News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Below, news and notes for Thursday...

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

On Inside Ivy League Basketball, Nolan Cressler was interviewed last night and confirmed Shonn Miller is back to practicing with the team and noted that Shonn's presence "definitely makes practice more competitive."

Steve Lawrence writes from the Ithaca Times:

As I have often done over the years, I pulled a “double duty” journalism assignment on Saturday. I went to Cornell with the intention of bouncing between arenas, taking in the hockey game and the basketball game, well aware that the teams were playing with different motivations. While the hockey team was playing to right the ship after a lousy two-game stretch, preparing for a deep run into the post-season, the basketball team—having won but one conference game—had come to terms with the fact that they won’t be Dancing this year, and would play to try to steal one from the Ivy-leading Harvard Crimson. Sad to say, both games failed to deliver any real sense of drama. The hockey team fell behind early, and when a Big Red player failed to capitalize on a breakaway, and R.P.I. took a 2-0 lead in the first period, it was time to head for the hoop contest. Arriving late in the first half, I learned that Harvard had taken the lead a few seconds into the game, and they had not relinquished it. The second half brought more of the same, and as I saw Shonn Miller sitting on the bench for Cornell, I had to wonder how much of a difference his presence in the lineup would have made. Miller, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year as a freshman and a first-team All-Ivy selection as a junior, has not been able to play due to injury. Even as I watched the Big Red drop another Ivy game, and knowing how mightily they have struggled this season, I was encouraged to see some faithful fans that were there when Cornell was struggling 10 years ago. They rejoiced with the rest of the community during the glory years of 2006-2010 and kept coming back when the pendulum went swinging back. To Steve and Marcie Schaeffer, Mike and Bonnie Richmond, Harry and Karen Carlsen, I say thanks for continuing to show up. When Cornell climbs back into the upper tier of the league, you will savor it more than fairweather fans.

Early on Wednesday, USA Today listed former Cornell coach Steve Donahue on its top 5 coaches on the "hot seat" and noted:

2. Steve Donahue, Boston College: The Eagles had high hopes for 2013-14 but started as poorly as they could have imagined and now own a 6-19 record. B.C. has only won two ACC games, leaving them in the basement of the league standings. The Eagles' losing season gives the former Cornell coach zero NCAA tournament appearances in four-year tenure. And they're in a league that's only getting tougher, with Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh in their inaugural ACC seasons and Louisville arriving in the fall. But incredible wins like Wednesday night's upset of the No. 1 and previously unbeaten Orange could stave off the pressure.

Boston College (7-19) picked up a huge win last night over Syracuse. Boston College's coaching staff includes former Cornell coaches, Steve Donahue, Nat Graham, Izzi Metz and Woody Kampmann and former Cornell player, Ryan Wittman (Cornell '10). Check The Cornell Basketball Blog's Twitter timeline for some reactions across social media to the big win.

From the Syracuse Post Standard:

...if people are going to look at Boston College in the Dome and see Buster Douglas in Tokyo — BC coach Steve Donahue, the former Cornell boss, would not.
"This is big," he declared. "This is a huge success. I tell the players, 'Don't look at the record.' We're a good basketball team. We can play with any team in the country. That is the case."

ESPN writes of Donahue and B.C., "The former Cornell coach has been searching hard for happy moments since coming to Chestnut Hill, Mass. He took the Boston College job on the wings of the Big Red’s NCAA tournament success, a hot commodity deemed a home run hire for the school. But success has been hard to come by. BC has struggled in its ACC fit for years and with the league expanding, the job is only getting harder. This year has been just a continuation of a string of frustrating seasons. The Eagles had managed only six wins before Syracuse. They’ve been close -- seven of their 19 losses decided by five points or fewer -- but that hadn’t done much to placate the fans waiting for Donahue to work his Cornell magic. The Carrier Dome would seem the least likely place to turn things around, not just because of Syracuse’s run of success in comparison to BC’s line of disappointments, but because the building itself has hardly been kind to Donahue. Even when his Cornell team was at its best -- in 2009-10 -- the Big Red couldn’t beat their big in-state brothers. Adding insult to injury, it was in the Dome that Cornell’s NCAA run came to an end that year, against Kentucky in the Sweet 16. "

The Harvard Crimson writes, "Heading into this weekend, there is an abundance of important men’s basketball storylines to follow in the Ancient Eight. After hanging on by the skin of its teeth last week against Princeton, can Yale continue its stellar play on the road? Can Harvard take down Princeton in Jadwin for the first time since the Game Boy was released? Will Cornell get its second win against Division I competition?"

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. The Buffalo News says Wil Bathurst's Olean team is the favorite in its state sectional tournament.

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 20, 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. 336 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 334. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

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