By Mike Sullivan
Elmira Star Gazzette
March 20, 2009
BOISE, Idaho - Ryan Wittman remembers his first shot in last year's NCAA tournament. It was the type of brick the Cornell sharpshooter would like to forget.
"I remember my first shot almost broke the backboard," said Wittman, providing levity Thursday while recalling his dreadful shooting game against Stanford 12 months ago.
An overexcited, happy-to-be-there participant last March, Wittman and the Big Red are looking for better results in their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament when they play third-seeded Missouri (28-6) this afternoon at Taco Bell Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 3:15 p.m.
The 14th-seeded Big Red are vying to become the first Ivy League team to win an NCAA tournament game since Princeton beat UNLV in 1998. To do so, Cornell needs to perform vastly better than it did in last season's foray.
The Big Red (21-9) had a wide-eyed approach last March while making their first NCAA appearance in 20 years, and the results showed in a 24-point loss against a powerful Stanford team.
The usually crisp-shooting Wittman was off the mark all game long, scoring just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting. It was a very atypical performance from the all-Ivy League performer.
Yet it also provided a growing experience for Wittman, and the 6-foot-6 junior forward is relishing having another opportunity on the NCAA tournament stage - not just for himself, but for the entire team.
"Obviously, that experience is going to help us," Wittman said. "I think last year, we might have got caught up a little bit in that. We heard a lot about how it was the first time Cornell had been to the tournament in 20 years.
"This year, I think we're a little more focused. But on the other hand, our experience alone isn't going to win this game. We still have to come out and we're going to have to play really well if we're going to win. We're going to have to execute and going to have to take care of the ball.
"And experience can help us do that it if we use it in the right way."
Missouri coach Mike Anderson is bracing for a challenge in slowing down Wittman, the Big Red's leading scorer at 18.5 points per game.
Anderson thinks Wittman has greatly improved his game and feels he's just scratching his overall potential.
"I think Wittman's a dynamite player, probably one of those guys you're going to see play like his dad at the next level," said Anderson, referring to Randy Wittman, who played nine NBA seasons. "He has unlimited range and I think that he's added on some weight."
Wittman is better prepared this season to cope with the athleticism and intensity that a team like Missouri brings. The Big Red's early-season nonconference schedule was challenging and Wittman rose to the occasion, scoring 20 or more points against the likes of Syracuse (career-high 33), Indiana (28), St. John's (25) and Minnesota (21).
"Last year, it was a 3 or nothing," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said of Wittman. "Now, it is way different. I also feel that the (eight games) that we played without Louis Dale, to be honest, we would not be in those games if he doesn't get 25 to 30. And he knew that. I felt that part of his game really developed through that stretch.
"So now he's played almost a hundred college basketball games, probably 25 against teams like Missouri. Just much more confident in going against that kind of athleticism now than he was last year."
"I remember my first shot almost broke the backboard," said Wittman, providing levity Thursday while recalling his dreadful shooting game against Stanford 12 months ago.
An overexcited, happy-to-be-there participant last March, Wittman and the Big Red are looking for better results in their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament when they play third-seeded Missouri (28-6) this afternoon at Taco Bell Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 3:15 p.m.
The 14th-seeded Big Red are vying to become the first Ivy League team to win an NCAA tournament game since Princeton beat UNLV in 1998. To do so, Cornell needs to perform vastly better than it did in last season's foray.
The Big Red (21-9) had a wide-eyed approach last March while making their first NCAA appearance in 20 years, and the results showed in a 24-point loss against a powerful Stanford team.
The usually crisp-shooting Wittman was off the mark all game long, scoring just eight points on 2-of-11 shooting. It was a very atypical performance from the all-Ivy League performer.
Yet it also provided a growing experience for Wittman, and the 6-foot-6 junior forward is relishing having another opportunity on the NCAA tournament stage - not just for himself, but for the entire team.
"Obviously, that experience is going to help us," Wittman said. "I think last year, we might have got caught up a little bit in that. We heard a lot about how it was the first time Cornell had been to the tournament in 20 years.
"This year, I think we're a little more focused. But on the other hand, our experience alone isn't going to win this game. We still have to come out and we're going to have to play really well if we're going to win. We're going to have to execute and going to have to take care of the ball.
"And experience can help us do that it if we use it in the right way."
Missouri coach Mike Anderson is bracing for a challenge in slowing down Wittman, the Big Red's leading scorer at 18.5 points per game.
Anderson thinks Wittman has greatly improved his game and feels he's just scratching his overall potential.
"I think Wittman's a dynamite player, probably one of those guys you're going to see play like his dad at the next level," said Anderson, referring to Randy Wittman, who played nine NBA seasons. "He has unlimited range and I think that he's added on some weight."
Wittman is better prepared this season to cope with the athleticism and intensity that a team like Missouri brings. The Big Red's early-season nonconference schedule was challenging and Wittman rose to the occasion, scoring 20 or more points against the likes of Syracuse (career-high 33), Indiana (28), St. John's (25) and Minnesota (21).
"Last year, it was a 3 or nothing," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said of Wittman. "Now, it is way different. I also feel that the (eight games) that we played without Louis Dale, to be honest, we would not be in those games if he doesn't get 25 to 30. And he knew that. I felt that part of his game really developed through that stretch.
"So now he's played almost a hundred college basketball games, probably 25 against teams like Missouri. Just much more confident in going against that kind of athleticism now than he was last year."
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