Men's Basketball (2017-2018)

[billhoward]

In short, they stopped the bleeding, and thankfully the bottom half of the league is pretty mediocre.  But my November optimism is pretty much gone.

Unfortunately we're part of it.

[mountainred]

In short, they stopped the bleeding, and thankfully the bottom half of the league is pretty mediocre.  But my November optimism is pretty much gone.

Unfortunately we're part of it.

I sure didn't mean to imply that we weren't.

As I look at the KenPom website this morning, it lists Cornell as #278 of 351 D1 teams (between North Florida and Eastern Kentucky).  The final rankings of Courtney's teams?  192, 207, 261, 340, 202, and 276.  This season isn't over and it is too early for me to give up on Brian Earl, but it is hard to call this progress.  (FYI, last year's final rating was 263).

[ugarte]

clicked over to hoops after the final whistle at lynah but not in time to catch any action at bartels - but we beat Dartmouth by 1 for our second straight one-point home win.

[mountainred]

Cornell jumps on Brown 13-0 and cruises to a 78-60 win.  Basically Cornell shot great (55%) and Brown shot terribly (31%).  Earl had the guys playing more fullcourt with Julian pressing the ball.  

Brown was coming off 102-100 overtime win at Princeton. They hadn't been held to 60 all season.  So, of course this happens in Providence.

With three wins in their last four games, the Big Red joins Princeton, Yale, Columbia and Brown in a five way tie for 3rd at 3-4.

[scoop85]

Cornell picked up its 2nd public commitment from Pensacola FL point guard Matt Harshany.  He's averaging 29 ppg and recently scored 51 points in a game. He's about 6 feet tall and he can hit 3's from Matt Morgan range. Looks like a decent Ivy prospect.

[mountainred]

Cornell picked up its 2nd public commitment from Pensacola FL point guard Matt Harshany.  He's averaging 29 ppg and recently scored 51 points in a game. He's about 6 feet tall and he can hit 3's from Matt Morgan range. Looks like a decent Ivy prospect.

Thanks Scoop.  That's not yet on the Verbal Commits website.  According to the local news, Harshany has a 4.9 GPA (!?) and "recruiting interest from Stanford, Georgia Tech and Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (whatever that means).  http://www.pnj.com/story/sports/high-school/basketball/2018/02/09/navarre-point-guard-matt-harshany-commits-cornell/325390002/.  If his three-point skills translate to D1, he should be able play immediately as the team could really use a sniper.

On the floor, the guys lost to Yale 74-65 in large part due to poor shooting:  4 of 16 from behind the arc and 11 of 20 at the line.  Matt had maybe his worst game of the season and this team doesn't have the depth to win road games when he is off.

On the bright side, Princeton is in complete free fall so there may be two spots in the ILT that are within reach.  Cornell sits in a three way tie for 5th with the Tigers and Columbia and a game back of Brown and Yale.  In full candor, Cornell is probably the fifth best of the five teams vying for those last two spots, but the Big Red do have four home games and none of the five teams are particularly impressive now that Princeton has lost four in a row (the last three by an average of sixteen points).

[billhoward]

So we go to the tournament, get our butts kicked by the 1-seed, but we can say we made the tournament and point to that as an upward sign.

[ugarte]

So we go to the tournament, get our butts kicked by the 1-seed, but we can say we made the tournament and point to that as an upward sign.

it would BE an upward sign

[mountainred]

So we go to the tournament, get our butts kicked by the 1-seed, but we can say we made the tournament and point to that as an upward sign.

it would BE an upward sign

4th would be the best finish since 2010.  That looks like up to me.

[Swampy]

So we go to the tournament, get our butts kicked by the 1-seed, but we can say we made the tournament and point to that as an upward sign.

it would BE an upward sign

4th would be the best finish since 2010.  That looks like up to me.

If you haven't read it yet, y'all should.

[mountainred]

Wow.  Cornell trails by 22 mid-way through the second half.  They win in 3OTs 107-101.  This game was over and then it wasn't.  Hats off to the guys.

On the stats, Morgan was 3 assists away from a triple double (31 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists).  Gettings had 26 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.  Cornell is now tied with Brown for 4th.

I don't know how much these guys will have in tank for Penn, as Morgan, Gettings, Julian, and McBride all played over 40 minutes.  But they earned a good night's sleep tonight.

[upprdeck]

and now cornell is tied for 4th in the IVY. yale/brown weekend at home becomes a huge.

[ugarte]

With the score tied and less than half a second left in the game Princeton air-balled a free throw to send the game to OT. lol

[mountainred]

Missed tonight's game, the 11th straight loss to Penn.  But Dartmouth beat Brown and Columbia blew out Princeton, so the Big Red remain in fourth (now tied with Brown and Columbia).

By rule there must be four teams in the Ivy Tourney, though only Penn and Harvard deserve it.  If the Big Red can beat Brown at home and Dartmouth on the road, it just might be them.  Pretty remarkable considering the defense remains awful.

[upprdeck]

So coming down the stretch, my take, slight chance of being correct

scenario 1
Cornell has Yale/Brown Harvard/Dart  Lose to harv/yale  Beat brown/Dart  Ends 6-8
Brown has  Cornell/Columbia   Penn/Prin  Lose to Cornell/Columbia/Penn beat princeton ends 5-9
Columbia has Yale/Brown Harvard/Dart  Lose to Harv/Yale Beat Brown/Dart ends 6-8

tie breaker 1 is h2h cornell/columbia split
tie breaker 2 is h2h cornell/columbia both 0-2 vs penn
tie breaker 3 is h2h cornell/columbia columbia beat Harvard so it wins

Scenario 2
Cornell has Yale/Brown Harvard/Dart  Lose to harv/yale  Beat brown/Dart  Ends us 6-8
Brown has  Cornell/Columbia   Penn/Prin  Lose to Cornell/Penn beat princeton/columbia ends 6-8
Columbia has Yale/Brown Harvard/Dart  Lose to Harv/Yale/browb Beat Dart ends 5-9

tie breaker is h2h cornell wins 2-0 over brown