Prior to last year, the Ivy League had been dominated by Penn and Princeton. Then Cornell went 14-0, 22-6 overall and redefined the rules of who can dominate the Ivy League. Now they are back for more, and even with starting guard Adam Gore sidelined with an ACL tear for a good part of the upcoming season the Big Red have plenty returning,including sharp shooting Ryan Whitman who shot an outstanding 46% from3-point line last year and was the team's leading scorer with 15 points per contest. The Big Red will also have plenty of opportunities to make a name for themselves in some very winnable early season games against name brand
schools such as Indiana and Minnesota, as well as have a golden opportunity to knock off a below-average St. John's team in Madison Square Garden during the NIT Season Tip-Off. Cornell also has the advantage of not having to play in a conference tournament, because the Ivy League doesn't have one, so they could wrap up their conference title early in March. If Cornell is able to go undefeated in the Ivy League, like they did last year, they will have won 29 Ivy League games in a row and could draw many comparisons to Bucknell. Bucknell has been the most recent low major to escape from the confines of playing in a league that had not won an NCAA tournament game in 20 plus years. A league which seemed so over matched in the NCAA's that John Feinstein wrote a book ("The Last Amateurs") documenting the Patriot League's inability to compete with most Division I schools. But then Bucknell rose from the ashes and, as has happened with other struggling programs, pulled the upset, defeating #13 Pitt during the regular season and then, as a 14 seed, Kansas in the NCAA tournament . The IvyLeague has encountered similar challenges. Recruiting has become harder, the quality of play has dropped, and no team out of the Ivy has won an NCAA tournament game in 20 plus years. Now, there is hope forthe Ivy and it comes Big and Red. This year's Cornell team will be the best that the league has had to offer for the last 15 years, at least.Considering their trio of skilled returning guards, plus the return of almost all of their key players, it is no surprise that the expectations for an Ivy League team have never been this high ... ever.
4 comments:
Princeton beat UCLA in 1996. Good writing though, especially for someone your age, keep it up.
And Penn made the Final Four in 1979, which was in the last 30 years, let alone 40.
The 1998 Princeton team also won in the tournament. Their only loss of the entire season was by 8 at UNC. They would have destroyed this Cornell team, as would the following season's Penn team. Much less the 1971 (37 years) Penn team that was ranked #3 in the country and undefeated heading into the Elite 8. And Bill Bradley's Princeton team made the Final Four in 1965, and Princeton won the NIT in 1975.
Cornell is going to have a hard time going undefeated this year. I think you're going to see 2 years of dominance before the league returns to Penn/Princeton, unless Harvard can put it together.
1. Three Ivy teams in the last 15 years won games in the NCAA tournament.
2. Princeton, Penn, and Dartmouth have all made final fours. Hard to think that Cornell will match that feat and thus be in the running for the best Ivy team ever.
3. The expectation for the Bill Bradley Princeton team was far greater than is anyone's expectation for this Cornell team. Not even close. Bradley, btw, was the national POY.
4. If you want to be a sportswriter someday, I'd recommend that: (1) talk to some people with some knowledge on the subject on which you are writing; and (2) do some basic fact-checking.
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