News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Get all the information you need about Cornell's game vs. Columbia, Saturday January 25, 2014, with The Cornell Basketball Blog's Game Preview Center. Below, news and notes for Thursday...

The Cornell Daily Sun writes, "Senior All-American and Cornell record holder Montez Blair ranks No. 9 in the United States and No. 41 in the world in the high jump. Blair focuses his attention away from individual rankings and toward his individual performance each game, as well as his team’s overall national ranking."

Cornell's incoming recruiting class next season includes four members: Riley Glassmann (Fremd HS) Palatine, IL, 6-5, G, William "Will" Bathurst (Olean HS) Olean, NY, 6-3, G, Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof (Gonzaga HS) Washington, D.C., 6-7, F, and Pat Smith (Archbishop Wood HS) Warminster, PA, 6-5, F. View from Center Court writes of Bathurst and his Olean team, "After playing together over the last four seasons, Olean has developed into a legitimate state contender...Cornell commit Wil Bathurst is starting for a third year at Olean... an excellent program run by head coach Jeff Anastasia has the Huskies more cohesive than ever...was on full display at St. Mary's last night, as Olean put on a clinic for fans of high-level basketball. The Huskies got...a highlight reel alley-oop dunk finished off by Bathurst...as they ran away from host St. Mary's, 79-51. The win backed up Olean's #1 ranking in the small school poll. The Lancers, who were coming off of a victory at Nichols the day before, entered the contest as the third ranked small school in WNY...Bathurst added 12 points." The Chicago Sun Times sites down with Glassmann below.

Heading into tonight's NBA D-League clash between the Springfield Armor and Erie Bay Hawks, NBA.com writes, "Center Jeff Foote was also an integral part of the offense [against the Canton Charge over the weekend], tying his season-high with 16 points and registering his second double-double of the season with 10 boards. Foote has gone a perfect 11-for-11 from the floor over his past two games, averaging 14.0 points en route to two straight double figure performances."

One Bid Wonders issues its weekly power rankings and writes:

8. Cornell (1-14)
Results: L 71-61
This week: Saturday vs. Columbia
Props to Cornell for playing a good Columbia team tight on the road. Devin Cherry had a big night for the Big Red, going 5 of 11 from the field for 16 points. If Cornell had connected on more than 4 of its 14 three-point attempts, this one could have been even more interesting.
***
OBW Ivy League Frosh Five
Robert Hatter, G, Cornell
Spencer Weisz, F, Princeton
Luke Petrasek, F, Columbia
Tavon Blackmon, G, Brown
Steven Speith, G, Brown

A Daily Pennsylvanian sports editor writes, "Columbia has won five straight contests and are about to make it six straight against Cornell this weekend. This team knows it can win games, and with that kind of momentum, the Lions will hit the ground running against the rest of their conference opponents."

Navy Athletics is hosting its Alumni Game and notes, "the Blue Team will feature seven players that led Navy to at least one NCAA Tournament appearance. Bill Hoover (’54) led Navy to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 1953 and 1954. In 1954, the Mids defeated Connecticut, 85-80, and Cornell, 69-67, before losing to LaSalle, 64-48, in the Elite 8."

CBS D.C. blasts Georgetown's and Syracuse's scheduling and writes, "Contrast that pathetic list of visitors to the schools that Georgetown’s long-time arch-rival Syracuse – now banished from the schedule for the first time in 35 years – welcomed to the Carrier Dome this season: fellow upstate New York schools Binghamton, Colgate and Cornell as well as St. Francis of Brooklyn and former Big East foes St. John’s and Villanova. The Orange also invited two no-point cupcakes, Eastern Michigan and High Point, but Empire State fans should be content"

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 23, 2014 is No. 334 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. 347 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 339. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

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