Cornell Basketball (Blog) in the News

Pictured above, photos from Cornell games against Big 10 opponents during the last three seasons--Iowa, Northwestern, Indiana and Minnesota. Below, the Daily Pennsylvanian's Zach Klitzman responds to a couple posts here on The Cornell Basketball Blog...

From Zach Klitzman of the Daily Pennsylvanian:

Cornell in the Big Ten?

In the outlandish pipe dream department, here’s a post from The Cornell Basketball Blog arguing for Cornell’s inclusion in the Big Ten. Now it’s true that some of Cornell’s academics — especially the agriculture and hotel management schools — are more befitting of an state school in the Midwest than the Ivy giants of the Northeast. But come on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, Cornell.

Yes, the Big Red have made the last two NCAA Men’s Basketballl Tournaments. But they still have a measly three tournament appearances in the 70 year history of the event (granted that’s three more than Northwestern). So it’s not like they’re a powerhouse in basketball.

However, in the post the claim is made that Cornell is a national power in track, wrestling, ice hockey, and lacrosse. I’ll admit they’ve been impressive in wrestling and ice hockey, two sports in which the Big Ten is extremely successful. However, the Big Ten does not sponsor men’s lacrosse, and in fact the only members of the conference that play the sport are Ohio State and Penn State (in the Great Western Lacrosse League and the ECAC, respectively). And somehow I find it unlikely that the Big Ten would want a school based on its track teams.

Simiarly, the Big Ten prides itself on a strong football heritage — recent BCS failings aside. Sorry Cornell, but you’re not that good at football. In fact, it’s impossible for Cornell to be a Football Bowl Subdivision team since the NCAA requires a school to average 15,000 fans per home game at least once every two years. Last year Cornell only averaged 7,075 fans per home game, in 2007 they averaged 8,897, in 2006 they averaged 5,008 and in 2005 they averaged 7,669. So clearly they don’t meet the rule.

And from the Cornell administration’s standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to leave the Ivy League just so the Athletics Department can improve its reputation. From a University perspective, the academic prestige of being an Ivy League institution outweighs the athletic prestige of playing in a conference like the Big Ten.

Look at Northwestern. Frankly, does that school even get that much prestige from being in the Big Ten considering they get pummeled in basketball and football in most years and its best team — women’s lacrosse — doesn’t even compete in the conference?

In the end, while one can dream of the Big Red facing the Wolverines, or Hoosiers or Buckeyes or Hawkeyes, in reality, that’s just not going to happen.

Also from Zach Klitzman of the Daily Pennsylvanian:

The Cornell Basketball Blog has a look at next year’s projected Ivy rosters. However, with recruiting not finalized, I don’t know how accurate it necessarily will be. For example Penn is projected to have 16 players, which means they’d bring in four freshmen to complement the 12 returning players. Also, it says Penn will only have one senior, which is defined as a player in their final year of eligibility during 2009-2010. So unless Darren Smith and/or Andreas Schriber apply for a medical redshirt, Penn’s number will actually be three.