Below, a pair of previews for Saturday's game.November 13, 2009
I'll give you stats from last season. How about that?
Also here's a blog about Cornell. A pretty good one at that. The poll on the main page comes up with 50% saying Cornell wins a close one.
They're the 2 time defending Ivy League champs and preseason favorite to win it again, returning most of the roster from last year.
Ryan Wittman led them in scoring (18.5) and 3pt FGs (97 made) while Jeff Foote (a 7 footer) cleaned the glass (7.2). Louis Dale averaged 13 PPG.
Prediction- A close game throughout with Green being just too much inside for Cornell. Alabama by 2 in a squeaker.
BaselineStats.com
November 13, 2009
The best games on Saturday’s slate give us looks at two teams expected to be among the best mid-majors this season as well as a two-time defending conference champion attempting to bring its shooting form south of the Mason-Dixon against an opposing coach making his debut with a new school.
Creighton at Dayton (1 p.m. ET):
***
Cornell at Alabama (2 p.m. ET): The Ivy League favorite heads to Tuscaloosa to take on an SEC also-ran in Anthony Grant’s first game at his new digs.
Steve Donahue has broken the stranglehold of Penn and Princeton by winning consecutive league titles, and he returns most of his key parts, notably Ryan Whitman. The 6-6 junior is simply a terrific scorer, too good for his league, one might say. He can shoot the three (41.6 percent on 233 attempts last year), get by on the two (49.3 percent on 203 attempts) and make free throws (81.8 percent on 99 attempts).
With 7-footer Jeff Foote gone, the Big Red’s interior defense should take a step back, but the offense could be even better if 5-11 guard Louis Dale continues to fill it up like he did last year. Considering his lack of size, Dale is surprising good at scoring inside (53.1 percent on 2-pointers), and his ability to penetrate helps allows him to setup teammates like Whitman, Geoff Reeves (42.1 percent from deep) and Chris Wroblewski (44.1 percent) for open looks. Not surprisingly, Cornell was eighth in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage last season.
Alabama has an obvious talent advantage wherever Whitman is not, led by JaMychal Green, Mikhail Torrance and Senario Hillman. Green is a ferocious offensive rebounder and shot-blocker, and he was just a freshman last season. Torrance is a capable slasher at 6-5. Hillman figures to be the go-to guy this year, but he shot far too much last season for a player with a 46.4 percent eFG and few positive peripheral offensive traits.
Grant comes in off a successful tenure at VCU, where he showed an ability to adapt to his personnel. His early teams were small and quick, so he used the turnover differential to his advantage. As he brought in more of his own players — notably Larry Sanders — his teams became tougher on the interior and less focused on forcing turnovers and the risks that trying to force turnovers promotes.
Mark Gottfried’s Alabama teams were never interested in forcing turnovers and often had a big man — be it Green, Richard Hendrix, Jermareo Davidson or Chuck Davis — to keep opponents away from the basket. We’ll see how Grant mixes personnel with his system, but you can bet he’ll leverage Green’s defense inside for all it’s worth.
Against Cornell, the top priority will be defending the 3-pointer. Grant’s Rams were inconsistent in their ability to defend the 3-pointer, terrific in even seasons (2005-06 and 2007-08) and terrible in odd ones (2006-07 and 2008-09). We’ll see whether the even-year success carries over to Bama.
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