Behind the Numbers, Big Red Stats Watch

Below, a look at a few key individual and team stats following Cornell's first nine games.

• According to the Pomeroy statistics, the Big Red are currently the nation's 19th ranked most efficient offense, while the defense is 170th (out of 347 Division I teams). Cornell's defensive efficiency is 4th in the Ivy League.
  

• The Big Red finished 3rd in the nation in team three-point field goal percentage during 2007-2008 (41.5%) and 2008-2009 (41.4%). But when we last checked in with "Stats Watch" following Cornell's seventh game of the 2009-2010 season, the Big Red were only shooting 38.1 percent from the perimeter. Since that time, the Big Red have ramped up the outside shooting game. Following Cornell's ninth game, the Big Red are now averaging an improved 40.1 percent from beyond the arc with Goeff Reeves (45.9%), Chris Wroblewski (43.6%) and Ryan Wittman (41.3%) leading the way. After starting out the season hot with a combined 6/13 performance against Alabama and UMass, Louis Dale is only 10/32 on the season for 31.3%. Fortunately, Dale seems to be climbing out his minor shooting slump, connecting on 2/5 in the last two games.

• Dale leads Cornell in assists and steals with 45 assists (5.0 apg) and 19 steals (2.1 spg). He is on pace to set personal season best averages in each of these categories. But an area he must improve, especially in light of his field goal shooting woes, is free throw attempts. Dale's 16 free throw attempts ranks only 5th on the team, while he is third in minutes played. As an 88% FT shooter (14/26), Dale needs to get himself on the line. In fact, Adam Wire, who is 7th on the team in minutes, averages more free throw attempts per game than Dale.
  

• Cornell's school record of 76.1% free throw shooting on a season was set in 2007-2008. Cornell is currently shooting 76.9% at the line.

• Jeff Foote is continuing his career year on the glass, averaging 8.9 rebounds per game to go along with his 13.2 points. Adam Wire is second on the team in rebounding with 4.2 per game despite only playing 15.6 minutes. Errick Peck is also efficient on the glass, grabbing 2.1 rebounds in just 7.1 minutes.
  

• Mark Coury is arguably Cornell's most overall efficient player, shooting 68% from the floor while contributing 4.0 points and 2.6 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game.

• Max Groebe may not have played much due to illness, but when on the floor, he puts points on the board. Groebe averages 1.6 points in just 3.7 minutes while shooting 4/7 from the floor and 3/5 from beyond the arc.

• And without further adieu, our Slam Dunk Report:
  

Jeff Foote 9 (49 career)
Mark Coury 2 (n/a career)
Errick Peck 1 (1 career)
Adam Wire 0 (4 career)
Alex Tyler 0 (7 career)
Geoff Reeves 0 (3 career)
Andre Wilkins 0 (2 career)
Louis Dale 0 (2 career)
Aaron Osgood 0 (1 career)

Big Red Stats Watch

Below, a look at a few key individual and team stats following Cornell's first seven games.

• First, it goes without saying that it is difficult to compare Cornell's statistical performance with other Ivies or even with last season's Cornell team. The Big Red have played a very challenging schedule to date with six of the first seven games on the road. Games against Alabama, UMass, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Toledo, Vermont and Drexel also presented Cornell with opponents arguably possessing more size and athleticism than typical Ivy teams.

• Just as impressive as Cornell's wins at Alabama and UMass, Cornell managed to pull off two wins in the Legends Classic against Vermont and Drexel without the services of either Alex Tyler or Max Groebe. But players were key parts of Cornell's nine-man rotation before their injuries. Tyler was averaging 16.6 minutes per game while Groebe played 4 minutes per game.

• Cornell's three-point shooting is down this season. The Big Red finished 3rd in the nation in team three-point field goal percentage during 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. During 2007-2008, Cornell shot a sizzling 41.5 percent from downtown, while in 2008-2009, the Big Red hit for 41.4 percent. Thus far in 2009-2010, the Big Red are down to 38.1 percent. If you don't count Max Groebe's 3/5 performance thus far, only Geoff Reeves is shooting above the 40% threshold beyond the arc (he is at 43.8%- 14/32). Wittman and Wroblewski are hovering around 39% from deep. Wroblewski shot 44% a year ago, while Wittman finished at 42%. Louis Dale is struggling from deep on an 8/27 performance. Fortunately, Wroblewski is 12/28 from 3-point range in his last five games (43%) after hitting just 1/5 in his first two games.

• Jeff Foote is having a career year on the glass, currently averaging 8.1 rebounds per game to go along with his 12.0 points.

• Despite only playing 11.4 minutes per game, Mark Coury has been extremely productive, contributing 3.7 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Coury is an efficient 12/18 from the field (67%).
  

• A pair of Cornell forwards have struggled shooting the ball. Alex Tyler is shooting 4/21 (19%) while Errick Peck is 6/25 (24%).
  

• Cornell has three players scorching from the free throw line. Alex Tyler is 9/10 (90%), Ryan Wittman is 18/20 (90%), while Chris Wroblewski is 16/17 (94%). Cornell's team 76% free-throw percentage, if maintained, would be just off the school record of 76.1% set in 2007-2008.

• Official Cornell stats have recorded only five slam dunks this season by Cornell, all of which were by Jeff Foote.

• Cornell opponents have shot 172 free throws this season while Cornell has shot only 125.

• Cornell opponents are outrebounding Cornell 235 to 231, although Cornell has 86 offensive rebounds to opponents' 76.

• Cornell has 141 personal fouls in the first seven games, while Cornell opponents have just 123.
  

Stats Watch: The Charity Stripe

Any one of the 340 plus opposing Division I teams would probably know after a quick scouting report that Cornell can hurt them at the free throw line.

After finishing 9th in the nation at 76.3 percent during 2007-2008, the Big Red followed up the performance with another strong foul shooting season during 2008-2009, hitting 73.4 percent at the line, a ranking of 41st in the nation.

A particular concern for opposing teams this year could be the rapid improvement at the line of Cornell's imposing seven-footer, Jeff Foote. Only a 57 percent shooter during the 2007-2008 season, Foote raised his percentage to 63 percent during 2008-2009. He also finished second in the Ivy League in free throw attempts in league game (70).

Also improving on the Big Red frontcourt, 6'7" power forward Alex Tyler jumped from 68 percent to 72 percent at the line.

Stats Watch: Assist Leaders

Above, Cornell's Louis Dale drives around a pick set by Jeff Foote on Penn's Zach Rosen last season. Rosen and Dale finished 1st and 5th respectively in the Ivy League a year ago in assists.

Below we post the Ivy League's team and individual leaders in assists for the '08-'09 season. Players listed in italics are returning. Four Cornell players finished among the league's top 15 in helpers while the Big Red led the league in team assists.

ASSISTS		G	No.	Avg/G
1.	Cornell	14	221	15.8
2.	Penn	14	187	13.4
3.	Brown	14	169	12.1
4.	Harvard	14	168	12.0
5.	Yale	14	166	11.9
6.	Princeton	14	158	11.3
7.	Columbia	14	152	10.9
8.	Dartmouth	14	123	8.8

ASSISTS		Cl	GP	No.	Avg/G
1.	Rosen, Zack-PENN		14	71	5.1
2.	Skrelja, Chris-BRWN		14	53	3.8
3.	Schroeder, Marcus-PRIN		14	52	3.7
	Housman, Drew-HARV		14	52	3.7
5.	Dale, Louis-COR		14	50	3.6
6.	Lin, Jeremy-HARV		14	47	3.4
7.	Andrews, Chris-YALE		14	40	2.9
8.	Wroblewski, Chris-COR		14	38	2.7
9.	Wittman, Ryan-COR		14	36	2.6
10.	Pinick, Travis-YALE		14	35	2.5
11.	Foley, Patrick-COL		12	26	2.2
12.	Buczak, Pawel-PRIN		14	29	2.1
13.	Foote, Jeff-COR		14	27	1.9
14.	Braswell, Porter-YALE		13	25	1.9
15.	Mullery, Matt-BRWN		14	26	1.9
	Belcore, Rob-PENN		14	26	1.9
	Agho, Noruwa-COL		14	26	1.9

Stats Watch: Big Red Play Big on the Defensive End

Above, Cornell's Adam Wire is among the Big Red's defensive stoppers. The junior finished 5th in the Ivy League in steals last year with 1.4 per game despite playing merely 15 minutes per game.

While Cornell's trademark the past several seasons has been its shooting (Cornell finished 3rd in the nation in three-point field goal percentage for the last two seasons), the Big Red are also a stalwart defensive team. In fact, in every major defensive statistical category, Cornell was among the Ivy League's top four teams a year ago, including leading the league in arguably the two most important categories--- field goal percentage defense and rebounding margin.

SCORING DEFENSE		G	Pts	Avg/G
1.	Princeton	14	781	55.8
2.	Columbia	14	840	60.0
3.	Yale	14	854	61.0
4.	Cornell	14	865	61.8
5.	Dartmouth	14	900	64.3
6.	Brown	14	918	65.6
7.	Penn	14	923	65.9
8.	Harvard	14	957	68.4

FIELD GOAL PCT DEFENSE		G	FGM	FGA	Pct
1.	Cornell	14	306	774	.395
2.	Princeton	14	275	664	.414
3.	Columbia	14	280	667	.420
4.	Brown	14	337	763	.442
5.	Yale	14	310	695	.446
6.	Penn	14	327	730	.448
7.	Dartmouth	14	310	670	.463
8.	Harvard	14	355	753	.471

3-POINT FG PCT DEFENSE		G	3FGM	3FGA	Pct
1.	Columbia	14	63	234	.269
2.	Princeton	14	55	189	.291
3.	Cornell	14	68	232	.293
4.	Yale	14	71	202	.351
5.	Penn	14	74	205	.361
6.	Harvard	14	82	217	.378
7.	Dartmouth	14	67	177	.379
8.	Brown	14	92	226	.407

REBOUNDING MARGIN		G	Team	Avg.	Opponent	Avg.	Margin
1.	Cornell	14	522	37.3	440	31.4	+5.9
2.	Yale	14	453	32.4	422	30.1	+2.2
3.	Brown	14	477	34.1	479	34.2	-0.1
4.	Penn	14	474	33.9	478	34.1	-0.3
5.	Dartmouth	14	443	31.6	449	32.1	-0.4
6.	Harvard	14	410	29.3	424	30.3	-1.0
7.	Columbia	14	438	31.3	477	34.1	-2.8
8.	Princeton	14	385	27.5	433	30.9	-3.4

BLOCKED SHOTS		G	No.	Avg/G
1.	Dartmouth	14	61	4.4
2.	Brown	14	55	3.9
3.	Cornell	14	53	3.8
4.	Yale	14	47	3.4
5.	Harvard	14	46	3.3
6.	Princeton	14	39	2.8
7.	Penn	14	36	2.6
8.	Columbia	14	29	2.1

STEALS		G	No.	Avg/G
1.	Dartmouth	14	108	7.7
2.	Cornell	14	96	6.9
3.	Columbia	14	94	6.7
4.	Harvard	14	92	6.6
5.	Penn	14	86	6.1
6.	Yale	14	81	5.8
7.	Princeton	14	80	5.7
8.	Brown	14	66	4.7

Stats Watch: Cornell Dominant During 2008-2009 Season

Paired with physically powerful forwards Mark Coury (6'9" 240 lbs.) and Alex Tyler (6'7" 240 lbs.), Jeff Foote (above) (7'0" 265 lbs.) and his Cornell Big Red teammates will be a stingy defensive team in the Ivy League during 2009-2010.

The Ivy League Office records "league game only" team statistics in 19 different statistical categories. During the 2008-2009 season, with the exception of Cornell's ranking as 5th in the conference in turnover margin, the Big Red ranked in the top half of the league in 18 of the 19 statistical categories. Cornell also ranked either first or second in the league in 13 of the 19 team statistical rankings.

While Cornell dropped 3 games in the conference during 2008-2009 (finishing with an 11-3 league record), no team in Ivy opponent seriously challenged for the title, all opponents finishing at least 3 games back of the Big Red. (During 2007-2008, Cornell finished with an even more dominant 14-0 record in Ivy play.)

Below are some of the notable league-only stats for the 2008-2009 season:

• Cornell led the league in scoring with 74.6 points per game. No other team in the league reached 65.5.
• Cornell outscored its opponents by a +12.9 points differential. No other team in the league was above +1.5 points.
• Cornell finished 4th in the league in scoring defense and led the league in field goal percentage defense, allowing Ivy opponents only to shoot .395 from the field.
• Cornell led the league in offensive rebounds and rebounding margin.
• Cornell led the league in field goal percentage (.488).
• Cornell led the league in three point attempts and three-point shooting percentage (41% as a team). Cornell also finished 3rd in the nation in three-point field goal percentage for the second consecutive season.
• Cornell led the league in assists and in the assist-to-turnover ratio.

Stats Watch: Ivy League Leading Rebounders

Several of the Ivy League's elite rebounders have graduated, leaving room for returning veterans across the conference to step up as leaders in this statistical category.

The team with the largest rebounding hole to fill is Yale. The Bulldogs must replace a combined 10.8 rebounds a game contributed last year from Ross Morin and Travis Pinick. These two players also provided Yale with its biggest scoring punch.

For Cornell, the Big Red return three of the Ivy League's Top 15 rebounders, while also adding a very physical University of Kentucky transfer in 6'9" 240 lb. Mark Coury (above).

Below, the Ivy's top rebounders from a year ago. Players in boldface are returning for the 2009-2010 season.

REBOUNDING		Cl	GP	Off	Def	Total	Avg/G
1.	Mullery, Matt-BRWN		14	37	73	110	7.9
2.	Foote, Jeff-COR		14	35	66	101	7.2
3.	Skrelja, Chris-BRWN		14	22	77	99	7.1
4.	Miller, Jason-COL		14	34	57	91	6.5
5.	Eggleston, Jack-PENN		14	20	63	83	5.9
6.	Lin, Jeremy-HARV		14	12	69	81	5.8
	Barnett, Alex-DART		14	14	67	81	5.8
8.	Morin, Ross-YALE		14	22	57	79	5.6
	Wright, Keith-HARV		14	25	54	79	5.6
10.	Pinick, Travis-YALE		14	18	55	73	5.2
11.	Lewis, Cameron-PENN		14	23	48	71	5.1
	Dale, Louis-COR		14	12	59	71	5.1
13.	Sullivan, Peter-BRWN		14	14	55	69	4.9
14.	Tyler, Alex-COR		14	21	45	66	4.7
15.	Saunders, Patrick-PRIN		14	13	45	58	4.1
	Finley, Zach-PRIN		14	16	42	58	4.1

Three-Point Shooting Report

Cornell's Chris Wroblewski (above) and Ryan Wittman, along with Columbia's Nikko Scott and Princeton's Dan Mavaraides are the only returning Ivy League players ranking in the League's Top 10 in Three Point Percentage and Three Pointers Made Per Game a year ago. Cornell's Louis Dale also ranked in the League's Top 15 in both categories.

3-POINT FG PCT		Cl	GP	3FG	3FGA	Pct
1.	Wroblewski, Chris-COR		14	22	42	.524
2.	Schroeder, Marcus-PRIN		14	16	32	.500
3.	Scott, Niko-COL		12	15	31	.484
4.	Mavraides, Dan-PRIN		14	27	58	.466
5.	Wittman, Ryan-COR		14	39	87	.448
6.	Matsui, K.J.-COL		14	28	64	.438
7.	Belcore, Rob-PENN		14	14	33	.424
8.	Egee, Kevin-PENN		14	18	43	.419
9.	Barnett, Alex-DART		14	28	68	.412
10.	Agho, Noruwa-COL		14	17	46	.370
11.	Dale, Louis-COR		14	18	49	.367
12.	Zampier, Alex-YALE		14	17	49	.347
13.	Davis, Doug-PRIN		14	23	67	.343
14.	Lin, Jeremy-HARV		14	15	44	.341
15.	Bernardini, Tyler-PENN		11	13	42	.310

3-POINT FG MADE		Cl	GP	3FG	Avg/G
1.	Wittman, Ryan-COR		14	39	2.8
2.	Barnett, Alex-DART		14	28	2.0
	Matsui, K.J.-COL		14	28	2.0
4.	Mavraides, Dan-PRIN		14	27	1.9
5.	Davis, Doug-PRIN		14	23	1.6
6.	Wroblewski, Chris-COR		14	22	1.6
7.	Williams, Adrian-BRWN		14	20	1.4
8.	Egee, Kevin-PENN		14	18	1.3
	Dale, Louis-COR		14	18	1.3
10.	Scott, Niko-COL		12	15	1.3
11.	Agho, Noruwa-COL		14	17	1.2
	Zampier, Alex-YALE		14	17	1.2
13.	Bernardini, Tyler-PENN		11	13	1.2
14.	Schroeder, Marcus-PRIN		14	16	1.1
15.	Reeves, Geoff-COR		12	13	1.1

Roster Report: A Return of the Scorers

Ten of the Ivy League's top fifteen scorers return from a year ago, including seven of the top nine . Most Ivy teams return the bulk of their top gunners, with Dartmouth, Yale and Harvard probably having the biggest gaps to fill. Above, Dartmouth's Alex Barnett pursues Cornell's Ryan Wittman.

Dartmouth must find a way to replace MVP Alex Barnett's 20.3 points per game, which led the Ivy League a year ago. The heavy burden may fall mostly on the slender shoulders of 6'8" sophomore, David Rufful who averaged 8.2 points per game a year ago for the Green.

Yale must replace a combined 24.8 points per game from Ross Morin (13.4 ppg, 6th in the Ivy) and Travis Pinick (11.4 ppg). Morin and Pinick were Yale's foundation for the better part of the past few seasons.

While Harvard has an exciting young freshman class coming on board and the versatile Jeremy Lin (17.1 ppg) returning, the Crimson must still fill a significant scoring void left with the graduation of Drew Housman (11.6 ppg) and Andrew Pusar (7.7 ppg).

Opponents of Cornell have to be shaking when they scan the Big Red roster. Cornell returns five of the Ivy League's top 30 scorers from a year ago, including 3 of the top 13. Now with Louis Dale healed from a nagging hamstring injury, Jeff Foote packing on some additional size and Cornell's adding instant veteran scorers like Max Groebe and Mark Coury, The Big Red appear to have limitless firepower.

Below, the Ivy's top scorers from a year ago. Players in boldface are returning for the 2009-2010 season.

SCORING		Cl	GP	FG	3FG	FT	Points	Avg/G

1.	Barnett, Alex-DART		14	104	28	48	284	20.3
2.	Lin, Jeremy-HARV		14	79	15	66	239	17.1
3.	Mullery, Matt-BRWN		14	95	4	43	237	16.9
4.	Wittman, Ryan-COR		14	80	39	29	228	16.3
5.	Sullivan, Peter-BRWN		14	69	14	41	193	13.8
6.	Morin, Ross-YALE		14	65	7	50	187	13.4
7.	Dale, Louis-COR		14	63	18	42	186	13.3
8.	Bernardini, Tyler-PENN		11	43	13	41	140	12.7
9.	Zampier, Alex-YALE		14	61	17	33	172	12.3
10.	Housman, Drew-HARV		14	53	12	44	162	11.6
11.	Mavraides, Dan-PRIN		14	51	27	32	161	11.5
12.	Pinick, Travis-YALE		14	64	1	31	160	11.4
13.	Foote, Jeff-COR		14	57	0	44	158	11.3
14.	Davis, Doug-PRIN		14	59	23	16	157	11.2
15.	Gaines, Harrison-PENN		12	45	4	37	131	10.9
16.	Miller, Jason-COL		14	57	0	38	152	10.9
17.	Agho, Noruwa-COL		14	47	17	29	140	10.0
18.	Foley, Patrick-COL		12	37	3	37	114	9.5
19.	Rosen, Zack-PENN		14	36	15	41	128	9.1
20.	Williams, Adrian-BRWN		14	41	20	25	127	9.1
21.	Eggleston, Jack-PENN		14	38	7	40	123	8.8
22.	Matsui, K.J.-COL		14	40	28	9	117	8.4
23.	Rufful, David-DART		14	43	12	17	115	8.2
24.	Buczak, Pawel-PRIN		14	45	5	19	114	8.1
25.	Wright, Keith-HARV		14	42	0	27	111	7.9
26.	Scott, Niko-COL		12	29	15	22	95	7.9
27.	Wroblewski, Chris-COR		14	37	22	14	110	7.9
28.	Pusar, Andrew-HARV		14	42	12	12	108	7.7
29.	Egee, Kevin-PENN		14	39	18	10	106	7.6
30.	Tyler, Alex-COR		14	41	0	20	102	7.3

Let it Rain! Big Red Three-Point Shooting Report.

When you name the top five shooting teams in America, Cornell has to be on that list. The Big Red finished 3rd in the nation in team three-point field goal percentage during 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. During 2007-2008, Cornell shot a sizzling 41.5 percent from downtown, while in 2008-2009, the Big Red hit for 41.4 percent. The Big Red's roster currently counts five players with career three-point shooting percentages above .400.

Pictured above, the 2009 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Cornell's 6'1" Chris Wroblewski, connected on 41/93 from beyond the arc (.441) last season. How appropriate that he wears jersey No. 3.

Other dangerous Cornell shooters include the following:

Ryan Wittman 6'6" Sr. Forward 97/233 (.416) (career-268/619 (.433))
Geoff Reeves 6'4" Sr. Guard 51/121 (.421) (career-79/183 (.432))
Louis Dale 5'11" Sr. Guard 30/81 (.370) (career-114/281 (.406))
Alex Hill 6'5" So. Guard 9/20 (.450) (career-9/20 (.450))
Max Groebe 6'4" Guard (transfer from UMass 10/28 (.357) during 2007-2008)

Slam Dunk Report

Although Cornell finished among the top 5 in the nation in team three-point field goal percentage for two consecutive seasons, the Big Red can also throw down the jams. The following is the final breakdown of the number of dunk shots by Cornell during the 2008-2009 season (career dunks in parentheses). Cornell had 41 dunks last season in 31 total games. With several athletic additions to Cornell's '09-'10 roster, expect to see more dunks this season. Stats courtesy of Cornell Athletics Department. Above, Cornell's Jeff Foote throws down one of his 31 dunks on Penn on March 6, 2009. Cornell's dominating 83-59 win over the Quakers clinched the Big Red's second consecutive Ivy League title and NCAA Tournament bid.

Jeff Foote 31 (41 career)
Adam Wire 4 (4 career)
Alex Tyler 2 (6 career)
Geoff Reeves 2 (3 career)
Andre Wilkins 1 (2 career)
Conor Mullen 1 (1 career)
Louis Dale 0 (2 career)
Aaron Osgood 0 (1 career)

Three-Point Shooting Report

Cornell's shooters are once again extremely accurate from three-point range. After finishing fourth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage a season ago (40.9%), Cornell's shooters have not missed a beat this season. The Big Red are shooting 40.2% as a team from downtown (8th in the nation as of this date) with Ryan Wittman (pictured above) leading the charge at a 40% clip (79/198).

Juniors Geoff Reeves (47/116, 41%) and Louis Dale (27/65, 42%) and freshmen Chris Wroblewski (33/79, 42%) and Alex Hill (9/19, 47%) are all also shooting above 40% from deep range.

Three-Point Shooting Report

Cornell's shooters are once again extremely accurate from three-point range. After finishing fourth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage a season ago (40.9%), Cornell's shooters have not missed a beat this season. The Big Red are shooting 40.2% as a team from downtown (8th in the nation as of this date) with Ryan Wittman (pictured above) leading the charge at a 40% clip (79/198).

Juniors Geoff Reeves (47/116, 41%) and Louis Dale (27/65, 42%) and freshmen Chris Wroblewski (33/79, 42%) and Alex Hill (9/19, 47%) are all also shooting above 40% from deep range.