The Boston Globe and the Harvard Crimson both profile Harvard’s Pat Magnarelli.
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The Columbia Spectator profiles Columbia seniors Kevin Bulger, Patrick Foley, and Niko Scott.
Kevin Bulger, Patrick Foley, and Niko Scott have left an indelible mark on the Columbia program with their efforts both on and off the court. In the two years before they came to Morningside Heights, the Lions were a combined 7-21 in Ivy League play. Now they have a chance to be the first group of seniors since the class of 1979 to finish in the top four of the Ivy League standings all four years. Only their final two games in the Light Blue jersey stand in their way.
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The Columbia Spectator’s Bart Lopez argues that Cornell may be a better team, but Columbia is not far behind in individual talent. This is a follow-up to an earlier column in which he argued that Columbia athletes simply needed a little swagger.
While watching Cornell and Harvard trounce Columbia here at Levien, I couldn’t help but think that while these teams were good, they weren’t THAT good… However, those that posted the comments, primarily Cornell fans, disagreed. So I decided to find someone who is a better judge of talent than I am. Who could possibly have a better basketball eye than me? An NBA scout, of course…
“In the Ivy League, generally, there is not that big of a difference in talent level. Sure, there’s going to be some team that gets a couple of freshmen that comes in at a little higher level, and over the next three or four years, that team is going to do better. But after watching Ivy League basketball for several years, to say that there is a talent level distribution that’s obvious, I can’t make that comment,” The Scout said.
… “This particular Cornell team is very similar to some of the past Penn teams that won a championship for maybe two years in a row,” The Scout said. “It’s a combination of a couple of guys that as juniors and seniors are a little bit more talented than most of the guys in the Ivy League, but it goes beyond that. … There’s a confidence factor. They were successful last year and most of them were back, and absolutely they play the game at a high level, which you have to give a lot of credit to the coaches—they are very well coached.”
“Columbia is what we call ‘non-finishers,’” The Scout said. “They do good things—they work the offense, they get somebody a pretty good shot. … But when they go in to complete and finish the play, on a play that they look like they should finish, there are too many times in the game where they don’t score.”
I attributed this inability to finish to a lack of mental toughness, which I explained with swagger.
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Cam Martin of ESPN’s Page 2 writes:
Princeton, which made a name for itself in college basketball with its patented offense of screens and backdoor cuts, lost to Cornell on Friday when the Big Red used its patented offense of scoring more points than the other team.
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College Hoops Journal posts some tidbits from chat with ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, including,
Cornell will be disappointed by its seed. “They’ve receded from the buzz they had after the near-miss from Kansas.” He thinks the Big Red will be an 11 or a 12. Would Cornell fans really be angry with an 11?
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Kyle Whelliston of the Mid Majority writes,
But Cornell, easily the best team the Ivy League will send to the Big Dance in at least 30 years, will be the only team at the NCAA Tournament that hasn’t experienced the urgency of an elimination game — that motivating fear of failure that makes those last-minute free throws, that last time-out huddle, so charged with tension. Maybe the Big Red is so good, it doesn’t need all that, and it’s able to do something it hasn’t done before.
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The Daily Pennsylvanian insists that despite having no shot at the title, the Quakers will not quit going into their final three games.
“These three games — we’re treating it like a championship,” sophomore point guard Zack Rosen said. “I love the game. You only get so many [games as a player].”
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Intro by Bill Bradley.