As the winter sports season approaches a lot of focus will be on the Cornell hockey team that almost went to the Frozen Four a year ago. Undoubtedly the “Lynah Faithful” will be in full force this season, yelling “sieve” with the best of them. Do not overlook, though, the Cornell basketball team’s evolving “Newman Nation.” Cornell is looking to win its third straight Ivy League championship this season, and with five returning starters, Newman Nation will be an overwhelming force as a “sixth man.”
The effects of Newman Nation in recent years have been well documented. The Ithacan referred to the zealous student section as “shot-altering.” Andrew Pusar of the Harvard basketball squad said Newman Arena was “rocking.” When Penn came to visit the Hill, the Daily Pennsylvanian noted that the atmosphere on the court was “electric.” But it was not always this way.
Alberding Fieldhouse was constructed in 1990 after Cornell decided to make historic Barton Hall into a full-time indoor track and field facility. In 1993, Cornell decided to honor F.R. Newman ’12 and his wife Helen Newman and Alberding Fieldhouse became known as Newman Arena. Prior to 1990, Cornell played all of its home basketball and volleyball games in Barton Hall, which was constructed in 1914 and is older then the Palestra, the legendary basketball arena where Penn still plays its home basketball games.
Barton Hall, which could seat up to 9,000 people for a basketball game, was sold out when Cornell took on Princeton in the 1964-65 season. In that game, the Red impressed the sellout crowd, pulling out a last-second victory against future NBA star Bill Bradley and Princeton. That year, the Tigers went to the Final Four. Yet since the move in 1990, the largest home crowd a Cornell team has played in front of is 4,472. In 2003, the standing room-only crowd, not yet known as Newman Nation, watched as the Red lost to national championship runner-up Georgia Tech, 90-69. But as the Red squad began to improve, the once-calm crowds developed into what is now a boisterous group of fans.
Newman Nation had not always been an animated and spirited force. Since Alberding Fieldhouse was renamed Newman Arena, there has been an obvious trend in attendance and Red success.
In the years before Steve Donahue took the helm as Cornell’s head coach (1993-1999), the average attendance was 1,423. In Donahue’s first year as Red head coach, average attendance plummeted to 955. However, in the nine years Cornell has had Donahue as head coach, the average attendance at Newman Arena has increased to 1,786. Behind Donahue and the Red’s increasing success, Newman Nation has begun to take form.
“It’s really a reflection on the kids and the program,” Donahue said. “Well obviously [the team has] done a terrific job of being competitive and raising the level of play. Also I think it’s a group of guys whose personality really fits well with the kids in this school, who enjoy supporting those guys and in turn we feel very grateful that they enjoy it as much as they do and that turned us into really one of the hardest places to play in the country.”
In 2007-08, when Cornell won its first of two consecutive Ivy League titles, the attendance broke 2,000 (2,957) for the first time since the dedication of Newman Arena. Even more noteworthy is the fact that fans recognized the chance Cornell has to win its first Ivy League title in 20 years, and Newman Nation rose to the occasion, initiating chants, hand motions and general rowdiness that Cornell basketball hadn’t seen in the years before.
“The beginning of sophomore year I noticed that more fans came out,” said senior guard Louis Dale, who credits Newman Nation with doing a good job of heckling and distracting other teams. “There were a lot more fans there. We had high expectations for that season. Preseason we were picked to win the Ivy League and I think people caught on to that and wanted to come out and support the team. As we kept winning people came out to support us more and more.”
According to the NCAA attendance records, the average attendance for Cornell men’s basketball games in 2006-07, the year before Cornell won its first Ivy League title, was 1,340 people. Cornell students took initiative the next season, determined to solidify Newman Nation as an Ivy League version of the Cameron Crazies (the “Cornell Crazies”, if you will). In 2007-08, the average attendance of 2,957 made Cornell No. 10 in the category of “Largest Division I Average Attendance Increase From Previous Year” by the NCAA. With the increased attendance came Newman Nation rituals.
The Nation began using “brick bags” as a way to distract opposing players. Hundreds of hands rose in anticipation and fell with every made free throw. Newman Arena began hearing grumbles of the now commonplace “LOUUUUUUUUUU”, whenever Dale touched the ball. Echoes of “FOOTE, FOOTE, FOOTE” rang through Bartels on the 7-0 center’s every block. And of course, Cornell’s rendition of Gary Glitter made the transition from the ice to the hardwood. None of it would have been possible without the growing number of fans pouring into the see the Red play.
“They just don’t let up,” Donahue said of Newman Nation. “You really do have an impact on the game. It’s such an intimate sport, that you’re that close and you can see the body language and facial expressions of the opponents and how much effect you have on it. I think the Nation feels that. I think it’s unbelievable that they’re into it the whole time and it obviously has a lot to do with how successful we’ve been at home.”
Good Things Come in Threes
They say good things come in threes. Well, the men’s basketball team will look to confirm the legitimacy of this claim, as the Red embarks on a 2009-10 campaign to capture its third consecutive Ivy League championship. If successful, the team will be only the fourth in Ancient Eight history to do so; as it stands now, Cornell is just the third school since Penn and Princeton to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years.
Cornell’s 2008-09 squad posted a 21-10 overall record and went 11-3 in conference play en route to setting team records for points (2,281), 3-pointers (241) and blocked shots (121). Although the Red’s Tournament exposure has proved short-lived these past couple years, there remains little doubt as to the team’s ability to contend on the national stage. In fact, just last Thursday it was announced that Cornell received three votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 poll. While three may not seem like a significant number, to put this recognition in perspective, only 55 Division 1 teams received top 25 votes, with Cornell being the sole Ivy League representative among them.
Over the course of the Red’s climb to the top of the Ivy rankings, three starters have emerged as the team’s figurative backbone, while simultaneously establishing themselves as legitimate candidates for Ivy League Player of the Year. This senior trio includes reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Jeff Foote, and two-time first-team all-league selections Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman.
Foote leads the Ancient Eight in rebounding and shot-blocking and ranks among the team leaders in scoring and assists. Last season, he had three double-doubles and notched a career-high 25 points in Cornell’s win over La Salle.
Although a hamstring injury forced Dale to sit out the first eight games of the 2008-09 season, he still managed to rank among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals while posting 19 double-figure scoring efforts in 23 games.
As for Wittman, for the second year in a row he was a unanimous selection to the All-Ivy first-team and a first-team all-district pick by the National Association of Basketball Coaches –– the first Cornell player to earn a pair of all-district distinctions in a career.
Despite all the prevailing talk of three-peats, individual accolades and national attention, the Red is not getting ahead of itself, electing instead to focus on the intangibles –– such as improving in practice.
“I try to put it down in a way that we’re going to achieve things daily, and then the score takes care of itself,” said head coach Steve Donahue, who enters his 10th season at the helm of the Red. “We’re going to be the hardest working team in the league. We’re going to be a team that improves every day in practice. We’re going to be the most unselfish team.”
“It’s kind of qualitative rather than quantitative,” he added.
That’s not to say that the Ivy League crown and ensuing March Madness are completely out of sight and out of mind for the Red. Both Donahue and Dale spoke to the importance of “mak[ing] sure we take care of the Ivy League championship,” and then hopefully advancing beyond the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Foote, on the other hand, took it a step further: “We want to pick up a couple of signature wins, especially early in the season. We want to go undefeated in the Ivy League again and make a splash in the tournament. We believe we’re a Sweet 16 team.”
While Cornell returns all five starters, as well as eight of the Red’s top nine scorers, the departure of seniors Adam Gore, Jason Battle, Conor Mullen and Brian Kreefer will inevitably have an impact on the changing culture of the team.
“I think that’s something that goes understated in the public’s eyes. ... We were very bad before they came, and when they walked out they changed it completely. All four of them, and Khaliq [Gant] being the fifth, had a great impact on us daily,” Donahue said. “I hope that there is a carryover because it’s critical to our success.”
Looking to fill the void left by the graduated veterans will be senior forward Mark Coury and junior guard Max Groebe, as well as five freshmen who “will definitely make some noise,” according to Foote. Coury joins the Red after playing two seasons at the University of Kentucky, while Groebe, a transfer from UMass, had to sit out last season due to NCAA eligibility regulations.
“I think [the new additions] will help us a lot,” Dale said. “Max is a great shooter who will provide lots of scoring for us, and Mark Coury is a great defender; he really works hard –– he’ll make our team work hard as well on defense, and on the offensive end.”
“I think we’ve got more depth this year ... a lot more experience,” added Wittman, who –– speaking of threes –– enters his final season second in Ivy League history in field goals from beyond the arc.
Many members of the Red attribute the team’s recent success to the camaraderie that exists between players, explaining that such chemistry contributes to their knowledge of each other on the basketball court.
“All of the guys pretty much live together, and we all get along really well. We’re like a big family,” Foote said.
“We have a lot of talented individuals on the team, but [our success comes from] knowing what everyone does well, just playing together, moving the basketball on offense and playing good team defense, getting loose balls and trying to out-hustle other teams,” Wittman said. “I think that’s what a lot of people overlook –– we make a lot of hustle plays.”
As far as improvements go, Donahue identified Cornell’s field goal percentage defense as an area where his team could stand to be more consistent, explaining that most of the Red’s losses last season came when it relied too much on offense.
“One of the things we’re focusing on is always bringing energy, both offensively and defensively. Defensively, trying to disrupt the other team, make things difficult for them. And on the offensive end, really trying to control rebounding,” Wittman said. “We’re a pretty big team, a good rebounding team, but we want to become a great rebounding team.”
This season the Red faces perhaps its most challenging non-conference schedule in history –– and that’s not by accident. Donahue designed the calendar himself with a mind to challenge his team and prepare the players for the powerhouse opponent they are bound to encounter in the first round of the NCAA tournament, provided Cornell gets to that point. The Red opens its season at Alabama on Nov. 14 –– a homecoming game for Dale, whose friends and family will be able to watch him play. Then, on Jan. 6, Cornell takes on No. 1 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, where Foote will have to go up against junior center Cole Aldrich, who was highly recruited and is likely to be drafted.
“That will be a fun game for us,” Dale said.
Other iconic venues on the schedule include Madison Square Garden and the Carrier Dome, where Cornell had Syracuse on the ropes early in the 2008-09 season.
Assuming the role of tri-captains this year are Foote and senior forwards Alex Tyler and Jon Jaques –– all of whom were selected by Donahue and his coaching staff after meeting with every senior about the team’s makeup.
This year, if the captains –– or any team members for that matter –– find themselves in need of guidance, they can always look to someone who’s been there before. Kevin App ’07, a former captain himself, returns to the Hill as assistant coach Zach Spiker’s replacement.
“Coach [Donahue] talks to [the team] a lot about winning two championships in a row, not getting complacent, not forgetting what made you good. Remembering that every day you have to come in and work hard,” App said. “The guys, they know that, but they have to be reminded of that from time to time. It’s not a given that you’re going to be good; you have to work for it, you have to work every day at it.”
Red Boasts Deep Backcourt Playmaker Arsenal
The decision was an easy one for head coach Steve Donahue at the outset of last season. With Louis Dale, the 2007-08 Ivy League Player of the Year, sidelined for the first eight games due to a sore hamstring, Donahue inserted freshman Chris Wroblewski into the team’s starting lineup at point guard.
This year, the decision making process is a bit more complex as it appears Wroblewski and senior Geoff Reeves will compete for the starting nod. Reeves, who started all but one game last season, seems to hold a slight edge over the sophomore, but Donahue says it is too early to tell.
“I’m not even sure still. I look at it as we have six starters. I think Geoff has done a great job over the last couple of years. Chris has done a terrific job. Chris and Lou, both are 1’s and 2’s I think equally. Some days, Chris is great and you have him with the ball and Lou off it, but I think all good teams have a couple of guys out there who can really handle the ball.”
The one thing that seems certain is that Donahue will likely split time equally among this trio in the backcourt, sticking with whoever has the hot hand. Last year, all three guards each logged approximately 26 minutes per game.
Dale captured his second consecutive first-team All-Ivy selection last season averaging 13.0 points per game as the Red’s floor general. Wroblewski also captured some hardware, earning the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award. Reeves, a strong outside shooter, has demonstrated the ability to create points off the dribble by penetrating the lane utilizing his lanky 6-4 frame.
Junior Max Groebe and freshman Miles Asafo-Adjei may also see some time in the backcourt for Cornell this season. Groebe, a transfer from the University of Massachusetts, sat out the entire season last year due to NCAA transfer regulations and has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
“Max is a great shooter,” Dale said. “You can’t leave him open. He can definitely help us out on offense and defense because he’s long and athletic. I see him coming off of the bench and providing a spark for us, getting some easy looks, knocking down 3’s and providing a scoring threat.”
In the early practices and scrimmage, Asafo-Adjei has already drawn some comparisons to last year’s co-captain Jason Battle ’09. Battle’s versatility and athleticism helped him become one of the Red’s toughest defenders last season and the coaches envision Asafo-Adjei filling a similar role in the future.
“Miles is someone that can help us because we need another ball handler,” Donahue said. “He’s someone that can help us in practice. He’s played well. He’s a good athlete.”
With a very difficult out-of-conference schedule this season, the Red will rely heavily on its backcourt to control the pace and tempo of these games. Fortunately for Cornell, there is no shortage of quality players to choose from at the guard position. Donahue’s greatest challenge may simply be selecting who plays from this loaded arsenal of backcourt threats.
Forwards Comprise Mix Of Veterans, New Talent
When the men’s basketball team returns to the parquet floors Nov. 14 against Alabama on the road, the Red will be suiting up a team that will be familiar to fans and opponents alike. The Red is returning all five of its starters this year, including big man and senior co-captain Jeff Foote and key offensive weapon, senior Ryan Wittman. It is this experienced starting lineup that netted the Red votes in the Top-25 preseason poll –– a Cornell first –– and marked it as the team to beat in the Ivy League for the third season in a row.
“We think we’re a very good team, so we want to pick up a couple of signature wins, especially early in the season,” Foote said. “We want to go undefeated in the Ivy League and make a splash in the tournament.”
The drive towards the three-peat will be led by an all-star group of veteran forwards, including Wittman, senior co-captain Alex Tyler and junior Adam Wire. Tyler was tied with sophomore guard Chris Wroblewski last season for most games played, and was extremely productive with his court time. Tyler notched 6.9 points per game for the Red, picking up 32 blocks in the front court. Wire also picked up 41 steals last season, while shooting .534 from the field and .707 from the free-throw line.
But when teams set foot in Newman Arena, the man to look out for will be Wittman, whose production is unparalleled. The two-time first team All-Ivy forward is expected to continue draining shots from beyond the arc this season, having made 268 of them in the past three years. Wittman has the second most points scored in the history of Red basketball, and his presence on the court will be integral to another Ivy League title and another trip to the NCAA tournament.
The addition of senior Mark Coury, a transfer from Kentucky, will be big for the Red when it comes to rebounds.
“He is a terrific defender, gets his hands on balls, gets a lot of deflections,” said head coach Steve Donahue. “He’ll make us a stronger rebounding team and a better defensive team.”
Coury will present another big man for the Red; standing at 6-9, he is the tallest player on the team aside from starting center Foote. Though Coury might not produce much on offense, the defense he learned at Kentucky will be key for the Red this season.
“We want to be a team when things aren’t going well on offense, we can really shut people down, in particular on the road,” Donahue said. “The games we lost last season at Princeton and at Yale were games where we struggled defensively and relied on our offense, which wasn’t there those games.”
Foote, the Red’s go-to center for the past couple seasons will reprise his role for 2009-10. Foote produced an astounding 64 blocks last season, averaging 2.1 per game. Foote also came through on offense, tacking on a solid 11.8 points per game.
But what’s changed with Foote since the end of last season is about 25 pounds of raw muscle that is bound to make him more dominant in the paint.
“Mostly, I think it’s going to help me with rebounding and holding my position in the post … I should be able to push guys around instead of getting pushed around a little bit,” Foote said.
Injury-Free, Dale Ready to Rock
He might be listed as the smallest player on the Cornell roster, but Louis Dale, a 5-11 starting point guard, has been one of the biggest reasons for the team’s rise to the top during his first three years at Cornell.
The 2007-08 Ivy League Player of the Year is one of the most dynamic players in the Ancient Eight. In 2008-09, Dale finished among the league leaders in several categories, tallying 13 points per game, 3.6 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game and a .463 field-goal percentage. Despite his diminutive stature, Dale can also play a big man’s game, ranking in the top-15 rebounders in the league with 4.2 boards per game. Last season, Dale became just the second player in school history to record 1,000 points, 300 rebounds and 300 assists.
These accomplishments have not gone unnoticed by his peers as Dale as been selected to the All-Ivy first-team squad the past two campaigns. These accolades came upon the heels of being selected as an honorable mention All-Ivy selection after his freshman year.
The Alabama native was hampered by a sore hamstring at the outset of last season and sat out eight games, but provided an instant spark upon his return to the hardwood. Aside from that eight-game span last year, Dale has started every game but one since stepping on the court at Newman Arena as a freshman in 2006-07.
“I’m in better shape now than I was last year because I didn’t miss preseason training,” Dale said. “I think it helps a lot just because I get to mesh and gel with my teammates before the season gets started.”
Dale’s court vision and innate basketball instincts as the Red’s floor general, in unison with his unselfish nature in setting up teammates and quick hands on defense, will be a lethal combination for opponents.
The former Alabama state triple jump champion has already circled Nov. 14 on his calendar as the Red travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“It’s a great chance for my family to get to see me play,” Dale said. “My grandparents have never seen me play. That’ll be good for them to go to a game. It’s only a short 40-minute drive from my house. It’ll be great to see friends and family. I have a lot of high school friends, who go to Alabama, so it will be a great chance for them to see me play, too.”
Foote Returns To Push Red On Defense
Senior Jeff Foote, 265 pounds, 84 inches, and 2 Ivy League titles, will continue to lead the Red this season from center. The big man was last year’s Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and NABC second-team All-District. So what’s next for one of the Red’s most integral players on both sides of the court?
Foote will admit, though tall, he wasn’t the most ripped man on the court. But that changed in the offseason when Foote and senior Ryan Wittman played summer league in Minn., where Foote put on 25 pounds of raw muscle.
“That was a great experience to go out to Minn.,” Foote said. “I got to work a little bit with Ryan’s dad, who coaches for the Wizards now. … As far as the league goes, it was a pretty solid league. There were some players there from Germany, old NBA players –– just a variety of guys.”
This season, Foote will be faced with the new challenge of continuing to push the Red on defense. According to head coach Steve Donahue, the Red’s main weakness last season was its lack of defense during tough offensive games. Foote will have the chance to face off with some of the top guards in college basketball this season when Cornell heads to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks.
“I think our biggest challenge is probably preseason No. 1 Kansas,” Foot said. “They have a lot of hype surrounding them. Personally, I’ll have to go against [junior center] Cole Aldrich, who was highly recruited and probably going to be drafted.”
This season will be the capstone on what has already been an amazing career at Cornell for Foote. But like any star athlete trying to leave his final mark, Foote is aiming for the stars this season.
“We want to go undefeated in the Ivy League and make a splash in the tournament,” he said.
The Best Of the Rest: Ivy League Preview
The Red has established itself as a true Ivy powerhouse, poised to match Penn’s three-peat from 2005-08. While the Red is expected to take the League title again, Brown is expected to continue its fall from grace, with preseason polls puting the Bears at No. 7 in the league for the 2009-10 campaign. Princeton is expected to continue to challenge the Red this season, with a strong lineup of veterans suiting up in black and orange. Penn is expected to return to the top of the table with a tigther defense.
Penn Quakers
2008-09: 10-18, 6-8 Ivy (T-6th)
After winning three consecutive conference championships behind Ibrahim Jabeer from 2005 to 2007, Penn finished at just 8-6 in 2008 and slumped to a 6-8 conference record in 2009. Tyler Bernardini and Jack Eggleston will return with hopes to reestablish Penn as an Ivy power. Based on preseason polls, Quaker fans have reason to be optimistic. Penn is projected to finish third in the Ancient Eight behind the Red and the Tigers. After giving up the most points per game in the conference last season, Penn will need to tighten up its defense if it hopes to improve on last season’s record. Penn has a tough exhibition schedule with Duke, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova on the docket.
Princeton Tigers
2008-09: 13-14, 8-6 (T-2nd)
The Tigers return almost all of their core players from a team that finished in a tie for second place in the Ivy League. Each of the top nine scorers from last season’s Princeton squad will return to the court this season. Princeton tends to play a slow-paced game holding both the least points scored and allowed per game in Ivy play. Much of the team’s success came from beyond the arc, as the Tigers were second only to Cornell in 3-point field goal percentage (39.7 percent) and second to Columbia in 3-point percentage allowed (29.1 percent) in conference play. Long-range specialists Douglas Davis and Dan Mavraides led Princeton in scoring last season.
Columbia Lions
2008-09: 13-15, 7-7 (T-4th)
The Lions won eight of 14 home games last season, but struggled on the road. Of the Lions’ 14 games away from Morningside Heights, Columbia could only pick up four wins. Columbia featured a very balanced attack last season – no player averaged more than 11 points per game – but a few of the team’s top performers have departed. Most notably, forward and All-Ivy second team selection Jason Miller graduated after the 2008-09 campaign. Patrick Foley, Noruwa Agho and Niko Scott will lead a guard-heavy attack for the Lions. Columbia is hoping that its defense will turn in another strong season after the team was second in points per game allowed and finished atop the Ancient Eight in turnovers per game forced. The Lions have held a 7-7 Ivy record in the past three seasons.
Brown Bears
2008-09 : 9-19, 3-11 (8th)
Brown pulled up the bottom of the standings last season, a shocking result after going 11-3 in 2007-08. Brown, which finished in the bottom half of the conference on both offense and defense, will attempt to rise out of the basement this season. The good news for Brown is that each of its three top scorers will be back on the court this season. Forwards Mutt Mullery and Peter Sullivan and guard Adrian Williams will try to jumpstart Brown’s sluggish offense. Mullery was an All-Ivy selection last year in spite of the Bears’ performance. Even with Brown’s trio, the Bears are not expected to go far this season
Yale Bulldogs
2008-09: 13-15, 8-6 (T-2nd)
Yale managed at least one win against every team in the conference a season ago; however the team will be hard-pressed to repeat such a performance. All-Ivy second team forwards Ross Morin and Travis Pinick both graduated in the spring, thus Yale will face an uphill battle to finish with a winning record in the Ancient Eight this season. Guard Alex Zampier will have to carry the scoring load for the inexperienced Bulldogs. Yale’s 3-point shooting was definitely a weak link. The team finished last in the conference in both 3 pointers made and 3-point percentage.
Harvard Crimson
2008-09: 14-14, 6-8
(T-6th)
Now a senior, Harvard star Jeremy Lin is poised to make a run at the Ivy League player of the year award. Last season, the guard from California averaged 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while converting more than 50 percent of his field goal attempts. Sophomore forward Keith Wright will look to build upon a strong rookie campaign in the 2009-10 campaign. Harvard failed to meet expectations a season ago, but signature wins against Cornell and Boston College give reason to believe that Harvard can improve in 2010. Harvard needs to improve its team rebounding after finishing last in the conference in rebound margin last season. The Crimson will miss graduated point guard Drew Housman who finished second on the team in points and assists a season ago. Rookie Brandyn Curry is a highly touted recruit who has a chance to succeed Housman in Cambridge.
Dartmouth Green
2008-09: 9-19, 7-7 (T-4th)
Dartmouth had little success out of the conference last season, but finished .500 in the Ivy League. The Green was led by last season’s conference Player of the Year Alex Barnett. Last season, Barnett led the Ivy League in scoring at 19.4 points per game. Without Barnett, the Green will need to find a way to replace his scoring punch. Sophomores Jabari Trotter and David Ruffel are looking to do so. The two guards were among the top Ivy League rookies a season ago. In spite of some young talent, Dartmouth is likely to take a step back without Barnett.
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