Men's Basketball 22-23

[mountainred]

One of the annual D3 games was tonight, and the BR took care of business 114-57.  Last 10 minutes was full "empty the bench mode," so first sightings of DJ Nix, Ryan Kiachian, Adam Tsang Hinton, Josh Baldwin, and a guy that was added to the roster today AK Okereke.

Serious question. How does a guy just get added to the roster today? Where did he come from?

Good question, I was wondering the same thing.  From this story it seems like AK is a walk-on who was admitted to Cornell as a regular student.  Putting up 22.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game at a good sized high school in Fresno means he may earn some PT.

[RichH]

One of the annual D3 games was tonight, and the BR took care of business 114-57.  Last 10 minutes was full "empty the bench mode," so first sightings of DJ Nix, Ryan Kiachian, Adam Tsang Hinton, Josh Baldwin, and a guy that was added to the roster today AK Okereke.

Serious question. How does a guy just get added to the roster today? Where did he come from?

Good question, I was wondering the same thing.  From this story it seems like AK is a walk-on who was admitted to Cornell as a regular student.  Putting up 22.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game at a good sized high school in Fresno means he may earn some PT.

Now I'm remembering my freshmen-year roommate (and senior-year housemate), Max Turkenich, who used to play pick-up games all the time. Our senior year, there were a number of recruits who quit the team over differences with the coach (Al Walker, I think?). Yadda-yadda, Max made the team as a walk-on from the JV squad, and only got garbage time. I got to see him on TV during the winter break as the game vs. Kansas was carried by ESPN. He didn't even start on Senior Night, but as the game vs. Penn got out of hand, we led the chants to put in Max. He finally got in, and hit the final shot as we lost by 15, but the crowd exploded. The local papers had nice write-ups about it.  Walker got fired, and went to Binghamton several years later.

https://cornellbigred.com/documents/2015/4/10//3_02_96_Pennsylvania.pdf

[billhoward]

One of the annual D3 games was tonight, and the BR took care of business 114-57.  Last 10 minutes was full "empty the bench mode," so first sightings of DJ Nix, Ryan Kiachian, Adam Tsang Hinton, Josh Baldwin, and a guy that was added to the roster today AK Okereke.

Perhaps so bad the opponent played in Icognito Mode. It was SUNY-Delhi (southeast of Oneonta and I-88): https://cornellbigred.com/news/2022/11/10/bombs-away-mens-basketball-hits-record-22-3-pointers-in-win-over-suny-delhi.aspx

[mountainred]

One of the annual D3 games was tonight, and the BR took care of business 114-57.  Last 10 minutes was full "empty the bench mode," so first sightings of DJ Nix, Ryan Kiachian, Adam Tsang Hinton, Josh Baldwin, and a guy that was added to the roster today AK Okereke.

Perhaps so bad the opponent played in Icognito Mode. It was SUNY-Delhi (southeast of Oneonta and I-88): https://cornellbigred.com/news/2022/11/10/bombs-away-mens-basketball-hits-record-22-3-pointers-in-win-over-suny-delhi.aspx

You know, I thought the Broncos were a decent D3 squad, certainly compared to some of the D3 teams Cornell has scheduled, but they'd played the night before and wanted to play at Cornell's pace.  They just didn't have the legs to keep up.  Credit to the team for taking care of business.

Everyone who was healthy got to play and no one was injured.  About all you can ask for.

[mountainred]

Cornell escapes St. Francis with an 80-77 win they tried hard to give away, hitting just 4 of their last 10 FTs.  Hansen with 26 pts, 5 assists, and no turnovers to be the MVP.  He was perfect from the field and perfect from the line until he joined the team effort down the stretch.  Dolan had 19, Gray was on fire in the first half, and Max Watson hit some key shots down the stretch.  

Earl is still looking for the depth he had last year as only 8 guys played in the second half.

On the bright side, the guys found a way to win a road game when they weren't hitting 3's, weren't hitting foul shots, Boothby was o-fer from behind the arc and Williams fouled out in 11 minutes with no points.

[scoop85]

Cornell escapes St. Francis with an 80-77 win they tried hard to give away, hitting just 4 of their last 10 FTs.  Hansen with 26 pts, 5 assists, and no turnovers to be the MVP.  He was perfect from the field and perfect from the line until he joined the team effort down the stretch.  Dolan had 19, Gray was on fire in the first half, and Max Watson hit some key shots down the stretch.  

Earl is still looking for the depth he had last year as only 8 guys played in the second half.

On the bright side, the guys found a way to win a road game when they weren't hitting 3's, weren't hitting foul shots, Boothby was o-fer from behind the arc and Williams fouled out in 11 minutes with no points.

I seem to recall we struggled at the foul line early last season but improved as the year went on. Hopefully we see a similar pattern this year.

[mountainred]

Guys sleepwalk through a win over IC (an inner city rival as Barry called them a couple of times) 83-61.  Most of the game played in the 10-15 point range, so no chance to get the deep reserves any real time.  Which sucks because that is about the only reason to play these D3 games.  Some thoughts:

* Half of Cornell's shots were from behind the arc, which is silliness considering the height advantage Cornell had.  Rebounds were about even, which again should not happen.  The team looked really disinterested.
* Really nice game by Ragland:  14p, 10r, and he took twice as many shots from inside the arc as outside.  Ithaca had no answer for his athleticism.
* Freshman Josh Baldwin was part of the main rotation.  Earl seems to like him.

[mountainred]

Matinee win over Canisius 79-70.  Most of the second half was played at a 12-ish point spread, until the Griffs hit 6 straight 3 pointers to get to within 5 at 75-70.

Nice balance on offense as 6 players had 10, 11, or 12 points.  Throw in 10 steals and winning the rebounding game.  But hitting just 2 of the last 6 free throws, including two misses on the front end of one and ones, has got to stop or it will cost the team a win.

[scoop85]

Matinee win over Canisius 79-70.  Most of the second half was played at a 12-ish point spread, until the Griffs hit 6 straight 3 pointers to get to within 5 at 75-70.

Nice balance on offense as 6 players had 10, 11, or 12 points.  Throw in 10 steals and winning the rebounding game.  But hitting just 2 of the last 6 free throws, including two misses on the front end of one and ones, has got to stop or it will cost the team a win.

Great to see the balanced scoring, and Ragland actually hit a few threes (although I wish he'd concentrate on playing closer to the basket).

But the FT shooting at the end of the game has to improve or it will surely bite us in the rear end.

[mountainred]

Ragland actually hit a few threes (although I wish he'd concentrate on playing closer to the basket).

You and me both scoop.  Ragland could be a force if he shot just enough 3's that his man has to respect it and come out to guard him.  His rebounding, defense and passing are really outstanding.

Next stop: at winless Monmouth, but don't read too much into that because the Hawks overscheduled.  It should be a tight game.

[scoop85]

Ragland actually hit a few threes (although I wish he'd concentrate on playing closer to the basket).

You and me both scoop.  Ragland could be a force if he shot just enough 3's that his man has to respect it and come out to guard him.  His rebounding, defense and passing are really outstanding.

Next stop: at winless Monmouth, but don't read too much into that because the Hawks overscheduled.  It should be a tight game.

Yes, Monmouth's schedule so far has been brutal. I saw their game against Colgate, and Monmouth will be competitive even though we should come out on top.

[Mr. Niss]

So glad I found this place.  I've been waiting for that other board to approve me, not realizing that they apparently haven't had anyone running it since 2012.  LOL.

So stoked about how this team has played so far this season.  I'm shocked Brian Earl was back for another season, frankly.  I figured someone would poach him after last season.  He's a brilliant coach, at least for the type of basketball the Ivies (and other mid-majors) usually have to play.

I am not a fan of criticizing college kids who play basketball, so I'm trying to be circumspect when I say that Guy Ragland's play has been extremely disappointing so far.  Hopefully he will improve, just as someone like Kobe Dickson did last season.

[scoop85]

Cornell beats Monmouth on the road by 18 after leading by as many as 30. Again we had balanced scoring, with no one with more than 12 points. Although Monmouth is in a rebuild, that's an encouraging road win.

[mountainred]

Out for the holiday weekend, but really wishing I could have watched the 53-16 run the guys had against Monmouth; from 7 down to up 30 is crazy.

The top 8 on this team are really good.  Dolan, Gray, Williams and Watson are a nice rotation at guard.  Manon is difficult match-up at wing (when he plays in control).  And Hansen, Ragland and Boothby provide different looks as our bigs.  The drop off after that is pretty steep, however.  Filien seems to be the next guy off the bench; he is a solid rebounder, but his offensive game has never come around.  So. Cain and Fr. Baldwin are next, but they just don't seem ready yet.  I'm mildly disappointed Nix hasn't forced himself into the rotation.

5-1 is as good as we could have realistically hoped for -- it was very close to 6-0 -- and the basketball they play is entertaining (if occasionally frustrating when they start being overly-reliant on the three).

The rest of the non-conference schedule consists of two road tips to power five teams (Miami and SU), three home games against teams that aren't very good (Lafayette, Lehigh and Bingo), a trip to a good Colgate team who beat Syracuse again (and just lost to Penn) and a trip to Delaware that looks like a toss-up.  I would take 9-4 entering league play and be happy, but I'm greedy and would like another win or two.

[Ken711]

https://twitter.com/richflanagan33/status/1597249060658114560

Looks like a nice guard prospect.