News and Notes: Thursday Edition

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Below, news and notes for Thursday...

The Daily Pennsylvanian writes, "The Quakers — or anyone else of any consequence in the Ivy League — won’t lose to Cornell, which is just hibernating until its miserable season comes to an end... Columbia has played remarkably well and has done its due diligence early by defeating lowly Cornell, as it should."

The Columbia Spectator writes, "The Lions themselves have been playing well defensively lately, turning in two strong performances against Cornell. They were able to hold Cornell’s leading scorer, guard Nolan Cressler, to a mere six points in their win over the Big Red in Ithaca."

Ivy Hoops Online ranks Cornell dead last in its Ivy Power Poll and writes:

8. Cornell (0-2) (7 points)
Cornell showed some grit staging a late rally in New York City and hung with the Lions long enough to keep the rest of the league scoreboard watching well into the 2nd half, but the Red need to get in the win column to receive more than a last place vote in this poll. -Jake Mastbaum

BC Interruption writes of Steve Donahue and Boston College, "Would [Dennis] Clifford had made THAT much of a difference on the glass? On the defensive end of the floor? This is a team that has ranked 325, 299 and 325 (2013-14) in total rebounds per game nationally over the last three seasons. 185, 192, 293 (2013-14) in kenpom's AdjD. If you dig a bit further, you'll note that Donahue's teams at both Cornell and BC never did either appreciably well."

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 30, 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. 341 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 340. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

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