How Good is Cornell Basketball?

An Ivy League school located in upstate New York specializing in Hotel Administration and Engineering. Occasionally, has a decent ice hockey team. The infamous "Suicide Bridge" runs the entire length of the hilly campus. Obviously, I must be describing Cornell University. These descriptions, which are all certainly true mind you, may not be the most accurate portrayal of the prestigious Ivy League school this year.

A more accurate description of Cornell may read: Ranked #22 in the nation in the latest ESPN/USA Today Poll, #48 in the latest RPI, seeded #8 in the West Region according to Joe Lunardi, and owning wins against Alabama, UMass, Davidson, Saint Joseph's, and Saint John's, along with a 5 point loss to the #1 team in the nation in Kansas.

Yes, this really is Cornell I am talking about. Long are the days when Pennsylvania and Princeton ran the show in the Ivy League. There is a new face in the last non-scholarship league in America (don't worry, the financial aid many of these student-athletes receive may as well make them on scholarship).

After going a very respectable 21-10 in the 2008-2009 campaign and garnering a #14 seed and a date with Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, head coach Steve Donahue amped up the schedule this season. Three Big East teams, two Atlantic 10 teams, one SEC team, and one Big 12 team comprised a challenging out of conference schedule to say the least. Assuming the Big Red can win the Ivy League (which it certainly should after defeating Harvard in the first meeting of the League's best teams), this challenging, non-league schedule will absolutely pay dividends come NCAA Tournament seeding. Bracketologist Joe Lunardi already has Cornell as a #8 seed, but this seed may only improve as Cornell continues to win. It is hard to imagine Donahue's squad losing a game in the Ivy League (their date at Harvard on February 19th is no gimme win, though) this year.

After Cornell blew out the Crimson by 36 points on January 30th, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker was quoted saying, "That's a team capable of making a Davidson kind of run like two years ago. You could see them in the Sweet 16, and from there, anything is possible. They are very talented and have a lot of seniors. They've been in the tournament. They're legit. They pounded us. I voted for them in the Top 25 well before we played them." Amaker could not be more accurate in his depiction of the Big Red. Assuming Cornell wins the Ivy League, and that is a BIG if considering they have yet to play 4-0 Princeton and still have to travel to Harvard, they have the ideal components of making some serious noise in the "Dance."

In order for any mid-major squad to earn "Cinderella" status, there are three integral parts that are necessary:

1)  Steady point-guard play to handle the ball against a pressing defense

2)  Deadly 3-point shooters to either thwart off a run or crawl back into a game

3)  A mastermind coach who can out-duel the opposition from the sidelines

Cornell draws many similarities to the Davidson team Amaker alluded to after the drubbing his team took at the hands of Cornell.

Louis Dale, the heady point guard for Cornell has over a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio and has superb ball handling abilities, drawing similarities to Jason Richards. Richards excelled in finding ways to get the ball into Stephen Curry's (maybe the most liked college basketball player since...?) hands and was a true extension of head coach Bob McKillop.

As a team, Cornell is full of pure shooters that can hit from seemingly anywhere on the court; there is a reason they rank 6th nationally in 3-point percentage at 41.5%. There are six players that average at least one 3-pointer made a game or more. Most notably, Ryan Wittman, the Big Red's best player, averages better than three a game. The year Davidson made its historic run, the Wildcats shot 36.4%. Wittman is currently connecting on 40.8% of his threes, while Curry was at 43.9% for the year. The numbers certainly are comparable to one another.

As for the coaching, one would be hard pressed to find a better coach in the country right now than Steve Donahue. Imagine trying to recruit talented high school basketball players to the frozen tundra of Ithaca, New York where basketball is the last thing on many students' minds on weekend nights. Donahue has changed the entire atmosphere at Cornell, and has done so in just four years (his 2005-2006 record was an unimpressive 13-15). Donahue earned the Hugh Durham award for his coaching thus far this season according to collegeinsider.com.

To answer the question: How good is Cornell basketball? The answer is emphatically, very good. When filling out your NCAA March Madness pools later this year, don't quickly pencil in the BCS team Cornell is matched up against to advance to the second round just because they are from the lowly Ivy League.

Still don't think Cornell is that good? Just ask the Kansas Jayhawks their thoughts on Cornell Big Red basketball.