mountainred
Masters Student
Posts: 513
Age: 57
Loc: Charleston, WV
Reg: 04-11-10
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03-13-11 04:13 PM - Post#100614
After 2 and a half months of depressing basketball, the month of February offers some hope. You can make a good case that Cornell was playing as well as anyone in the league not named Harvard or Princeton in February. Of course that doesn't get you anything, especially after being swept by Columbia and losing at Dartmouth.
Cornell remained way to reliant on 3 point shooting (#3 in the nation at the end of the year), but was only the #44 shooting team (Unlike last year's #1). The inside game came around a little with Mark Coury down the stretch (happy for his last month) but our "bigs" still like playing out on the wing. The mid-range or penetration game was non-existent except for Peck's good days. Defensive efficiency was #250 in the nation, which is obviously not a winning stat.
Injuries were a factor (Osgood missed half the season, Wrobo was never fully healthy, Tarwater and Gatlin missed most of the year) but every team has to fight through that.
This year's team was remarkably poor in close games: 2-10 in games decided by 5 pts or fewer. I'm sure if the mark was 10-2 I would take it as a sign of great team character. At 2-10, I think it was a combination of inexperience at most positions (including coach) and bad luck.
Still not sure what to make of Coach Courtney. His end of the year starting line-up made no sense, but seemed to work. His bench coaching was a work in progress, but it was his first ever year in the big chair. I'm convinced that Courtney wants to play a style not suited to the personnel he inheriented (Figini, Chermerninksi and Groebe aren't full-court defenders).
Not saying much that isn't well-known, so I guess this season is still too fresh. Courtney has a class of eight (counting the two injured freshman), so I expect every role on next year's team but starting PG to be in play. Tomic and LaMore will have plenty of time available as Cornell's only losses are on the inside.
The more I read about Galel Cancer, the more excited I am to see him play. Seems like a special kid out of a great program. I'm really expecting him to see a ton of action next season.
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