Men's Basketball 21-22

upprdeck · December 30, 2021, 07:58:48 PM

Brown up 4 at the half.

Trotsky · December 31, 2021, 05:48:05 AM

Quote from: upprdeckBrown up 4 at the half.

Lost by 14.

mountainred · January 01, 2022, 02:48:41 PM

Cornell is supposed to open the season tomorrow versus Dartmouth. I say supposed to because Princeton/Harvard and Columbia/Yale have already been postponed. Still, Dartmouth must be on the road by now, if not already in Ithaca.

It's hard to say the first league game is a must win, but this is close to one if the Big Red want to make the ILT. Losing at home to the team projected to finish seventh would put the guys in a substantial hole to start the season.

While both teams love to shoot threes (both teams take nearly half of all their shots behind the arc), otherwise there are very few similarities. Cornell plays as fast as anyone in the country and uses an eleven man rotation (or twelve if you count Max Samberg). Dartmouth plays a lot slower, they average 10 fewer possessions per game, and rely on basically a 6 man rotation.

upprdeck · January 01, 2022, 04:03:50 PM

still selling tickets for the game. i think at this point if you can play a game you need too since the next few weeks are gonna be a crap shoot all over.

rss77 · January 01, 2022, 04:42:34 PM

Who knows how it will go with COVID but at least the Ivies are trying to play. The way I see it Cornell possesses serious depth over the other Ivies. As we have seen with the Power 5 games it is overall lack of height that is the weak spot. Penn, Brown, Princeton and Harvard (If they get their big men healthy) might pose problems. Have to say that I amazed with the 3 point shooting on the team. Boothby has that high arc on his outside shots which given law of physics increases their chances of going in. Amongst the 1st Years Ragsdale and Williams are impressive. Brian Earl has a young team and strong kudos to him for his recruitment and development plus willingness to adapt a new offensive philosophy.

upprdeck · January 01, 2022, 11:39:14 PM

the key is keeping the pace high enough that the slight drop from the 7-8-9-10 guys has a chance to work on other teams depth guys in the ivies. keeping high pace also limits the damage the big guys can cause hopefully.

mountainred · January 02, 2022, 10:24:19 AM

Fortunately, there really isn't a dominant big in this year's league. Brown has Gainey and the Bears are very physical. Harvard has some studs in the 6-7 range (Ledlum, Kirkwood, and Forbes if he gets healthy) but they are more athletic wings than true bigs. Princeton has their usual post player, but he beats you by finding the open cutter, not grabbing 10+ rebounds and blocking shots. And Penn has been waiting for Michael Wang (6-10) to put it together for years; I guess he still could.

This is a 3 point league this season. Cornell is close to the nation's top in percentage of shots taken that are 3's, but Dartmouth, Penn and Princeton are top 30-ish, Harvard and Yale are top 100. If there is a year where a lack of size won't kill you in the league, this is it.

It will be very interesting to see who wins the tempo battle today between the league's fastest playing team (us) and the slowest (them) for the reason you give upperdeck.

dbilmes · January 02, 2022, 11:42:35 AM

For as long as I can remember, Cornell opened its Ivy season against Columbia, playing one weekend in NY and one weekend in Ithaca. Is this the first year that the schedule has changed?

Weder · January 02, 2022, 11:52:09 AM

Quote from: dbilmesFor as long as I can remember, Cornell opened its Ivy season against Columbia, playing one weekend in NY and one weekend in Ithaca. Is this the first year that the schedule has changed?

Yes, though it was supposed to start last season. The goal was to reduce the number of back-to-back games.

https://ivyleague.com/news/2020/1/27/mens-basketball-ivy-league-announces-scheduling-changes-for-2020-21-and-2021-22-basketball-seasons.aspx

Trotsky · January 02, 2022, 11:57:42 AM

Quote from: dbilmesFor as long as I can remember, Cornell opened its Ivy season against Columbia, playing one weekend in NY and one weekend in Ithaca. Is this the first year that the schedule has changed?

I'm glad you said this. As little as I follow hoops this is basically the only thing I know about us, and now it's gone with the Penn final football game.

Time to disband and put all our efforts into hockey and lax.

mountainred · January 02, 2022, 12:22:42 PM

Quote from: Weder
Quote from: dbilmesFor as long as I can remember, Cornell opened its Ivy season against Columbia, playing one weekend in NY and one weekend in Ithaca. Is this the first year that the schedule has changed?

Yes, though it was supposed to start last season. The goal was to reduce the number of back-to-back games.

https://ivyleague.com/news/2020/1/27/mens-basketball-ivy-league-announces-scheduling-changes-for-2020-21-and-2021-22-basketball-seasons.aspx

Part of the issue had to be that every other league starts in-league play around New Years, so the Ivies were struggling to find teams to play in early January. Now we are starting right after the holidays, stretching the league season to 10 weeks, and no more scheduling problem. Columbia is the normal start, but we did begin league play at the P's as recently as 2018.

Weder · January 02, 2022, 12:48:40 PM

Quote from: mountainred
Quote from: Weder
Quote from: dbilmesFor as long as I can remember, Cornell opened its Ivy season against Columbia, playing one weekend in NY and one weekend in Ithaca. Is this the first year that the schedule has changed?

Yes, though it was supposed to start last season. The goal was to reduce the number of back-to-back games.

https://ivyleague.com/news/2020/1/27/mens-basketball-ivy-league-announces-scheduling-changes-for-2020-21-and-2021-22-basketball-seasons.aspx

Part of the issue had to be that every other league starts in-league play around New Years, so the Ivies were struggling to find teams to play in early January. Now we are starting right after the holidays, stretching the league season to 10 weeks, and no more scheduling problem. Columbia is the normal start, but we did begin league play at the P's as recently as 2018.

Wasn't it also an issue that Princeton until recently had its fall finals at the beginning of January?

mountainred · January 02, 2022, 02:48:22 PM

Quote from: Weder
Quote from: mountainred
Quote from: Weder
Quote from: dbilmesFor as long as I can remember, Cornell opened its Ivy season against Columbia, playing one weekend in NY and one weekend in Ithaca. Is this the first year that the schedule has changed?

Yes, though it was supposed to start last season. The goal was to reduce the number of back-to-back games.

https://ivyleague.com/news/2020/1/27/mens-basketball-ivy-league-announces-scheduling-changes-for-2020-21-and-2021-22-basketball-seasons.aspx

Part of the issue had to be that every other league starts in-league play around New Years, so the Ivies were struggling to find teams to play in early January. Now we are starting right after the holidays, stretching the league season to 10 weeks, and no more scheduling problem. Columbia is the normal start, but we did begin league play at the P's as recently as 2018.

Wasn't it also an issue that Princeton until recently had its fall finals at the beginning of January?

Yep. Princeton joining the 20th Century with post holiday exams was a hold-up.

mountainred · January 02, 2022, 02:50:07 PM

Poor half. Dartmouth leads 34-33. Cornell without Jones and N. Williams, but Dartmouth down two starters, so that can't be an excuse.

Cornell led by 9, but the offense has really stagnated.

Al DeFlorio · January 02, 2022, 03:44:27 PM

Quote from: mountainredPoor half. Dartmouth leads 34-33. Cornell without Jones and N. Williams, but Dartmouth down two starters, so that can't be an excuse.

Cornell led by 9, but the offense has really stagnated.

Too many three attempts. Early success came from taking it to the hoop.