News and Notes: Saturday Edition

Get all the information you need about Cornell's game vs. Brown, Saturday, February 22, 2014 (TV: NBC Sports, Newman Nation Jersey Night), with The Cornell Basketball Blog's Game Preview Center. Below, news and notes for Saturday...

Comcast Philadelphia writes, "Dartmouth has fallen on hard times with four straight losses, including last weekend's setback at Ivy League cellar dweller Cornell (it's hard to believe Cornell is 2-20 just four years after playing in the Sweet 16; it's gone downhill fast since Steve Donahue left for Boston College)."

Tonight's game in Newman Arena (8 pm) vs. Brown will be nationally televised on NBC Sports and it is also "Newman Nation Jersey Day."

NBC Sports mentions Cornell on "five things what to watch for" this weekend and notes, "1) A key Ivy League battle will be played on Sunday afternoon on the NBC Sports Network. Yale will be visiting Columbia. Yale is in first place in the Ivy League. On Saturday night, Cornell taking on Brown will be on the NBC Sports Network as well."

The Ivy League Office notes:

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Ivy League men's basketball is back on the NBC Sports Network with a pair of key matchups with Brown at Cornell on Saturday night and Yale at Columbia on Sunday afternoon.
Both matchups are return meetings from earlier this season as the League's double round-robin schedule moves down the home stretch.
Cornell leads the all-time series with Brown, 73-47. The Bears have won the last two in row over the Big Red, which ended the Big Red's 13-game winning in the series. Brown beat Cornell 78-66 on Jan. 31 in Providence, R.I. Kenny Rice (play-by-play) and Dalen Cuff (analyst) are set to be on the call for this game.

The Ivy League Weekend Preview notes:

...Two of the Ancient Eight's most profile scorers will be on display when Brown (13-9, 5-3 Ivy) and Cornell (2-20, 1-7 Ivy) collide in front of a national television audience on the NBC Sports Network. Senior guard Sean McGonagill (17.8 ppg, 2nd) leads the way for the Bears with hopes of keeping pace with the League leaders. Sophomore guard Nolan Cressler (15.5 ppg, 3rd) has been the top offensive option for head coach Bill Courtney's squad.
***
Yale (13-9, 7-1 Ivy) at Cornell (2-20, 1-7 Ivy)
Date: Friday, February 21 – 7 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena • Ithaca, N.Y.
Live Broadcast: The Ivy League® Digital Network
Yale-Cornell Series: Cornell leads, 110-105
Last Meeting: Yale 61, Cornell 57 • 2/1/14 • New Haven, Conn.
Live Stats | Yale Game Notes | Cornell Game Notes
***
Brown at Cornell
Date: Saturday, February 22 – 8 p.m.
Location: Newman Arena • Ithaca, N.Y.
Television: NBC Sports Network
Brown-Cornell Series: Cornell leads, 73-47
Last Meeting: Brown 78, Cornell 66 • 1/31/14 • Providence, R.I.
Live Stats | Brown Game Notes | Cornell Game Notes

The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, "The Ivy titles that used to belong exclusively to Penn and Princeton have migrated north, first to Cornell 3 straight years and now to Harvard. Princeton did tie for the title that first year of Harvard's run, won the playoff and the NCAA bid. Since then, it has been all Harvard."

The Daily Pennsylvanian suggests that "[p]erhaps Cornell and Dartmouth" are the only teams that are still beatable when your team turns the ball over two dozen times..

BC Interruption says that Steve Donahue's familiarity with Syracuse's zone from his Cornell years helped him beat the Orange with Boston College.

In the NBA D-League with the Springfield Armor (Brooklyn Nets affiliate), Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) finished last night with his second consecutive double-double. See the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Cornell's incoming recruiting class next season includes four members: Riley Glassmann (Fremd HS) Palatine, IL, 6-5, G, William "Wil" 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. See the Gonzaga High School season highlight video with plenty of footage of No. 32, Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof. Per the Daily Herald, Riley Glassmann had 16 points last night. Below, Will Bathurst (far right) is given a ball commemorating his 1,000 career high school points. Last night, in a state playoff game, Bathurst finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five blocks The Olean Times Herald writes:

Bathurst reached the 1,000-point mark Feb. 1, part of a 36-point effort in a loss to Greece Athena in Rochester. A 6-foot-4 forward, he’s Olean’s biggest all-around talent and plays above the rim. He’s a slasher, a strong outside shooter and has finished some pretty alley-oop dunks that electrify the crowd. When the Huskies are struggling, he puts the team on his back. The Cornell commit leads OHS in scoring this year (20.6 ppg) and was a first-team All-State and All-Western New York selection as a junior. “He can shoot it,” Anastasia said. “I would have said before this year definitely his strong point was driving to the basket. He just goes so strong to the basket ... just very tough off the bounce. Now that he’s worked on his shot and his shot’s so good, how do you guard him? If you get up on him, he’s going to go by you. If you sit back, he’s just going to pull it.”

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 February 22, 2014 is No. 329 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. 336. 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.