“Big Step” for Big Red is No Upset

Sam Aleinikoff

December 23, 2009

St. John’s didn’t play their game.  Cornell shot lights out.  A little used Senior had the game of his life.  You can splice it any way you want and call it a fluke.

It seems improbable.  An Ivy League team, led by a senior forward who scored a total of 31 points in his first three collegiate years, toppled a Big East squad on the cusp of reviving college basketball in New York City.  Improbable, but plausible.  Upsets happen in college basketball.

But what about the possibility that Cornell over St. John’s isn’t an upset; that on Monday night, at Madison Square Garden, Cornell was the best team on the court?

After the game, St. John’s head coach, Norm Roberts, said of Cornell, “They can beat anybody.”  When asked if they could take down a 3 seed in the tournament, he said yes without hesitation.  Norm Roberts knows it and it’s time for others to take notice too.

With the win over St. John’s, Cornell has now beaten teams from the SEC, Big East and Atlantic 10.  Against BCS conference opponents they are .500.  We’re not talking about victories over a hapless UCLA squad (that has already lost to Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton) or an Auburn team that couldn’t hold their own court against Troy.  The Big Red have gone punch for punch with four major conference schools that have legitimate NCAA at-large bid aspirations.

On Monday night, the biggest fluke in The Garden may have been the margin of defeat for the Red Storm.  Consider this:

- The Cornell bench that averages close to 20 points a game notched just 6 against the Johnnies.

- The Big Red’s leading scorer, Ryan Wittman, shot an uncharacteristically cold 25% from the field and scored 8 points below his season average.

- After four consecutive games with assist to turnover ratios of at least 2 to 1, 2008 Ivy League Player of the year, Louis Dale posted an even 5 giveaways and 5 helpers.  Dale also played sparingly down the stretch after injuring his right leg in the second half.

- Senior Forward Alex Tyler, who has been a starter since his Sophomore year, was ineffective, posting no points and a lone rebound in just his second game back since missing nearly a month with a leg injury.

Still, Cornell was able to erase an 11 point first half deficit and a 46 game drought against Big East opponents.

What if the entire Big Red squad had been firing on all cylinders?  Maybe Roberts wouldn’t have felt the need to qualify his comment that Cornell could beat anybody in the nation with “maybe not Kansas or those guys.”

Before the season began, when I asked Cornell Head Coach, Steve Donahue about his back-breaking non-conference schedule,  he said that he wanted to give his team the opportunity to know where they stand among the nations best.  After competing against the 32nd ranked opening slate in the country, Donahue and company have gotten their anwser.  They stand at 9-2 and consistently in the top 5 of the mid-major rankings.  They also stand though, on the periphery of national attention.

Twitter and blog posts from the national media have briefly commented on the high profile Cornell victories thus far.  ESPN Bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, moved Cornell up from a 13 to an 11 seed in his most recent NCAA Tournament field projections following a convincing win over St. Joe’s.

Following Monday night’s victory, Cornell Center, Jeff Foote, said that to beat St. John’s in their own backyard was “a big step” for the Cornell program.  Getting the first win over a Big East team in 40 years was no doubt “a big step,” but it was also a step that the Big Red were ready to make.  With a road date at Kansas looming on January 6th and another possible NCAA tournament berth, Cornell has the opportunity to prove Roberts wrong and take an even larger step; this time, into the national spotlight.