Big Red More Than Ready For Attempt at Repeating

A year after running through the Ivy League without a loss, Cornell might enter league play in better shape than they were at the same time last year. That might sound hard to believe, especially considering most figure another undefeated run through the league isn’t likely. But it’s not hard to believe this might be the case, and if they ran through the league unscathed again, it wouldn’t be the most shocking thing to happen.

Let’s get one thing straight: this is not a prediction that the Big Red will run the table again. Such feats are quite remarkable, which is why they get the kind of attention they do. But that doesn’t mean it can’t possibly happen again, only that the odds are stacked against it. They could also be a better team without necessarily having an equal or better record. (Of course, a better Ivy League record than 14-0 is impossible.)

The Big Red won their last five non-league games, with only one being a single-digit game. They are close to having their full team, with only Adam Gore still out of action. They have been well-tested, but have also managed to post a better win-loss record in non-league play than they did last year. And this team has the experience of winning last year and knew they would come into this season as the hunted.

“That’s a team that not only should probably win the Ivy League and get in the (NCAA) Tournament, they might even be one of those teams that pulls an upset because of the way they shoot the ball, and they’re big,” said Bryant head coach Tim O’Shea, whose team lost to Cornell on Monday night.

Even though this team looks to be in a better spot entering Ivy League play than last year, head coach Steve Donohue is cautious about it.

“We’re a more veteran group, we’re stronger and deeper than we’ve been, and I feel good about it,” said Donohue. “But in the same sense, I have great respect for the league, and not only that, I have a great understanding that each season’s different, each week is different.”

Cornell was an easy pick to win the Ivy League since they brought back most of last season’s team and other contenders looked questionable. Many figured a still young Penn team would be their best challenger, and it was wide open after that. The Quakers have struggled in non-league play and now will be without Andreas Schreiber and Darren Smith for the remainder of the season. That leaves Brown and Harvard as the most likely challengers based on non-league play, and while either team might be able to nip Cornell in a head-to-head matchup, don’t bet on one of them topping the Big Red to win the league this year. Harvard is the only team besides Cornell with a winning record in non-league play (the Crimson went 8-6).

Early on, injuries didn’t help. Gore tore his ACL late in the summer and missed all of non-league play, but they expect he can comeback during the Ivy League slate. Then reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first eight games. He could have played in some of them, but the staff held him out until he was very close to 100 percent.

Those injuries gave players like junior Geoff Reeves and freshman Chris Wroblewski a chance to play major minutes in the early going alongside junior Ryan Wittman, and they took full advantage. Reeves is a terrific shooter, and now he’s proven he can still knock down a high percentage of shots while playing more minutes. He’s shooting better than his career percentage entering the season, making over 48 percent of his three-pointers while now averaging over 29 minutes per game.

“He’s a great shooter, you can’t leave him open,” Dale said of Reeves. “Geoff Reeves is one of the best at knocking them down, and it’s great to have that weapon on the court.”

For his part, Wroblewski has made six starts, is shooting over 38 percent from behind the arc and has a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio. His minutes have generally gone down since Dale returned, but his effectiveness has not, and he’s now in more of a role that the coaching staff probably envisioned before the season.

“I think they’ve got a lot of confidence. They’ve always had the ability,” Wittman said of Reeves and Wroblewski. “With freshmen coming in, you never really know what you’re going to get in terms of their first college games. He’s been playing with great confidence lately, shooting the ball well. Geoff has shown the ability to shoot the ball, too, and it’s great to have many weapons.”

Wittman hasn’t stood still, either. He’s taken on more responsibility and improved his game aside from his shooting. In fact, his three-point percentage is down from his first two seasons, though no one will complain about making 40 percent from long range. He’s already posted a career high in assists with 44, which leads the team.

All told, it means the team has more options on the perimeter, especially since Wittman is even better handling the ball and passing. Dale sees a few possible lineup combinations with the development of Reeves and Wroblewski.

“It makes our team a lot more versatile in that way since I don’t always have to bring the ball up,” said the junior guard.

The player who is second on the team in assists is another reason to think this team is better. Senior Jeff Foote has developed a great deal since he first arrived in Ithaca, and the seven-footer has become much more than just a defensive presence. His offense has come to life, and he’s right behind Wittman with 42 assists as well. Wittman said they weren’t quite sure what they were getting at first, so it’s safe to say they’ve been pleasantly surprised

“We were kind of talking about, well, if he can just be in there and block some shots and rebound, that would be good, and we’ve gotten so much more than that,” said Wittman. “His ability to control the game on the block has been unbelievable. His ability to pass the ball – a lot of times, you get a big guy down there who can score, but if you double-team him he struggles. He does a good job of reading the defense and knowing when to score the ball and when to kick it out.”

Donohue added that NBA scouts have now been asking about Foote, who didn’t get any interest from any schools in upstate and western New York coming out of high school. That’s how far the big man has come.

“I got a chance to see him briefly in high school, as did every Division I, II and III program in our area, and no one thought he was good enough for their program,” said Donohue. “That is every level of college basketball.”

The Big Red did have some difficulty in non-league play at times this season. They didn’t play an easy schedule, having to travel to Boston for two NIT Season Tip-Off games and then the New York City area for two more, then going to Indiana, Syracuse, Minnesota and Saint Joseph’s. They went 3-1 in the NIT, then were unable to pull out wins in the other aforementioned road games. But they felt they got better all along, and the added development of two guards didn’t hurt.

“I think we’ve definitely been improving since the start,” Wittman reflected. “I think our schedule did that for us, really, playing a lot of good, athletic teams. I think it made us concentrate on some of our weak spots, mainly rebounding and communication on defense. I think we’ve come a long way since the beginning of the year.”

Wittman said the Big Red felt last year that they were going to get every team’s best shot once they got a few games into the Ivy League. Indeed, they established early on that they would be the team to beat, especially once they went to 3-0 with a win at runner-up Brown on the first full weekend of Ivy League play. That experience of being the hunted should only help now that they are in that position once again.

“I think we’re feeling confident, and with the experience that we had last year, we know what we have to do,” Dale said. “We know that each day we have to practice, we have to get better. I think that’s the mentality that we need going into each Ivy League game, every practice, every shoot-around, everything we do. We want to get better, and that’s what’s going to lead us to success.”

Donohue said that this year has been “a little bit of a different journey” for his team, maintaining something he has said all along. But one thing that doesn’t look to be any different is the destination. The Big Red are the favorites in the Ivy League and look to be in a better position than at this time a year ago.