[HOOPS]Cornell 62 vs Cornell Rejects 67

[dbilmes]

TV timeout... 58-55 'Cuse, 3:58 left

[Trotsky]

60-57.

[Jordan 04]

62-57...need some stops...

[Jordan 04]

64-57, 1:17 to go.  

At least we covered.

[dbilmes]

64-59, timeout, 1:02 left

[Jordan 04]

2nd missed rebound on a Syracuse free throw in the final couple minutes...

[Trotsky]

35.9 seconds, 66-59.  Miracles can happen.

[DeltaOne81]

67-62 final

wow, who woulda thunk it... that's a hell of a game, very impressive for a team picked to finish 4th in the Ivy league

[Molgestron]

Well it was fun while it lasted. Maybe this'll finally get people fired up about bball.

[CM cWo 44]

Just got back from the game... few things to note:

Atmosphere:
-Had to move my seats because an unknown Syracuse fan was throwing nails at me because I was vocally rooting for the Red (honestly, who brings a box of nails to a sporting event)
      -Couldn't figure out who it was, they all looked pretty suspicious
-I walked around the entire stadium and saw probably 20-30 recognizable Cornell fans, rather disappointing considering the magnitude of the game
-A group of fans in the upper deck yelled "RED" during the national anthem, very nice
-Student section chanted "Harvard Rejects" as time was winding down (their only Cornell taunt of the night besides generic player introduction jeering)
-Fans looked absolutely mortified and were pretty silent for the majority of the second half as Cornell lead for an 8-10 minute stretch.
-They sell beer at the Carrier Dome. Absolutely remarkable :-D

Game Notes:
-The refs were calling ticky-tack nonsense, but Cornell definately benefitted more than Syracuse (though when said BS went against us, it was very frustrating)
-Cornell had no chance when it came to rebounds. Syracuse was much bigger and much more athletic. The only rebounds they got were fortuitous bounces.
-Several players were in early foul trouble, which may have hindered their performance on defense. The severity was lessened by the fact that Cornell played zone exclusively, but on breakaways (of which there were a number), Cuse was given baskets rather than being put on the FT line.
-Offense: Cornell's ball movement was unbelievable, they were able to get outside shots and made most of them.
        -Freshman Adam Gore was absolutely lights out from outside, they were definately hurt by the fact that he got his 4th foul very early in the second half
-Defense: Cornell's parimeter defense was amazing as well, Cuse had almost no 3-pointers though they have many capable shooters
         -Cornell could not stop anyone at all inside. They were overmatched physically, and if the ball got inside at all, it was 2 points. Ball denial was pretty good though to counteract that.
-Cornell has about a 7 man rotation, which may have cause fatigue at the end
-The crowd seemed to get to the team at times. There were a few possesions late that players mishandled the ball or made stupid decisions while the crown was screaming (prompted by the scoreboard).
                -For the most part, they handled it well. Gore was unbelievably composed for a Freshman, and didn't committ turnovers.




Though I was incredibly dissapointed that we didn't get the big time upset, Cornell's gameplan and execution was spectacular. Kudos to Coach Donahue. Looks very promising for the upcoming season.

[sockralex]

[Q]CM cWo 44 Wrote:

-Student section chanted "Harvard Rejects" as time was winding down.
[/q]

Syracuse students were chanting that?  Too bad there was more of them and they bring boxes of nails to the games or else "Cornell Rejects" or "Safety School" would've been a nice retort.

Kudos to the b-ball team for a great performance.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]CM cWo 44 Wrote:
-I walked around the entire stadium and saw probably 20-30 recognizable Cornell fans, rather disappointing considering the magnitude of the game
[/Q]

The magnitude of the game? Intending to be used as a patsy for a national poweron a weekday night and you expected people to come out in droves? Hey, the more the better, but I'm sensing and unrealistic idea of our chances on this board.

Now, we almost pulled it off which would have been amazing, but the fact remains that Syracuse picked those 3 teams would be like Cornell hockey playing Ithaca College club, Ithaca High, and a team from the local adult league (alright, not quite, but pretty close). Now an upset wouldn't be impossible, but that does mean that only fans of those teams considering it a big game, and not a setup to be embarrassed, are a bit confused.


[Q]-Fans looked absolutely mortified and were pretty silent for the majority of the second half as Cornell lead for an 8-10 minute stretch.[/Q]

Excellent :-D


[Q]-The refs were calling ticky-tack nonsense, but Cornell definately benefitted more than Syracuse (though when said BS went against us, it was very frustrating)[/Q]

That's called basketball ;-)

I agree with the rest of your comments and they match pretty well what the ESPNU guys were saying, or at least what I was seeing. We were definitely outmatched, but we had a killer night from 3 point range, and Cuse was 1 for 17 at one point late in the game (and probably ended up 1 for something-near-there). We had no business being in that game, but they played well, got a lot of luck, and nearly pulled it off.

[Pete Godenschwager]

Highlights of the game are online through ESPN motion, not sure how to link to it though...

[CM cWo 44]

[Q]The magnitude of the game? Intending to be used as a patsy for a national poweron a weekday night and you expected people to come out in droves? Hey, the more the better, but I'm sensing and unrealistic idea of our chances on this board. [/Q]

If we won we it would have been a HUGE story. Not to mention we would be headed to NYC next weekend to play another ranked team, on national television, at Madison Square Garden. A respectable performance in that game would have likely landed us in the Top 25.

I know that's a lot of "ifs" but were weren't that far away from all that happening. For Cornell basketball, that was about as big as it gets.

I know this is a hockey school (I will be leaving for Boston in a few hours), but considering the scale of that game, and the fact that it was less than an hour away, I think that 20-30 people is rather pathetic. There were 15,000 Cuse fans, we didn't have any presence in the dome at all. There's just really no support for Cornell sports outside of hockey (and don't even talk to me about the football attendance, students could care less, and its mostly a social event for alumni).

[DeltaOne81]

Sure, it woulda been a huge story, but you're asking people to drive 2 hours round trip, on a work/school night, to witness a 90% chance of us getting beaten 85-40. Now, it didn't happen that way, but no one planning their day out would have had any idea.

I wouldn't mind seeing our other sports get some more attention from the fans - i did go to a few football games each year (well, most years) - but the reason is pretty straight forward - in basketball and football, the Ivys don't have even a pipe dream of any great success - other than an Ivy title. Success breeds interest.


[Q]A respectable performance in that game would have likely landed us in the Top 25.[/Q]

 ::laugh::  ::laugh::  ::laugh::  ::laugh::  ::laugh::

I think you're thinking way too much like hockey here. The top 15 in college hockey is the top 1/4 of teams. The silly top 20 right now is the top 1/3rd. Basketball is a different animal. There are right around ~330 D-I basketball schools. The top 25 represents only about the upper 7.5% of schools - not the top 25 to 30%.

So the hockey equivalent is like saying "if Bentley beats North Dakota and has a decent showing against DU the next night, that would likely land them in the top 4!" No, it would be looked at as a total fluke, and maybe get them some 'others receiving votes.' Yes, the top 25 in basketball is roughly equivalent to the top 4 or 5 in hockey!

And even the best Ivys are probably around number 300 most years. The difference from top to bottom in hockey is probably an order of magnitude less than that in basketball. The winners of the AHA and CHA can play with the big boys (and they've proved it). The winner of the Ivy is usually blown out in the first round by someone towards the bottom of the top 25.

There's a serious difference between sports.