News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Above, a Date in Cornell Basketball History.  A March 1, 1944 ticket stub to a Cornell-LIU game at Madison Square Garden.  Below, News and Notes for Thursday...

• The Syracuse Post Standard explores how Jim Boheim creates a schedule.  The Standard writes:

Syracuse invites Colgate and Cornell to the Carrier Dome to be neighborly. Jim Boeheim said he prefers to keep those games on his schedule. In different years, those games impact the Orange RPI in different ways. When Cornell made its big run in the NCAA Tournament in 2010, it helped. Last year, when the Big Red went 2-26, it hurt.
Wellman's extensive scouting on potential opponents aids the Orange in its quest to strike an RPI balance. He analyzes teams that express interest in playing SU to determine whether those opponents would offer the Orange a proper schedule fit.
"Some of the teams, we want to know how good they're going to be. Did they go to the postseason last year? How many starters are returning? What was their RPI last year? They're not determining factors, but they are things we like to know," Wellman said. "For example, if you're going to play a team that last year had an RPI in the 300s, then you'd like to balance it out with — whether it's a guaranteed (buy) game or a home-and-home with a team in the top 10 last year. You want to have a balanced schedule."
Boeheim said he "tries to keep away from the 300s" and schedule teams that reside mostly in the 100 to 200 RPI range.
"It's helped us those years when Colgate and Cornell were good. It helped our RPI numbers," Boeheim said. "But we've always played them. So we suffer a little bit on the RPI when they're down. But the (NCAA Selection) Committee mostly looks now at 'Who did you play that was good and did you beat those teams?' If you don't beat any of those teams, then you're in trouble anyway."
 ...
And Boeheim said the buy games with teams like Colgate and Cornell are generally more lucrative than home-and-home series with a nationally-recognized brand like Arizona because of the revenue SU generates from its home dates.

• The Beaver County Times mentions Cornell's Sweet Sixteen team in The Basketball Tournament.

• The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan recalls Cornell visiting the University of South Dakota during 2010 because "Cornell had a senior that season from Blair, Neb."