News and Notes: Tuesday Edition

Below, news and notes for Tuesday...

• Athlon Sports writes, "Outside of Cornell, which was winless through the first 11 games of the 2013-14 campaign, the [Penn] Quakers are the weakest team in the Ivy."

• After Binghamton knocked off Bryant, Binghamton head coach Tom Dempsey told the Binghamton Press, "It’s one thing to win at Cornell (earlier this season) when you scored 60-something points in a half and everybody makes every shot, but to win a grind — that was a good college basketball game." 

• Cornell recruiting commit, Riley Glassman had a big 28 point game in the championship of the Wheeling Hardwood Classic per Comcast Sports Chicago.  Glassman had 24 points in the 2nd round, per Chicago Tribune (he was 10/14 from the floor) and 19 points in the semifinals, per the Peoria Journal.  Glassmann was the tournament MVP, see the Daily Herald and the Peoria Journal.

• Cornell recruiting commit, Pat Smith scored 19 points in a defeat, per the Bucks County Courier Times.

• The Buffalo News notes that St. Bonaventure's next game is against Cornell.

• Complex.com considered the candidates for the "Worst Basketball Team in New York State and writes:

Candidate No. 3: Cornell University
Cornell is going into the new year without a single win, which is obviously a big disappointment in itself. But how about this fact: Cornell's 0-12 start is the worst in the school's history. It looked like the school at least fixed some of its problems in its 67-59 loss against St. Peter's. Big Red's field goal percentage was better (.400 to St. Peter's .367) in addition to the rebounds (34-32). This time the killer was St. Peter's hitting 20 more free throws than Cornell. Yikes.

THE WORST TEAM IN NEW YORK TODAY IS... 
Cornell University. The Knicks still suck, and that's not changing for a while. The Nets are pretty bad too, but they at least put up a decent fight against the Pacers. They aren't historically bad, unlike Cornell. It's the only team Division-I and up to have not won a game.

• Below, the weekly Ivy Awards.  Here is a link to this week's award winners.  Nolan Cressler was named to the honor roll.  The Ivy Office notes of Cressler:

Nolan Cressler, Cornell (So., G - Pittsburgh)  
21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals at Saint Peter's

IVY LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS 2013-2014
 

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Wk 1 Nov 11-Tony Hicks, Penn/Justin Sears, Yale
Wk 2 Nov 18-Sean McGonagill, Brown/Javier Duren, Yale
Wk 3 Nov 25-Maodo Lo, Columbia
Wk 4 Dec 2- T.J. Bray, Princeton/Wes Saunders, Harvard
Wk 5 Dec 9-Wes Saunders, Harvard
Wk 6 Dec 16-T.J. Bray, Princeton (Cornell no games)
Wk 7 Dec 23-Siyani Chambers, Harvard
Wk 8 Dec 30-Siyani Chambers, Harvard

ROOKIES OF THE WEEK

Wk 1 Nov11-Robert Hatter, Cornell
Wk 2 Nov 18-Norman Hobbie, Brown
Wk 3 Nov 25-Leland King, Brown
Wk 4 Dec 2- Robert Hatter, Cornell
Wk 5 Dec 9-Spencer Weisz, Princeton
Wk 6 Dec 16- Spencer Weisz, Princeton (Cornell no games)
Wk 7 Dec 23-Luke Petrasek, Columbia
Wk 8 Dec 30-Luke Petrasek, Columbia/Steven Spieth, Brown

• 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 31, 2013 is No. 342 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. 341 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 343. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board to interact with other fans of Cornell and Ivy League basketball. Membership is free! You may also follow us on Twitter.  Not a member of Twitter? See what The Cornell Basketball Blog is tweeting and retweeting each day by just visiting our Twitter Timeline.  The Cornell Basketball Blog received mention on NBC Sports' social media Must Follow College Hoops Directory.