News and Notes: Sunday Edition

Below, news and notes for Sunday...

• Previewing Cornell's game against Oberlin from yesterday, the Ithaca Journal notes, "Part of Cornell’s trouble can be attributed to youth — four of the team’s top eight scorers are freshmen or sophomores — and the three top upperclassmen (seniors Dwight Tarwater, Dominick Scelfo and Jake Matthews) had made a combined 23 career starts entering the year. Cornell’s other senior is first-year player Montez Blair, better known as an All-America high jumper on the Big Red track team.  Also hurting the Red’s cause is the shoulder injury to 6-7 junior forward Shonn Miller, the 2011 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy player last year. He was injured late last season, missed the final four games and has not returned."

• The Bluefield Daily Telegraph writes, "it’s too early to panic, as Boston College fourth-year head coach Steve Donahue has learned from his tenure in the ACC. He had previously been at Cornell, having led the Big Red to three straight Ivy League titles and a Sweet 16 berth in 2010."

• The Boston Globe catches up with Boston College's former head coach and writes, "[Former Boston College Athletic Directer, Gene] DeFilippo replaced [Al] Skinner with Steve Donahue, who was fresh off taking Cornell to the Sweet 16 with one of the best offenses in the Ivy League."

• Canada's National Post profiles Alex Hill, the University of Toronto's new all time leading scorer and writes:

...Alex initially turned his back on this school [University of Toronto]. Growing up in Riverdale, he played basketball at Eastern Commerce C.I. Then Cornell University recruited him. “He was the youngest kid in the NCAA,” recalls Sam Hill. “A skinny little kid.”  In the 2008-09 season, Alex helping Cornell win the Ivy League championship. After a summer in Toronto, he returned to Cornell. “I realized, practicing with the team, that I wasn’t going to play much, so I decided to leave the team.” He wanted to come home.

• Cornell Recruits In Action: Capitol Hoops has some highlights from the Gonzaga-DeMatha game last week during which Cornell recruit, Jordan Abdur Ra'oof (No. 32) scored 11 points.  Meanwhile this weekend, fellow Cornell recruit, Will Bathurst, finished with 14 points in a nonconference defeat in Rochester, NY per the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.  See the Daily Herald and Chicago Sun Times for recaps of Cornell recruit, Riley Glassman's 14 point performance over the weekend.  Finally, the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that Cornell recruit, Pat Smith had 23 points, five rebounds, and five assists to lead his team in a win.

• Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) has logged 18 games in the 2013-2014 NBA D-League season.  Foote has struggled to find playing time this season under a new coaching staff, but had one of his best games of the year in the NBA D-League Showcase in Reno, Nevada, logging 8 points and 8 rebounds.

• Division I teams with players or coaches with connections to Cornell include- Boston College (5-11), Army (8-7) and Purdue (10-5).  Boston College's coaching staff includes former Cornell coaches, Steve Donahue, Nat Graham, Izzi Metz and Woody Kampmann and former Cornell player, Ryan Wittman (Cornell '10).  Army is coached by former Cornell coaches, Zach Spiker and Kevin App (who also played for the Big Red) (Cornell '07).  Purdue's roster includes Cornell graduate, Errick Peck (Cornell '13).

• 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 January 12, 2014 is No. 337 out of 351 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. 349 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 342. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

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• Cornell's 2014-2015 Schedule will include Cornell's participation in ESPN's Charleston Classic.

• Check out The Cornell Basketball Blog's Season Preview Index for 2013-2014 and look back at what the "experts" predicted for Cornell.

• 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.    

• Cornell's games against Syracuse (ACC Sports Network, ESPN3 and RSN), Louisville (WHAS/ESPN3), Notre Dame (ESPN3), Brown (NBC Sports Network) and St. Bonaventure (NBC Sports Network) are all televised games. 

• Below, a look at the "Cornell Coaching Plantations"  -- the men's college basketball coaches with ties to Cornell University.

  Jon Jaques (Cornell Class of '10)-Assistant coach at at Cornell. Played for Cornell under Steve Donahue. 

  Ryan Wittman (Cornell Class of '10)-Graduate student  assistant coach at Boston College.  Played for Cornell under Steve Donahue.

  Kevin App (Cornell Class of '07)-Assistant coach at Army. Played for Cornell under Steve Donahue.

  Yanni Hufnagel (Cornell Class of '06)-Assistant coach at Vanderbilt. Served as student-manager at Cornell under Steve Donahue.
  
  Steve Donahue-Head coach of Boston College. Served as head coach at Cornell between 2000-2010.
  
  Zach Spiker-Head coach of Army. He served as an assistant coach at Cornell under Steve Donahue from 2004-2009.
  
  Joe Burke-Head coach of Skidmore College (Division III). He was an assistant coach at Cornell under Steve Donahue between 2001-2004.

  Ricky Yahn-Head coach, Concordia College of Michigan. He was an assistant coach at Cornell during 2010-2011 under Bill Courtney.

  Arlen Galloway-Head coach, Wentworth Institute of Technology.  He was an assistant coach at Cornell between 2011-2013 under Bill Courtney.

  Izzi Metz-Former Head coach Hobart College (Division III). He served as a Cornell assistant coach for five seasons between 2001-2006 under Steve Donahue and is currently an assistant coach at Boston College under Donahue.
  
  Nat Graham-Associate Head Coach (assistant) at Boston College under Steve Donahue. Served as an assistant coach under Donahue at Cornell from 2005-2010.
  
  Woody Kampmann-Assistant coach/diurector of basketball operations at Boston College under Steve Donahue. Served as an assistant coach under Donahue at Cornell from 2007-2010.
  
  Ryan Woerner-Former student intern coach under Steve Donahue during the 2009-2010 season and assistant coach for Cornell's women's team during 2010-2011. Currently director of basketball operations at St. Peter's.
  
  Steve Robinson-Assistant coach at North Carolina under Roy Williams. He was an assistant coach for Mike Dement at Cornell for two seasons, including on the 1988 Ivy League Championship team.
  
  Paul Fortier-Assistant coach at Cal Poly. He served as an assistant coach at Cornell during 2003-2005 under Steve Donahue.

  Desmond Oliver-Assistant coach at Charlotte. He was an assistant coach at Cornell between 1998-2000 under Scott Thompson.

  
  
  
• Throughout the year we provide periodic updates on Cornell's alumni currently playing professionally. Below, some updates: 

-Jeff Aubry ('99) (Halcones Rojos, LNBP Mexico premier league/Indios de Mayaguez, BSN Puerto Rico premier league)-A 6'11" center, Aubry splits his time in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican professional leagues. A well traveled pro player, Aubry spent several seasons in the NBA D League in the early part of his career with the Fayetteville Patriots and Florida Flame and earned honorable mention all NBA D League in 2002. Aubry joins Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) (Springfield Armor), Ryan Wittman (Cornell '10) (Ft. Wayne Mad Ants) and Cody Toppert (Cornell '05) (Albuquerque Thunderbirds) as Cornell veterans of the NBA D-League.  (Cornell's four NBA D-League veterans is the most in Ivy League.)  During his more than a decade of pro experience, Aubry also played professionally in  the ABA (Miami Tropics) and abroad  in Puerto Rico (Mayaguez, Arecibo Capitanes, Leones de Ponce, and Santurce, BSN Puerto Rico), Spain (Tarragona, LEB Gold Spain 2nd Division), Mexico (Halcones Rojos and Chihuahua Dorados, LNBP Mexico premier league), Poland (Slask Wroclaw, PLK Poland premier league), Argentina (Libertad Sunchales, Liga A Argentina), Uruguay (Hebraica, LUB Uruguay )and Peru (Alas Peruanas, Peru).

-Alex Tyler ('10) (Rockville Victors, Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League)-Tyler finished his rookie season during 2012-2013 with the Victors.

-Louis Dale ('10) (KAOD Dramas, Greece A1 premier league)-Dale spent his  first two professional seasons both in Germany's BBK Bundesliga, the country's premier league with Goettingen.  His third pro season during 2012-2013 was in Greece in the A1, country's premier league, with KAOD Dramas.                                         

-Jeff Foote ('10) (Springfield Armor, NBA D-League)-Foote is playing the 2013-2014 season with the Springfield Armor of the NBA D-League.  Foote spent the 2012-2013 season with Zalgiris of Lithuania, one of Europe's top 10 teams and was named an All Star in the domestic LKL league, the country's premier league.  He also participated with the team in the EuroLeague.  Prior to the start of the 2012-2013 season, Foote played with the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Summer League and participated in the team's free agent mini-camp.  During 2011-2012, Foote averaged 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in the NBA D-League for the Springfield Armor (the Brooklyn Nets' affiliate) after being named a starter at the D-League's All-Star Game during February and was named Second Team All NBA D-League. Foote finished the D-League season ranked 4th in double-doubles and also 4th in rebounds. Foote averaged 1.0 points and 1.5 rebounds per game in 4 games for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets during a 10-day contract between March 9 and March 19. Foote was ranked by the D-League as its #6 overall NBA prospect.  During April 2012 he was profiled in a video on NBA.com.  He participated in the Portland Trailblazers' 2011-2012 preseason training camp and played the 2011-2012 preseason with with Zastal of       the PLK Poland premier league and the full 2010-2011 season in Spain (Melilla, LEB Gold Spain 2nd division) while on loan from Euro League powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel's premier league.    

Drew Ferry ('12) (Albacete, Spain EBA)-The 2013-2014 season is Ferry's rookie year in the Spanish league.

• Visit our growing directory of Cornell Basketball Linkedin profiles.

• Below is a directory listing of some Twitter feeds associated with the Cornell basketball program.

-Josh Wexler ('88)
-Rich Medina ('92)
-Bo Buttenback ('98)
-Dan Wendt ('98)
-Brian Williamson ('03)
-Jacques Vigneault ('03)
-Cody Toppert ('05)
-Steve Cobb ('05)
-Ryan Rourke ('06)
-Andrew Naeve ('07)
-Jason Canady ('08)
-Khaliq Gant ('09)
-Conor Mullen ('09)
-Brian Kreefer ('09)
-Ryan Wittman ('10)
-Pete Reynolds ('10)
-Louis Dale ('10)
-Alex Tyler ('10)
-Geoff Reeves ('10)
-Jeff Foote ('10)
-Andre Wilkins ('10) (inactive)
-Aaron Osgood ('11)
-Adam Wire ('11)
-Max Groebe ('12)
-Chris Wroblewski ('12)
-Andrew Ferry ('12)
-Jonathan Gray ('13)
-Miles Asafo Adjei ('13)
-Peter McMillan ('13)
-Errick Peck ('13)
-Errick Peck ('13)
-Josh Figini ('13)
-Manny Sahota (former player)
-Galal Cancer (former player)
-Holt Harmon (former player)
-The Cornell Rebounders Club

-Ned Tomic ()
-Dominick Scelfo ()
-Jake Mathews ()
-Dwight Tarwater ()
-Dave LaMore ()
-Shonn Miller ()
-Devin Cherry ()
-Nolan Cressler ()
-Braxston Bunce ()
-Robert Mischler ()
-David Onuorah ()
-Robert Hatter ()
-Desmond Fleming ()
-Darryl Smith ()
-Riley Glassmann (recruit)
-Jordan Abdur Ra-oof (recruit)
-Pat Smith (recruit)
-William Bathurst (recruit)
-Jeremy Hartigan, Cornell SID ()
-Assistant Coach Jon Jaques ('10)
-Assistant Coach Mike Blaine ()
-Assistant Coach Marlon Sears ()
-Brian Delaney, ESPN Radio Ithaca ()
-Barry Leonard, Cornell Redcast/Play-By-Play Annnouncer
-Ed Boulat, Ithaca Journal
-Cornell Daily Sun Sports ()
-Slope Sports ()
-WVBR Sports
-Former assistant coach, Jay Larranaga
-Former assistant coach, Ricky Yahn ()
-Former head coach, Steve Donahue ()
-Former intern assistant Ryan Woerner ()
-Former assistant coach, Zach Spiker ()
-Former assistant coach, Nat Graham ()
-Former assistant coach, Woody Kampmann ()
-Former assistant coach, Izzi Metz ()
-Former assistant coach, Paul Fortier ()
-Former assistant coach Arlen Galloway ()

Blueprint for Success, the yearbook commemorating Cornell's memorable 2009-2010 season is on sale. Visit the Cornell Athletics website to order your copy today! Or pick up a copy sold in the Cornell Store on campus.

Fans of the basketball program in the Ithaca area should not miss the opportunity to join the Cornell Rebounders Club.