News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Below, news and notes for Thursday...

• Today, Army (coached by former Cornell assistant coaches, Zach Spiker and Kevin App) and Cornell are sitting side by side at Nos. 214 and 215 respectively in the RPI. 

• Committed Cornell recruit, Robert Hatter (Westside HS) Houston, TX, 6-1, G, scored 22 points in the Texas Class 5A Region III quarterfinal last night.  Northeastern University, which won the CAA yesterday, was among Hatter's list of scholarship offers as was new Big East member, the University of Houston.

• Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) and his Zalgiris (Lithuania) club have a Top 16 EuroLeague game today against former NBA vet and UConn star, Marcus Williams and Unicaja Malaga.

• What are Cornell's chances for an invite to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT)?  Very realistic.  If the Big Red win three of its last four games, Cornell finishes the season 16-15 overall and 8-6 in the Ivy League.  Take a look at the recent invited teams from the 2011 and 2012 CIT fields.  The 2011 CIT field included an Air Force 15-15 (6-10) team which lost an early season game to Division III Colorado College.  The 2012 field included a pair of 16-15 teams, Louisiana Lafayette and Bowling Green.  Cornell's resume would compare very competitively with several other teams from the '11 and '12 tournaments.

• The Cornell Daily Sun goes ten questions with Dom Scelfo:

Ten Questions With Dominick Scelfo

Ten Questions Columnist Reena Gilani caught up with junior Dominick Scelfo to chat about basketball, sea-otters and the Village People.

1. How did you get involved with basketball?

I started at a really young age; my parents had me playing like every single sport. I played baseball until ninth grade and football until like seventh, but basketball is the one I ended up sticking with.

What has basketball meant for you here at Cornell?

I have a lot of friends on the team and [have had] a lot of different experiences. The whole Division I basketball experience is something that’s unique and really interesting and something I have absolutely enjoyed.

So you’re from New Orleans but also Canadian, how does that work?

My mom is from Toronto, and my dad’s from the New Orleans area. They met somewhere in college and then they moved to New Orleans, so I’m a dual citizen.

How did you end up at Cornell from Louisiana?

When I was coming out of high school, I was choosing between a few different schools and then actually got hurt so [I] decided to concentrate more on school than on basketball. I picked Cornell for the great education.

2. Who are your parents and your babysitters?

Pete [McMillan] says I act like a kid sometimes so he says that him and Dwight [Tarwater] are my parents. He says my babysitter is Marshall Faulk.

Can you tell me about the g-lin stock?

You definitely want to short the g-lin stock at all times.

3. Do you have any pre-game rituals or traditions that you participate in?

Before every game I like to start a cheer for Peter, and then the whole team starts yelling. Then Dwight holds me up when I start yelling. It’s really, really weird.

4. What is up with you and “king cake”?

My dad has a bakery in New Orleans and a king cake is the cake of Mardi Gras. Every year, my dad apparently thinks I have 100 friends and he just keeps sending them. I give them out to everyone on the team and anyone else.

5. Jake [Matthews] caught you eating his Poptarts that he specifically told you not to eat. Do you care to elaborate on this incident?

Jake likes to eat all my food, especially when I only have one of them left. One day I had Poptarts and he came in and said he would eat my last Poptart, and he did — that’s what makes him a conniver — and now he’s trying to turn it on me. I don’t forgive him for that.

So you never actually ate one of his?

Oh no, he only did it to me.

6. What are your babaloonies?

I don’t know how this whole thing began but we started calling each other balloons and then it got stranger and we started calling each other babaloonies. I have literally no idea how it happened.

So it’s a nickname you all have for each other? Not a physical entity.

Yeah, [that’s] just what we call each other. Like I said, we’re pretty weird.

7. Who would you consider your celebrity look-alike to be?

When we first got on the court at Duke, everyone was chanting “Justin Bieber.” I think it’s because of my hair, so I might have to trim it sometime soon.

Have you ever wanted to be in a boy band or some type of pop sensation like he is?

I have filmed a few music videos. They’re not open to the public, but at some point we are going to release them.

Are they original songs or covers?

They’re covers, and they have great dance moves in them.

Do you have any signature moves?

The grocery cart is a fan favorite for sure. Then you have the sprinkler, of course, and the hammer and the nail. Also, the dougie; Miles [Asafo-Adjei] taught me how to dougie.

And what kind of music do you like to do covers of? Any stuff by the Village People?

We actually dressed up like the Village People for Halloween and did a lot of performances that night. I don’t think we stopped singing “YMCA” and “Macho Man.” We did music videos of us as the Village People, but that’s not all that has been filmed.

What other songs have you done?

A few Justin Bieber songs, of course.

Is it just you in the videos?

Dwight and Jake are in them too. I guess it started with the Cornell basketball music video.

The video to “Let’s Go”?

Yeah, Coach told us a marketing group was doing it so we decided to try it out. That got us started on making other goofy videos on our own.

Could you describe the Harlem Shake video you and your roommates just made?

I don’t think I can. It’s not on YouTube yet but it will be coming out shortly, so everyone can get ready for that.

What is the other group you’re a part of, Dope Vocals?

Dope Vocals is the group of Miles, Nolan [Cressler] and me, and we made our debut at Big Red Blowout. Miles did most of the singing for that one in front of everyone on the stage. It wasn’t planned and kind of just happened on the spot, but there were a lot of fans.

8. How is your hoopmixtape coming along?

So if you’re good at basketball, you put together your cool clips and play that. Miles has been filming me and I’ve been doing some really fundamental layups and nice chest passes for my hoopmixtape. It’s a little different from the high-flying dunking stuff that other guys do.

9. If you could be any animal, what would you be?

There’s so many options. I’d probably go with a sea otter.

Why a sea otter?

Because I saw one the other day. He was dunking online and it was actually a really cool video. If you haven’t seen it you should look that up.

10. What’s the craziest thing that you’ve done during your basketball career at Cornell?

Probably play at Duke, because it’s been somewhere I’ve always wanted to play. They are known for having one of the best arenas and one of the best college atmospheres. It was a really cool experience even though we lost by 40 points.

And do you have an exciting accomplishment off the court that you can share?

My roommate’s older brother is Olympic swimmer and gold medalist Davis Tarwater. I actually beat Davis’ little brother in a swimming competition, so I’m pretty proud of that. I’m probably going to retire after that win and retire the speedo.

Did you train a lot for that?

I did...almost an entire 10 minutes. It definitely paid off, though Dwight’s not too fast so I guess that helped me.

• Below, links to our recap sections from each of Cornell's games during the 2012-2013 season. 

1. 11/10/12 vs. Western Michigan W 63-55
2. 11/14/12 vs. St. Bonaventure L 68-72
3. 11/16/12 vs. St. Peter's  L 64-68
4. 11/18/12 at Wisconsin (Las Vegas Invitational) L 40-73 
5. 11/20/12 at Arizona State (Las Vegas Invitational L 53-64
6. 11/23/12 vs. Presbyterian (Las Vegas Invitational) at Las Vegas W 89-55
7. 11/24/12 vs. Longwood (Las Vegas Invitational) at Las Vegas W 84-78
8. 11/28/12 vs. Stony Brook L 53-76
9. 12/1/12 vs. Colgate W 70-63
10. 12/17/12 at Vanderbilt L 55-66
11. 12/19/12 at Duke L 47-88
12. 12/22/12 at Boston U. L 57-70
13. 12/28/12 at St. Francis (PA) W 79-67
14. 12/30/12 at Binghamton W 79-77
15. 1/2/13 vs. Bucknell L 56-72
16. 1/6/13 at American W 68-60
17. 1/12/13 vs. SUNY Old Westbury W 103-84
18. 1/19/13 vs. Columbia L 58-67
19. 1/26/13 at Columbia W 66-63
20. 2/1/13 at Princeton  L 59-76
21. 2/2/13 at Penn W 71-69
22. 2/8/13 vs Harvard L 65-67
23. 2/10/13 vs Dartmouth W 79-56
24. 2/15/13 at Yale W 68-61
25. 2/16/13 at Brown W 69-66
26. 2/22/13 vs Penn L 71-79
27. 2/23/13 vs Princeton L 53-72

• 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 28 is No. 215 out of 344 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. 236 in the nation, while the Sagarin Rankings (USA Today) have Cornell at No. 221 Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

• Here is a look at Ivy League results and upcoming games. A full Ivy composite schedule may viewed by clicking here.

IVY LEAGUE COMPOSITE SCHEDULE

Friday, November 9

MIT 54 Harvard 69 Box Score - Recap

UMBC 75 Penn 80  Box Score - Recap

Saturday, November 10

Western Michigan 55 Cornell 63 Box Score - Recap

Princeton 57 Buffalo 53 Box Score - Recap

Yale 82 Sacred Heart 85 (OT) [SNY] [Conn 6] Box Score - Recap  

Columbia 68 Furman 47 Box Score - Recap

Maine 54 Dartmouth 67  Box Score - Recap

Sunday, November 11

Brown 58 Binghamton 49 Box Score - Recap

Monday, November 12
Yale 35 Saint Joseph’s 61 (Coaches v. Cancer) Box Score - Recap
Penn 69 Delaware 84 (Preseason NIT) Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, November 13
Harvard 64 Massachusetts 67 (ESPN Tip Off Marathon) [ESPN] Box Score - Recap
Penn 53 Fairfield 62 (Preseason NIT) [ESPN3] Box Score - Recap

Northeastern 67 Princeton 66 Box Score - Recap
New Hampshire 72 Dartmouth 58 Box Score - Recap
Haverford 40 Columbia 74 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, November 14
St. Bonaventure at Cornell [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Thursday, November 15
Brown 71 Central Connecticut State 86 Box Score - Recap

Friday, November 16
Saint Peter’s 68 Cornell 64 Box Score - Recap
Rutgers 58 Princeton 52 Box Score - Recap

Manhattan 45 Harvard 79 Box Score
Yale 56 Evansville 66 (Coaches v. Cancer) Box Score - Recap

Saturday, November 17
Drexel 61 Penn 59 Box Score - Recap

Yale 63 Buffalo 59 (Evansville, Ind.) (Coaches v. Cancer) Box Score

Brown 70 Maine 68 Box Score - Recap

Marist 67 Columbia 62 Box Score - Recap

Sunday. November 18
Yale 47 Western Illinois 59 (Oakland City, Ind.) Box Score - Recap
Cornell 40 Wisconsin 73 (Las Vegas Invitational) [ESPN3]  Box Score - Recap

Monday, November 19

Penn 68 Fordham 70 (Preseason NIT, Bethlehem PA) Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, November 20

Columbia 75 Villanova 57 [ESPN3] Box Score - Recap

Harvard 56 Saint Joseph’s 75 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Penn 66 Lehigh 73 (Preseason NIT) Box Score - Recap

Cornell 53 Arizona State 64 (Las Vegas Invitational) [PAC-12 Sports Network] Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, November 21

Bryant 68 Brown 61 Box Score - Recap

Princeton 53 Syracuse 73 [TIME WARNER] Box Score - Recap

Yale 52 Vermont 65  Box Score - Recap

Friday, November 23

Cornell 89 Presbyterian 55 (Las Vegas Invitational at Las Vegas) Box Score - Recap

Columbia 75 Wayland Baptist 63 (SF Hilltop Classic) Box Score - Recap

Saturday, November 24

Saint Francis (N.Y.) 76 Brown72 (OT) Box Score - Recap

IPFW 70 Dartmouth 66 Box Score - Recap

Princeton 72 Lafayette53 Box Score - Recap

Army 83 Yale 86 (2OT)  Box Score - Recap

Cornell 84 Longwood 78 (Las Vegas Invitational at Las Vegas) Box Score - Recap

Columbia 59 San Francisco 79 (SF Hilltop Classic) Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, November 27

Dartmouth 49 Bucknell 62 Box Score - Recap

Vermont 85 Harvard 78 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, November 28

Columbia 61 LIU Brooklyn 70 Box Score - Recap

Stony Brook 53 Cornell 76 Box Score - Recap

Binghamton 54 Penn 65 Box Score - Recap

Princeton 42 Wagner 48 (OT) Box Score - Recap

Thursday, November 29

Sacred Heart 56 Brown 69 Box Score - Recap

Hartford 60 Yale 51 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 1

Brown 50 New Hampshire 63 [WBIN/FCS] Box Score - Recap

Fordham 64 Harvard 73 Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 61 Longwood 53 Box Score - Recap

Penn 47 Penn State 58 [ESPN3] Box Score - Recap

Colgate 63 Cornell 70 Box Score - Recap

Bucknell 65 Columbia 57 Box Score - Recap

Princeton 50 Kent State 62 Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, December 4

Dartmouth 49 Elon 71 Box Score - Recap

Harvard 79 Boston College 63 [ESPN3] Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 5

Yale 64 Bryant 62 Box Score - Recap

Friday, December 7

Harvard 49 Connecticut 57 [SNY] Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 8

Yale 56 New Hampshire 64  Box Score - Recap

Drexel 64 Princeton 57 Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 56 Holy Cross 67 Box Score - Recap

Brown 57 Notre Dame 84 [ESPN3] Box Score - Recap

Villanova 68 Penn 55 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Sunday, December 9

Columbia 54 American 42 Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, December 11

Boston University 64 Harvard 65 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 12

Dartmouth 50 Vermont 52 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 15

Princeton 60 Fordham 63 (Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival) [YES] Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 42 Arizona State 61 Box Score - Recap

Monday, December 17

Cornell 55 Vanderbilt 66 [ESPNU] Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, December 18

Albertus Magnus 63 Yale 112 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, December 19

Cornell 47 Duke 88 [ESPNU] Box Score - Recap

Thursday, December 20

Rider 45 Princeton 62 Box Score - Recap

Friday, December 21

Penn 60 Delaware 83  Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 22

Cornell 57 Boston University70 Box Score - Recap

Dartmouth 66 Bryant 79  Box Score - Recap

Holy Cross 65 Harvard 72  Box Score - Recap

Elon 70 Columbia 79 Box Score - Recap

Bucknell 67 Princeton 79 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, December 23

Brown 42 Northwestern 63 [BTN.com] Box Score - Recap

Friday, December 28

Providence 68 Brown 69 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Cornell 79 Saint Francis (Pa.) 67  Box Score - Recap

Yale 75 Nevada 85 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, December 29

Manhattan 58 Columbia 69 Box Score - Recap

Penn 63 Wagner 68  Box Score - Recap

Harvard 67 California 62 [PAC-12] Box Score - Recap

Sunday, December 30

Cornell 79 Binghamton 77 [TIME WARNER SPORTS] Box Score - Recap

Yale 62 Saint Mary’s (Calif.) 78 Box Score - Recap

Princeton 58 Akron 62 Box Score - Recap

Monday, December 31

Dartmouth 58 Boston College 79 [ESPN3] Box Score - Recap

Brown 50 Albany 57 Box Score - Recap

Harvard 69 Saint Mary’s (Calif.) 70 [ESPN2] Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, January 1

Yale 70 Iowa State 80 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, January 2

Colgate 59 Columbia 66 Box Score - Recap

Bucknell 72 Cornell 56 Box Score - Recap

Penn 57 Butler 70 Box Score - Recap

Friday, January 4

Brown 47 Rhode Island 59 [OSN] Box Score - Recap

Yale 61 Holy Cross 54 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 5

Princeton 74 Elon 64 Box Score - Recap

Penn 57 La Salle 74 Box Score - Recap

Columbia 64 Army 52 Box Score - Recap

Rice 62 Harvard 92 Box Score - Recap

Colgate 78 Dartmouth 62 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, January 6

Cornell 68 American 60 Box Score - Recap

Florida 79 Yale 58 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Tuesday, January 8

Niagara 74 Brown 75 Box Score - Recap

Columbia 69 Holy Cross 78 Box Score - Recap

Army 58 Dartmouth 75 Box Score - Recap

Lafayette 85 Penn 83 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 12

Daniel Webster 34 Brown 71 Box Score - Recap

College at Old Westbury 84 Cornell 103  Box Score - Recap

Oberlin 39 Yale 104 Box Score - Recap

*Harvard 75 Dartmouth 65 Box Score - Recap

*Penn 53 Princeton 65 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Thursday, January 17

Colby-Sawyer 42 Dartmouth 80 Box Score

Penn 54 NJIT 53 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 19

Harvard 50 Memphis 60 [FSN] Box Score - Recap

*Columbia 58 Cornell 67 NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Saint Joseph’s 79 Penn 59 [ESPNU] Box Score - Recap

*Yale 51 Brown 65 Box Score - Recap

Wednesday, January 23

Penn 69 Temple 76 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, January 26

*Dartmouth 77  Harvard 82 OT [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

*Brown 64 Yale 76 OT Box Score - Recap

*Cornell 66 Columbia 63 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, January 27

The College of New Jersey 33 Princeton 71 Box Score - Recap

Friday, February 1

*Brown 62 Dartmouth 50 Box Score - Recap

*Columbia 58 Penn 62  Box Score - Recap

*Cornell 59 Princeton 76 Box Score - Recap

*Yale 64 Harvard 67 Box Score - Recap

 Saturday, February 2

*Columbia 66 Princeton 72 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

*Brown 82 Harvard 89 2OT Box Score - Recap

*Cornell 71 Penn 69 Box Score - Recap

*Yale 62 Dartmouth 71 Box Score - Recap

Friday, February 8

*Brown 46 Princeton 63 Box Score - Recap

*Dartmouth 60 Columbia 57 Box Score - Recap

*Harvard 67 Cornell 65  Box Score - Recap

*Yale 68 Penn 59  Box Score - Recap

Saturday, February 9

*Yale 69 Princeton 65 Box Score - Recap

*Brown 48 Penn 71 Box Score - Recap

Sunday, February 10

*Harvard 63 Columbia 78 Box Score - Recap

*Dartmouth 56 Cornell 79 Box Score - Recap

Friday, February 15

*Columbia 55 Brown 58 [myRITV] Box Score - Recap

*Cornell 68 Yale 61 Box Score - Recap

*Princeton 73 Dartmouth 55 Box Score - Recap

*Penn 54 Harvard 73  Box Score - Recap

Saturday, February 16

*Cornell 69 Brown 66 Box Score - Recap

*Columbia 56 Yale 75 Box Score - Recap

*Penn 67 Dartmouth 57 Box Score - Recap

*Princeton 57 Harvard 69 [NBCSN] Box Score - Recap

Friday, February 22
*Harvard 65 Brown 47 [myRITV] Box Score - Recap
*Princeton 65 Columbia 40 Box Score - Recap
*Penn 79 Cornell 71 Box Score - Recap
*Dartmouth 67 Yale 78 Box Score - Recap

Saturday, February 23
*Dartmouth 50 Brown 59 Box Score - Recap
*Penn 41 Columbia 58 Box Score - Recap
*Princeton 72 Cornell 53 Box Score - Recap
*Harvard 72 Yale 66 [CBSSN] Box Score - Recap

Friday, March 1
*Brown at Cornell, 7 pm
*Dartmouth at Penn, 7 pm
*Harvard at Princeton, 7 pm [ESPNU]
*Yale at Columbia, 7 pm

Saturday, March 2
*Dartmouth at Princeton, 6 pm
*Harvard at Penn, 6 pm [NBCSN]
*Brown at Columbia, 7 pm
*Yale at Cornell, 7 pm