scoop85
Freshman
Posts: 62
Loc: Goshen, NY
Reg: 02-16-12
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03-12-23 12:43 PM - Post#353850
After a strong non-conference performance featuring a convincing win at Colgate and the near miss at Miami, we got off to a great start in the Ivies, highlighted by the home win against Yale. But that was the high-water mark of the season, and we all know the struggles down the stretch.
Most of the roster is back next year, as the only contributors graduating being Dolan and Filien. Filien had a nice senior season a bit out of nowhere, and Dolan was generally our best player, but we should have enough pieces back to remain competitive in an ever-improving Ivy League. Williams, Manon, Gray, Hansen, Ragland, Watson and Boothby gives us a nice nucleus, although if Boothby doesn’t regain his 3 point touch he doesn’t bring much value. Hopefully guys like Cain and Kiachian can take a step to improve our inside presence. Interesting that both Noard and Nix got some time yesterday after having been limited to garbage time previously, and I’d expect both of them to be in the rotation next year. Our incoming recruits seem similar to what we’ve been bringing in, guys with primarily low-major offers. Imegwu has played well for Blair Academy and brings some much needed size.
But to become a fixture of the true upper tier of the Ivies, it seems to me that we need to ramp up our recruiting to more closely match what Princeton, Yale, and (underachieving) Harvard have been doing. These other teams are routinely bringing in 3 star and sometimes 4 star guys, while we get players who may have a handful or mid and low-major offers. This is especially true in the front court, as we lack muscle inside. While we can knock off those teams on occasion, I don’t see us having quite enough to win the league.
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mountainred
Masters Student
Posts: 514
Age: 57
Loc: Charleston, WV
Reg: 04-11-10
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03-13-23 10:48 AM - Post#354039
In response to scoop85
Yeah, I needed some time to recover from closing the season 3-7. 17 wins really is a lot for this program. I can only count 10 or season past seasons with that many and I'm pretty sure the last time Cornell won 17 and did not win the league was.....1967. Which also means it has only happened 5 times in half a century. That has to be a good season.
Plus, I think the KenPom rating peaked at 102 and will finish in the 140s -- the best final rating except for the title run.
My rough estimate is that 75% of the minutes return, so next year should be good. Donlan is a loss, and his late slump correlated with our the team's (which caused which, I don't know) and Filien was in many ways the one guy who liked playing defense in the low post. We'll miss him.
I think we know, largely, what to expect from the rising seniors. Boothby shot 47% from behind the arc in league play, so I'm optimistic we'll see him on form next year.
Of the rising juniors, Williams is a stud, Ragland is skilled but frustrating (took the most three pointers on the team, hit barely a quarter of them). We'll need Cain and Kiachian need to step up; both showed flashes, but nothing consistent.
This year's freshmen remain a mystery to me. Baldwin got the most minutes and he will likely be fine, but there was nothing about his game that flashed to me.
That said, he was arguably the best player for us in the season-ender. Nix continues to intrigue me, his list of offers was the best of any recruit from the Earl era, but his lack of PT was concerning. Noard strikes me as a hard-worker who will be a good rotation guy (you need those). Hinton was 5 for 5 from behind the arc.
I trust Earl on the X's and O's, but so far his recruiting is, at best, fair. Most years he can pull one really good player (Dolan, Manon, Williams) and some guys who fit the system. Not sure I see the really good player in this year's recruiting class (maybe Ike?). That's probably good enough to compete for the ILT, but not a title.
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FlareScreen
Freshman
Posts: 44
Age: 54
Reg: 08-09-19
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03-13-23 01:29 PM - Post#354060
In response to mountainred
I agree with much of what was said above. I think the collapse at the start of the 2nd half was typical of Cornell’s shortcomings, especially in the second half of the Ivy season. Playing 4 guards (Dolan, Williams, Manon, and Gray) to start and switching on all screens is a questionable strategy. Jarvis went right at Gray and got an easy 3-point play to start the half. Cornell took and missed 3 average shots and then Williams turned it over leading to a 12-point run by Yale, game was essentially over. I can’t recall Yale taking more than a couple of average shots the entire game. I realize that Earl wants them to play loose but bad shots against a disciplined team like Yale or Princeton are a recipe for disaster. I thought in the second half of the season the ball had a tendency to stick in Cornell’s hands and they played too much one-on-one. With so many returners being primarily shooters I wonder if they will have enough ball to keep them all happy next season. Recruiting a couple of physical bigs who are able and want to rebound the ball is critical. I like Balwin’s game, especially on the defensive end, and he plays within his skill set. I don’t have much of an opinion on the others but they will get their chance If Earl sticks with his 9-10 player rotation. Overall, a very good season for Cornell basketball IMO.
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