News and Notes: Tuesday Edition

Below, news and notes for Tuesday...

Cornell recruiting commit, Pat Smith had 15 points last night to lead all scorers (and scored all of his points in just 3 quarters) in the Philadelphia Catholic League (via City of Basketball Love). See also the Intelligencer.

Cornell commit, Riley Glassman has his team ranked in the Top 10 in Illinois by Comcast Sports. The site writes, "Cornell commit and senior guard Riley Glassman is off to a tremendous start and he's surrounded by a tough group that is willing to defend, rebound and do whatever it takes to win."

Hammer and Rails looks at Purdue at the midseason and writes:

Errick Peck - 4.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.0 apg - Peck's numbers are going to be skewed because he played a much bigger role with Cornell than he has at Purdue. They needed him to do more, while Purdue has used him as a valuable role player.
Where he has value for Purdue is as a rebounder and player that can pick up those garbage baskets on put-backs. Peck's role is a very silent, but consistent 5 and 5 per game, which is what Purdue needs from its role players. He hasn't done as much of late, but if Purdue makes the NCAA Tournament it will have Peck to thank. He has six made three-pointers, showing he is at least a threat from long range. None were bigger than his first, which came with Purdue down four to Northern Kentucky in the season opener. He misses that and Purdue likely has an awful loss on its resume.

Sports on Earth writes, "Unranked team that will make noise in two months: Harvard could actually make noise in the next two days. The Crimson play at UConn Wednesday night, and a win there would put the Huskies' season in panic mode while giving Harvard a 14-1 record, becoming the rare Ivy team worth considering for an at-large bid. This team can make a Sweet 16 and compete with that Cornell club from a few years ago for the best Ivy squad of the past 10 years."

One Bid Wonders issues its weekly power rankings and writes:

8. Cornell (0-13)
Results: L 67-59 at St. Peter’s; L 81-57 at St. Bonaventure
This week: Saturday vs. Oberlin
“Jesus wept”
To reiterate, Cornell is 0-13.
***
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

Below, the weekly Ivy Awards. Here is a li nk 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)
19 points, 5 rebounds at St. Bonaventure

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

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

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 7, 2014 is No. 342 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. 348 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.