News and Notes: Wednesday Edition

Below, news and notes for Wednesday...

• Johnathan Gray (Cornell '13) signed a contract with Albacete of Spain and will join former teammate Andrew Ferry (Cornell '12).

• Robert Hatter takes the ice bucket challenge.

• D-League Digest projects Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) to play for the Grand Rapids Drive, the Pistons' affiliate.

• Siena coach, Jimmy Patsos made a point of telling the Albany Times Union that Cornell will be "much improved."

• Cornell Athletics announced that the Big Red will meet Syracuse on 12/31/14 at the Carrier Dome. Other Cornell games with confirmed public dates include:
  
  
  
  • George Mason (away) 11/14/14
  • South Carolina (Charleston Classic) 11/20/14
  • Binghamton (away) 11/29/14
  • Siena (away) 12/23/14 
  • Buffalo (away) 1/3/15  
  
  On the Syracuse game, Cornell Athletics writes:
  
  
  ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell men's basketball team will say goodbye to 2014 when it visits nationally ranked Syracuse on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at the Carrier Dome. The longtime Central New York foes will be meeting for the 120th time on the hardwood at a time to be determined.
  
  The Orange earned its sixth consecutive NCAA tournament berth and finished with a 28-5 overall record last season. The Orange won 25 straight games to start the season and was ranked first in both national polls for three weeks.
  
  Syracuse leads the all-time series 88-31 and carries a 34-game win streak against the Big Red into the season.  The two teams had their first meeting in 1900-01, an 18-15 victory by the Orange. Cornell is 1-21 all-time at the Carrier Dome and 0-20 vs. the Orange. A year ago, the Big Red gave #8/7 Syracuse all it could handle for a half, but couldn't weather a second half run in dropping an 82-60 decision to the Orange on Nov. 8 in a game that served as the season opener for both teams.
  
  Cornell head coach Bill Courtney returns for his fifth season looking to rebound after injuries decimated the team a year ago. There are plenty of reasons for optimism, as 2012-13 first-team All-Ivy League selection Shonn Miller and three of the team's top five scorers from a year ago return, including a pair of sophomore guards. Senior guard Devin Cherry is the team's top returning scorer (12.3 ppg.) and one of the conference's returning leaders in assists (3.5 apg.).

• The Post Standard writes:

Syracuse, N.Y. — The basketball drops for Syracuse and Cornell at the Carrier Dome on New Year's Eve.
The Orange and the Big Red play Dec. 31 in one of the longest-tenured matchups in Syracuse hoops history. SU owns an 88-31 advantage in the series, which dates to 1900-01. Cornell won the first eight games; the Orange has taken 34 straight.
The Big Red is coming off a difficult basketball campaign. Cornell finished 2-26 last season, its only wins over Oberlin and Dartmouth. SU defeated the Big Red 82-60 last Nov. 8.
Cornell returns Shonn Miller, a first-team All-Ivy selection from 2012-13 who missed all of last season because of injury. Miller is currently playing in Belgium, the Netherlands and England as part of a collection of touring college players. But the Big Red loses Nolan Cressler, the junior guard who was an All-Ivy Honorable Mention last year. Cressler has transferred to Vanderbilt.
Senior Devin Cherry averaged 12.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists for Cornell in 2013-14.
SU coach Jim Boeheim has said he prefers to keep Division I neighbors Cornell and Colgate on the Orange basketball schedule.

•  Nunes Magician writes:

You, likely:

"Man, what am I doing for New Year's Eve?"  Going to/watching Syracuse basketball take on Cornell, that's what!

As mentioned a week ago, the Orange's final non-conference basketball opponent is (of course) the Cornell Big Red. The long-time CNY foes will face off at the Carrier Dome on December 31 of this year, says Syracuse.com.

Last year, Syracuse won the almost-annual matchup, 82-60, taking its 34th straight victory in the series. The Orange have not lost to Cornell since 1969, an 89-80 OT defeat. All-time, the programs have met 119 times to-date, with Syracuse owning a lopsided 88-31 advantage.

After a nice stretch of success under coach Steve Donahue, the Big Red have crashed back to earth in the Ivy League. The 2013-14 campaign was an abject disaster for the team, as they went 2-26 overall (1-13 in the conference). It's worth noting last year's squad was without Shonn Miller, however, who returns this year and should once again be Cornell's best player.

• The Roanoke Times reports on Cornell's visit to Radford.

• The Journal News writes about local product, Yanni Hufnagel (Cornell '05).  See the main article here.

• The Elkhart Truth and WNDU note that Robert Mischler's former high school teammate is headed to Princeton.