.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I didn't expect this to be close so I don't really care what we look like against Georgia Tech on the road.

billhoward · November 14, 2015, 07:55:04 AM

Interesting: Freshman Stone Gattings is in Arts & Sciences AND he also lettered in water polo [edit add: in high school].

mountainred · November 14, 2015, 10:35:25 AM

Quote from: ugarteHatter kept trying to drive the lane on multiple defenders.

In Hatter's defense, he was drawing fouls like crazy doing that in the first half. Then the refs swallowed their whistles and he kept trying it. I thought he had a nice overall game. The pass he threw to Morgan on the fast break was a thing of beauty.

And nice try at spin by the SID's office: "Georgia Tech's 116 points is the most allowed by a Big Red team in a game since Syracuse scored 120 in a 120-85 victory during the 1965-66 campaign. Cornell went 15-9 that season." (emphasis mine). I doubt there is much cause and effect there.