mountainred
Masters Student
Posts: 514
Age: 57
Loc: Charleston, WV
Reg: 04-11-10
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02-26-12 04:12 PM - Post#122581
With two games left, it looks like Cornell will improve from a 10-18, 6-8 team tied for 5th in the league to a 12-16, 7-7 team that is alone in 5th (assuming a split this upcoming weekend). But KenPom is not as impressed as he has Cornell actually regressing a little bit, from #191 to #206 with a similar drop in the team's actual rating. (Though I think he showed some improvement before Saturday night's debacle in New Haven). Personally, I think Cornell is better than last year, but not by much, or pretty much what KenPom said Saturday morning.
Cornell's problems have been well-documented here: limited inside presence which leads to , and they rely too poor rebounding and an overreliance on their perimeter game which means no easy points at the foul line. What I didn't expect was how poorly this team shoots, Cornell's efg% is the worst of any of the seasons KenPom tracks. Consequently, the Big Red has struggled offensively pretty much all season. Cornell's defense was pretty good in its first turn around the league (reaching a top 100 rating), but in the second trip it has regressed to just barely above average. That is concerning.
Before the season, I had thought if Cornell was going to improve they needed the newcomers to establish themselves because a talent infusion was needed. With two games left, we have a mixed bag at best. Miller is a legitimate stud and a favorite (if not the favorite) for ROY. He may not wind up the best player in this year's class, but he should be in the conversation. Tarwater (basically a newbie because he lost so much of last seson with mono) looks like a fine rotation guy. Cancer is toolsy but his PT trend is going in the wrong direction. And no one else has been able to get consistent minutes. While I am far from writing any of the frosh off, right now only Miller has established himself as a potential Ivy League star.
In short, I think Cornell is improving from last year, but not at the same rate as the rest of the league. And 2010 looks a lot further away.
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