Men's Basketball (2017-2018)

[upprdeck]

lax is tomorrow too and it had a lead story..

[billhoward]

Cornell up by as much as 7 in the first half of Ivy basketball tournament semifinal vs. Harvard.

Harvard catches up, goes up 31-30 with a minute to play. Boeheim misses a three, Harvard hits on its own, Boeheim hits a pair of free throws, Harvard hits a looong three from the edge of tipoff circle at the buzzer, half ends Harvard up 37-32. So we won about 19 of the 20 minutes.

Second half: Now it's Harvard up by 7, with 13-1/2 to play. The roof falls in and Cornell is working to keep the MOV below 20. 74-54 with 2 minutes to play.

Final, Harvard 74-55. Meet Yale or Penn Sunday.

[Al DeFlorio]

Cornell up by as much as 7 in the first half of Ivy basketball tournament semifinal vs. Harvard.

16-4 Harvard run to close the half takes them from 7 down to 5 up.

[French Rage]

I tuned in on a questionable stream when we were up 7 and we end the half down 5.  So I'm going to stop watching.

[Trotsky]

I tuned in on a questionable stream when we were up 7 and we end the half down 5.  So I'm going to stop watching.

We know where you live.

[ugarte]

I tuned in on a questionable stream when we were up 7 and we end the half down 5.  So I'm going to stop watching.

sadly you broke the game permanently

[billhoward]

I tuned in on a questionable stream when we were up 7 and we end the half down 5.  So I'm going to stop watching.

sadly you broke the game permanently

That was when the bottom was cut out of the peach baskets.

[underskill]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

[ugarte]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

[scoop85]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

Penn deserved better than a 16-seed according to most of the "experts" -- probably should've been a 14.

In any event, while we have everyone back, so do most of the Ivies.  In fact, every player on the 1st and 2nd All-League teams returns next year, including Morgan and Gettings. So, while we should be in the mix, we could just as easily miss the top-4 altogether.

As far as recruiting goes, right now we have 3 public commitments after we picked up yesterday a JUCO transfer from Arizona, power forward Chaz Mack.  He'll be joined by freshman Matt Harshany, a 6 foot point guard from Florida, and power forward Kobe Dickson from Kansas.  

Mack scored 43 points in a game this year in a strong JUCO league, and averaged 19.9 ppg, 10.1 rpg. He hit 89.4% of his FTs too.  Mack is only 6'6", so he's pretty small for a power forward at the D1 level (Charles Barkley notwithstanding), but may be effective in the Ivies. Looking at some video he looks like he has a well-rounded game and has a decent stroke on the 3.

Harshany averaged 25.2 ppg this year playing in northern Florida.

Dickson is a 6'9" power forward who scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds in his team's loss this past weekend in the Kansas class 4A-II final. Dickson had 19 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks in the semifinal.  He should add a nice inside power game that we've been thin on the past few years. Right now it seems Dickson might be the top recruit coming in.

[mountainred]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

While making the ILT was great, there was a bit of luck to it.  Cornell's final KenPom rating is still mired in the bottom 100 and not much better than Courtney's last team.  In baseball, it would be like winning the second wild-card but with a negative run differential.  The play-off game is great, but there is a nagging sense that it took a lot to go right that is not likely to be repeated.

[billhoward]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

Imagine if we squeaked in. We couldn't be seeded any lower than Penn is now. We could have gotten the overall #1 seed, Virginia. Which gets UMBC, ranked 186 of 351 teams by ESPN. Penn is 59.

[scoop85]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

While making the ILT was great, there was a bit of luck to it.  Cornell's final KenPom rating is still mired in the bottom 100 and not much better than Courtney's last team.  In baseball, it would be like winning the second wild-card but with a negative run differential.  The play-off game is great, but there is a nagging sense that it took a lot to go right that is not likely to be repeated.

I won't argue with the analytics, but after a rough early start in league play, the eye test tells me that the team improved in most facets, and it was a heck of a lot more enjoyable to watch a team that actually ran a structured offense, often beautifully.

[mountainred]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

While making the ILT was great, there was a bit of luck to it.  Cornell's final KenPom rating is still mired in the bottom 100 and not much better than Courtney's last team.  In baseball, it would be like winning the second wild-card but with a negative run differential.  The play-off game is great, but there is a nagging sense that it took a lot to go right that is not likely to be repeated.

I won't argue with the analytics, but after a rough early start in league play, the eye test tells me that the team improved in most facets, and it was a heck of a lot more enjoyable to watch a team that actually ran a structured offense, often beautifully.

Agree 100% on the offense. The ball movement was great and the guys generated tons of good looks. Assists on 60% of the made baskets (24th best in the nation).  It was fun to watch and so much better than the hero ball of the Courtney years.

But I gotta disagree on the defense.  Other than having Brown's number, it was bad all season.  Maybe adding Dickson and getting Troy Whiteside back helps the D.  And opponents can't all shoot from behind the arc like they are Drew Ferry again next year, can they?  Still, when you finish ranked 323 in defensive efficiency (one spot over a Niagara squad that seemed allergic to playing D), there's a problem.

[scoop85]

having seen admittedly next to nothing of the team this year, is it clear that the program is on an upswing under Earl, or this just the case of one great Ivy player (Morgan) dragging the team up to 6 wins, and then the program can expect to decline once he leaves (like Columbia, Brown etc. the past few years)

probably a little bit of Earl, a little bit of Morgan, a little bit of the conference having a down year - Penn is a 16 seed.

While making the ILT was great, there was a bit of luck to it.  Cornell's final KenPom rating is still mired in the bottom 100 and not much better than Courtney's last team.  In baseball, it would be like winning the second wild-card but with a negative run differential.  The play-off game is great, but there is a nagging sense that it took a lot to go right that is not likely to be repeated.

I won't argue with the analytics, but after a rough early start in league play, the eye test tells me that the team improved in most facets, and it was a heck of a lot more enjoyable to watch a team that actually ran a structured offense, often beautifully.

Agree 100% on the offense. The ball movement was great and the guys generated tons of good looks. Assists on 60% of the made baskets (24th best in the nation).  It was fun to watch and so much better than the hero ball of the Courtney years.

But I gotta disagree on the defense.  Other than having Brown's number, it was bad all season.  Maybe adding Dickson and getting Troy Whiteside back helps the D.  And opponents can't all shoot from behind the arc like they are Drew Ferry again next year, can they?  Still, when you finish ranked 323 in defensive efficiency (one spot over a Niagara squad that seemed allergic to playing D), there's a problem.

I give you that the "all facets" comment was an overreach.  The D was bad, which I think was primarily a function of the personnel we had.  Hopefully bringing in a couple of bigger interior players will help on that front.