A Cornell Daily Sun sports reporter describes how difficult it is to stay objective when writing about Cornell basketball, especially when attending Harvard games, which he compares to “fascist rallies”.
A couple of weeks ago, The Sun’s public editor raised the (valid) concern that I was coming across as “too much of a fan” with my live-blogging/tweeting of Cornell basketball games. I have to admit, he had a point. After all, despite being a college newspaper, we are still held to certain journalistic standards, including the need for objectivity. At the same time, however, working for The CORNELL Daily Sun –– particularly the sports department –– I feel like our coverage is understood to be inherently biased.
For instance, I’m not going to spend an entire article quoting Tommy Amaker and some rando on Harvard’s basketball team, when I know for a fact that Cornell students would rather hear from Cornell’s coach and Cornell’s players.
Nevertheless, I took his opinion to heart and promised to tone down the sarcastic comments and exclamation points. Unfortunately, this reprimand came the night before Cornell played Harvard in Cambridge –– talk about inconvenient timing. So, I had to refrain from tweeting/blogging snarky commentary to the Cornellians following back home, while a sea of delusional Harvard fans wearing all white (and later all black … don’t ask) stood behind me frantically waving mounted copies of Jeremy Lin’s senior portrait. I felt like I was at some sort of fascist rally, not an Ivy League basketball game.
[As an irrelevant, albeit crucial detail ... I must point out these Jeremy Lin mug shots were made (and distributed) by none other than the boy’s mother. Make of that what you will].
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GoCrimson.com reports that the Harvard basketball team will be featured on an ABC special, “”Race to March to Madness,” which airs on Saturday at 5 PM.
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Rush the Court writes a blog post about Cornell’s probable clinching of an NCAA bid tonight.
Unless half of the Cornell basketball team (the starting half) suffers serious food poisoning or takes a sudden interest in the illicit pleasures of Federal Hill in Providence, we should have our first 2010 NCAA Tournament bid secured at around 9 pm eastern tonight.
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The Cornell Daily Sun previews Cornell’s weekend games against Brown and Yale.
“Yale and Brown are definitely tough teams,” said senior guard Louis Dale. “Brown especially was a challenge when we played them at home, and we’re going to have to play our ‘A’ game if we want to beat them.”
“The crowd at Yale is pretty tough. They heckle and call you out,” Dale said. “Playing on the road is always tough, Yale is probably especially tough.”
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The Columbia Spectator previews Columbia’s weekend games against Yale and Brown.
… With two wins this weekend, Columbia will finish fourth in the Ivy League…. “It’s been a long time since the program has finished in the top half of the league four years in a row,” explained head coach Joe Jones. “I know it’s not what we wanted, but it’s a real positive thing for the program.”
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The Ithaca Journal previews Cornell’s Friday night match-up with Brown.
Brown has only the role of spoiler left to play.
The Big Red’s 20-point victory over Penn last Saturday, which clinched a share of the title, wasn’t 20 minutes old before some of the players were cautioning about the Bears.
“They’re a great offensive team,” senior Jon Jaques said. “They move the ball really well. I know we respect the hell out of them.”
Brown left town with a 1-5 league record, but both Donahue and senior all-league forward Matt Mullery said the Bears — who play three freshmen extended minutes — were close to a breakthrough….
The Bears did break through, to Cornell’s benefit. Brown dealt Princeton a crushing second league loss, 57-54, on Feb. 20, and enters tonight’s game having won four of its last six.
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The Ithaca Journal scouts Brown and concludes,
Brown was the first Ivy team to play Cornell tough this year, and it did so through the strong play of Mullery, a returning first-team all-league forward. Halpern scored 16 points in a game that, with 7:37 remaining, was a two-point affair before Cornell pulled away.
Cornell, which needs just one more win to capture the league title outright, must defend better. Its rotations were slow the first time around against the Bears, and Mullery was able to utilize his versatility and pull Jeff Foote away from the basket and make plays. Cornell also shot poorly in the first matchup, missing 18 of 25 from the arc. Tough to see the Big Red duplicating that, but they’ve endured mini-slumps before. The key will be Cornell building a sizable lead (8-10 points) by halftime. Brown needs to keep Cornell from getting a quick lead, and hang around as long as possible. Road games in the Ivy always have some measure of unpredictability, but Cornell knows what’s at stake.
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The Daily Princetonian previews Princeton’s last home weekend, with games against Dartmouth and Harvard.
With Cornell needing just one more victory in its final two games to clinch the Ivy League title, the men’s basketball team’s hopes for a league championship are on life support. So what? Some tantalizingly good basketball remains to be played, and all of the remaining games will take place in Jadwin Gymnasium.
… “We just like playing,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “We’re just trying to approach them a game at a time.”
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The Harvard Crimson previews the final Ivy weekend and reviews the season, as well as presenting weekend picks. The Cornell loss at Penn is noted as a possible game of year. Coach of the Year honors are agrued as coming down to Princeton’s Sydney Johnson and Harvard’s Tommy Amaker for their much-improved programs. Harvard’s Kyle Casey is seen as clearly deserving of ROY honors, while Cornell’s Foote is seen as having the edge in the POY race.
After all the spilled ink on the Ancient Eight, the results have panned out predictably: Cornell will clinch the Ivy bid, Harvard and Princeton will battle for a post-season tournament, and the rest of the Ivies will fight for respectability.
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The Cheap Sheet, the sports blog of Wilmington NC Star News, writes,
Giddy. Giddy, I tell you. The most wonderful time of the year has arrived. The first trip to the NCAA tournament goes down Friday evening, as Cornell should clinch the Ivy League title in the only league that doesn’t have a tournament for its postseason automatic bid. Some people think it’s cool, some people don’t. It’s the Ivy League, they’re a little different than everyone anyway, so it’s status quo in my book. Good on ‘em.
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Bloomberg.com discusses ESPN bracketologist Seve Lunardi’s projections about Cornell’s seeding. On Cornell’s chances of advancing in the tournament:
“They are very good, but so are most of the teams they will be playing against,” Lunardi said. “I’m not as optimistic as I once was.”
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The Iowa Hawkeyes were lamenting the recording of a “12 trillion” by one of their players until they learned that they had been outdone by Harvard, Northwestern, and Mississippi Valley State.
Apparently Devan Bawinkel Is Nowhere Near The Greatest Trillionaire Of Them All
The 12 trillion by Winks is the longest by a Big Ten player this season by five minutes.
It is tied for the second-longest by any Division I player this season. Jeff Georgatos of Harvard had a 13 trillion earlier this season against Princeton.
Since 1996-97, the longest by any Hawkeye is 12 trillion. Winks has now done it twice in his career (also 1/24/2009 vs. Penn State). The other Hawkeye to accomplish this is Kurt Spurgeon on 1/10/2004 against Northwestern.
Since 1996-97, the longest by any Big Ten player is 14 trillion by Nate Pomeday of Northwestern on 1/17/1998 against Wisconsin.
Since 1996-97, the longest by any Division I player is a 31 trillion (!) by Elvis Robinson of Mississippi Valley State on 1/3/2001 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
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Intro by Bill Bradley.