February 8, 2010

A week after climbing into the Top 25 of a national poll for the first time in nearly 60 years, two of the streaks Cornell used to position themselves among the nation's elite were snapped.  On Friday, the Red allowed Yale to shoot 48 percent from the field.  It was the first time in 10 games that a Cornell opponent shot better than a 40 percent clip.  On Saturday, the Red trailed by as many as 8 late in the first half.  Cornell had not been down in nearly a month since South Dakota led by a point on January 8, about 2 minutes before the half.

Despite a defense that struggled at times in both games (Brown also shot better than 40 percent from the field) and an offense that couldn't buy a bucket from the outside on Saturday, Cornell kept their most important streak alive and won their 7th and 8th games in a row.

But even with an unprecedented pair of sellouts and back to back wins, the crowd was in no way the same raucous group that they had been a week before.  And the energy that was lacking in the stands was at times mirrored on the court.

"It's funny in this league.  Sometimes you look at the fourth game at home and sometimes everyone losses their edge a little bit.  The fans aren't as enthusiastic, the kids aren't as excited," Cornell head coach Steve Donahue said.

It wasn't just the fourth game in the homestand though that was without the same electric, championship game-esque atmosphere as the 36-point drubbing of Harvard seven days earlier; the third game was lackluster as well.  Even with a 19 point win over Yale, Newman Nation wasn't as loud, the dunks weren't as emphatic and the emotion in the arena wasn't quite as raw.

It's tough to call it a let down weekend for the Big Red when they came away with a pair of double digit wins, but looking back that's just what it was.  The effort was there, it always is in college basketball (unlike the NBA, but that's another tangent for another time), but the excitement was not.  Despite the perfectly packaged, "it's a 14 game round robin tournament, every game matters as much as the next" lines that Donahue and Co. swear by, it's hard to believe that the Big Red got up for these two like they did against Harvard.  Neither did the fans.  Neither did the media.

The college basketball buzz surrounding Ithaca last weekend was unlike anything it had seen in recent history.  Sure, back-to-back Ivy League championships and trips to the NCAA Tournament generated a small scale media frenzy (by Ancient Eight basketball standards), but it wasn't the same.  The Washington Post came.  The Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated chimed in.  Many of the leading college basketball blogs and websites were in the house this time.

The game had been billed as the most titanic clash in league history.  And when it was all over, even though the players and coaches wouldn't say it, it felt like the Red had just accomplished something monumental.  As someone who has been around the program for 3 years now, the only feeling I can really compare it to was when Cornell clinched the league title each of the last 2 years.  Obviously, being the favorite, there was no court storming, no singing we are the champions, no cutting down the nets, but somehow a win just four games into Ivy play had a similar feeling.

The last two times the team, the school and Ithaca as a whole had it, there was no opportunity for a let down the following week.  Two years ago, the first undefeated conference slate in Cornell history was still unfinished.  Last year, revenge had Cornell seeing red as they took on Princeton who had embarrassed them in a 20 point loss earlier in the season.

This year though, with a pair of teams in the bottom half of the league coming to Newman Arena for the encore performance, it was a tough act to follow energy-wise.   Senior center, Jeff Foote called the first half performance against Brown "complacent" and later mused that because Brown and Yale weren't particularly highly touted teams the Red might not have been as hyped up for these games as previous ones.

Obviously, this year there is plenty left to play for, probably more than there ever has been before, and the Red realize that.  Another Ivy banner in the rafters is far from secured.  After Princeton won both at Dartmouth and Harvard, the league race is still very much alive.  A single digit seed could also be in the cards if the Big Red avoid any slip ups the rest of the way.  More pressing is that Cornell has also yet to prove to themselves that they can navigate what Donahue repeatedly calls the toughest part of the schedule: full Ivy road weekends.

Going to the two biggest gyms in the Ivy League to play traditional powers Penn and Princeton on Friday and Saturday respectively, the Red will have a chance to take another step towards all three.  And even after a couple of let down games, the Red are no worse off going into their first true league weekend away from the friendly confines of Newman Arena.  Donahue thinks the trip will be good for them.  "I like to get back on the road," he said.  "Hostile environment.  We'll have an edge. We'll play.  I'm looking forward to that."