News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Below, news and notes for Thursday...

• Cornell's JoJo Fallas is interviewed by podcast by his high school's student newspaper, the Shavel Boiling Point.

• Sporting Life Arkansas writes, "Not much was expected of Missouri’s basketball team heading into the 2008-09 season. The Tigers were coming off a 16-16 year marred by off-the-court dysfunction...What followed was simply the most glorious season in Missouri’s basketball history, marked by 31 wins, a Big 12 tournament title and the Tigers’ first NCAA Tournament appearance in six years. In the Big Dance, Missouri knocked off Cornell, Marquette and a heavily-favored Memphis team led by John Calipari."

• City of Basketball Love notes of weekend high school action in the Philadelphia area, "Archbishop Wood and Cornell-bound wing Pat Smith host William Tennent and do-everything guard Matt Alden at 7 PM. The [Archbishop Wood] Vikings are expected to compete near the top of the Catholic League under first-year head coach John Mosco."

• The Buffalo News writes, "Senior forward [Cornell recruit] Will Bathurst, the tournament MVP, scored 24 points and 6-foot-7 Sam Eckstrom had 18 to lead Olean over Silver Creek, 69-41, in the championship game of the Olean Tip-Off boys basketball tournament. The Huskies built a 37-19 halftime lead on their way to the second straight championship in the tournament.  Bathurst also had six rebounds and four assists for Olean."

• As Notre Dame struggles, Rant Sports blasts the Irish defense and writes, "Iowa and North Dakota State each only turned the ball over eight times, and winless Cornell only committed 10 turnovers."

• Complex Sports lists Cornell as one of the three worst teams in New York State and writes:

It's always a bit intriguing when a team goes 10 or more games without a single win. Is it injuries? Teams too tough? Has the rim been unfriendly for 10 straight games? Whatever is the case, Cornell is winless after 10 games. To be fair, Big Red has faced some tough teams, including Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Louisville. You can't be out here losing by an average of 33 points in each of those games though. Even though Cornell has been dealing with an unlucky slate of opponents, the team should combat that bad luck by simply playing better basketball.

• 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 12, 2013 is No. 338 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. 339 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 344. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

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