News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Below, some news and notes for Thursday...

Jim Donaldson of the Providence Journal writes, "It's worth noting that, when BC coach Steve Donahue was at Cornell, the Big Red beat the Crimson in five of their last six meetings. Of course, Donahue had better players at Cornell than he does at BC, where he's in his third season -- one that's already miserable, and is only going to get worse once the Eagles start playing conference opponents."

Fox Sports North writes, "[Tubby] Smith has never led his team to a Top 10 ranking since becoming the head basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. The highest the Gophers have risen in the polls since Smith took over in 2007 was 13th during the 2010-11 season. That ranking lasted all of one game. Despite beating Cornell by five at home, No. 13 Minnesota fell to 20th in the polls — and eventually out of the rankings by season's end."

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes of Plum HS, "Three seniors — Nolan Cressler, Anthony Garofalo and Tarique Ellis — moved on because of graduation. Cressler finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and he now is making his mark as a true freshman at Cornell."

Check out our updated profile on Cornell committed recruit, David Onuorah (Marist HS) Atlanta, GA, 6-8, 230, F.

Below, links to our recap sections from each of Cornell's games during the 2012-2013 season.

Cornell RPI Watch: The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider the margin of victory, but only whether or not a team won and where the game was played (home/away/neutral court). The formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). (See: CollegeRPI.com for a further explanation of the formula.) The RPI may be the most influential factor in NCAA Tournament seeding. Cornell's RPI rank as of December 6 is No. 204 out of 344 total Division I teams. While neither the Ken Pomeroy or the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) are used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, the KenPom.com site ranks Cornell No. 234 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 232 Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.