Cornell Basketball is headed to the World's Most Famous Arena this December. The Associated Press confirms that The Big Red will participate in Madison Square Garden's annual ECAC Holiday Festival between December 20-21.The news of the tournament was not expected to be fully released until later this summer after all contracts were signed. Nevertheless, Cornell is headed to MSG.
The Big Red will play in two games with St. John's hosting the event. The other tournament participants include Davidson and Hofstra. MSG Network is expected to provide television coverage. Cornell opens the event against Davidson on December 20.
Madison Square Garden was particularly interested in Cornell as a participant in the event because of the Big Red's consecutive Ivy League championships. MSG was also attracted to Cornell's tremendous alumni base in the New York Metro area which led to a MSG sell out two years ago for a Cornell-Boston University hockey game.
As far as the individual match-ups, Davidson and Cornell are not complete strangers. Last summer, Cornell head coach, Steve Donahue served as an assistant to Davidson head coach, Bob McKillop during the U.S. Men's Basketball U18 Trials. Donahue mentioned to the Cornell Daily Sun last summer, “I think that Davidson-Cornell would be a good match. The two schools have similar academic missions, and that would be a good game. In the right situation [it would be great to play] Davidson..."
As for St. John's, the Big Red fell to the Red Storm last season in the opener of the NIT Season Tip-Off, 86-75 after trailing the Big East squad by just 1 point at halftime. Cornell, however, played the Red Storm without All Ivy League point guard, Louis Dale.
The balance of Cornell's 2009-2010 nonconference schedule is brutally challenging. Cornell will have home games against Seton Hall and St. Joseph's along with road games at Kansas, at Syracuse, at Alabama and at La Salle. Cornell will also visit UMass in the opening round of the Legends Classic.
Below is the A.P. press release:
Davidson to play in Holiday Festival in New York
DAVIDSON, N.C. (AP) — Davidson coach Bob McKillop will make his homecoming next season when the Wildcats play in the Holiday Festival in New York.
McKillop said Tuesday that Davidson will open against Cornell on Dec. 20 at Madison Square Garden, while St. John's faces Hofstra. The winners and losers meet a night later.
McKillop was born in Queens, went to high school on Long Island and played basketball at Hofstra. He later coached high school basketball on Long Island.
This is the second straight year the Wildcats will play at Madison Square Garden — but the first without Stephen Curry. Davidson beat West Virginia 68-65 last season behind Curry's 27 points.
Curry has turned pro. He is expected to be selected early in Thursday's NBA draft.
No comments:
Post a Comment