News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Below, some news and notes for Thursday...

• The Daily Pennsylvanian writes, "The Ivy League finally landed a two-year television contract with NBC Sports Network earlier this month, the most important move in the Ancient Eight’s brief history of televised games. NBCSN will broadcast six to 10 football games, six to 10 men’s basketball games and up to four men’s lacrosse games annually. The deal continues through the 2014 lacrosse season. But the Ancient Eight definitely missed a trick by failing to provide a national stage for its post-Penn/Princeton era. Since its last conference deal for both football and basketball expired with YES Network in 2008, Cornell has reached the Sweet 16..."

• CHBC News of Canada writes, " A Kelowna teen has been chosen to represent Canada as part of its junior national basketball team.  Braxston Bunce, a Kelowna Secondary School student, will travel to Toronto at the beginning of June to prepare for the FIBA Americas, which take place in Brazil in mid-June.  The top four countries will then pursue the U19 FIBA World Championship next year.
  Bunce is slated to join the men’s basketball team at Cornell University in the fall."

• Cornell Athletics issued the following release:

Men's Basketball Adds Four Into Class of 2016

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team and head coach Bill Courtney have announced that four incoming freshmen will join the Big Red family and make up the Class of 2016. Guards Nolan Cressler and Robert Mischler, forward Holt Harmon and center Braxston Bunce will join three returning starters and 13 returning letter winners out to bring home Cornell's fourth Ivy League title in the last six seasons in the upcoming 2012-13 campaign.

“At the start of recruiting for the class of 2016, our staff came to the conclusion that we could improve by finding young men who could shoot the basketball, as well as adding size to our roster,” Courtney said. “We are very happy with the four man class that we have coming in and feel like we certainly filled our needs."

Cornell improved its win total overall and in Ivy League play, finishing 12-16 overall and 7-7 in conference action. The Big Red is scheduled to return 10 of its 12 leading scorers, including 2011-12 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Shonn Miller and All-Ivy guard Johnathan Gray, who will spend the summer competing as part of the U.S. Virgin Islands' national team. Also expected to return is starting forward Errick Peck, the team's second-leading scorer in 2010-11 who missed last season due to injury.

Braxston Bunce

Fr. * C * 6-11 * 250 *  Kelowna, B.C. (Kelowna Secondary School)

At Kelowna Secondary School

A member of the Canadian Under-19 national team, Bunce was named the high school player of the year in the province of British Columbia. Bunce averaged 16.4 points and 11.0 rebounds as a senior. He had averaged 2.1 points and 2.6 rebounds as the youngest member of the U-19 Canadian team at the Fiba U19 World championship held in Latvia. Included was an eight-point, six-rebound effort in a win over Egypt. A team captain as a senior, he was an all-league and all-area selection who helped lead his team to a league title. The scouting service HoopStars Canada ranked among the top 15 prospects in Canda. He was invited to play in the Okanagan Valley All Star Game, scoring 13 points in that game. As a junior, Bunce was named second-team All-Canada after averaging 13.4 points and 10.4 rebounds.

Nolan Cressler

Fr. * G * 6-4 * 200 *  Pittsburgh, Pa. (Plum HS)

At Plum HS

A second-team all-state selection as a senior at Plum HS, Cressler was a two-time first-team all-section pick.  He became the school's career scoring leader in his final season (1,565 points) and was named the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's East Player of the Year and the WPIAL AAAA Player of the Year. Cressler averaged 25.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game in his final season, a year after averaging 25.5 points and 7.6 rebounds as a junior. A member of the Post Gazette's Fab Five team, he was selected to play in both the Roundball Classic and AK Valley Cager Classic All-Star games, setting the single-game scoring record at the latter (38 points). Cressler earned a spot on the Pittsburgh Tribune's Terrific 10 squad and helped lead his squad to a sectional title as a sophomore.

Holt Harmon

Fr. * F * 6-9 * 240 *  Plano, Texas (Plano West HS)

At Plano West HS

Harmon was a two-time all-district selection at Plano West HS who earned all-region accolades as a senior. Team team MVP in his final season, he graduated among the school's all-time leader in points (third), rebounds (third), games played and started (first) and free-throw percentage (sixth). Harmon averaged 12.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in his final season in helping his squad to a 26-9 record and a final ranking of fifth in the state. He shot 50 percent from the floor and 76 percent from the free-throw line while also accumulating 11 blocks and 17 steals. Harmon earned a spot on the Showboat Classic All-Star team. He averaged 10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game as a junior.

Robert Mischler

Fr. * G * 6-3 * 190 *  Mishawaka, Ind. (Marian HS)

At Marian HS

Mischler was an all-state selection as a senior at Marian HS after earning all-league accolades in his final two seasons. An academic all-state first team as a senior, he earned a spot in the Michiana McDonald's All-Star team after averaging 13.8 points as a senior. Mischler was named as one of Hoosier Basketball Magazine's top 100 seniors. He averaged 12.9 points per game while shooting 41 percent from beyond the 3-point arc as a junior and was one of 48 juniors selected to play in the Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic. He was a four-year varsity player and two-time captain who scored 987 career points and was a better than 40 percent shooter from 3-point range. He was also a three-year letter winner on the gridiron at quarterback who earned honorable mention all-state as a senior. A second-team all-conference pick and a first-team academic all-state selection, he served as team captain in his final season.

News and Notes: Wednesday Edition

Above, the 2012 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Cornell's Shonn Miller.  Below, some news and notes for Wednesday...

• Committed Cornell recruit, Braxston Bunce (Kelowna Secondary School) Kelowna, BC, Canada, 6-11, C, made the cut of the final 17 players who are competing for 12 roster spots to represent Canada in the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men, in Brazil from June 16-20.  Bunce will participate in the team's training camp between June 2-10.  Bunce played for Canada in last year's Junior World Championships.  Canada Basketball also announced it will hold a Red and White intersquad game during the training camp on June 7 at Humber College.  See the promo video here.

• Jeff Aubry (Cornell '99) scored 2 points, blocked 2 shots and collected 8 rebounds in Puerto Rico's BSN as his Arecibo Capitanes defeated San German last night, 91-79.  With the win, Arecibo wins the semifinals playoff series 4-1 and advances to the league finals.

• Nets Daily provides an offseason report of the Brooklyn Nets and discusses Jeff Foote (Cornell '10). Nets Daily writes, "We hear that the four former lottery picks shined at the [Nets' free agent] camp, along with Jeff Foote... This week, the Nets confirmed invitations to Dennis Horner and Jeff Foote for the summer league in Orlando six weeks from now. Not such a big deal considering Horner and Jerry Smith moved back and forth to Springfield this season and that they and JamesOn Curry were in training camp last December.  What does make it interesting and positive is the manner in which the Armor/Nets found them...Foote had banged around Israel, Spain and Poland before winding up in Portland's training camp. He hadn't even been draft[ed] in the D-League. He wound up with the Hornets after they beat the Nets to a call-up....Horner and Foote's stories are more encouraging for the Nets. They were relative nobodies (more Horner than Foote) who the Nets gave a chance to, based purely on their scouting."

News and Notes: Tuesday Edition

Below, some news and notes for Tuesday...

• The Bleacher Report suggests that Cornell, Syracuse, St. Bonaventure Fordham, Iona, LIU-Brooklyn, and St. John's should all consider joining up for a New York State preseason basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center.

• Barry Leonard, the voice of Big Red Basketball, gets a shout-out in the Utica Obersever Dispatch from NBA broadcaster Tim Royce.

• During Michael Bloomberg's commencement speech at Cornell's graduation this past weekend, Bloomberh said in reference to Cornell's new high tech campus under construction in New York City, "I would say this is the biggest thing that has happened to Cornell in decades, but I know two years ago, the men’s basketball team made it to the Sweet 16 … which sort of rivals it."

• Jeff Aubry (Cornell Class of 1999) finished with 6 points, 4 blocks and 11 rebounds on Sunday as his Arecibo Capitanes team in Puerto Rico's BSN defeated San German, 98-89, in overtime in the league's semifiinals.  Arecibo leads the series 3-1.

• Nets Daily writes of Jeff Foote (Cornell Class of 2010), "Jeff Foote credits the [Brooklyn] Nets for getting him to where he is today: near his goal of playing in the NBA. After he played in Israel, Spain and Poland, and tried out for the Trail Blazers, Milton Lee offered him a job with the [NBA D-League's Springfield] Armor. By season's end, Foote was an all-D-League center and an invitee to the Nets' summer league team. And he's grateful for the opportunity, saying he's passed up offers from Europe, where he could have made a lot more money. "I like their organization. Milton Lee has been tremendous for me. He’s been a great mentor and friend and really helped me." Foote and Lee attended Ivy League schools (Cornell for Foote, Penn for Lee) and Foote jokes with Alex Raskin that Ivy Leaguers "have got to stick together."

• HoopsWorld.com writes with respect to Foote:

As we discussed in Tuesday’s NBA PM, centers are hard to find and team’s like the Boston Celtics—who can conjure up a productive big man like Greg Stiemsma—have a leg up on the competition.
The Brooklyn Nets’ efforts to develop their own seven-footer have led them to former Cornell standout Jeff Foote, who spent most of the past season with the team’s D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor.
But Foote’s pursuit of a guaranteed NBA contract isn’t quite typical. Unlike many D-Leaguers, who joined the league out of college, Foote was signed to a three-year deal by legendary Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Unfortunately, things never worked out for Foote in Tel Aviv. He was a star player on the greatest men’s team in Cornell history (the Big Red made it to the Sweet 16 in 2010, where they fell to the top-seeded Kentucky Wildcats), but coach David Blatt never found a role for the two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.
“Maccabi Tel Aviv is a big-name club,” Foote told HOOPSWORLD at the Nets’ free agent mini-camp. “It’s a lot of pressure. Right out of college, it’s kind of a different transition. There’s so much more pressure and much more responsibility.
“You don’t know anybody,” he continued. “I relied heavily on my teammates while I was there: Richard Hendrix, Doron Perkins, Jeremy Pargo. They kind of helped me through it and since then I’ve grown a lot physically and mentally.”
In November of 2010 Maccabi Tel Aviv loaned Foote to the Spanish Club Melilla Baloncesto and, following that, he opted out of his Maccabi contract and signed a one-year deal with Zastal Zielona Góra before the 2011-2012 season. However, Foote backed out when he got a tryout with the Portland Trail Blazers, and while he wasn’t able to make the team, he did sign with the D-League’s Springfield Armor. Foote even went on to ink a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Hornets, appearing briefly in four games.
Rather than return to Europe, though, Foote went right back to Springfield, where he had developed a good working relationship with Nets general manager of minor league operations Milton Lee.
“Being with the Springfield Armor, the Nets affiliate, I saw guys like Jerry Smith go up and Dennis Horner go up, so I’ve had a pretty close connection to the Nets,” said Foote, who has signed on to play for the Nets’ summer league team in Orlando this July. “I like their organization. Milton Lee has been tremendous for me. He’s been a great mentor and friend and really helped me.”
And, like Foote, Lee attended an Ivy League school (Penn), which prompted Foote to joke that Ivy Leaguers “have got to stick together.”
But Lee’s interest in Foote is more than just some affinity for an athletic conference. Foote has displayed significant progress with the Armor, both physically and on the court.
“At Cornell I finished up at about 250 (pounds),” said the seven-footer. “Right now I’m about 265. My goal for the end of the summer is to end up around 275, 280. But it’s got to be a good 275, 280. If I end up 265, that’s fine because right now I feel pretty comfortable with my body weight.”
Over 42 games with the Armor, Foote averaged 14.6 points, nine rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. He still struggles at the foul line (55.1 percent last year), but he now has the advantage of three years of college experience followed by a stint in Europe and 42 D-League games. In other words, he has the perfect pedigree for someone hoping to ascend to the NBA.
“To specifically gear yourself toward the NBA, it’s better,” Foote said of the D-League. “In Europe, it’s so much more of a power game. The absence of a defensive three-seconds (rule) congests the lane so it becomes more of a shooter’s game out there. The bigs over there are a lot more heavy. With Maccabi Tel Aviv I was with Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who is 400 pounds (his listed weight is 345). You know, you don’t have many of those guys in the NBA. Sadly, there’s a few of them over in Europe. It’s much more of a power game as opposed to the NBA where it’s speed and quickness as well as power.
“I feel like the D-League is a better prep for the NBA than Europe but there’s a lot of great leagues over there. I don’t want to discount anything like that.”
In fact, Foote said he’s received “a couple” of offers to return to Europe—deals that would assuredly be more lucrative than returning to the D-League. But money isn’t Foote’s biggest motivating factor. He’d prefer to go to an NBA team—and not just somewhere where he’d end up sitting on the bench. He’s hoping for a situation like the one former D-Leaguer Gerald Green found himself in this season when the Nets called him up and immediately started giving him regular minutes.
“I want to actually play in this league,” Foote said. “I don’t want to just be there on the bench.”
Foote is hoping that the Nets can be that team (“I’m very happy here”) and he thinks there’s a future for him in Brooklyn.
“If the cards fall into place and I get a training camp invite, Brooklyn is probably where I’ll be,” he said.

News and Notes: Friday Edition

Below, some news and notes for Friday...

• Above, Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) goes head-to-head with Brook Lopez of Stanford (now with the Brooklyn Nets) during the 2008 NCAA Tournament.  Foote and Lopez could be future Nets teammates.  Foote accepted an invitation to play with the Nets' summer league team in Orlando.  

• Geoff Reeves (Cornell '10) posted some high school highlights from his days at Burlington (Kansas) High School.  Above, Reeves diving for a loose ball against Kansas on January 6, 2010.  Also chasing the ball down, far left, is Kansas' No. 14, Tyrel Reed, Reeves' former high school teammate.

News and Notes: Thursday Edition

Above, Cornell rising senior, Eitan Chemerinski.  Below, some news and notes for Thursday...

• Nets Daily writes of Jeff Foote (Cornell '10):

The Nets' free agent mini-camp ended Wednesday with Avery Johnson and Billy King professing it was great and that in Johnson's words, there were "two or three players" they liked and in King's words, "we're trying to build a summer league roster" and would be inviting "some of them" to Orlando in July.  Of the 21, most attention was focused on the five former NBA players who were overseas last year and Ben Hansbrough whose ankle injury hurt his chances of being drafted late by the Nets.Listening to Johnson and King, the Nets said particularly nice things about Adam Morrison, Al Thornton,Julian Wright, Jeff Foote and Hilton Armstrong. Foote, the Armor's seven-foot All-D-League center, has already accepted a summer league spot.

• The Star Ledger of New Jersey writes, "Some of the 21 players invited to [the Nets' free agent] camp, which ended yesterday, will likely be invited to join the Nets’ summer league team. [Nets GM, Billy] King said 7-0 center Jeff Foote, who played for the Nets’ D-League team this season, already is on the summer team, along with his D-League teammate Dennis Horner and Nets rookies MarShon Brooks and Jordan Williams."

• The New York Post writes:

Deron Williams was in the Nets gym again. But he didn’t talk, so the interest factor in the joint dropped considerably.  But there were still a lot of former NBA types among the hopefuls finishing out the third day of the Nets' free agent mini-camp staged to find perhaps a roster player while coming up with candidates for their Summer League entry in Orlando and their D-League affiliate in Springfield.  “It was good,” GM Billy King said of the three-day event. “We saw some guys that we liked how they played, some guys we'll be inviting to Summer League to hopefully continue the process… A lot of the guys have been in the league. They know how to play – as we told Julian Wright, he's in better shape than when he tried to work out for us.  “We're building our Summer League roster in the hopes of building a team that can go there and play well together so we can really continue to evaluate them. And then from there, invite some guys to our veteran camp."  And already the Nets have four guys set for Summer League in early July – MarShon Brooks and Jordan Williams who completed their rookie years with the parent club and two guys whose time was spent primarily in Springfield, center Jeff Foote and forward Dennis Horner.  “And hopefully after this, we’ll have a few guys to add to it. And then we’ll do the draft and look at guys that don’t get drafted and save some spots for those guys and then we’ll be done,” King said.

*

Foote obviously was on the Nets radar all season. There were times they wanted to bring him up from Springfield but were hampered by a roster spot. Finally, they decided to do so but had to wait one more day because Foote was playing. Then they were beaten to the punch by the Hornets, who signed the Cornell product to a 10-day contract.  “I was told the day before Brooklyn planned to call me up – I had a game that night and they planned to call me up the next day — but I got called up by the Hornets,” said Foote who impressed over the past three days. “So there was that. And later in the season they called up Dennis Horner who they had familiarity with. So there was nothing wrong with that. The D-League was a great experience for me. Coach MacKinnon did a tremendous job of taking my game to the next level a little bit.”  Foote, 7-0, came to the mini-camp just trying to show progress and to leave an impression. He did both apparently.  “The one good thing, I think, about Foote: he’s seven feet,” King said, reminding you can’t teach height. “And he plays seven feet, that’s the thing I love about him. He’ll be with us in Summer League so it’ll be good to see how he continues to progress throughout the summer.”  Foote had an advantage of sorts because Springfield basically employs Nets terminology and playbook. So he was real comfortable for three days.  “Especially with the defenses, it helped me adjust quicker. You know what’s expected, what needs to be taken care of. I definitely think come summer league it will make an easier transition,” Foote said.  “Here, I was trying to show them I’m still growing, I still have a lot of potential and I’m still young relatively. I’m 24. I think I showed them I’m coming along and developing,” Foote said. “I think I showed I can pass really well out of the post, have a decent array of post moves. In my personal opinion, I think I probably need to get a little stronger but that’s what summer is for. So right now that’s what I’m focusing on. That and improving the jump shot.”

• Harvard basketball beat writer for the Crimson, Dennis Zheng takes a few partings shots at Cornell (and Tommy Amaker) in his last column.

• Jeff Aubry (Cornell '99) finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks as his Arecibo Capitanes captured Game 1 of the BSN semifinals series in Puerto Rico.  Arecibo defeated San German 82-67.

News and Notes: Wednesday Edition

Above, Cornell's rising sophomore point guard, Galal Cancer.  Below, some news and notes for Wednesday...

• Scott Schroeder, editor of the NBA D-League blog, Ridiculous Upside, writes with respect to Jeff Foote (Cornell Class of 2010) at the Brooklyn Nets' Free Agent Mini Camp this week, "I'm personally a fan of Jeff Foote." Apparently, so are the Nets. Avery Johnson, head coach of the Nets told the media he was impress with Foote's play.  The New York Post speculates that Foote could be a roster replacement for Damion James.  The New York Post writes:

  Johnson wouldn’t go into specifics on which players he liked, only saying that the Nets like “two or three of them.” But he did go in depth a bit when asked about Jeff Foote, a 7-footer who played for the Springfield Armor, the Nets’ D-League affiliate, and who has already accepted a spot on the Nets’ summer league team.“Jeff’s been a stud. Obviously with him being on our D-League team, he’s been really consistent, and moving a little better. I’m really impressed with his passing.  “He’s a really good passing big guy, and that’s kind of a lost art right now in the NBA, so there’s a value to it.”

  See the interview with Anthony Johnson right here.

• Jeff Aubry (Cornell Class of 1999) (above) grabbed 7 rebounds, blocked 2 shots and collected 2 steals while scoring 3 points to help his Arecibo Capitanes club of Puerto Rico's BSN league advance to the semifinals with a 85-77 win over Quebradillas on May 21.

The 2012-2013 Season: 100th Anniversary of Cornell's First Basketball Championship

Above, editors of the Cornell Daily Sun congratulate Cornell's men's basketball program for its 1912-1913 league championship.