Cornell Basketball in the News: Local Media on the Cornell Schedule

A Jim Boheim autographed game ball from Cornell's 88-78 defeat at Syracuse last season. Cornell led the game by as many as 16 points. Below, some local media reactions to Cornell's announced 2009-2010 schedule.

From the Ithaca Journal:

A game at Kansas University, a home date with a Big East opponent, and a pair of games at Madison Square Garden highlight what may be the most challenging non-conference schedule in Cornell men's basketball history.

Coach Steve Donahue announced the 2009-10 slate on Friday.

The two-time defending Ivy League champions will open the season Nov. 14 at Alabama, will host Seton Hall on Nov. 20 and travel to Syracuse on Nov. 24. The Big Red will visit Kansas on Jan. 6 and will play games at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20-21.

The Big Red will put its 21-game home win streak -- currently third-longest in the country -- on the line against Seton Hall when the Pirates become the first major conference school to visit Newman Arena since eventual national runner-up Georgia Tech opened the 2003-04 campaign on East Hill.

Other teams on the schedule include Massachusetts, Saint Joseph's, Davidson, St. John's and Vermont.

Cornell also will renew rivalries with Drexel (first meeting since 1988-89) and Toledo (first meeting since 1976-77), and is scheduled to meet independent Bryant and Division III opponents Penn State-Behrend and Clarkson.

Last season, the Big Red posted a 21-10 mark, claiming its second straight Ivy League title with an 11-3 record and becoming the first Ivy League school other than Penn or Princeton to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in consecutive years.

The Big Red returns all five starters, including two-time first-team all-league selections Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman and reining Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Jeff Foote, as well as eight of the team's top nine scorers.

The Big Red opens competition at the Legends Classic when it visits regional host Massachusetts of the Atlantic 10 on Nov. 18 at the Mullins Center. Regardless of the result, Cornell will move onto a pod that features a three-day round-robin against Drexel (Nov. 27), Vermont (Nov. 28) and Toledo (Nov. 29) at Drexel's Deskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia.

Cornell also will be looking to snap its 31-game losing streak to Syracuse on Nov. 23. The Big Red led Syracuse last season by as many as 16 points in the first half before falling 88-78.

After a two-week break for final exams, the Big Red will play in the ECAC Holiday Festival for the first time since the 1970-71 season. Cornell will play mid-major power Davidson on Dec. 20 at Madison Square Garden and either St. John's or Hofstra the following day.

Cornell will close out the calendar year with games at La Salle on Dec. 29 and at home against Penn State-Behrend on New Year's Eve in Newman Arena. Cornell opens the 2010 portion of its schedule at home Jan. 2 against Bryant.

The trip to Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse may be the stiffest test of the season. The Jayhawks return all five starters, including All-Americans Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins from a team that went 27-8, won the Big 12 with a 14-2 conference mark, and lost to eventual Final Four participant Michigan State in the Sweet 16. The Jayhawks enter the year with the longest home court win streak in the country (41 games).

The Big Red opens its Ivy League schedule with five of its first six games at home, including the conference opener against Columbia on Jan. 16.

Cornell also will play consecutive road weekends, including the annual to trip to Penn and Princeton on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13. The following weekend the Big Red travels to Harvard and Dartmouth.

The Feb. 27 contest against Penn will mark the final home game for seniors Louis Dale, Jeff Foote, Jon Jaques, Geoff Reeves, Pete Reynolds, Alex Tyler, Andre Wilkins and Ryan Wittman.

The regular season will end the following weekend when Cornell takes on Brown and Yale.

From WBNG CBS News (Binghamton):

ITHACA - Trips to the Carrier Dome and Allan Fieldhouse highlight the 2009-2010 Cornell basketball schedule released late this afternoon.

The two-time defending Ivy League champs play their most challenging non-conference schedule in the 10-year run under Steve Donahue.

Big names are all over the Big Red schedule including preseason number one Kansas, plus other road games at Syracuse, Alabama, Umass and neutral site games against St. John's, Davidson, Vermont, Toledo and Hofstra.

And for the first time since 2003, Cornell will host a BCS conference school when Seton Hall comes to Newman Arena.

Here's the entire Big Red schedule:
11/14/2009 at University of Alabama

Legends Classic
11/18/2009 at University of Massachusetts

11/20/2009 Seton Hall University
11/24/2009 at Syracuse University

Legends Classic
11/27/2009 at Drexel University
11/28/2009 vs University of Vermont
11/29/2009 vs University of Toledo

12/2/2009 at Bucknell University
12/6/2009 Saint Josephs University

Holiday Festival
12/20/2009 vs Davidson College (at Madison Square Garden)
12/21/2009 vs at St. John's/vs. Hofstra (at Madison Square Garden)

12/29/2009 at La Salle University
12/31/2009 Penn State Erie- The Behrend College
1/2/2010 Bryant University

1/6/2010 at University of Kansas
1/8/2010 at University of South Dakota

1/11/2010 Clarkson University

1/16/2010 Columbia University
1/23/2010 at Columbia University
1/29/2010 Dartmouth College
1/30/2010 Harvard University
2/5/2010 Yale University
2/6/2010 Brown University
2/12/2010 at University of Pennsylvania
2/13/2010 at Princeton University
2/19/2010 at Harvard University
2/20/2010 at Dartmouth College
2/26/2010 Princeton University
2/27/2010 University of Pennsylvania
3/5/2010 at Brown University
3/6/2010 at Yale University