News and Notes: Saturday Edition

Above, the Cornell Men's Basketball 1933 squad.  Below, news and notes for Saturday...

• Discussion activity is starting to pick up again as the season approaches.  Share your thoughts on the upcoming season on The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board.  Membership is free, just create a user profile.

• Check out The Cornell Basketball Blog's Season Preview Index for 2013-2014. 

• The Cornell Basketball Blog updated its Ivy League 2013-2014 Roster Report and Recruiting Commitments List.  The Recruiting Commitment List includes bios of Cornell's incoming recruits.    

• Ryan Wittman (Cornell '10) is now officially a part of the Boston College staff.

• Fox Sports/Yardbarker profiles Shonn Miller and writes:

Player To Watch: Shonn Miller, Cornell
Aside from the 2010 season, which resulted in a Sweet 16 appearance, Cornell basketball has not been on most basketball fans’ radars. This season, while the Big Red may not compete for an Ivy League title, they have one of the league’s best all-around players in Shonn Miller.
Miller, a 6-7 junior forward, averaged 11.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.9 steals last season, all of which were among the top ten in the Ivy League. Not surprisingly, Miller ended up on the All-Ivy League First Team, and got the attention of the conference’s coaches.
In an article for Midmajormindset.com last month, I asked Ivy League coaches which players in the league would be on their ideal team. Miller showed up in nearly every coach’s ballot and received great praise from coaches. One assistant coach said that Miller “affects the game on both ends of the floor with his athleticism like not many can”, and another called him “the most athletic player in the league by far”.
Cornell lost starters Jonathan Gray, Miles Asafo-Adjei and Eitan Chemerinski, as well as key bench player Errick Peck, to graduation. Gray and Peck were Cornell’s second and third leading scorers, respectively (behind only Miller). Their loss means that Miller and shooting guard Nolan Cressler need to take on more of the scoring load, something that the two of them are capable of accomplishing. However, if more players do not step up, this could be a long season in Ithaca.
A lot would need to go right for Cornell to make the NCAA Tournament- the Ivy League is usually a one-bid conference, and it is Harvard’s conference to lose. However, while Harvard’s Siyani Chambers and Wesley Saunders will be the Ivy League players in the national spotlight (and deservedly so), expect Miller to challenge the two of them for Ivy League Player of the Year. He may be relatively anonymous at the moment, but Miller’s first game this season is against Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, which will give him the chance to introduce himself to college basketball fans everywhere.

• The Syracuse Post Standard writes, " SU will likely practice five times per week until it opens with Cornell on Nov. 8."

• Errick Peck (Cornell '13) gets mention in NBC Sports, the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette, the Ft. Wayne Journal and Courier, Hammer and Rails, Gold and Black, and the Purdue Exponent.

• New Cornell recruiting commitment, Will Bathurst, scored a touchdown on Friday evening.

• Cornell Basketball's "Junior Day"-- a recruiting event for high schoolers in the class of 2015-- will take place on October 19 in conjunction with Cornell's Red-White Game, the annual intersquad scrimmage which is open to the public.  The Red-White Game tips off at 11:30 am.

• Cornell Basketball will host Alumni and Friends Weekend from December 6-8. Included will be a Friday evening reception, Saturday's game against Saint Francis (Pa.) and a postgame reception, then Sunday's annual alumni game. 

• Cornell's games against Syracuse (ACC Sports Network), Louisville (WHAS), Notre Dame (ESPN3) and St. Bonaventure (NBC Sports Network) will all be televised.  The games against Louisville and Syracuse will also likely be carried on ESPN3 or another ESPN channel.  Time Warner Sports will also likely pick-up the Syracuse game as well.  Games vs Binghamton, vs Siena and at St. Peter's and at Stony Brook, might also be televised on MSG (St. Peter's), Time Warner Cable Sports (Binghamton and Siena) and Cablevision Sports (Stony Brook).