Men's basketball 2018-19

[mountainred]

After a slow start, it was a big night at Towson as the Hoops team finished the OOC schedule with an 86-74 win.  After missing their first 10 or so three point attempts, Matt and the Red went on a 36-7 run to blow the game open.  The Tigers owned the last minute to make the margin appear closer than it really was.

Morgan had a huge night.  He finished with 38 points, in the process setting the arena record and giving him more than 2000 on his career.  He'll almost certainly pass Ryan as the school's all-time leading scorer next Saturday v. Columbia.  Warren played well:  18p, 5A; Julian had 11 rebounds and Boeheim reached double figures.

Towson isn't exactly Duke, but a blow out win on the road is a nice way to go into league play.

[mountainred]

Thought this would be a good time to look at the numbers with the OOC season over and the team off for the weekend.  If you ask the computers, Cornell remains a team just inside the top 250 (or basically the same as last year).  Not surprisingly, the offense is down from last year. No one has replaced Gettings' offense, even though Boeheim and Warren have helped.  The more surprising issue is the shooting drop-off for Julian and McBride.  Last year they shot 59% from 2 pt range and 33% from 3 pt range; this year its 45% and 11%. Combine with that with the loss of Stone and a complete lack of offensive rebounding (never a strength under Earl) and you have the worst offense in the league.

The defense, however, is improved by the same amount.  The key here is that the guys are vastly improved in three point D.  Opponents are taking fewer 3s and hitting them at a substantially lower rate.  That said, the defense remains poor, just not as terrible as last year's model.

The problem is that the league is a lot better.  Harvard, Yale, Penn and Princeton are still rated well-above the Big Red by the computers.  While some games were very close, Cornell was 1-8 against those four teams last year, and the one win needed 3 OTs and an epic Princeton meltdown.  Brown and Dartmouth are much improved -- both teams are up 130 spots in the computers.  Cornell swept the Bears and Green last year, but that sure looks unlikely this season.  At least Columbia is about the same.  Matching last year's 6-8 league record is going to take a lot of of things to break Cornell's way.

[scoop85]

And Dartmouth blew out Harvard last night.

[Al DeFlorio]

Possibly the worst half of basketballl I've ever seen.  Completely clueless in half-court offense.

[scoop85]

Possibly the worst half of basketballl I've ever seen.  Completely clueless in half-court offense.

And yet somehow they hold on for a 60-59 win.

[CU2007]

Who is the main competition for a spot in the ivy tourney? Assuming Columbia is not?

[scoop85]

Who is the main competition for a spot in the ivy tourney? Assuming Columbia is not?

Despite two losses to Princeton while shorthanded by injuries, Penn should certainly make it.  Princeton would be a solid choice, but their top player was just suspended after being arrested during an altercation at a Wawa.  Yale will likely make it, and Harvard should be too.  But Dartmouth just whipped Harvard by 18, so that throws a wrench into things a bit.  And Brown has shown to be very competitive in non-league competition.

At this point I would think Columbia is probably the only school without a reasonable shot of getting in.  Of the "top 4" I think Harvard surprisingly might be the most vulnerable, unless Canady does not make it back from suspension for Princeton.  Bottom line I think it's a long shot for us to make it—not because we're terrible, because we're not, but mainly because the Ivies have probably not been this strong top-to-bottom in my lifetime.

[mountainred]

Possibly the worst half of basketballl I've ever seen.  Completely clueless in half-court offense.

And yet somehow they hold on for a 60-59 win.

I take it Al missed the Courtney years.

[mountainred]

Who is the main competition for a spot in the ivy tourney? Assuming Columbia is not?

Despite two losses to Princeton while shorthanded by injuries, Penn should certainly make it.  Princeton would be a solid choice, but their top player was just suspended after being arrested during an altercation at a Wawa.  Yale will likely make it, and Harvard should be too.  But Dartmouth just whipped Harvard by 18, so that throws a wrench into things a bit.  And Brown has shown to be very competitive in non-league competition.

At this point I would think Columbia is probably the only school without a reasonable shot of getting in.  Of the "top 4" I think Harvard surprisingly might be the most vulnerable, unless Canady does not make it back from suspension for Princeton.  Bottom line I think it's a long shot for us to make it—not because we're terrible, because we're not, but mainly because the Ivies have probably not been this strong top-to-bottom in my lifetime.

Sadly, I don't think Cornell has a "reasonable shot" either, and for the reason Scoop gave, there are no gimmees in the league this year.  Cornell was favored yesterday but is favored in just one more game the rest of the way. They'll pull off some upsets, but getting to even six league wins will be tough.

[scoop85]

Who is the main competition for a spot in the ivy tourney? Assuming Columbia is not?

Despite two losses to Princeton while shorthanded by injuries, Penn should certainly make it.  Princeton would be a solid choice, but their top player was just suspended after being arrested during an altercation at a Wawa.  Yale will likely make it, and Harvard should be too.  But Dartmouth just whipped Harvard by 18, so that throws a wrench into things a bit.  And Brown has shown to be very competitive in non-league competition.

At this point I would think Columbia is probably the only school without a reasonable shot of getting in.  Of the "top 4" I think Harvard surprisingly might be the most vulnerable, unless Canady does not make it back from suspension for Princeton.  Bottom line I think it's a long shot for us to make it—not because we're terrible, because we're not, but mainly because the Ivies have probably not been this strong top-to-bottom in my lifetime.

Sadly, I don't think Cornell has a "reasonable shot" either, and for the reason Scoop gave, there are no gimmees in the league this year.  Cornell was favored yesterday but is favored in just one more game the rest of the way. They'll pull off some upsets, but getting to even six league wins will be tough.

Well, I did say it was a long-shot for us, so maybe you're right that I shouldn't say we have a "reasonable" chance to get in to the tournament.

[Al DeFlorio]

Possibly the worst half of basketballl I've ever seen.  Completely clueless in half-court offense.

And yet somehow they hold on for a 60-59 win.

I take it Al missed the Courtney years.

Bullshit.  Yesterday's second half was the worst.  Earl's "system" isn't
.

[scoop85]

Possibly the worst half of basketballl I've ever seen.  Completely clueless in half-court offense.

And yet somehow they hold on for a 60-59 win.

I take it Al missed the Courtney years.

Bullshit.  Yesterday's second half was the worst.  Earl's "system" isn't
.

Yesterday was a dumpster fire, but I think Earl's system is somewhat better than Courtney's mess. Just not enough talent besides Morgan, which IS on Earl at this point.

[ugarte]

Columbia couldn't miss in the second half. With space, swish. Hand in their face? Swish. Desperate shot before the buzzer? Swish. It was insane. Morgan had a bad game too, despite scoring 21.

And with all that, Boeheim scored 22 and Cornell came back from 11 down in the second half to get themselves in position for a final shot. Riley Voss took a 22 footer to tie at the buzzer, and it painfully rattled in-and-out.

The game was janky as hell in the first half but the second half was a lot of fun. Bad result but the team really didn't play as poorly on defense as Columbia's shooting numbers would suggest. They just couldn't miss.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Nice win against Penn tonight.

[rss77]

Yes Great win but the Cornell Sun has no coverage of game.