News and Notes: Wednesday Edition

Below, news and notes for Wednesday...

The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, "By the way, Cornell is the only winless team, but that should change in its next game against tiny Oberlin."

The Star Press examines Purdue's roster and notes:

Errick Peck
Senior forward
6-6, 223
19.4 minutes, 4.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 48.4 percent field goals
Peck, a fifth-year senior transfer from Cornell, opened the season as the mature, stable influence the Boilermakers wanted. The Indianapolis native who played at Cathedral started the first eight games and is Purdue’s second-leading rebounder.While freshman Basil Smotherman eventually took over the starting role, his development benefited from daily practice battles with Peck. Though neither one is a large power forward, Purdue is getting 12.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per 40 minutes from the 4 spot.

The Olean Times Herald writes:

Some notes on Cornell, Saban and the NFL

BESIDES being the 10th non-conference win of the season for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, Saturday’s visit by Cornell was also interesting for another reason ... and not because the Big Red suffered their 19th consecutive defeat, longest such streak in Division I.

Olean High senior star Wil Bathurst has committed to Cornell, but coach Bill Courtney, according to Ivy League rules, isn’t allowed to comment on the signing until the spring.
And, for the record, Bathurst won’t be receiving a full scholarship in the traditional sense.
In the Bona-Cornell game notes was an interesting explanation:
Are Cornell basketball players on scholarship? The easy answer is no. Cornell student-athletes are awarded need-based financial aid, just as any other student who applies to the school.
The basic intent of the original Ivy League agreement of 1954 was to improve and foster intercollegiate athletics while keeping the emphasis on such competition in harmony with the educational purpose of the institutions.
The Ivy League is recognized for its level of success — absent of athletic scholarships — while rigorously maintaining its self-imposed high academic standards.
That explanation is a bit haughty, in keeping with the Ivy League’s academic concerns, but the posture is interesting...

Here is an interesting read on life of an Ivy athlete from the Huffington Post.

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 8, 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.

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