Men's Basketball (2016-17)

[mountainred]

And they bounce back to beat SE Missouri St. 78-62.  The RedHawks aren't good, but just taking care of business is good to see.

[billhoward]

Wake up and I see this on Facebook: This week's shootout at Not OK Corral. It was scary to see the COR-USC teaser last week, even worse this week. I have no idea how Facebook chooses the other three games to p;romote.

[mountainred]

The annual loss to Syracuse is taken care of:  80-56.  Cornell took an early 8-2 lead, but it was all Orange after that.

One adjustment from my exam break thoughts is that Sophomore Troy Whiteside has supplanted Wright in the starting line-up and has played pretty well. His turnovers are down and he's 18 for 23 from inside the arc.

[CAS]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

[mountainred]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

[Ken711]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

Bill Courtney couldn't recruit talented tall front court players in his 6 years.  It's going to take Brian Earl time to reverse that recruiting trend.

[mountainred]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

Bill Courtney couldn't recruit talented tall front court players in his 6 years.  It's going to take Brian Earl time to reverse that recruiting trend.

He never found a dominant center, but Bill had a couple of hits in his front court recruits:  Shonn Miller was outstanding, Onuorah is/was a defensive presence, Warren looks promising and Gettings should be a big part of Earl's team for three years. But no question BC over-recruited athletic shooting guards over other positions.

I'm fully on board with giving Coach Earl time to get the roster the way he wants it; sorry if I gave another impression.  I like watching the offense under his direction.  But losing to UMass-Lowell at home is a bad loss no matter how you parse the result.  And that attendance is depressing (edit:  I live in WV, was the weather particularly bad in Ithaca?).

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

FWIW, bad weather doesn't keep people from attending hockey games.

The attendance reflects the quality of the product.  

But I suspect only the students are interested in basketball.  The townies mostly do hockey.  Therefore with school out of session, who's there to go to the game?

[Ken711]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

Bill Courtney couldn't recruit talented tall front court players in his 6 years.  It's going to take Brian Earl time to reverse that recruiting trend.

He never found a dominant center, but Bill had a couple of hits in his front court recruits:  Shonn Miller was outstanding, Onuorah is/was a defensive presence, Warren looks promising and Gettings should be a big part of Earl's team for three years. But no question BC over-recruited athletic shooting guards over other positions.

I'm fully on board with giving Coach Earl time to get the roster the way he wants it; sorry if I gave another impression.  I like watching the offense under his direction.  But losing to UMass-Lowell at home is a bad loss no matter how you parse the result.  And that attendance is depressing (edit:  I live in WV, was the weather particularly bad in Ithaca?).

You're absolutely right, Shonn Miller was great.  I should have been clearer regarding the center position.  I guess we were spoiled by the luck to have gotten Jeff Foote.  Regardless, an active center 6'9" or taller is a critical must for Earl and his staff to bring in.

[rss77]

I was frustrated by the poor defense in the UMass Lowell game.  It goes back to the last couple of years since Shonn Miller graduated (Thank you Ivy League for your silly obsolete rules that punish players who get season ending injuries and force them to use their eligibility elsewhere)-that Cornell struggles to get stops on defense.  It was a game where there was no height advantage for either team.  Josh Warren has to work on finishing his shots.  He had three inside shots that he missed in overtime.  Finishing shots is a mental thing and I am sure that the coaching staff is going to work with him on this part of his game.  On the other hand the offense looks much better with everyone sharing the ball and am glad that Bathhurst is playing up to his potential.  The team will go as far as Morgan and Hatter can take them-too bad about Wright and from my vantage point think they will finish 6th to 8th place in the League.

[CAS]

The Bill Courtney era has sent Cornell hoops back to the dark ages.  After going 27-57 in 6 Ivy seasons, he left the cupboard largely bare of front court players.  We start one player taller than 6'4".  Why did it take Andy so long to realize this?  Hard to believe we've gone from the Sweet 16 in the year before Courtney was named, to this.

[mountainred]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

Bill Courtney couldn't recruit talented tall front court players in his 6 years.  It's going to take Brian Earl time to reverse that recruiting trend.

He never found a dominant center, but Bill had a couple of hits in his front court recruits:  Shonn Miller was outstanding, Onuorah is/was a defensive presence, Warren looks promising and Gettings should be a big part of Earl's team for three years. But no question BC over-recruited athletic shooting guards over other positions.

I'm fully on board with giving Coach Earl time to get the roster the way he wants it; sorry if I gave another impression.  I like watching the offense under his direction.  But losing to UMass-Lowell at home is a bad loss no matter how you parse the result.  And that attendance is depressing (edit:  I live in WV, was the weather particularly bad in Ithaca?).

You're absolutely right, Shonn Miller was great.  I should have been clearer regarding the center position.  I guess we were spoiled by the luck to have gotten Jeff Foote.  Regardless, an active center 6'9" or taller is a critical must for Earl and his staff to bring in.

Centers are tough and we were insanely lucky with Foote.  Not that it works this way, but that luck was counterbalanced by Braxston Bunce's awful health. I'm not sure how good Braxston was, but his knees robbed him of whatever career he could have had.

I think Stone can be the high post player Coach Earl wants to run his offense, but he needs to get stronger and be more consistent.  And I know I sound like the proverbial broken record, but not having Onourah's rebounding and shotblocking hurts a lot.  

Unless there is a late find, it won't get better next year as the current recruiting class is 4 shooting/combo guards.  But maybe one of them is the sniper the Big Red have lacked since Cressler's transfer in 2014 (if not the graduation of 'ski, Ferry and Groebe in 2012.)

[scoop85]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

Bill Courtney couldn't recruit talented tall front court players in his 6 years.  It's going to take Brian Earl time to reverse that recruiting trend.

He never found a dominant center, but Bill had a couple of hits in his front court recruits:  Shonn Miller was outstanding, Onuorah is/was a defensive presence, Warren looks promising and Gettings should be a big part of Earl's team for three years. But no question BC over-recruited athletic shooting guards over other positions.

I'm fully on board with giving Coach Earl time to get the roster the way he wants it; sorry if I gave another impression.  I like watching the offense under his direction.  But losing to UMass-Lowell at home is a bad loss no matter how you parse the result.  And that attendance is depressing (edit:  I live in WV, was the weather particularly bad in Ithaca?).

You're absolutely right, Shonn Miller was great.  I should have been clearer regarding the center position.  I guess we were spoiled by the luck to have gotten Jeff Foote.  Regardless, an active center 6'9" or taller is a critical must for Earl and his staff to bring in.

Centers are tough and we were insanely lucky with Foote.  Not that it works this way, but that luck was counterbalanced by Braxston Bunce's awful health. I'm not sure how good Braxston was, but his knees robbed him of whatever career he could have had.

I think Stone can be the high post player Coach Earl wants to run his offense, but he needs to get stronger and be more consistent.  And I know I sound like the proverbial broken record, but not having Onourah's rebounding and shotblocking hurts a lot.  

Unless there is a late find, it won't get better next year as the current recruiting class is 4 shooting/combo guards.  But maybe one of them is the sniper the Big Red have lacked since Cressler's transfer in 2014 (if not the graduation of 'ski, Ferry and Groebe in 2012.)

Speaking of alleged snipers, is Pat Smith done? He's still listed not he roster, but I haven't heard anything about him in a long time

[mountainred]

Hoops falls to 3-10 in OT loss to Mass - Lowell, before an announced crowd of 422.

No way to spin this loss.  Or that attendance.

And Donovan Wright is no longer listed on the roster.

Bill Courtney couldn't recruit talented tall front court players in his 6 years.  It's going to take Brian Earl time to reverse that recruiting trend.

He never found a dominant center, but Bill had a couple of hits in his front court recruits:  Shonn Miller was outstanding, Onuorah is/was a defensive presence, Warren looks promising and Gettings should be a big part of Earl's team for three years. But no question BC over-recruited athletic shooting guards over other positions.

I'm fully on board with giving Coach Earl time to get the roster the way he wants it; sorry if I gave another impression.  I like watching the offense under his direction.  But losing to UMass-Lowell at home is a bad loss no matter how you parse the result.  And that attendance is depressing (edit:  I live in WV, was the weather particularly bad in Ithaca?).

You're absolutely right, Shonn Miller was great.  I should have been clearer regarding the center position.  I guess we were spoiled by the luck to have gotten Jeff Foote.  Regardless, an active center 6'9" or taller is a critical must for Earl and his staff to bring in.

Centers are tough and we were insanely lucky with Foote.  Not that it works this way, but that luck was counterbalanced by Braxston Bunce's awful health. I'm not sure how good Braxston was, but his knees robbed him of whatever career he could have had.

I think Stone can be the high post player Coach Earl wants to run his offense, but he needs to get stronger and be more consistent.  And I know I sound like the proverbial broken record, but not having Onourah's rebounding and shotblocking hurts a lot.  

Unless there is a late find, it won't get better next year as the current recruiting class is 4 shooting/combo guards.  But maybe one of them is the sniper the Big Red have lacked since Cressler's transfer in 2014 (if not the graduation of 'ski, Ferry and Groebe in 2012.)

Speaking of alleged snipers, is Pat Smith done? He's still listed not he roster, but I haven't heard anything about him in a long time

No first hand knowledge, but it doesn't look good.  Pat hasn't played since last year's season opener.  He looked promising as a freshman and even started one game (which was his last game of that season).

[mountainred]

Big Red drop a 69-59 decision at Albany where the Great Danes have 16 offensive rebounds to Cornell's 1.  Matt Morgan was out, I assume hurt since he seemed to suffer an injury late in the Lowell game.  

The Big Red trailed pretty much the entire game, but a late run (largely Hatter) closed the gap to 2.  Unfortunately, the Red couldn't get another stop.

The last OOC game is against NAIA Fisher.  

Meanwhile Dartmouth has won three in a row, including one over a decent New Hampshire squad, so they aren't going to go quietly into last place.