mountainred
Masters Student
Posts: 513
Age: 57
Loc: Charleston, WV
Reg: 04-11-10
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11-27-10 11:07 PM - Post#89789
By a total of 10 points.  The losses aren't embarassing by any stretch -- St. Bona (137), @ Lehigh (196) and @ BU (118) -- and playing these games will help as the season progresses. But with Minnesota and Syracuse on tap, 2-6 at the exam break looms. The second half of the OOC schedule, however, is much more manageable. Some thoughts in my usual windy style:
Positives -- Defense. It's not the pressure Courtney talked about when he was hired, but the Red is making teams work to hit shots. The last three opponents have shot 34%, 30% and 37%. Thrown in 15 TO's a game (CU's average) and you can win some games. Only concern is the team is averaging 20 fouls a game. That number is slightly inflated due to late game intentionals, but it is still concerning. BU survived by hitting FT after FT.
Three point shooting. It may not be coming from a consistent source, but 36 percent (counting the awful 5-24 against the Hall) is acceptable. Opponents are hitting just 29%.
Weaknesses -- Rebounding. Cornell still hasn't won the battle of boards. The two wins came when the rebounds were tied. The worst was St. Bona who got 14 offensive boards to 3 for Cornell. Again, BU seemed to get as many possessions as they needed down the stretch Saturday.
2 point shooting. The stats are incredible. 5-26 against Bona; 9-29 at Lehigh; 11-28 at BU. The reason is that post players have struggled mightily the last two weeks, there is no mid-range game, and no one is cutting to the basket on a consistent basis. It has resulted insane scoring droughts. One 2 pt FG in the last 8 minutes against Bona and no FG's for 8 minutes down the stretch against Lehigh. Cornell is getting less than 40% of its points from 2 pt fg's, which is just staggerly awful. If the threes aren't falling, this team is really struggling to score.
Wrobo and Ferry are looking more and more like certain starters as Ferry got his first start against BU and had his best game shooting: 8/14 and 6/12 from three. His other stats are negligible, basically place a one in every other stat column, but his man-to-man defense is pretty good. Groebe is oh for his last two games, giving him three oh fers on the season. Other than grabbing a few boards, he doesn't help in enough different ways to survive that kind of shooting. Miles A-A remains a defensive replacement only. Gray has basically disappeared since playing surprisingly well his first two games. Jake Matthews has 6 assists to two TO's in limited playing time. I'm interested in seeing if Gray and Matthews can see more court time.
In the post, Osgood has struggled now that tape is out and he missed the BU game with a minor injury. Coury is Coury. Figini is the #3 post player and I think Courtney wants to give him more time, if for no other reason than to have some returning minutes at the position next year, but Josh really likes to float outside the three point line.
At forward, Wire has been ridiculous. At 6'5" he leads the team in rebounding, has double the offensive boards of Osgood and Coury combined, is second in assists, and leads the team in steals. He's also first in fouls (3.5 a game). But he's playing as many minutes as possible. The other forward remains a problem. Peck has played better, but he's still not shooting well and follows up two good plays with an awful one. Gatlin has showed some flashes, his first half against Lehigh was huge, and may force his way into the lineup at Peck's expense.
Courtney is really struggling to find a consistent line-up with guys who have all-around games. He's playing a lot of three guard sets with Wrobo, Ferry and Groebe, but I have doubts that can work long term unless both Ferry and Groebe get really hot.
I've followed this team since I stepped foot on campus in 1984, and this is still probably one of the better teams over that quarter century. Of course, that's not saying a whole lot. The next three months are certainly going to be interesting.
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gokinsmen
Postdoc
Posts: 3665
Reg: 02-06-10
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Three games, three losses
11-28-10 07:30 PM - Post#89835
In response to mountainred
Though I'm basically a box-score watcher re: Cornell, I actually think Cornell has played pretty well considering Wrobo was banged up (still not 100%?) and it's a rebuilding year. BU looked a lot more athletic than I expected -- that would've been a great W. The Big Red's backcourt is very solid (Wrobo, Groebe, Ferry), but the inside presence just isn't and you're losing nail-biters (then again, that's happening to a lot of Ivies).
It doesn't need to be major production; just consistent enough to keep teams honest. Coury is the senior, so he needs to step up and provide SOME scoring punch or at least better rebounding (esp. offensive boards). Wire has been dynamite on the boards, but something's wrong when a 6-5 guy easily leads the team.
Cornell might just be bound for a year like the 08-09 Tigers -- which ain't so bad. You have a lopsided non-conf record, but gain enough experience to scrap together a solid Ivy run. And who knows if you're technically still "in it" in the final 2-3 games? I mean, Princeton's the favorite and they've looked UGLY at times. And Harvard won big against Colorado...but only squeaked by Bryant. Penn wins a great one at Davidson...and then has that showing at Manhattan.
For now, I just can't see Cornell higher than a close 4th (though I think The Pack's records will be scrunched together), but they could certainly pull off a couple surprises in Ivy play.
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mountainred
Masters Student
Posts: 513
Age: 57
Loc: Charleston, WV
Reg: 04-11-10
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Re: Three games, three losses
11-28-10 08:10 PM - Post#89838
In response to gokinsmen
After watching Coury for a season and change, I just don't think he's going to be a serious scoring threat. He's a perfectly credible Ivy player, but he doesn't have a scorer's touch and expecting him to develop one midway through his senior season probably isn't fair. If Osgood's "jump" proves a mirage, the BR will need a youngster to step up.
I've thought Cornell's high-water mark was 10-4, sweep at home, win at Dartmouth and steal two more road wins. Then, hope for a logjam at the top. Not expecting that, but hoping. My more realistic hope is to finish ahead of Penn and take 3rd. I was a senior in 1988 and watched the basketball team fall by the wayside after that title: I don't want to relive that.
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cornellfan4
Masters Student
Posts: 543
Reg: 12-09-09
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Re: Three games, three losses
11-28-10 09:11 PM - Post#89842
In response to gokinsmen
Though I'm basically a box-score watcher re: Cornell, I actually think Cornell has played pretty well considering Wrobo was banged up (still not 100%?) and it's a rebuilding year. BU looked a lot more athletic than I expected -- that would've been a great W. The Big Red's backcourt is very solid (Wrobo, Groebe, Ferry), but the inside presence just isn't and you're losing nail-biters (then again, that's happening to a lot of Ivies).
It doesn't need to be major production; just consistent enough to keep teams honest. Coury is the senior, so he needs to step up and provide SOME scoring punch or at least better rebounding (esp. offensive boards). Wire has been dynamite on the boards, but something's wrong when a 6-5 guy easily leads the team.
Cornell might just be bound for a year like the 08-09 Tigers -- which ain't so bad. You have a lopsided non-conf record, but gain enough experience to scrap together a solid Ivy run. And who knows if you're technically still "in it" in the final 2-3 games? I mean, Princeton's the favorite and they've looked UGLY at times. And Harvard won big against Colorado...but only squeaked by Bryant. Penn wins a great one at Davidson...and then has that showing at Manhattan.
For now, I just can't see Cornell higher than a close 4th (though I think The Pack's records will be scrunched together), but they could certainly pull off a couple surprises in Ivy play.
Cornell hasnt played well, they played well against Delaware, that was about it. I think you are right Cornell could peak at #4 but I think Columbia gets into the top 4. Wrobo has had a rough 2 last games and Groebe is very streaky he is either 4-6 or 0-6. Ferry has developed into a consistently solid 3 shooter over the last few games. The offense is just tough to watch, they sit on the perimeter, pass the ball around a few times and someone eventually takes a 3. Every once in awhile they might make a pass to a guy inside. Courtney has emphasized defense and I am wondering if he has overemphasized it at the cost of hurting our offense.
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