Some references to Cornell Basketball in the news today...From the Albany Times Union:
Teams like Boise State or Cornell have done wonders for Siena’s ratings by getting crushed by the Saints and then going on to rampage through a good portion of their schedule.
Will Penn and Princeton routinely be in the middle of the pack? Has the Ivy League finally achieved some level of parity?
As far as I see it, no.
Simply put, this year the League is mediocre. And mediocrity masquerades as parity.
It's true that just 1.5 games separate second and sixth place, but those teams are 6-4, 5-4, or 4-5. Not very impressive.
Furthermore, look at some of these teams at the top. I'm willing to admit that Cornell will be fighting for a probable third-straight crown next year with stars Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale returning.
However, Columbia will lose K.J. Matsui, Jason Miller and Joe Bova to graduation. Dartmouth definitely will see a drop off, as Alex Barnett - who has my Ivy League Player of the Year vote - and his league-leading 19.6 points per game will graduate.
But Penn's and Princeton's rosters are youth-laden. Glen Miller thinks that's one of the main reasons why Penn has gone 4-5. Whether or not that's a valid excuse is irrelevant; it's clear that Penn's most-talented players are underclassmen.
This is even more dramatic for Princeton as 96 percent of its points this season have come from non-seniors. And already Princeton has five conference wins, which matches the last two years' output.
So while the rest of the league revels in schadenfreude as the Killer P's play like the Pathetic P's, they better watch out that the Ps don't pounce next year.
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