News and Notes: Tuesday Edition

Below, news and notes for Tuesday...

Check out the podcast interview with Bill Courtney on ESPN Ithaca.

Below, some Darryl Smith highlights from Saturday:

After Syracuse survived Boston College last night, the Post Standard writes, "Steve Donahue, the former Cornell coach now in this fourth season over here, didn't leave a basketball paradise back in Ithaca, no. But in this town he did inherit a kind of jump-shooting backwater. How else to explain an ACC outfit averaging fewer than 2,900 fans in its own abode 12 days into January?" Before the game, Nunes Magician wrote, "Steve Donahue worked his way up the Ivy League ranks as an assistant at Penn before taking over as head coach for the Cornell Big Red. He led the Big Red to three NCAA Tournament opportunities, including a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010. After that, he took the BC job, leading them to the NIT in his first season. The last two have fallen short of the post-season and he'll need to make the Eagles competitive sooner than later."

Cornell commit, Jordan Abdur Ra'oof appears in the Washington Post's weekly top plays.

The A.P. writes, "STILL PERFECT: Arizona, Syracuse, Wisconsin and Wichita State are the remaining undefeated teams in Division I. Ohio State, which lost to Michigan State and Iowa; and Iowa State, which lost to Oklahoma, dropped from the list last week. Every Division I team has at least one win this season after Cornell beat Oberlin 77-55 on Saturday to move to 1-13."

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

Ned Tomic, Cornell (Jr., F - North Royalton, Ohio) 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. Oberlin

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
Wk 9 Jan 6-Wes Saunders, Harvard/Alex Rosenberg, Columbia
Wk 10 Jan 13- Fran Dougherty, Penn

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
Wk 9 Jan 6-Norman Hobbie, Brown
Wk 10 Jan 13-Norman Hobbie, 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 January 14, 2014 is No. 332 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. 343. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

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