News and Notes: Around the Ivy League

Above, the transformation of Cornell's Jeff Foote. The senior transfer from St. Bonaventure arrived at Cornell during 2006 weighing just 220 lbs. on his 7'0" frame (see insert above). In three years he has bulked up to 265 lbs with increased muscle mass. Below some news and notes around the Ivy League.

• The big news of the day appears to be Cornell receiving votes in the Top 25 ESPN/USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll Preseason Coaches Poll. Cornell previously ended the 2007-2008 season with votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll, finishing in 29th position nationally.
  

• Bostonian Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com stopped by a Harvard practice this week. He noted on his Twitter account, "Watching Harvard practice - m[y] gut says Tommy Amaker and Crimson win Ivy for first-time ever in next few years; kyle casey looks terrific."

• Penn Athletics released the official announcement of its team captains. No surprises in the selections.

• The Providence Journal gives a brief recap of the Ivy League's media day and notes as follows:

League officials held a conference call Wednesday to discuss the season and reported that defending champion Cornell is a strong choice to win again. The Big Red received all 16 first-place votes for 128 points.

Princeton is picked second with 96 points, followed by Glen Miller’s Penn team with 92, Harvard 86, Yale 59, Columbia 55, Brown 41 and Dartmouth 19.

Cornell (21-10, 11-3) returns all five starters, including three all-Ivy choices. ``It’s a great group to coach,” said Big Red coach Steve Donahue. ``There’s very little maintenance.”

• Trenton Times published the story, "Tigers believe they will challenge Cornell" following Wednesday's Ivy League media day.

• Columbia Athletics, Cornell Athletics, Dartmouth Athletics, Harvard Athletics, Penn Athletics, Princeton Athletics (w/audio) and Yale Athletics, have all posted stories on the Ivy League media poll, while Harvard Athletics added some quotes. Princeton Athletics also has some multimedia video, while The Ivy office add a audio file for those interested in listening to the conference. The Ithaca Journal also covered the media poll results

• The Philadelphia Inquirer writes in the article, "Penn court outlook: In pack behind Cornell" as follows:
  

It came as no surprise yesterday that two-time defending champ Cornell, with all five of its starters back, was picked to take the Ivy League men's basketball crown again.

In the media poll, the Big Red were the unanimous choice after going 21-10 overall and 11-3 in the conference. The team returns three all-league players in forward Ryan Wittman, guard Louis Dale, and center Jeff Foote, who was the Ivy League's defensive player of the year. Chris Wroblewski, a guard, was the '09 rookie of the year.

"They're a very good team, and they've proven they can play both ends of the floor," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "For the league to be won by some other team than Cornell, it's going to take multiple teams to beat Cornell. We've improved, and other teams have improved also."