Men's basketball 2018-19

[Swampy]

Cornell hoops to get some postseason action too:

Very cool, and congratulations to the men's basketball team.  With the NCAA, NIT, CBI and CIT, there are now 144(!) men's teams that make it to some sort of postseason, although after the NCAA, nobody cares except people associated with the programs in the other tournaments, or fans of teams who rarely if ever make the NCAA.  It does mean that any sort of winning record gets you a shot at some sort of postseason.

It's hard to argue with this article from two years ago:

Four postseason tournaments is 2 or 3 too many

this isn't about basketball and postseason glory; it's about TV and money. It's filling airtime on TV and selling ad revenue. It's squeezing the last dollar possible out of "student-athletes." As writer Andy Hutchins wrote, it "functions as a way for college athletics to funnel money to people outside athletic departments."

All true, but there are a bunch of kids whose seasons aren't over thanks to the extra tournaments.  I may be naive, but there must some of the kids who will enjoy a chance to keep playing basketball.

Consider a young team, with mostly frosh & sophomores, 1 or 2 juniors, and no seniors. The team didn't start to gel until late February, so its W-L record would not get it into the dance. When it got to its conference tournament not only did its mediocre seed cause it to take on the strongest teams in its conference, but scheduling (e.g., late game one night, early game the next) also worked to its disadvantage. The team got knocked out in a tight game against the eventual conference champion. To do better next year, the team needs to cement the chemistry that developed over the last month and to get more tournament experience.

If a student-athlete has enough enthusiasm to play the game and devote considerable time to the sport, then it's hard to believe the player wouldn't want to spend another week or so playing in a tournament -- not only for the fun of it, but also to build towards something special the coming academic year.

[djk26]

To do better next year, the team needs to cement the chemistry that developed over the last month and to get more tournament experience.

That's true, too. I was thinking about the senior who gets to play basketball for a few more games with his team, but it's also helpful for a young team to gain more experience.

[Jim Hyla]

To do better next year, the team needs to cement the chemistry that developed over the last month and to get more tournament experience.

That's true, too. I was thinking about the senior who gets to play basketball for a few more games with his team, but it's also helpful for a young team to gain more experience.

Just like all the bowl games help the next years team. Coaches will almost always say the extra practice really helps. But of course it's much more practice time added in football than b-ball.

[mountainred]

To do better next year, the team needs to cement the chemistry that developed over the last month and to get more tournament experience.

That's true, too. I was thinking about the senior who gets to play basketball for a few more games with his team, but it's also helpful for a young team to gain more experience.

Just like all the bowl games help the next years team. Coaches will almost always say the extra practice really helps. But of course it's much more practice time added in football than b-ball.

Extra practice can't hurt, but more practice/game(s) with Morgan and Julian probably isn't that useful in preparing for next year.  Still, it's a nice way to send off one of the best players in school history.

[Swampy]

To do better next year, the team needs to cement the chemistry that developed over the last month and to get more tournament experience.

That's true, too. I was thinking about the senior who gets to play basketball for a few more games with his team, but it's also helpful for a young team to gain more experience.

Just like all the bowl games help the next years team. Coaches will almost always say the extra practice really helps. But of course it's much more practice time added in football than b-ball.

Extra practice can't hurt, but more practice/game(s) with Morgan and Julian probably isn't that useful in preparing for next year.  Still, it's a nice way to send off one of the best players in school history.

Just to be clear, my example was hypothetical and aimed at arguing in favor of the lesser post-season tournaments. I didn't mean for it to apply to the Big Red.

[ugarte]

Looks like NEC games are carried by Front Row. This is the Robert Morris channel: http://necfrontrow.com/schools.php?title=RMU

[jeff '84]

40-37 Red at half.

http://www.watchcit.com/?media=3d012375-167f-4c56-b1a0-214d0f9b12b0

[dbilmes]

In the always-exciting CIT, Cornell up by three at halftime after leading in double digits. Robert Morris player hit a buzzer-beater from near midcourt to close out the first half. The Robert Morris announcers are some of the worse I've heard. At one point, it seemed like Boeheim scored 20 straight points for Cornell and the announcers are raving about how he probably already has scored a career high, but not once did they mention how many point he has actually scored. Quiet first half for Morgan.

[Al DeFlorio]

Now 67-66 RMU after an 11-point second half lead disappears.

[Ken711]

Cornell ends regulation time tied.  Loses 98-89 in OT.

[mountainred]

Disappointing OT loss.  Robert Morris couldn't miss in OT and blew it open 98-89.

Boeheim was on fire in the first half, Matt was Matt one last time and a lot of weirdness.  Joel Davis never played.  Warren started, played 8 minutes and left the game.  That resulted in 20 minutes of Riley Voss, who looked okay, and some key second half minutes with both Kobe Dickson and Thurston McCarty on the floor.  

Very winnable game, RMU is awful, that was not won.

[scoop85]

Disappointing OT loss.  Robert Morris couldn't miss in OT and blew it open 98-89.

Boeheim was on fire in the first half, Matt was Matt one last time and a lot of weirdness.  Joel Davis never played.  Warren started, played 8 minutes and left the game.  That resulted in 20 minutes of Riley Voss, who looked okay, and some key second half minutes with both Kobe Dickson and Thurston McCarty on the floor.  

Very winnable game, RMU is awful, that was not won.

The announcers (who were abysmal) did say Cornell had some injuries—maybe Davis was hurt.  Hard to imagine he wouldn't have gotten any PT otherwise.  Truly weird game in a strange looking high school type gym.  Guys who hardly played all year got minutes.

[mountainred]

Disappointing OT loss.  Robert Morris couldn't miss in OT and blew it open 98-89.

Boeheim was on fire in the first half, Matt was Matt one last time and a lot of weirdness.  Joel Davis never played.  Warren started, played 8 minutes and left the game.  That resulted in 20 minutes of Riley Voss, who looked okay, and some key second half minutes with both Kobe Dickson and Thurston McCarty on the floor.  

Very winnable game, RMU is awful, that was not won.

The announcers (who were abysmal) did say Cornell had some injuries—maybe Davis was hurt.  Hard to imagine he wouldn't have gotten any PT otherwise.  Truly weird game in a strange looking high school type gym.  Guys who hardly played all year got minutes.

The announcers and the gym (RMU is building a new one, so they played in their version of Helen Newman Hall) didn't help the overall atmosphere.  I did hear the broadcasters mention injuries, but they also said Boeheim doesn't start, so I assumed they didn't know what they were talking about.

The absence of Warren and Davis exposed the team's lack of depth; the drop off after the main four players is (was?) sizeable.

[mountainred]

This probably should be under Basketball 2019-20, but it seems too early to start that thread.

Bart Torvik has already issued his preliminary 2019-20 rankings:

Ivy ranks:
36. Harvard
53. Penn
114. Princeton
133. Columbia
163. Dartmouth
170. Brown
183. Yale
286. Cornell

Next year looked rough, but the projected gap between Cornell and the rest of the league is brutal.

[ugarte]

woof