Cornell Basketball in the News

Excerpt references to Cornell Basketball in the news media today...

Video clips appear on WETM NBC (Elmira) and on WCNY.com.

Also, from the San Jose Mercury News:

No. 3 Missouri (28-6) vs. No. 14 Cornell (21-9)

Time: Noon.

Comment: Cornell showed poorly against Stanford last year, and now faces a wholly different kind of first-round foe. Missouri is all speed, frenzy and long-armed wings. And because the Tigers are in the same region as Connecticut and Memphis, they don't have to worry about the pressure of Final Four expectations.

Pick: Missouri.

From the Times of Trenton:

I is for the Ivy League . Cornell makes its second straight appearance in the tourney, where the Big Red are 0-4 overall. It's going to be tough to stop that from going to 0-5.

From the Idaho Statesmen:

CORNELL'S INVISIBLE 7-FOOT CENTER

Cornell senior Jeff Foote once played a high school game at Cornell with a bunch of Division III coaches in attendance. "No one thought he was good enough for Division III," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "To be honest with you, I didn't think he'd ever be able to play at this level." Foote was about 6-foot-10 and well under 200 pounds. He walked on at St. Bonaventure, but never played in a year and a half. About the time he was looking to transfer, Cornell guard Khaliq Gant was nearly paralyzed in practice. His nurse in the ICU unit was Foote's mother. She got to know the Big Red players and coaches and convinced her son to give them a try. "It seemed like a place I fit in," he said. Meanwhile, his body filled out - producing a 7-foot, 245-pound post player with skill. He blocked 2.1 shots per game this season to earn Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors. He also averages 11.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. "If he was 6-7, he'd be a good player,'' Donahue said. "That he's 7-foot makes him special. He led us in assists most of the season. Three or four years down the road, he's going to be making a great deal of money in this game."

From the Idaho Statesmen:

Team Spotlight: CORNELL

Get those Princeton memories out of your mind. Cornell is not that kind of Ivy League team. The Big Red will push the ball up the court and they'll take the first open shot. And they're a little like the Boise State football team - full of savvy, under-recruited players who have become major-college talents. Leading scorer Ryan Wittman was overlooked despite being the son of former Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman.

From the Idaho Statesmen:

Cornell coach Steve Donahue among those surprised by the [Missouri] Tigers' efficiency.

"They're a terrific offensive basketball team,'' he said. "Their assist-to-turnover numbers are staggering.''

From the Kansas City Star:

Near tragedy led big Foote to Cornell

What seemed to be one of the most tragic incidents in the history of Cornell basketball is responsible for the Big Red having Big Jeff Foote, its 7-foot center.

Coach Steve Donahue’s voice still shakes when he describes the events of a Jan. 24, 2006, practice that left guard Khaliq Gant temporarily paralyzed as the result of a collision during a rebounding drill.

“Two guys collide,” Donahue said, “. . . hit heads and I see blood. Khaliq’s down on the ground, lying on someone’s legs.

“Someone’s chest crushed his neck into his chest. He lay motionless to the point where you know right away something is seriously wrong.”

He was rushed to Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, N.Y. Later, he was flown to Shepherd Spinal Clinic in Atlanta. It took four months, but Gant eventually walked out of the spinal clinic. He doesn’t play basketball anymore. But he’s going to school. He’s still a part of Cornell’s program.

So, too, is Foote because his mother, Wanda, was the head nurse at Arnot Ogden Medical Center. She got to know the Cornell coaches and players, and just happened to mention she had a son who wanted to transfer from St. Bonaventure.

“I couldn’t pass up an Ivy League education,” Foote said. “So it really kind of worked out very well for me.”

From the Kansas City Star:

Cornell prepares for grueling 40 minutes

BOISE, Idaho | Cornell has tried the six-man thing. Pitted its starting five against six defenders.

“At times seven,” said senior guard Adam Gore of the attempt to simulate Missouri’s swarming, smothering style of defense. “It’s challenging. It’s hard.

“We understand that’s what it’s going to take to hopefully give us a chance to win. Five guys, at our level, usually just can’t get it done.”

That could have been what the NCAA Tournament selection committee figured when it slotted Ivy League champion Cornell against Missouri in the first round of the West Regional about 2 p.m. today.

Cornell point guard Louis Dale, who as a Birmingham, Ala., kid viewed firsthand the 40 Minutes of Hell that coach Mike Anderson brought from Arkansas to UAB to Missouri, still contends the Big Red has been pressed in other games this season.

“When we played Minnesota, I think they pressed us pretty well,” Dale said.

“We kind of got used to that playing against a pressure defense, And I think that will help us.”

Dale did not mention that Cornell lost to Minnesota 71-54. Nor did he have to consider what Anderson said nearly an hour later of the twin-spear points of that Missouri defense: guards J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor.

“I think I’ve got one of the better guard tandems in the country,” Anderson said. “I really do. They can have an effect on the game without even scoring.”

***

Several Cornell players — sensitive to the notion that outsiders figure all Ivy League teams play the same slow-it-down style as Princeton — noted the Big Red has no fear of running.

***

Cornell, coach Steve Donahue said, will have times when it just has to live with an errant pass, a travel, in the face of the cumulative chaos wrought out front by Taylor and Tiller.

“At times we’re going to have to put it on our hip and make them guard us,” Donahue said, “And it’s going to have to be the players understanding when to do and when not to do it.”

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

BOISE, Idaho — Cornell has some experience in NCAAs
On the surface, anyway, No. 14 seed Cornell seems to have one clear advantage over No. 3 seed Missouri in their NCAA Tournament West Regional meeting at 2 p.m. today.

The Big Red is playing in the tournament for a second straight year and should be more settled in than it was for last season's blowout loss against Stanford.

"I think my first shot I almost broke the backboard," Cornell guard Ryan Wittman said.

No current Tiger has played in an NCAA game, though Mike Anderson Jr. was on the rosterat Alabama-Birmingham for several tourney games.

"We're definitely going to have some butterflies, just because this is a place we haven't been before," MU guard J.T. Tiller said. "We're going to have that … nervous energy. We're going to (have to) get rid of that very quickly."

But teammates didn't think nerves would be a factor.

"It's still basketball," senior Leo Lyons said.

***

SMART TALK

On Selection Sunday, playful MU guard Kim English saw Cornell was MU's first-round matchup and told reporters, "We're probably going to be working for them in four years, so we better get them now."

Nothing new for the Big Red.

"Coming from an Ivy League school, we kind of have that label as being really nerdy kids or smart kids," guard Louis Dale said.

From the Maneater.com:

The Missouri Tigers’ men’s basketball season that started with hopes, dreams and plenty of questions marks. As the majority of the roster was filled with first-year players for the Tigers, Big 12 coaches predicted Missouri to finish seventh in the conference.

A little less than a week after winning their first ever Big 12 Tournament Championship, the Tigers have answered every question and are set to go dancing. Missouri enters Boise, Idaho as the No. 3 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Mike Anderson and his crew will tipoff against the Ivy League Champions, Cornell, Friday at 2 p.m. inside the Taco Bell Arena. This is Anderson’s first trip to the tournament with the Tigers, and the schools first appearance since 2003.

Here are my keys to the game against the Big Red:

As always, Missouri must get off to a quick start. Yes, the Tigers have proved to be a terrific second half team, but they must start the NCAA Tournament with a bang. If the starters allow Cornell to keep things close early, that sets the wrong tone for the entire tournament.

Even if the Tigers go on to wear down at Cornell and eventually pull away (a pattern that became all to consistent in the Big 12 Tournament), then expect competition down the road to take it to Missouri early.

If DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons can deliver the first blow and the Tigers cruise through the opening game, Missouri’s confidence will skyrocket.

The second key to the game is bench production. Freshman guards Kim English and Miguel Paul had solid performances that helped propel the Tigers over Baylor in the Big 12 Championship. When the bench is performing well, the energy level hits the max.

Missouri must use that energy to force turnovers. J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor need to be disruptive defensively without getting into foul trouble. Anderson’s organized chaos is at it’s finest when the backcourt is forcing turnovers.

The pressure that Tiller and Taylor put on Cornell’s guards will also make Lyons and Carroll’s job of shutting down junior forward Ryan Wittman that much easier. Wittman is Cornell’s leading scorer at 18.5 points per game. If the guards are flustered because of Missouri’s pressure, Wittman will turn into a one-man show. And while he’s a talented player, he can’t beat Missouri alone.

Finally, DeMarre Carroll must be relentless offensively. Carroll should be able to get to the basket whenever he wants against Cornell. The hybrid forward’s freakish combination of size and speed is unlike anything the Big Red went up against in the Ivy League. Anderson should let Carroll spot up at the top of the key, pump fake and take the ball to the basket. He’ll be unstoppable.

From CollegeHoopsNet.com:

3:00 EST (Boise) #3 Missouri vs. #14 Cornell (West Region)

The "fastest forty minutes in basketball" gets its first taste (Missouri style) of the NCAA Tournament, taking on the two-time Ivy League champs. Cornell isn't your stereotypical Ancient Eight "crawl it up the floor" team, but they aren't looking to turn this into a track meet either. Forward Ryan Wittman (18.5 ppg) is one of the best players you don't see on SportsCenter every night, and in guard Louis Dale (13.5 ppg, 3.6 apg) and center Jeff Foote (11.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg) the Big Red have an experienced trio to lean on. Cornell also takes care of the basketball, boasting a team assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.2 and that will come in handy when dealing with the Missouri press.

The Tigers have a pair of senior forwards in DeMarre Carroll (16.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Leo Lyons (14.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) who are more than a handful, and Wittman's going to run into one of the nation's best defenders in J.T. Tiller. Matt Lawrence is one of the better deep shooters in the Big 12, and the Tigers have nine players averaging at least eleven minutes per game on the season. It's that depth, a product of the helter-skelter style they prefer, that will send Missouri on into the second round.

From the Clanton (Al.) Advertiser:

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is underway, but for the second straight year, no team from Alabama is in it. I know many of you will say Alabama State made the tournament. Yes they did earn an automatic bid to the tournament, but they lost in the “play-in game.” Thus, they aren’t in the final 64.

Many will say that basketball can’t compete with football in this state, but I disagree. The reason why teams like Alabama, Auburn and UAB don’t make the tournament each year is they aren’t protecting home court, meaning they are letting too many good basketball players get out of the state.

While all three of those teams are spectators to the big dance, not all basketball players from this state are watching from the sidelines. Four players from here are hoping to create some March Madness.

They are Stanley Robinson from UConn, DeMarre Carroll from Missouri, Ronald Nored from Butler and Louis Dale of Cornell. Nored and Dale weren’t highly touted coming out of high school from Homewood and Altamont, respectively, but everyone knew about Robinson and Carroll from Parker and John Carroll.

From USA Today:

"We just have to make sure that we don't play into their hands of speeding ourselves up and rushing our style of play," said Big Red senior guard Adam Gore. "We just need to play at our pace."That might not be easy to do against a Missouri team that captured the Big 12 tournament after finishing third in the conference during the regular season. A victory against Cornell would tie the Tigers, with the 1988-89 squad, for the most wins in school history... It's Missouri's first trip to the tournament since 2003 when it lost to Marquette in the second round. Conversely, Cornell is back in the tournament for the second-consecutive year. Big Red, led by junior forward Ryan Wittman (18.5 ppg) and senior center Jeff Foote (11.8 ppg and 7.1 rpg), lost to Stanford in the first round a year ago. "We were here last year and we kind of let all the surrounding environment kind of play into that," Foote said. "I think the experience this year (is that) we have been more focused mentally." In Cornell, [Missouri coach] [Mike] Anderson sees a team that is "very dangerous" and "very good at what they do."