News and Notes

Cornell's Mark Coury (left, No. 42), defends former National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina during the 2007-2008 season before Coury transferred to Cornell last season.

In some news and notes, the Cornell Athletics website has installed a meter counting down the days until Cornell's home opener vs. Big East member, Seton Hall on November 20.

Coincidentally, today CNNSI.com addresses BCS conference programs that are willing to visit mid majors. CNNSI writes:

Major-conference teams hold all the clout in scheduling, and few are willing to play in mid-major or low-major schools' home gyms. I looked into how these curious matchups came to be:

• Georgetown at Savannah State, Nov. 21: Why would the Hoyas give Savannah State -- a small independent school, outside of any recruiting hotbed -- a home-and-home deal? Because SSU's coach, Horace Broadnax, played on John Thompson Jr.'s 1984 national title team at Georgetown. The Hoyas are also paying a visit to Tulane (in the hometown of center Greg Monroe) on Nov. 13, making them one of few teams playing multiple non-major opponents on the road.

• North Carolina at College of Charleston, Jan. 4: This series, which has already included one game in Chapel Hill, was born exclusively out of Roy Williams' long-standing friendship with CoC coach Bobby Cremins. Carolina has a tradition scheduling games near the hometowns of its senior players, but it hasn't had anyone from the state of South Carolina since point guard Ray Felton in 2005.

• Michigan State at The Citadel, Dec. 7: Spartans coach Tom Izzo has been amenable to playing at smaller venues in the past, visiting IPFW last season, Bradley in '07-08 and Wisconsin-Green Bay in '05-06. Citadel had to pay a price for this one, though: They're making three return trips to East Lansing, the first of which was on Dec. 17, 2008.

Cornell's home opener against Seton Hall is not the season opener. Rather, the Big Red open the season on the road on November 14 at Alabama.

But there is at least one member of the Big Red familiar with Alabama.

Cornell's Mark Coury, a transfer from Kentucky, was on the sidelines for two of Kentucky's games against the Crimson Tide during the 2006-2007 season.

On February 9, 2008, as a sophomore, Coury played 8 minutes against Alabama, scored 3 points on a three-point play (finishing 1/1 FGs and 1/1 FTs), and adding 1 assist (a feed to Patrick Patterson) and 1 blocked shot.