The Case for Cornell Big Red Basketball

Above, Cornell's media guide covers during the Steve Donahue era. (Click picture for a larger image). Below, a continuation in our summer series, The Case for Cornell Basketball.

For a high school recruiting prospect looking for the best balance of basketball and academic success in a college, Cornell has to be in the discussion of the nation's elite programs and certainly at the top of the Ivy League schools after the Big Red won two consecutive Ivy League titles.

Last March, ESPN Rise wrote, "Boston College, California, Cornell, Notre Dame, Penn, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest and Washington are among... brainy schools that have flashed significant basketball brawn recently, as each has qualified for at least one Big Dance in the past three years. As much as any college sport, basketball programs often thrive at some of America's smartest schools."

In recruiting, Cornell faces challenges in finding student-athletes that can not only play at the highest levels of collegiate basketball, but are also accomplished academically. Of course, these prospects also need to pass up the opportunity to play on athletic scholarship elsewhere since Ivy League schools do not offer them

One such Cornell player who passed up Division I scholarships to come to Cornell Ryan Wittman. Last year, U.S. News & World Report tabbed Wittman as among the half dozen best student-athletes in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Wittman's list of individual honors to-date is impressive:

• Two-time NABC All-District selection (2007-08 & 2008-09)
• Two-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection (2007-08 & 2008-09)
• Second-team All-Ivy selection (2006-07)
• 2006-07 Ivy League Rookie of the Year
• Two-time Ivy League Player of the Week
• Six-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week
• CollegeInsider.com Mid Major All American (2007-2008 & 2008-2009)
• CollegeInsider.com Ivy League MVP (2008-2009)
• CollegeHoopsNet.com Mid Major All American (2007-2008 & 2008-2009)
• CollegeHoopsNet.com Mid Major All Freshman Team (2006-2007)

The ESPN Rise article explains that Cornell is willing to recruit anywhere to find student-athlete talent such as Wittman.

"Most kids we recruit turned down athletic scholarships [elsewhere] to come here," says [Cornell coach, Steve] Donahue, whose Ivy League-champion Big Red squad is off to its second straight NCAA tournament. "Where we're different is that all eight [Ivy League schools] can recruit anywhere in the country -- that's where we can separate ourselves from a lot of other mid-majors who can only recruit two or three hours from their campus.

Indeed, 14 states are represented on Cornell's 2008-09 roster, and three players hail from Canada. Clearly, the Ivy League brand name has enabled Cornell (ranked 14th in U.S. News' national university rankings) to scour the entire continent looking for basketball talent. The tricky part is persuading Division I-level players to forgo an opportunity to play on scholarship.

"There are negatives, yeah -- it costs $50,000 to go here, your SAT scores gotta be off the charts," Donahue says. "But if you find the kids that can do that, you really have a chance to be successful."

While the lack of athletic scholarships is hurdle, fortunately, Cornell recently enacted new financial aid initiatives to help attract elite student-athletes and to provide them more incentive to attend the Ivy League's elite basketball program.

But do not take our word for it that Cornell offers the best balance of basketball and academics in the Ivy League. Stack Magazine's Elite 50 is the most recognized, comprehensive college rankings resource of its kind in determining collegiate athletic-academic balance and is a powerful research tool for any high school athlete looking to compete athletically and study at the next level.

In its most recent ranking, Stack Magazine's Elite 50 ranks Cornell 45th in the country (and No. 1 in the Ivy League) in overall athletics-academics balance. Cornell was 39th the prior year and was the only ranked Ivy League school.

Taking academics out of the equation and examining solely the Athletic Department's overall level of success, Cornell University finished No. 59 in the final Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings out of 271 Division I programs.

No matter how you break it down, Cornell maintains both an elite academic reputation and stellar athletics department.