A Blueprint for Success: Cornell Men's Basketball 2009-2010

A BLUEPRINT

FORcornellSUCCESS men’s basketball 2009-2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS: cornell men’s basketball 2009-2010 Published by myTEAMBOOK, a division of MomentumMedia/MAG, Inc., in conjunction with Cornell University Athletic Department.

All rights reserved ©2010 by myTEAMBOOK/MAG, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

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Thank you Steve Donahue and the 2009-10 Cornell men’s basketball team.

Thank you for inspiring us. Thank you for reminding us that when you combine talent and dedication, passion, teamwork and leadership, you can achieve great things.

You won your third straight Ivy League championship and set a record for most wins in one season by an Ivy League team. You became the first Cornell team to win a game in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and you made it to the Sweet Sixteen. You didn’t just win two NCAA games against major conference powers—you dominated them. You made national headlines and earned the respect and admiration of the college basketball experts in the process.

The 2009-10 season was special for all of these accomplishments. And it was special for another reason: everything that had been imagined for this Big Red team, every aspiration that had been put down as a goal or objective before the season began, came to fruition.

Coach Donahue knew that the 2009-10 season had the potential to be unlike any other in Cornell history—and therefore, he set up for the season differently. A harder schedule to challenge the team like never before. Greater depth on the team to make practices more competitive and provide options during games. Plenty of senior

leadership to keep the players composed in pressure situations. Coach Donahue went for it, carefully planning the steps to take toward winning an NCAA game, gaining recognition among college basketball (experts or fans), achieving all that this great group of players was capable of achieving.

In other words, he put together a Blueprint For Success.

The 2009-10 campaign was so special because everything went according to the Blueprint. And that is so rare in sports.

Years from now, when the players and coaching staff and Cornell fans look back at the 2009-10 Big Red basketball season, they will remember wins again major conference powers, capturing a third straight Ivy title against its toughest competition yet, and making national headlines with their NCAA Tournament success.

The players will remember the laughs they shared, and how they inspired so many people. They will remember that they gave it all to try and achieve more success than any other team in Cornell basketball history. And in terms of what they got back, they, as well as the fans, couldn’t have asked for anything more.

by Mark Goldberg Publisher of A Blueprint for Success, Former Cornell Sports Information Assistant Director ‘81, Cornell Basketball Team Manager 1977-81

The 2009-2010 season

was highlighted by the following accomplishments:

Undefeated (4-0) 2009 Legends Classic Madison Square Garden 2009 Holiday Classic Champions

Nonconference wins over Wisconsin,

First Ivy League team to get to the Sweet

Sixteen since 1979

Led the nation in three-point shooting and

finished in the nation’s top five for three-point shooting for the third consecutive season

Temple, Alabama, St. John’s, UMass, St. Joseph’s, La Salle, Vermont, Drexel, Davidson and Bucknell

Advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2010

Third consecutive Ivy League Championship and NCAA Tournament Automatic Bid

Final No. 4 Ranking CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Coaches’ Top 25 Poll

Set record for most wins ever by an Ivy

Final No. 17 Ranking ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Top 25 Poll

League team

NCAA Tournament

THANK YOU FROM THE PUBLISHER 1

Accolades to Coach Steve Donahue and the Big Red

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & PHOTO CREDITS 4-5

Many people enjoyed the production of this book

Table of Contents

A SPECIAL ERA IN THE MAKING 8-11

10 years of hard work with contributions by many

SETTING THE TONE 12-13

The Big Red showed vs. Alabama that it was tired of “close calls”

THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION 14-16

Legends Classic 4-0 slate the result of grit and experience

JAQUES’ HARD WORK IS REWARDED 17

Senior forward Jon Jaques’ free throws seal win over Drexel

MAGNIFICENT AT THE “MECCA” 18-21

Visit to famous Madison Square Garden produced historic results

THROWING A BIG “RED” SCARE 22-25

Cornell makes headlines in near-win at No. 1 Kansas

MAKING A STATEMENT 26-27

A clash with upstart Harvard proved to be no contest

RANKED BIG RED 28-29

25th ranked team shows sneak preview of March success

FRUSTRATION IN PHILLY 30-31

Penn’s “ready to play” performance resulted in Cornell road loss

GUT CHECK 32-33

Rebounding from Penn loss, Big Red showed the grit of a champion at Princeton

STAYING FOCUSED 34

Cornell stayed on course in front of packed-house at Harvard

COULD CORNELL BE THIS YEAR’S CINDERELLA? 35

Not the same team that lost in 2009 NCAA first round

A GLORIOUS SEND-OFF 36-37

Newman sweep of Princeton and Penn sends seniors out in style

THREE-PEAT COMPLETE 38-39

The Big Red wrapped up Ivy title with wins at Brown and Yale

SELECTION SHOW SPECIAL 40-42

Cornell learned its NCAA seeding alongside more than 1,500 fans

2 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

42 I’M GOING WITH CORNELL

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas predicts Big Red success in tournament

44-47 PREPARATION PAYS OFF

History made in Jacksonville with first Cornell win in NCAA tournament

48 ENJOYING THE MOMENT

Win over Temple was four years in the making

50-51 DON’T BE AFRAID TO FALL IN LOVE WITH CORNELL

SI writer Andy Staples writes why Big Red could still be dancing next week

52-55 NOT DONE YET

Cornell achieves goal with complete dismantling of Wisconsin

58-59 “AFTER THIS, IT’S NOTHING BUT BABIES AND MEMORIES”

Louis Dale’s “now famous” post-game remarks after win over Wisconsin

63-65 GOAL “READJUSTED”

Cornell sets its sights on Sweet Sixteen and No. 1 Kentucky

66 STUDENTS OF THE GAME

Ivy Leaguers receive raves from national media

68-69 BIG RED IS A THROWBACK TO A BYGONE ERA Playing basketball in the Ivy League

70 -73 THE END TO A GREAT RIDE

Magical season closes in a dreamlike setting vs. talented Kentucky

74-75 RELISH THE MOMENT

It hurts, but there are worst things in life than losing to a No. 1 team

76-77 A SHOW OF ADMIRATION

Team returns to a large reception of fans just wanting to say thanks

78-79 CHAMPIONS OFF THE COURT TOO

Coach Donahue taught the value of helping others in the community

80-81 A HOUSE UNITED

Fifteen teammates enjoy team chemistry living in one house

82-85 STEVE DONAHUE: A UNIQUE COACH

Coach”D” energized the Cornell community with his caring and passion

86 THE YEAR IN STATS

Game by game statistics

87 THE ROSTER

2009-10 Men’s Basketball team members & coaches

88 THE NEXT CHAPTER

Great success will continue for Cornell Basketball

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 3

Acknowledgements The making of “Cornell Men’s Basketball 2009-10: A Blueprint For Success” is quite similar to the making of the Big Red’s season itself—many talented people contributed a lot of hard work and passion to produce amazing results.

Senior tri-captain Jon Jaques wrote the regularseason game and NCAA Tournament sections, as well as four other sections. During his career, Jon wrote a blog on the Big Red team for the New York Times web site. He was certainly an integral part of Cornell’s success in 2009-10 season, and we were extremely fortunate to recap the season through his eyes and perspective as a player. Jon is as gifted a writer as he is a basketball player.

Natalie Couch did a tremendous job designing this book. She was not a Cornell basketball fan before we started working on this project, but quickly became one as she poured into the work and her appreciation for the team’s efforts is evident. She did so much to make this a special book.

Cornell Sports Information Director Jeremy Hartigan wrote the opening section and helped in creating the content and collection of materials. All of the media

4 2009-10 2009-10 CORNELL CORNELL MEN’S MEN’S BASKETBALL BASKETBALL 4

attention featured in this book is due in a large part to Jeremy’s tireless efforts as SID. Dave Wohlhueter, former Cornell Sports Information Director, contributed to the book in many ways. This is yet another example of Dave’s love and devotion to Cornell athletics, and it’s an honor to have his involvement on this project. Special thanks to Cornell Director of Athletics Andy Noel for his support of this book.

The book includes many fabulous photos, and a large percentage of the photos were supplied by Patrick Shanahan. You can purchase copies of the photos taken

by Patrick by emailing him: patrick@ shanahanphoto.com. Thanks also to the Ithaca Journal and sportswriter Brian Delaney for contributing to the book. We have included several excerpts from articles that Brian wrote in covering the Big Red’s amazing run.

We would also like to thank the Cornell Basketball Blog (www.cornellbasketball. blogspot.com) for its comprehensive coverage of Cornell basketball. The web site made researching the content for the book much easier, and we are grateful for this resource.

photo credits pg.1 (vs. Wisconsin: Cornell players celebrate) US Presswire/Kim Klement pg.2-3 (Cornell Big Red Machine Basketball) AP Photo/Matt Slocum pg.6-7 Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.8-9 (top left photo: Newman, Foote celebrates) AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli, All others: from Cornell archive pg.10-11 (Donahue raises number one) US Presswire/Howard Smith, (vs.Davidson celebration) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.12-13 (all 3 photos) University of Alabama/Alex Gilbert pg.14-15 (all 3 photos) Mark Jordan pg.16 (all 3 photos) Mark Jordan pg.17 (top left: Jaques) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan, (bottom right:Foote) Mark Jordan pg.18 (top 2 photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.19 (bottom 2 phtoos) Mark Jordan pg.20-21 (all 5 photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.22-25 (all 7 vs. Kansas photos) Cornell/Laura Jacobson pg.26-29 (all 7 vs. Harvard photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.30-31 Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.32-33 (all 3 vs. Princeton photos) Princeton Athletics/Beverly Schaefer pg.34-35 Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.36-37 Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.38 (top left: Foote slam dunk) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan, (top right: Foote, Jaques, Dale) US Presswire/Kim Klement pg.39 from Cornell archive pg.40-41 (Selection Sunday) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.42 (from vs. Temple) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.43 (top: Selection Sunday) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan, (bottom: Foote & Wittman) AP Photo/Steve Helber pg.44-47 (all 6 vs. Temple photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.48- 49 (top: Donahue hugs Foote) US Presswire/Kim Klement, (bottom: vs. Temple) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.50-51 (2 photos: vs. Temple) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.52-55 (all 8 vs. Wisconsin photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.56 (vs. Wisconsin: Cornell players celebrate) US Presswire/Kim Klement pg.57 (Foote slam dunk) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.59 (celebration vs. Wisconsin) AP Photo/Steve Helber pg.60-61 (screenshots of websites) ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, SI.com, & CBSSports.com pg.62 (both photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.64-65 (both photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.66 (Wittman celebrates with Coach D) US Presswire/Kim Klement pg.68-75 (all 11 vs. Kentucky photos) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.76-77 (post-season celebration) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.78-79 (bottom left of 78) AP Photo/Steve Helber, (bottom right of 78) Cornell Sports Info. Dept., (79) AP Photo/Steve Helber pg.81 (Cornell Big Red Machine Basketball) AP Photo/Matt Slocum pg.82 (top left: Donahue cuts net) AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli, (top right: Donahue contemplates on court) AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, (bottom left: Donahue in vs. Syracuse) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan pg.83 (Donahue celebrates vs. Wisconsin win) AP Photo/Steve Helber pg.84-85 (left: Donahue in vs. Syracuse) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan, (middle: Donahue on sideline) Mark Jordan, (Donahue celebrates 07-08 season) Cornell Archives pg.87 09-10 Team Photo) Cornell pg.88 (vs. Harvard at Newman) Cornell/Patrick Shanahan

BEHIND THE 5 A BLUEPRINT FORBLUEPRINT SUCCESS 5

6 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

The two-week NCAA Tournament run

that had captivated college basketball and made the Big Red “America’s Team” may have ended that night in Syracuse, but its impact on Cornell Basketball will last forever.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 7

The 2009-10 team’s phenomenal success was the result of 10 years of hard work with contributions by many

by Jeremy Hartigan

T

wo years into the Steve Donahue era, there was very little indication to outsiders that the greatest run in Cornell basketball history was imminent. Even six years into Coach Donahue’s tenure, few would have guessed the amazing 200910 season was right around the corner. The tangible results—significant gains in the win column—were slow to come, though there was consistent improvement.

At many other universities, patience from the administration for such slow progress would wear thin. But that wasn’t the case with the administrators at Cornell.

8 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

That’s because there were signs in areas off the court that a foundation was being built by Coach Donahue and his staff. The players were achieving in the classroom and in the community. The camaraderie among the guys was outstanding. Those inside the circle knew it was a matter of time before the wins would come in bigger bunches, and that there would be chances for an Ivy League title. Coach Donahue had a blueprint for success and, like pieces to a puzzle, those pieces were falling into place.

No one, though, would have guessed that during the 2009-10 season, the Cornell basketball team would be arguably the top story of one of the greatest team events in sports: the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Schools without a basketball pedigree seemingly only become a national story for the wrong reasons. Academic scandals, point-shaving, off-court problems seem to lead the way.

The Cornell basketball program did things the right way and was rewarded with the love and admiration of people throughout the country, including many who had little desire to follow any basketball game. Many admirers came to the table during the Sweet Sixteen. The Cornell-Kentucky NCAA regional semifinal game was the most-watched tournament game outside of the Final Four, and at one point, Cornell basketball was one of the top 10 searched terms on Google...in the entire world.

There were many moments along the way that led to Cornell’s third-consecutive Ivy League title and remarkable NCAA Tournament run in 2009-10.

A life-changing injury to a teammate. A nationally televised barn-burner against an excellent Ivy championship team of seniors at Penn in 2007. A team-building trip to France that summer. A narrow loss at famed Cameron Indoor Arena.

From young freshmen with potential, to strong, confident and savvy upperclassmen with talent—as the Big Red men’s basketball players grew during the last four years, so too did the crowds. Wins came.

Newman Nation sprung up. More wins came. A buzz began around town. People started recognizing the players outside of Newman Arena. Coach Donahue was offered free coffee. People knew the upcoming schedule without looking it up in the newspaper.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 9

Gone were the days of narrow wins over Division III teams. But not long gone. Playing in front of small crowds was history. But not ancient history. To appreciate the 2009-10 season to the fullest, you have to understand from where the program came.

Wisconsin to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, Coach Donahue made a point of mentioning several former players by name to the local, regional and national media assembled. Guys like Ka’Ron Barnes and Cody Toppert, Lenny Collins and Eric Taylor.

In Coach Donahue’s first two seasons, the team’s RPI, one of the best measures of comparing schools across the country, was 292 out of just over 300 programs.

In 2009-10, Cornell was slotted No. 17 in the final national rankings. From the depths of Division I basketball, Donahue lifted the Big Red to the heights of college sports.

Though the writers taking notes had no idea who those players were, and never used their names in the many national stories, those close to the basketball program understood the symbolic acknowledgement.

The culture of Cornell basketball wasn’t built overnight, and many nameless and faceless people contributed to it.

Rarely, if ever, has such a significant jump been made in college basketball. And all of it was done without scholarships or multi-million dollar budgets.

Many had a hand in Cornell’s fabulous 2009-10 season. It was a long time coming, but came at exactly the right time...

Standing in the locker room in Jacksonville, Fla., talking to reporters after the Big Red had defeated

10 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 11

The Big Red showed against Alabama that it was tired of “close calls”

T

he veterans held double-digit halftime leads at local rival Syracuse and at Minnesota during the previous season and were beyond the moral victory label that too often gets placed on near upsets. Going into the season opening trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to face the Alabama Crimson Tide, the team wanted to make a statement, not only to the rest of the country but to itself as well, that it was capable of closing out high-profile games.

If pre-season practices and pickup games demonstrated one thing to the players and coaching staff, it was that the team entered the Alabama game with a swagger and confidence that was not present on the previous Ivy championship squads. The excitement of the new season, the SEC opponent that opened the non-conference schedule, and the confidence gained from playing two-three seasons on the court together had the team itching to get down south from the moment it stepped on campus in the fall. The trip was scheduled, in part, as a homecoming game for senior guard Louis Dale, but the coaching staff also knew this was a unique opportunity to play a challenging, yet winnable game in a hostile environment.

12 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

Cornell started the game strong. The Big Red found itself leading the Crimson Tide 26-20 going into the locker room at halftime. Leading a major conference opponent at the half was familiar territory for the two-time defending champs. Senior tri-captain Jeff Foote reminded his teammates of the heartbreaking losses to Syracuse and Minnesota within seconds of stepping foot in the locker room. The team responded at the beginning of the second half. Back to back threes by Dale and Ryan Wittman opened up a 12-point lead and prompted an Alabama timeout. After withstanding multiple Crimson Tide rallies the rest of the game, Cornell held off Alabama 71-67 to win its first contest over an SEC opponent since beating Arkansas during the 1972-73 season. Foote, who began the season with a 17-point, 7-rebound effort, perfectly summed up the win after the game. “This is a great way to start the season off,” Foote said. “Last season we would have folded. This year we were able to keep our poise and come out with a tough win. We’ve come a long way since last year.”

STORY It is without a doubt the biggest nonconference win Cornell has se had since my class arrived on campus, but although a road win against an SEC opponent is great, probably the most important outcome from Saturday’s game was that after so many near wins, we proved to ourselves that we could close out a tight game against an extremely tough opponent.

by Jon Jaques, New York Times Blog, November 16, 2009

OF CULTURE

After the game, we experienced real Southern hospitality when Dr. Malcolm Portera, the chancellor of the University of Alabama system, graciously hosted us for a barbecue-style dinner.

The meal was unreal. How does this sound?

Spinach and artichoke dip with chips for an appetizer; main course of BBQ pulled pork, hot wings, fried chicken wings, cheddar biscuits and coleslaw; and chocolate pie for dessert. Oh yeah, and Southern sweet tea. The dinner was planned with the help of Dr. Louis Dale Sr., the vice president for equity and diversity at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who is a good friend of the chancellor’s and the grandfather of the Cornell senior and Birmingham native Louis Dale.

CORNELL vs. ALABAMA

a piece

by Jon Jaques, New York Times Blog, November 16, 2009

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 13

Grit and experience pave the way to a 4-0 record in the Legends Classic

N

ot only did this tournament feature some of the top programs in the country, it provided a unique opportunity to essentially play four games for the price of one. Though the setup was unique it was equally frustrating. The round-robin format did not allow the most deserving teams to advance to the final round (The final participants, Rutgers, Michigan State, Massachusetts, and Florida, were predetermined regardless of early round results).

Cornell began the tournament with a trip to Amherst to play the UMass Minutemen of the A10, and it defeated UMass 74-61. Though Louis Dale dominated throughout with a seemingly effortless 24-point outing, the real story was the lift off the bench from the Minuteman-turned-Cornellian, Max Groebe. After transferring to Cornell from UMass and sitting out a year, Groebe demonstrated

14 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

why he was one of the most highly sought-after transfers in the country. In just his second game in a Big Red uniform, Groebe knocked down two huge momentum shifting three pointers that were instrumental in knocking off his former squad.

Despite beating the Minutemen, the Red was destined for a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Drexel University in Philadelphia to play the final three games of the tournament. Thanksgiving dinner away from family and friends back home is something college basketball players quickly become accustomed to, but this season was different in that the Red ate Thanksgiving dinner on the road. A traditional Thanksgiving dinner in the Philadelphia University Marriott prepared the team for its weekend contests versus Toledo, Vermont, and the host, Drexel.

“

It shows the balance of our team that our best player [Wittman], arguably, could have a 1-for-8 shooting night and Geoff Reeves steps in and makes some big shots for us and we still get a pretty big win,” Alex Tyler said.

Each game followed a similar pattern: Tight play early, but the Big Red extended the lead and prevailed in the end thanks to superior experience and skill. Against Toledo, Louis Dale came within one assist and one rebound of the first triple-double in Cornell history and Ryan Wittman poured in 20 points as Cornell prevailed against the pesky Rockets 78-60.

The next day, Cornell faced American East champion Vermont. The Red trailed by 12 early, but played stingy defense throughout and won a 67-59 game over the Catamounts. Due in large part to junior Adam Wire’s career-high 13-rebound effort, Cornell was strong on the glass and overcame a dominent effort from Vermont star forward Marqus Blakely.

In the final contest of the Legends Classic, the Big Red won a defensive struggle over the host Drexel Dragons 61-54 to sweep through all four games of the preseason tournament. Ryan Wittman led the way with 18 points and earned the regional’s Most Valuable Player award. Jon Jaques emerged for the first time during the young season to make two clutch free throws to ice the game and earn all-tournament honors as well. After a grueling stretch of three games in three days in a neutral/away environment, the Red’s grit and experience clearly showed.

“

THE LEGENDS CLASSIC

[umass] balance pays dividends

Four Red players scored in doublefigures. Senior center Jeff Foote picked up his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. However, the real story on the day was senior guard Louis Dale narrowly missing what would have been the first triple-double in Cornell men’s basketball history, falling short by one assist and one rebound.” from Cornell Daily Sun, November 27, 2009

[toledo]

almost a triple-double

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 15

[vermont]

FIVE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS

“

Playing without junior guard Max Groebe and senior forward Alex Tyler, the Red was led offensively by senior guard Louis Dale, Wittman and Foote, who contributed 12 points apiece. Wroblewski and senior guard Geoff Reeves also had 11 points each, placing five Cornell players in double-figures on the day.” from Cornell Daily Sun,

November 30, 2009

“They stuck with what they do best and they picked us apart at the right time in the second half,” Vermont head men’s basketball coach Mike Lonergan.” from Burlington Free Press,

November 28, 2009

THE LEGENDS CLASSIC 16 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

[drexel] Jaques’ Hard Work is Rewarded

A

t the beginning of Sunday’s postgame press conference, minutes after Cornell dispatched Drexel for its third straight win, Steve Donahue got choked up.

The win was nice, but it was no different than any other non-league road victory in November. No one’s season ended.

No dreams were crushed. To those who don’t follow the Big Red, Donahue’s emotions were probably more cause for confusion than anything else.

But they were certainly sincere, evoked by two game-sealing free throws knocked down by Jon Jaques in the final seconds.

Donahue then did the best thing he could think of to reward his senior tri-captain. He selected Jaques to the Legends Classic Philadelphia Subregional all-tournament team.

“He does everything we ask as a teammate and a member of our team, and that’s why we’re good.”

by Brian Delaney Ithaca Journal, November 30, 2009

THE LEGENDS CLASSIC

“I can’t say enough about Jon Jaques,’ Donahue said. ‘I know people were surprised by that, but (deep breath). To me, it’s um, he’s what we’re all about. No one cares about how it gets done, and that kid (deep breath, long pause) ...

Yeah, let me finish with that, just because he’s our captain. Three years of not playing. You don’t know how difficult those two foul shots are for a kid like that. And then to go in and knock them down when we’ve got two guys in foul trouble, a guy hurt and a guy with the flu, he doesn’t miss a beat with everything we do.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 17

The Big Red’s visit to famous Madison Square Garden produced historic results

T

hough the thought of playing two games in what many have called the “Mecca of College Basketball” was exciting enough, the prospect of playing two more games against top teams made this event particularly special. The stage was almost too perfect: New York City, bright lights, historic snowstorm, and Madison Square Garden.

Players were in awe, almost inspired, by the setting they were in but not overwhelmed. Getting on the court early for warm-ups before the opening game against traditional mid-major power Davidson, players were re-enacting scenarios and historic moments of MSG they had seen time and time again on ESPN Classic. There were memories of Jordan’s baseline dunk over Ewing, or Reggie Miller’s single-handed last-minute comeback.

18 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Davidson Wildcats symbolized what Cornell set out to become: a small mid-major team that made a name for itself on the national stage and in the NCAA Tournament. A win over the Wildcats wouldn’t accomplish all of that, but it would be a step in the right direction.

Unlike the grind it out Legends Classic, this game was no defensive struggle. Defensive stops were few and far between, but that may have been because of the offensive execution and prowess of both squads. Jeff Foote dominated inside throughout with 16 points and 14 boards and Ryan Wittman lit it up as usual with 29 points, including 7-16 from beyond the arc. Cornell struggled defending Davidson’s fundamentally sound offense (and learned why so many teams struggled defending Cornell in the process). The

Overtime would produce more of the same: lots of offense and late game heroics for the Big Red. This overtime would go on to produce one of the more miraculous and historic moments in Cornell and Madison Square Garden basketball history.

After trading baskets for the first four minutes of overtime, the Red found itself ahead by one point with less than six seconds remaining. A reach-in foul by Dale put Davidson’s JP Kuhlman at the line

“

THE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL

Red found itself trailing by two points with six seconds left in regulation. Davidson’s Jake Cohen missed two free throws and after a Jeff Foote outlet, Louis Dale, who had gone scoreless in the previous 39 minutes and 54 seconds of the game, drove the length of the court and around each Davidson defender to throw in a leaning lay-up just before time expired.

Ryan Wittman dribbled across the midcourt line and let go a rainbow from about 35 feet straightaway.

It swished, giving him seven 3-pointers and 29 points. ‘To be quite honest, I thought I left it short,’ Wittman said. ‘So I was surprised it went in, but I will take it.’… Cornell coach Steve Donahue didn’t have a doubt. ‘When he has the ball, in situations where he has to make plays, we call his number and to be honest with you, I knew it, when he released it, it was in,’ Donahue said.”

Associated Press

[davidson]

a buzzer-beater long range

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 19

with a chance to tie or take the lead. Kuhlman made the first, but missed the second. After the miss and a couple of outlets, the ball found its way into Wittman’s hands a few strides behind halfcourt.

Two strides, an in-and-out move, and a stroke from 35 feet out that came down pure at the buzzer sent Cornell to the tournament final.

The championship game pitted the Red against familiar foe St John’s. In last season’s preseason NIT, the stronger and more physical Red Storm wore Cornell down in the second half to win going away. This time, the contest was in a virtual road environment against the host Johnnies, who came into the game with an 8-1 record (their only loss

was to eventual national champion Duke).

In front of thousands of alumni, friends, and family the Red overcame an early 11-point deficit with suffocating second half defense to beat St John’s and snap a 46-game losing streak to Big East opponents. Jeff Foote continued to dominate the paint with a 19-point, 11-rebound, five-block effort to earn tournament MVP honors, and Jon Jaques, in only his third career start, took advantage of the sagging defense on the Cornell big man, scoring a career-high 20 points on 5-6 threepoint shooting.

THE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL 20 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

THE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL [st. john’s] Denying the host team “…Playing an Ivy League representative like Cornell figured to be a match-up that would yield St. John’s, appearing in the tournament for the 44th time, its 15th Festival title — especially against a Cornell team which had never won that tournament, and hadn’t played in it since 1970.

Not so fast.

That Ivy League school not only has its superior academic reputation, but it can teach a Big East team like St. John’s a few lessons on the basketball court as well. Such as the values of ball movement, finding teammates, shooting the ball efficiently, possessing a balanced inside-outside offensive attack, solid defense, and being well-coached.

Cornell drew high praise from St. John’s Coach Norm Roberts, who said, “Give them a lot of credit. They made some huge shots.

They’re a good basketball team, without a doubt, [a potentially tough] NCAA Tournament team,” which Roberts added “could beat [almost] any team in the country” when it’s playing as well as it did against St. John’s.”

www.nysportscene.com December 24, 2009

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 21

In almost taking down the number-one Jayhawks, Cornell made headlines

U

p until this point in the season, only the Cornell Big Red players, coaching staff, and those close to the program truly understood the team’s extraordinary potential. But after a trip to America’s heartland and the legendary Phog Allen Fieldhouse to take on the number-one ranked Kansas Jayhawks, that all changed. The Cornell players showed the rest of the country what they knew all along—they can compete with any team in the country, anywhere.

If Madison Square Garden is the Mecca of College Basketball, then Phog Allen is where the sport was born. James Naismith, Phog Allen, Aldoph Rupp, Dean Smith, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, and more legendary teachers of the game have roots in 22 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

Lawrence, KS, and while the Cornell players were able to enjoy the history of the arena, they were not sucked into the mystique of the “Phog” that usually entraps visiting teams when they visit KU; Kansas currently owns an NCAA best 59-game home winning streak.

Outside Phog Allen Fieldhouse, there were blizzard-like conditions that wowed even the guys from snowy Ithaca. Inside the fieldhouse, the Big Red stormed out to an early lead thanks to solid interior defense and timely outside shooting. While Kansas big man Cole Aldrich was used to being an intimidating factor inside, he was not accustomed to battling against an equally skilled and even larger inside force in Jeff Foote. The much ballyhooed prospect didn’t get one clean look at the basket against Foote, allowing the Red to neutralize one aspect of the game the Jayhawks usually dominate.

CORNELL VS. KANSAS

Cornell held its poise

in one of the most intimidating places in college basketball, ignored the rafter-rattling crowd and shook off nearly every challenge from the nation’s No. 1 team.

Only one person stood in the way of a monumental upset by the two-time Ivy League champions: Sherron Collins…“Tonight was like a tournament game,” Collins said. “When things aren’t going good, you just have to find a way to win and I was that way to win. I didn’t want to let us lose and wasn’t going to let us lose.”

USA Today January 2010

At the half, after KU began showing signs of life, the Red clung to a 41-38 lead. Talk in the locker room was not centered on how to hang onto the lead. Coach Donahue made sure the players’ focus was on how to go for the win and shock the country.

In the first few minutes of the second half the Red pushed the lead to as much as eight. While the game started with only a local television audience, the national media, most notably ESPN, interrupted their normal programming to bring coverage of a potential historic upset to millions.

Late in the second half , the Big 12 power finally started playing like the number-one ranked team in the country and the Red began to struggle. The shots that were falling the first 13 minutes wouldn’t drop and Kansas All-American point guard Sherron Collins showed the crunch time poise and experience that made him a national champion two years before. Seemingly every possession over the last few minutes of the ballgame, Collins would drive to the basket and either throw in a ridiculous floater from the key or get bailed out by a foul call.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 23

Still, Kansas didn’t take the lead until there were 41 seconds left when Collins converted on a three-point play. Cornell — despite a few questionable foul calls that are to be expected in a hostile environment—had a chance to pull off the upset, but it was not in the cards. Ryan Wittman just missed on two three-pointers in the final 29 seconds, and a few clutch free throws gave the Jayhawks a 71-66 win in one of the more memorable college basketball games of the year.

Despite the loss and the pained expressions of the players in the locker room immediately following the game, it’s hard to find another loss in the history of Ivy League basketball that had as many positive outcomes for the losing team. The game was painted as a near win instead of a loss in most cases by the national media, and the Red gained more exposure in one night from ESPN, Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated, etc… than it had in all the previous games combined. Furthermore, and without question more importantly, the players’ confidence was at an all-time high after this game—just as Coach Donahue intended when he scheduled the game with Kansas in Lawrence.

After leading the number one team in the country for almost the entire game on the road, no team, no situation, no obstacle would faze the Big Red from this point forward.

Members of the

Northern Iowa team that downed [NCAA Tournament] number-one seed Kansas told the Des Moines Register that they remembered Cornell when going into the game against Kansas: “We kind of remembered what Cornell did to them,” said Northern Iowa guard Kerwin Dunham.

“They weren’t able to pull it out, but we got that film [and studied it]. And Cornell is a very good team and we kind of implemented that game plan.”

IvyBasketballNews.com, March 21, 2010

24 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

“We did everything

we can except win the basketball game,” Cornell coach Steve Donahue said.”

Associated Press, January 6, 2010

CORNELL vs. KANSAS

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 25

A clash with upstart Harvard proved to be no contest

C

ornell began the Ivy League season and defense of its crown in workman-like style, defeating Columbia twice (74-53 and 77-51), and Dartmouth (71-37). But the league race was just about to heat up. Harvard, coming off an impressive non-conference season (wins over Boston College, William & Mary, and a close loss to Connecticut), was becoming a popular pick to usurp Cornell’s throne atop the Ivy League. Media from all over the country packed Newman Arena to witness the two favorites for the Ivy crown: the two-time defending champs, who had the poise, skill, and experience; versus the upstart Crimson, which had a group of exciting young athletes.

Whether immune to the talk of a new favorite or angered by the lack of respect, Cornell came out of the gate possessed in this clash of Ivy unbeatens.

The Big Red pressured the inexperienced Harvard

26 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

freshmen into turnover after turnover with a devastating 1-2-2 full-court press. Those turnovers led to wide-open transition three-pointers for Ryan Wittman, Jon Jaques, Chris Wroblewski, and Louis Dale, and mismatches for Jeff Foote inside. Even Jeremy Lin, Harvard’s star player, seemed flustered by the Red’s defense. Geoff Reeves, Wroblewski, and Dale took turns hounding the Harvard star into eight turnovers.

After recording a 38-24 score at halftime, the Red didn’t let up, building a huge second-half lead, emptying the bench and winning the critical game by an astounding 86-50 margin, giving Harvard its first league loss of the season and sending Cornell to a 4-0 start in the league. An unbelievably balanced attack saw each starter reach double figures, and an equally impressive defensive effort forced the Crimson into 36-percent shooting and 25 turnovers.

Not even close. Feeding off a frenzied sold-out crowd, the two-time Ivy League champions routed Harvard 86-50 on Saturday night in a performance worthy of a top 25 team. Which is where Cornell may find itself come Monday.

by Brian Delaney Ithaca Journal, January 30, 2010

CORNELL vs.

Cornell didn’t play like this was just another game.

For the first time in the history of the Cornell men’s basketball program, the Big Red sat among the nation’s top 25 teams in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll released this afternoon. The Big Red picked up 53 votes from the panel of 31 Division I head coaches to sit at No. 25 in the poll.

It is the first time in 59 years Cornell has been ranked in a national poll in men’s basketball, as the 1950-51 team climbed as high as No. 14 in the Associated Press poll on Jan. 3, 1951.

Cornell University Press Release, February 1, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 27

RANKED BIG RED

HAS A REAL SHOT TO WIN IN MARCH C ornell’s No. 25 ranking in this week’s coaches’ poll was deserved not because of the teams the Big Red has beaten, or even played, but because of what the Big Red could become in the next month.

is possible. They are very talented and have a lot of seniors. They’ve been in the tournament. They’re legit. They pounded us.

I voted for them in the Top 25 well before we played them.”

This might be a step out of the norm for your traditional rankings. It’s a projection based on what could be in store for the bracket in March.

The easy thing to do is to tear down Cornell as a possible NCAA first-round winner.

Our ESPN research team provided some facts to try to dismiss Cornell’s ranking and relevance -- the first time an Ivy League team other than Princeton or Penn was ranked since 1970.

Sure, Cornell smoked Harvard by 36 in Ithaca on Saturday. Normally, beating Harvard, even by 30-plus, is hardly enough to push a team into the Top 25.

But this is a new era in Cambridge, and for Cornell, it’s the appreciation of a team that has the look of a real first-round winner.

The Big Red did have higher major wins at Alabama, at UMass and at St. John’s. But it also lost at home to Seton Hall and at Syracuse and pushed Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse as much as Kansas State did in Manhattan last weekend.

The coaches recognized that Cornell didn’t need to beat a big-time opponent to earn a ranking. They can clearly see that this team has something special going on with a veteran lineup led by Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale on the perimeter and a scoring big man in the post in Jeff Foote.

“That’s a team capable of making a Davidson kind of run like two years ago,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said, referring to the Wildcats’ Elite Eight run led by Stephen Curry in 2008. “You could see them in the Sweet Sixteen, and from there, anything

28 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

Since Princeton won a first-round game as a five-seed in 1998, the Ivy League champ has bowed out in the first round 11 straight seasons. Only two of those games were decided by single digits.

Cornell, in the last two NCAAs, lost by 19 to Missouri and then by 24 to Stanford.

So of course we should just dump the Big Red and not consider them as a possible firstround winner, right?

But there are plenty of reasons to believe the losing streak won’t continue in March.

“You have to judge those other teams by how they did in the pre-conference part of the season,” Cornell Coach Steve Donahue said. “Those other 11 teams hadn’t fared as well or challenged for big wins.

Our ‘94 team at Penn beat St. John’s, Georgia and Michigan, so we were prepared to win in the NCAA.” A No. 11-seed Penn won a first-round game in 1994, beating No. 6 seed Nebraska before losing to No. 3 Florida in the second round.

CORNELL vs. HARVARD

“We’re a much better team than last year,” Donahue said. “We’ve added a player that started at Kentucky in [center] Mark Coury. [Guard] Max Groebe is healthy for us. Jeff Foote added 50 pounds. We’ve proven we’re much more prepared for the NCAA Tournament.”

Donahue wants to embrace the ranking and prove the team is worthy by playing well over the next 10 games. “We don’t have a conference tournament, and every weekend for us is a minitournament,” said Donahue. “I’ve been trained to think like that for the last 20 years.”

The Crimson are led by Jeremy Lin but have a younger set around him. On Saturday, Amaker said it was the first time Harvard players got a sniff of what an intense atmosphere is like on the road in the league.

“We’re still trying to find ourselves, we still have a lot of growth to have happen,” Amaker said.

“You can see [Cornell’s] focus. They have seniors.

They’ve won before.”

And if Amaker is right, Cornell will win again —in March.

by Andy Katz, ESPN.com, February 2, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 29

Penn came ready to play hard and handed Cornell a surprising loss

O

ften performances like the one put on by Cornell vs. Harvard at Newman Arena can be a curse. Sure the win was satisfying and huge for so many reasons, but the media reaction and hype of Cornell basketball may have set the Big Red up for what would be its most shocking and disappointing moment of the season. After its blowouts of Dartmouth and Harvard and then subsequent wins over Yale (90-71) and Brown (74-60) the following weekend, Cornell moved up to No. 22 in the ESPN/ USA Today Coaches’ Poll. A few days later, a crew from “ESPN College Gameday” decided to visit Ithaca to tape a segment for the network’s Saturday morning pre-game show. And the Sporting News sent a camera crew to Ithaca to work on a feature on potential Cinderella teams to watch out for in the NCAA Tournament.

The ranking and the sudden increased media attention was not discussed among the players, but

30 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

the situation possibly caused them to forget what made Cornell basketball so successful: hustle, outworking the other team, and wanting to win more.

Anyone who watched the game at Penn could tell that those three attributes were missing from the Red that night.

Penn employed switching defenses (a tactic Cornell usually uses to its advantage), rotating back and forth from a 1-3-1 zone to a man defense and frustrating the usually free-flowing Cornell offense. As poorly as Cornell played, it only found itself down one point at the half. The second half only got worse for the Big Red. Penn opened the second half with a 15-0 run, Cornell’s uninspired defense leaving Quakers wide open on seemingly every possession. A minicomeback was attempted, but the deficit was too large, and Penn defeated Cornell 79-64.

“

They executed and played with great confidence,” Steve Donahue said of Penn’s game of games and, just maybe, the return of some of that missing-oflate Palestra magic. “We have to play well to win games. All the national stuff we’ve been getting is great, but we have to play well to win, and we didn’t.”

Philadelphia Inquirer February 13, 2010

a premonition that proved to be true The Penn game was our first road game since we were nationally ranked. We played a lousy game and Penn played great. The Palestra was packed and the fans stormed the court because it was such a big win for them.

“Right after the game, I had one major thought going through my mind: We have a game the next night against the only team undefeated in the league, Princeton, at a sold-out Jadwin Gym. Princeton had won their first four league road games while we were now 1-1 in road games to this point. A Princeton win would put it two games ahead, and because there’s no conference tournament, we’d be in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament. In many ways, our season was on the line with this game!

“Sister Kate was absolutely correct—we didn’t lose again until the Kentucky game, the third round of the NCAA Tournament. I did call her before the Sweet Sixteen game to see if she could change her prediction, but no such luck.”

Steve Donahue

CORNELL vs. PENN

“Before we got on the bus to head to Princeton, I spent time with family and friends. I spoke with Sister Kate, the aunt of Penn assistant coach and very close friend John Gallagher. Sister Kate remarked how classy our team was in defeat. She gave me a long hug and said in my ear to stop worrying about the Princeton game. She said we would not lose again until the third round of the NCAA Tournament! At that time, I was focusing (and praying) on just surviving tomorrow night’s game at Princeton and how great it would be to win there. I wasn’t thinking about the future beyond that point.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 31

A night after the Penn loss, the Red showed the grit of a champion

T

hough the loss to Penn was a crushing blow, it was also a perfectly timed reality check for Cornell.

Coach Donahue always preached to his team that it is not much more talented than any other team in league: what separated it is its effort and desire to win.

Simply put, the Penn game demonstrated that Cornell cannot simply show up and expect to win. Coach Donahue said after the game to his players they could either let the Penn loss hang over their heads or use it as a learning experience and a turning point in their season.

With less than 24 hours to go before the next game at Princeton, the team chose the latter. The players’ focus never wavered during the entire day—it was apparent on the bus, in the hotel, at team meals, and in the locker room. Cornell saw the situation as a chance to redeem itself in front of a hostile crowd and show the determination and grit that made it Ivy champion two years in a row.

Normally Cornell pre-game layup lines are intense, but fairly casual, intended to get the players warmed up for the game but not tired out. At Princeton, every

32 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

player left warm-ups for final locker room preparations drenched in sweat. The passion displayed and effort shown in those drills at Jadwin Gym was game-like.

The team carried that into the first few minutes of the game, storming out to a quick 8-0 lead. The stubborn Tigers wouldn’t go away, and in typical Princeton fashion, it turned the game into a defensive stalemate. Understanding Princeton’s uncanny ability to neutralize Cornell’s three-point shooting, the Red got the ball down low to Jeff Foote, and he totaled 11 points, five boards, and three blocks. But after starting slow, Ryan Wittman stole the show in the final minutes. Wittman scored seven points in the final 2:14 of the game, including four free throws, to give Cornell a three-point lead with seconds left on the clock. A Doug Davis three-point shot at the buzzer that would have tied the game barely missed, giving Cornell a huge bounce-back win.

As Princeton Coach Sydney Johnson pointed out after the game, Cornell celebrated the win as if it won the Ivy League title. This victory was that important to the team—as much as any during the entire season.

Think this win had a little meaning for Cornell’s basketball team?

right after that. I know a lot of us probably had a sleepless night.”

When Doug Davis’ off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer clanged off the back of the rim, the Big Red’s bench broke out in unbridled celebration on Saturday night. Tenth-year Coach Steve Donahue chest-bumped three of his players and, face red with emotion, pumped his fist emphatically as Cornell avoided a potentially disastrous weekend sweep with a 48-45 victory in front of Princeton’s largest crowd in six seasons.

The game was played at Princeton’s deliberate pace, but the atmosphere had a rich March Madness feel.

A crowd of 5,775 witnessed a physically exhaustive 40 minutes in which both teams played tough defense and stayed primarily within a possession of each other over the final 17 minutes.

The victory put Cornell (21-4, 7-1 Ivy) back in first place in the Ivy League, tied in the loss column with the Tigers (14-6, 5-1) and two games in hand.

“Couldn’t wait to get back on the court tonight,” senior Ryan Wittman said. “Sometimes that’s a good thing about this league, when you get a game

When Cornell really needed him, Wittman delivered.

“That’s what he does. He stepped up when we really needed him, took us on his back a little bit,” Donahue said. “We called his number and he made great plays.”

Brian Delaney, Ithaca Journal, February 15, 2010

CORNELL vs. PRINCETON

COULDN’T WAIT TO GET BACK ON THE COURT

(Note: this is a condensed version of the article)

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 33

Cornell stayed on course in front of a boisterous crowd and national media at Harvard

The

road to a third straight league title didn’t get any easier for Cornell after its gutsy win at Princeton. The schedule sent the team to an Ivy championship contender’s home floor for the second weekend in a row, this time to Cambridge to face the hungry Harvard Crimson on Friday night. After dismantling Harvard in Ithaca less than a month earlier, the Red knew that the Crimson players would display more energy and determination—not only since they were playing in the friendly confines of Lavietes Pavilion, but because they were fighting to stay alive in the Ivy race. A loss to Cornell would all but extinguish their chances for the title. But the Cornell players had added incentive that evening as well. The seniors had only won once at Harvard during their careers (on Alex Tyler’s miracle six points in the final seconds in the 2008 game).

The setting was indeed unlike those for most Ivy League contests. Harvard students, understanding the significance of the game, were in full force and came prepared with coordinated white t-shirts and hundreds of blown-up pictures of Crimson star player Jeremy Lin. Their actions easily created the loudest and most creative backdrop Cornell had to

34 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

endure all Ivy season. In addition, many national college basketball journalists were on hand to cover the rematch, and as many as 15 NBA scouts were courtside—a rare site for an Ivy league game and a testament to the NBA talent that was on display during this game.

Though Harvard clearly played more confidently at home, Cornell landed the first punch. A barrage of three pointers by Ryan Wittman and a spark off the bench from talented freshman Errick Peck sent Cornell into the locker room at halftime with a 43-34 lead. Coach Donahue wouldn’t allow any complacency in that room during the intermission break and the Red, thanks to phenomenal shooting and playmaking

by Louis Dale, quickly built that lead up to as many

as 17. But Harvard was unfazed and went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to five. Consecutive three-pointers by Wittman and Dale brought the lead back to double digits at 67-56, and the Red never looked back. All-Ivy type performances

by Cornell’s star backcourt (Wittman 27 points, 8 rebounds and Dale 20 points, 5 assists, 4 boards) led the Red to a huge 79-70 victory over the Crimson.

Could Cornell be this year’s Cinderella?

This isn’t the same Cornell team that lost to Missouri in the first round of the NCAA tournament a year ago.

“We’re light years ahead of last year,” Big Red Coach Steve Donahue said.

That was clear after watching Cornell hit shot after shot to knock off Harvard, 79-70, in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,195 crammed into Lavietes Pavillion.

There were questions whether there was a chink in the armor after Penn, a team with just three victories all year, pulled a shocking upset against Cornell a few weeks back.

“This game was huge for us. No doubt,” admitted Donahue. “With no conference tournament, it was without question the most important game I’ve had in my 10 years here. We couldn’t afford to lose.”

And they didn’t.

“They are capable of making a Davidsonlike run,” Amaker said while referring to Stephen Curry and Davidson nearly knocking off Kansas two years ago in the Elite Eight. “We’re not ready to beat those guys, but not many are.”

CORNELL vs. HARVARD

Maybe Harvard, which sat just a game back from Cornell entering Friday night’s match-up, could get revenge for the 8650 Big Red rout in Ithaca on Jan. 30 and turn the Ivy League title into a virtual toss-up.

by Jeff Goodman, FoxSports.com February 20, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 35

The seniors went out in style at Newman with a sweep of Princeton & Penn

T

he Harvard-Dartmouth road trip proved to be especially productive for the Big Red. Not only did Cornell sweep the two games and battle through the notoriously tiresome trek into the unforgiving New England winter, but it left Saturday’s game at Dartmouth knowing that Princeton had been upset

by Brown that night, giving the Red a one and a half game cushion in the league standings. However, next up was a rematch with Princeton, and a loss to the Tigers would put them back in control of their own destiny to at least force a tie for the Ivy title.

The game had added significance. It kicked off the team’s “Senior Weekend,” the last two home games of this celebrated senior class. The growing rivalry between Cornell and Princeton—born from their fierce battles over four years—only fueled the players’ anticipation leading up to Friday night.

The most important part of preparing to play Princeton, as Coach Donahue always said, is to embrace their style of play. In other words, you are playing into Princeton’s hands if you try to avoid playing grind it out, “ugly” basketball. That is why a Princeton vs. Cornel basketball game will always be extremely low scoring. With baskets so very precious, every score seems like a huge victory and every basket given up a little deflating. This season-defining game was no different.

36 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

Cornell opened up a 16-7 first half lead, but in typical Princeton fashion, the feisty Tigers responded with a 17-10 run of their own to trail the Big Red 26-24 at the half. In such a close and crucial game, the second half seemingly saw more scrums for loose balls than actual baskets scored. The scrappy bunch from Princeton trailed the poised Cornell squad 38-31 with 9:58 to play and again fought back to pull within one point in the final minutes. Ryan Wittman sank two of his biggest free throws of the season with 2.8 seconds remaining to give the Red a 50-47 lead. A Dan Mavraides desperation three-point attempt fell way short and the Red earned a hard-fought season sweep of its arch-rival. Jeff Foote led the way with 19 points as the Red put itself in position to clinch at least a share of the title on senior night versus Penn.

Cornell took care of business the next night to close out Senior Weekend the right way—and with some vengeance to boot. Sending out the seniors in style wasn’t the only incentive—there was a score to settle with Penn. The Big Red defeated the Quakers, 6848, to clinch at least a share of the Ivy title. Senior Andre Wilkins, a key member of the team in so many ways both on and off the court, was honored with a starting position for the game, and he set the tone by recording steals on Penn’s first two possessions and hit two baskets in the opening 3:12 to give Cornell a quick 7-0 lead.

Steve Donahue, Ithaca Journal, February 27, 2010

PENN & PRINCETON REMATCH

“

We came out with the energy and passion and determination that I thought we would,” Cornell Coach Steve Donahue said. “I know it had a lot to do with (senior) night, but I thought it had a lot to do with what happened in Philadelphia (two) weeks ago.”

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 37

The Big Red wrapped up the Ivy Crown with two road wins

D

espite the euphoric atmosphere of the senior weekend victories over traditional Ivy powers Penn and Princeton, the ultimate goal of clinching a third consecutive championship had not yet been reached. Yet the crown sat there for the taking with a trip to Brown and Yale upcoming. One win would clinch the title outright, and a sweep on the road would bolster NCAA Tournament seeding.

The Big Red knew it would have to work to earn the title against Brown. The Bears played Cornell to the wire in Newman Arena early in the season and defeated Princeton at Jadwin Gym, and the Bears were not going to let the Red clinch the league title on their home floor without a tremendous effort.

38 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

Though the celebration on the host Bears’ court was mild, the scene in the locker room was quite the opposite. While Coach Steve Donahue took his usual minute or two to compose himself before entering the locker room to give a post-game talk to his team, the squad decided to have some fun with the normally business-like Donahue. Led by Wittman and Foote, the team blindsided Donahue with an icecold water bath by dumping the remaining contents of the locker room water jug all over the coach when he opened the door. The pure exhilaration on the faces of the coaches and players said it all.

Despite having been to the top the two previous seasons, the indescribable feeling of winning a league championship never gets old because each season it presents its own unique challenges.

problematic John J. Lee Amphitheatre sent Cornell to an Ivy League season-ending 79-59 victory over the Bulldogs. Navigating its way through the Ancient Eight with an impressive 13-1 record, the Red was now finally ready to turn its attention to March Madness.

With what is clearly his best all-around team, Cornell men’s basketball coach Steve Donahue called this year’s road to the Ivy League championship the most difficult.

After both teams won Friday, Harvard is 21-6 and Princeton is 18-8 [and Princeton finished the season with 20 victories]. Although teams in the modern era can play an extra two-three games per season, no Ivy trio has combined for as many wins in a season in league history.

For that reason, and for Cornell carrying the weight of overwhelming expectations all season long, Donahue said this championship was by far the toughest and most rewarding.

THE MOST REWARDING TITLE YET

CLINCHING THE IVY TITLE

As soon as the bus departed Providence for New Haven, the team was all business once again. Now that the title was clinched, maintaining as high a seed as possible was crucial. Like veteran teams do, Cornell kept its foot on the pedal. A solid all around and well-balanced effort in the usually

by Brian Delaney,

Ithaca Journal, March 6, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 39

Cornell learned its NCAA seeding alongside more than 1,500 fans

S

election Sunday for the Big Red players during the past two seasons was full of excitement because it’s always a thrill to see your name in the tournament bracket and learn your opponent and where you’re going to play. But, just as the 2009-10 season was much different from the previous two championship campaigns, so was Selection Sunday.

This day provided the best indication that Coach Steve Donahue and his program had transformed Cornell University and Ithaca, N.Y. into a basketballcrazed community.

About 1,500 students, faculty, and Ithaca residents packed one entire side of bleachers in Newman Arena to watch the Selection Show with the team.

These fans had fully embraced the team, and they wanted to be part of the “madness”—it was as if they already knew this year’s tournament would prove to be different. Before the fans arrived, the team, family, and close friends gathered in the Kaplan Room above

40 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

the court for a pre-Selection Show party, and while the excitement was palpable, there was a hint of nervousness in the air as well. This year, given the likelihood of a higher seed, the potential opponent was crucial. Now that the week of focused practices was over with, it seemed everyone on the team, including Coach Donahue, had an opinion on what seed we would receive, which team we would play, and where we would play it. Guesses ranged from being a No. 9-12 seed, from playing against Xavier to Maryland, and from being placed in Spokane, Wash., to Providence, R.I. Though the whole team could see the stands filling up for the show, no one expected the fan reception that followed. The voice of the Big Red, Barry Leonard, introduced every single member of the team to a rousing ovation from the crowd.

When called out, every player ran through a tunnel of cheerleaders and lined up in front of the giant

SELECTION SUNDAY

Before the selection show aired, Cornell coach Steve Donahue thanked the crowd for its support and marveled at the turnout.

“

That was as great a setting as you could ever imagine. I’m so happy for our university, and the kids on our team, to experience this. This was done right.”

Coach Steve Donahue, Ithaca Journal, March 14, 2010

Why No One Wants To Play The Big Red Yes, the Big Red has been dancing for the past two years, but they lost both times. This team is the real deal. This team is a close team that will put everything on the line.

These players feel they have a shot to put themselves on the map.

Steve Donahue has created this team, and everything—all the games, the practices, the long plane rides—is leading up to this tournament.

Gotta love March Madness.

by Sam Blum, Bleacher Report, March 13, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 41

projector screen that was set up on half court of Newman Arena. The players then took their seats in the front row in front of easily the largest viewing party shown by CBS during the event. Like the first two years, every time a seed was revealed that could have been Cornell, the entire team led out a giant groan of anticipation; only this year, the hundreds of people at the viewing party groaned with them.

Finally, it was revealed that the 12th seeded Cornell Big Red would be sent to Jacksonville, Fla., to face the 5th seeded Temple Owls. Literally every person in attendance jumped out of their seats to celebrate except for one man: Coach Donahue. While every player, student, and fan was ecstatic about the chance to be a notorious “Cinderella” no. 12 seed that shocks the world, Coach Donahue sat in his seat almost laughing at the fates that matched him up with his friend and mentor, Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy.

Now that the anticipation and exhilaration of Selection Sunday was over with and the first round opponent was revealed, it was back to business for the Big Red. The players and coaches had three days to prepare for Temple before leaving on a private charter plane for Jacksonville.

THE SELECTION SHOW 42 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

I’m going with CORNELL “I’m going to pick an upset here. The Ancient Eight to the Elite Eight. I’m going to go with Cornell Is this a little bit improbable? Kind of like Davidson, kind of like George Mason. But I’m going to go with Cornell because they have a big guy, Jeff Foote, inside and Ryan Wittman is an outstanding shooter that can knock down 3’s over anybody….I’m going with the ‘Smart Kids’ in an upset.”

Jay Bilas, ESPN Selection Show, March 14, 2010

THE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 43

History was made in Jacksonville—the first Cornell team to win an NCAA game bvious storylines made the Cornell-Temple match-up in the first round of the NCAA Tournament immediately intriguing for the national media. There was the obvious Coach Donahue vs. Coach Dunphy sub-plot, the always popular prediction of which pairing would produce the No. 12 seed over No. 5 seed upset, and Cornell’s 3-0 record against other A-10 teams during the regular season. Then there was the fact that Cornell almost beat Kansas on the Jayhawk’s home court only four days after Kansas had dismantled Temple in Philadelphia.

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control leading up to the game: its preparation.

Though the media was continuously prodding in these areas, a driven Cornell team, motivated by the humbling NCAA Tournament experiences the last two seasons, focused on the only thing it could

Interestingly, and deviating from his team’s normal routine, Coach Donahue did not show any film of Temple to his squad until the eve of the game.

Donahue essentially sent the message to the Red that,

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A couple of spirited and mentally draining practices filled with scouting reports and game plans followed Selection Sunday. Leaving on a charter flight from Ithaca to Jacksonville on Wednesday morning, the coaching staff went right to work, scheduling a practice in Florida for Wednesday evening, Thursday morning, and Thursday afternoon. It was clear that the coaching staff made sure if Cornell was to lose on Friday morning, it would not be because it was the least prepared of the two teams.

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 45

despite the talents of the Owls, if Cornell executed its style of play, the Big Red would be in great shape.

Cornell followed its blueprint of success against teams from larger conferences: stay poised under defensive pressure (which the Big Red did indeed face against Temple’s notoriously strong half court defense); play unselfishly and make open shots; and vary its defensive schemes to stay one step ahead of the opponent. The plan worked to perfection early against the Owls. Switching back and forth from a traditional man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1, threequarter court trapping defense, the Red surprised and flustered Temple, which committed nine firsthalf turnovers. On the offensive end, Louis Dale

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE 46 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

repeatedly penetrated past the Owl’s perimeter defenders and got into the teeth of their defense, either finishing with a crafty lay-up, or dishing to Jeff Foote down low. The Big Red led at the half 37-29 behind a scorching 68% field goal shooting—even more impressive given that Cornell registered an uncharacteristically low two three pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Both teams picked up the offense to start the second half, but that was not good news for the Owls, who could not afford to trade shots with the deadly Cornell perimeter shooters. An 18-6 run over a six and a half-minute stretch pushed the Cornell lead from 48-42 to 66-48 with nine minutes remaining.

While each of the “Big 3” had an outstanding game, the whole team contributed—which was typical of this squad all season long. Senior guard Geoff Reeves

hounded Temple star point guard Juan Fernandez into an ineffective game, senior forward Jon Jaques pitched in six points, four boards, and two first-half steals; and sophomore Chris Wroblewski poured in nine points.

As to be expected after becoming the first Ivy League team to win an NCAA Tournament game since Princeton beat UNLV in 1998, the team was ecstatic.

However, the players were not satisfied heading into the locker room. So much confidence was flowing that nothing seemed impossible. The ride was just getting to be fun. There didn’t seem much point in stopping now.

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

Though there was plenty of time left, the 10,000 fans in attendance (most of whom who were either clad in Cornell red or were cheering for the underdog) could sense the entire half that there was no hope for Temple. The Red, led by the usual trio of Louis Dale (21 points, seven assists), Ryan Wittman (20 points, five rebounds), and Jeff Foote (16 points, seven boards), finally accomplished its season-long goal of winning an NCAA Tournament game, defeating the fifth seeded Owls 78-65.

As the players headed to the tunnel

after their brief on-court celebration, the fans sitting in the corner of the building where they were exiting came to their feet to give them a well-deserved ovation.

They were all dressed in blue. They were from Duke. Like everyone else in the building, they knew they had just seen something special.

by John Feinstein, Washington Post, March 20, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 47

ENJOYING THE MOMENT Just about the only mistake senior Ryan Wittman made Friday came with 17 seconds left in Cornell’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament game against Temple [with Andre Wilkins looking to sub in for Wittman after his made free throws].

An historic victory all but wrapped up, Wittman showed -- for once -- he is prone to nerves. The normally accurate free throw shooter missed a pair from the line, his hands shaking at Cornell’s accomplishment that was four years in the making.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really concentrating on the free throws too much,” he said. “I was just kind of enjoying the moment.”

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

That moment was the Ivy League’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 12 years, and Cornell’s first in program history. The Big Red’s fast-moving, sharp-cutting offense shredded fifth-seeded Temple in a never-in-doubt 78-65 victory at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. In doing so, Cornell beat a nationally ranked opponent for the first time since 1992.

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by Brian Delaney, Ithaca Journal, March 20, 2010

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 49

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

Don’t be afraid to fall in love with Cornell.

I know you’ve been hurt before. Hey, we all have. Some double-digit seed stole your heart on a Friday in March and then smashed it to pieces two days later by playing valiantly -- but ultimately losing -- to a more athletic, better-funded program. But 12th-seeded Cornell is different. Just look at its 78-65 thumping of fifth-seeded Temple on Friday and give in to your feelings. Come next week, Cornell might still be in your life.

n ”

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

ss, 10

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Look, I know this has all the earmarks of a torrid March weekend fling. A scrappy bunch of non-scholarship (the Ivy League doesn’t allow athletic grants-in-aid) players at an elite school play together for four years and finally get their one shining moment. They’re led by a deadeye shooter (forward Ryan Wittman), a bowlegged point guard (Louis Dale), a New York Times blogger (forward Jon Jaques) and a 7-foot center (Jeff Foote) who walked on at St. Bonaventure and then transferred to Cornell after his mother -- a nurse -- took care of a Cornell player and fell in love with the team and staff. Thirteen players and a manager live in a pizza box-littered house on the edge of campus called the Dog Pound.

How could you not fall in love with them?

OK, so they’re not made of stone. After the final buzzer, when they ambled over to salute the Cornell cheering section, Foote’s upper lip curled and stuck for a second before a holy-cow-did-that-just-happen grin spread across his face. But these guys have eight seniors. They’ve been through it all. Forgive them a sentimental moment.

“Each year, we built,” Jaques said. “Now we’re winning a tournament game. That feeling on the court was incredible. It’s indescribable.”

When the Big Red returned to the locker room, coach Steve Donahue told his players to enjoy the moment and then set it aside. “This is a tournament,” Wittman remembered Donahue saying. “It’s not a one-game deal.”

Donahue knows he doesn’t have a typical mid-major one-hitwonder roster. Foote (16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks on Friday) is as athletic as any 7-footer in the country, and he somehow finds a way to elongate himself on defense. When Cornell

switched to a zone in the first half with Foote stationed at the free-throw line, Temple couldn’t get the ball by him. His arms seemed to stretch from sideline to sideline.

Wittman, the Big Red’s leading scorer, isn’t the traditional mid-major shot-chucker. He’s also long (6-7) and athletic, and he found open shots Friday because he and his teammates didn’t simply stand behind the three-point line and launch. Dale (21 points, 7 assists) sets everything in motion. He’s 5-11, but he’s fearless. On Friday, he never hesitated to charge into the paint, even when 6-11 Owl Michael Eric stood sentry.

Still don’t trust that Cornell won’t break your heart on Sunday? Consider this from Bill Self, who coaches the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Kansas. On Jan. 6 in Allen Fieldhouse, the Big Red pushed the Jayhawks to the brink before losing, 71-66. “They could beat anybody, regardless of their seed,” Self told ESPN.com the next day. “I’ll make a prediction now. They’ll be a team that nobody wants to play. If they make shots, they can beat anybody.”

CORNELL vs. TEMPLE

Trust me, these guys are man enough to stick around. Did you see how cool they were as they creamed a Temple team a lot of people thought deserved a three seed? Never once did they act like underdogs.

Shoot, the Big Red thought they should have beaten Kansas. “That game was 42 seconds too long,” guard Chris Wroblewski said. Said Wittman: “We felt like we let one get away from us.”

Isn’t that the kind of confidence you want from your March fling?

So go ahead. Fall in love. You and the Big Red could still be dancing next week.

by Andy Staples SportsIllustrated.com

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 51

Cornell controlled every phase to dismantle Wisconsin and achieve its goal

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hile Cornell was happy leaving Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville after the NCAA first-round victory over Temple, there was no extreme celebration. The players, from the minute they stepped on campus in the fall, fully expected to be in this position. So when fourth-seeded Wisconsin avoided an upset by narrowly defeating Wofford in their first-round game, Cornell was excited for the challenge to face the Badgers—and fully expected to win.

The match-up with Wisconsin’s methodical offensive style and traditionally stifling defense didn’t bother Coach Donahue and his players at all considering they had just easily dispatched Temple,

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which featured one of the nation’s top-ranked defenses. Specifically, Cornell was unfazed about facing Badger fullback-like point guard Trevon Hughes.

Coach Donahue and his staff prepared for Hughes on the scouting report as if he was Sherron Collins of Kansas, a bulldozing point guard who must be kept out of the key area at all costs.

Indeed, the thought of losing never crossed the minds of the Cornell players, and they literally led the favored Badgers from start to finish. In arguably their most dominating and complete game of basketball of the season, the Ivy League champs controlled every aspect of the game vs. their Big 10 opponent. Louis Dale, continuing his torrid run and chasing away the frustrations of the previous two tournaments

For the second game in a row Cornell shredded one of the top statistical defenses in

,

the country, shooting 61.1 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from 3-point range.

But this was more than a team shooting lights-out. The Big Red put on an offensive clinic in terms of precision and team basketball.

“They were finding that guy on the step he was open ... when he was open for only a tenth of a second,” UW senior guard Jason Bohannon said. “Those are always the toughest teams to guard, that are in sync like that and have the chemistry to find the open guy. That’s what every team strives for basketball-wise, to get on the same page like they were.”

It helps to have eight seniors who have played more than 100 games together and are unselfish, looking to pass first.

by Tom Mulhern, The Wisconsin State Journal, March 22, 2010

The Big Red, led by its experienced senior class, stepped on the Badgers’ throats early, thanks to an 11-1 run to open the game, and never looked back. Playing catch up to a scorching hot, wildly confident, and absurdly loose team is not a recipe for NCAA Tournament success, as Wisconsin quickly found out. Every time the Badgers even dared to come back, a Dale pull-up jumper, or a Wittman rainbow three-pointer would swing the momentum back to underdogs.

CORNELL vs. WISCONSIN

with every made basket and assist, paced the team again, while long-time running mate Ryan Wittman wasn’t far behind. Dale scored a career-high 26 points, Wittman chipped in 24 points (to become the fifth player in conference history to surpass 2,000 points), and Chris Wroblewski and Jeff Foote tallied 12 points each as Cornell shot an astounding 61 percent from the field and 53 percent from three point range to exploit a usually stout Wisconsin defense.

The second half featured more of the same. Pick and roll after pick and roll exploited Wisconsin’s beleaguered defense and allowed Dale to either waltz into the paint for an uncontested lay-up or toss up alley-oops to the big men in the paint. The second half became an offensive clinic for the Red, the Big 10 power looked confused and resigned to

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 53

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME the fact that it was no match for Cornell. The Big Reds’ lead reached 24 points with seven minutes to play. The Red went on to win the game 87-69, claiming the Ivy League’s first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since Penn’s Final Four squad of 1979.

CORNELL vs. WISCONSIN

Coach Donahue was amazed and awestruck after watching his team tear apart one of the best defenses in the country, saying afterwards that it was the bestplayed game by a team he has been associated with.

The celebration in the locker room was easily more animated than after the first-round victory over Temple. The team had remarkably accomplished its season-long goal of making the Sweet Sixteen.

Now, more confident than ever, Cornell was heading home to upstate New York and the Syracuse Carrier Dome to face another of college basketball’s most storied programs—the No. 1- seeded Kentucky Wildcats—and all of the national media attention that would come with it.

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I’ve always loved that soccer is called The Beautiful Game. It seems so fitting, and with the 2010 World Cup approaching, we’re not far away from some of the greatest sports theater in the world. I couldn’t help but think of The Beautiful Game while watching Cornell’s offensive sets unfold this weekend in Jacksonville…

There was more to these two wins than just offensive execution. There was toughness. Defense. Looseness.

Intelligence. Athleticism. Cornell outrebounded both teams, handled pressure and the spotlight like it was a pick-up game at Newman Arena. It’s no coincidence that this team has won 18 games away from home.

by Brian Delaney, Ithaca Journal, March 22, 2010

SMILING FROM EAR TO EAR

My love for sports grew exponentially as I watched the Cornell Big Red in their locker room after defeating Wisconsin on Sunday, 87-69. The majority of the team stared and listened intently at the television as their teammates – Ryan Wittman and Jeff Foote – conducted their post-game press conference. The group looked like children opening presents on Christmas morning.

Along with the players, other Cornell representatives were smiling from ear to ear. After winning two Tournament games and setting the Ivy League record for wins in a season (29), who wouldn’t be smiling?

No. 1 seed Kentucky should be worried about Cornell. The Big Red has a player who can create his own shot in Wittman.

And, they possess a center in Foote who not only is a top-notch passer, but dominates the post like few others in the nation. In my opinion, the four-loss Cornell squad could very well make it to the Final Four.

by Richard Miller, Jacksonville Observer, March 22, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 55

Long before the tipoff,

And that’s what we saw in the early minutes of the game—a really good shooting, good passing Cornell team took the Badgers out of their rhythm. There were about four or five deflections in the first 5 minutes, all in favor of Cornell. They were quicker to the ball; they did a good job freeing up shooters.

The NCAA has a silly rule about when you can start your pre-game warm-up; so to get a head start, they were out there with a paper cup, shooting shots, having fun together.

They did everything we saw in that game against Temple, when they carved up a very good Owls defense, so I guess we should have seen this coming.

long before they’d opened the gates to the arena, Cornell was on the floor together as a team, kind of epitomizing their style, their personality, this year as a complete team.

It was an early sign to me that this is a very loose group of players that is very confident in their abilities, and weren’t going to let the pressure of the moment, the opportunity to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, get in the way of their execution.

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They play in the Ivy League and they don’t get enough national recognition for the quality that they put on the floor. They put five players on the floor most of the time who can score, which makes them very difficult to match up with.

by Mike Lucas, The Wisconsin State Journal, March 22, 2010

A BLUEPRINT BEHIND THE FORBLUEPRINT SUCCESS 57

“After This, It’s Nothing But Babies and Memories”

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ornell proved that it takes more than talent, team chemistry, and experience to excel on college basketball’s greatest stage—being able to stay loose in pressure situations is also a critical skill.

And there was probably no more relaxed team in the tournament field than the Big Red, seemingly taking over usually cliché, mundane press conferences by adding some zest and some college humor (at least by Ivy League standards) to each one.

Jeff Foote got the ball rolling for Cornell’s giggle-fest.

During Cornell’s press conference in Jacksonville the day before the NCAA Tournament first-round game with Temple, Foote fielded a question from a local columnist regarding the academic requirements of a school like Cornell. Instead of spitting out a bland answer typically regurgitated by Ivy League athletes over the years, Foote randomly spoke of how memorable it was to ride to the arena with a police escort. Cornell’s players, both on the podium and watching in the locker room, immediately struggled to contain their laughter. It was later revealed by Coach Donahue that Foote had lost a bet earlier in the day and had to intentionally answer the first question wrong, no matter what. “This is what Ivy League kids think is funny,” Donahue said during his media session to justify the response of Foote, who later apologized to the confused columnist.

This was just the beginning of the national media’s love affair with the amazingly down-to-earth and calm bunch from Ithaca. After arriving at the gym early for their 12:30 Friday afternoon first-round game vs. Temple, the team learned that, per NCAA rules, it could not begin warming up with basketballs until 57 minutes prior to tip off. While Temple sat on their bench looking bored, virtually the entire Cornell team began doing phantom lay-up lines without basketballs.

For a change of pace, prior to the 57-minute pre-game mark for the Wisconsin game, for a change of pace, the team rolled up a wad of the sticky tape and began shooting, dunking, and passing the “ball” around.

CBS cameras caught all of the action and showed the footage of the clowns from Cornell during the team’s blowout win over the Badgers.

Probably the most noteworthy press conference moment came courtesy of senior point guard Louis Dale, who was able to incorporate the team’s favorite

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quote from the movie “Friday Night Lights” at the Wisconsin post-game news conference.

As these funny moments gained media attention, the entire nation realized that Cornell wasn’t disrespecting the tournament or any of the participating teams—this was just the players’ way of enjoying the moment and enjoying each other.

Jon Jaques

LAUGHING TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN A half-dozen of Louis Dale’s teammates huddled around a TV in Cornell’s locker room waiting to see if the Big Red’s point guard actually would go through with it.

The it was dropping the team’s favorite quote from the movie “Friday Night Lights” at the postgame news conference just moments after 12th-seeded Cornell secured a Sweet Sixteen berth by routing fourth-seeded Wisconsin 87-69 in an East Region second-round game Sunday.

“We’ve got eight seniors on this team, and we want to take this ride as long as we can because after this it’s just nothing but babies and memories, so we’ll just keep going,” Dale said.

After the “babies and memories” part, teammates Ryan Wittman and Chris Wroblewski, sitting next to Dale on the podium, covered their faces in laughter.

Meanwhile, the crowd in the locker room erupted.

“He said it! He said it!” center Jeff Foote yelled.

This was the second time in four days Cornell faced the nation with giggles. Is this a normal occurrence, avoiding the cliche; player-speak and showing off the team’s camaraderie?

“We normally don’t have any press conferences,” Dale said.

“If you take it too seriously, it’s not fun anymore,” Foote said.

by David Fox Yahoo! Sports March 21, 2010 Note: Condensed version of original article

THE SWEET 16

[temple]

Phantom layups: a new pre-game ritual?

“I think coming into the game, we were pretty loose,” Dale said. “We got out on the court, and they wouldn’t let us touch the basketballs, and so we were just having fun with it. We had fake lay-up lines with no balls. So I think we were really just ready to go as far as being loose for the game.”

Louis Dale Syracuse Post Standard

March 20, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 59

During its NCAA Tournament Run, Cornell was front and center on the top

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national sports web sites.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 61

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Goal ‘readjusted’:

Cornell sets sights on something sweeter

Note: this is a version of an article that ran on the front cover of the USA Today sports section on March 22, 2010 Cornell isn’t your typical storybook team.

Though the Big Red became the first Ivy League school to reach the Sweet Sixteen since Penn went to the Final Four in 1979, Cornell expected to be here. The Sweet Sixteen was the team’s preseason goal.

“The goal’s been readjusted,” senior center Jeff Foote said after No. 12 Cornell knocked out No. 4 Wisconsin 87-69 in Sunday’s second-round East Regional game.

The Big Red face No. 1 Kentucky on Thursday in Syracuse, about an hour from their Ithaca campus.

Cornell (29-4) dominated the top two defensive teams in the tournament, only trailing once — the opening three minutes against No. 5 Temple on Friday.

“We don’t consider ourselves a Cinderella team,” senior forward Jon Jaques said. “I think we’re one of the best teams in the country.”

Why? Their experience.

Cornell is led by four senior starters. Their sharpshooting. They’re the nation’s best threepoint shooting team.

Their complete game, infused with toughness and moxie. Their confidence, gained from a rugged non-conference schedule, which included close losses to Kansas and Syracuse, two No. 1 seeds.

Their tight bond. The team lives together in an offcampus house. And Steve Donahue, who has spent 20 years coaching in the Ivy League. But ask any player about the biggest key to their success and they smile. This collection of first-rate clowns play the game for the best reason of all — one another.

“It’s overlooked a lot of times, chemistry that you can’t really teach,” Jaques said. “It’s more fun to play when you’re playing with your best friends.”

Said Donahue, 47: “They just love playing basketball with each other, more so than representing Cornell, more so than playing in the NCAA Tournament. … I know it’s not like that everywhere — it can’t be like that everywhere — but I’m fortunate that I can coach a group like this.”

Cornell, in the field for the third consecutive year, had never won a game in the NCAA Tournament in five tries before dispatching Temple, the first tournament win by an Ivy League school since Princeton in 1998. Their 18-point rout of Wisconsin was the largest margin for an Ivy team in 42 years.

It’s not surprising the Big Red entered the tournament as loose as the clothing that once hung off Foote’s 7-foot frame. When they took the court too early for warm-ups before the Temple game, they weren’t allowed to use basketballs. (Teams have to wait an hour before tip-off.) Instead they used “phantom” balls. They formed their lines and shot imaginary layups and jumpers. Even did a few crossovers. When warming up too soon before the Wisconsin A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 63

game, they got even more resourceful. They rolled cellophane into a ball and used that instead.

and is now an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards. Still, no Big Ten schools looked his way.

The Big Red also are a collection of players ignored by high-level programs, with one atypical exception. As for Foote, four years ago he was a walk-on freshman on an academic scholarship at St. Bonaventure. His mother, Wanda, a nurse, was working at the hospital where Cornell player Khaliq Gant was recovering from a serious neck injury.

Impressed by how caring Gant’s teammates were, she became friendly with the group. She told an assistant coach that her son was a player, too.

“We got lucky,” Donahue said. “He had a deep thigh bruise going into his senior year and he got overlooked because he didn’t look athletic enough to play at the next level.”

As a result of his mother’s chance meeting, Foote transferred, all 205 pounds of him.

When Dale, from Birmingham, Ala., was bypassed

by Southern schools, he put together a highlight tape and a book of accomplishments and sent it to coaches. Donahue remembers it, since it was like a “sixth-grader’s project,” complete with construction paper and cut-out letters.

“Cornell was really the only one that responded,” Dale said.

“A skinny big guy, a project,” is how senior forward Ryan Wittman remembered him. “All the work he’s put in, it’s been a great transformation.”

Donahue looked at his credentials and said, “Great grades, great player, what’s the catch?”

Cornell is such a lethal outside shooting team — 61.1% from the field against Wisconsin — in large part because of Foote’s passing ability. Once the ball goes to Foote, he either turns to the basket or kicks it outside.

Donahue thought he was going to have to resort to a full-court press to woo Dale, but when he arrived for his official visit, Dale handed the coach his application and a $400 check from his mom. It was the application fee.

“It seemed like every one of my baskets was coming off a ball screen or a dribble hand-off from (Foote),” said Wittman, who scored 24 points and made 10 of 15 shots.

Then there’s perhaps the most unlikely story of all. Forward Mark Coury was a starter for blueblood, deep-pocketed Kentucky, but inexplicably to everyone but him, decided to transfer for academics.

Who does that?

As good of a passer as Foote is, his mom gets credit for the biggest assist of all.

“In a way, without her I wouldn’t be here,” said Foote, now listed at 265 pounds. “It’s just been a heck of a ride.”

“There was disarray with the coaching situation (Billy Gillispie took over for Tubby Smith), and I decided the best situation for me was academics,” said the finance major who has had a 4.0 grade point average at both schools.

Wittman has a distinguished basketball pedigree — his father Randy is a former NBA player and Indiana star whose Hoosiers won the 1981 national title

One day, Donahue got a call from the team’s liaison with the admissions office about Coury. “He says, this guy’s dad is telling me that his son started at

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Kentucky and he wants to transfer,” Donahue said.

“This kid is a spectacular student, never got less than an A in his life. I said, ‘OK we’ll take him.’”

Since his transfer, he’s joked with teammates about hoping to play Kentucky in the tournament.

“When I saw the brackets, I said this could play out,” Coury said.

The closest Cornell has come is during the 2008 tournament, when they walked past the Kentucky team in the gym.

“I can remember our first year in the tournament, walking by Kentucky and we overheard one of their players say, ‘Man, they look like a high school team,’ so we give (Coury) a hard time about that,” Wittman said.

Though Kentucky vs. Cornell might seem like a mismatch, those who doubt Cornell do so at their own risk.

“Cornell did everything that they’ve been pretty much doing all year,” said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. “They found different ways to score and it’s tough when you shoot 52% in the first half and you’re still down 12. They can beat you in so many ways.”

Wisconsin (24-9) had held opponents to 56 points. The 87 the Badgers gave up was the most in regulation in four years.

Given Coury has seen college basketball’s two extremes, he’s an expert on the topic.

“There’s a lot of emphasis of trying to get to the next level there,” he said. “Here it’s down to the roots of basketball, playing for the team, having a fun time.”

That Coury is about to play his former team is no small irony. He has seen how both halves live, and wouldn’t change a thing.

Condensed version of orginal story by

Kelly Whiteside, USA Today March 22, 2010

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STUDENTS OF THE GAME

The simplest way to put it is that the Big Red is a collection of students playing basketball for the sheer sake of competing and trying to win. These guys are an actual team, most of whom are upperclassmen who never got so much as a recruiting wink from powerhouse schools.

Not only do Big Red players go to class, they go to challenging classes - economics, electronic engineering, microbiology, applied sciences - on an Ivy League campus in a place that prides itself in being “centrally isolated.”

The playing style is as old-school as buttoned sweater vests.

Donahue’s team runs lots of weaves, backdoors, flex cuts and ball reversals. Every player can shoot and screen from the perimeter. Every loose ball is chased down.

There’s a distinct possibility that the Wildcats’ size, speed and talent will totally overwhelm Cornell, just as they did Wake Forest in the second round.

But unless you’re a Kentucky fan, you have to admit that it would be great to see the smalltime team win this one. from Charlotte Observer,

March 25, 2010

Cornell is Ivy League and all, but there’s nothing elitist about its brand of basketball.

There isn’t an offense predicated on outsmarting your opponent with backdoor cuts. The Big Red doesn’t slow down the game and play at a half-court tempo and doesn’t mind getting out in transition.

Cornell just plays smart basketball, hustles, shoots well and has players who know their roles.

The Wildcats would be wise not to underestimate the Big Red. The Big Red picked apart the Badgers from the opening tip, jumping out to an 11-1 lead and never trailing. It shot 61percent against a Big Ten team that prides itself on defense.

In its 78-65 first-round win over Temple and its 18-point win over Wisconsin, Cornell shredded two of NCAA Division I’s top defensive teams with relative ease. Temple ranked third in scoring defense (56.1points per game), and Wisconsin was fourth (56.2).

The Badgers had allowed only one team to eclipse 70 points against them in regulation, a 74-61 loss to Gonzaga in November. Cornell got there midway through the second half.

“I’m not sure three or four days (of preparation) would have stopped what they do, because they just do it well,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “And we could tell by timing. You can tell by watching tape a lot of times about cuts, reads and how guys are on the same page.” from Louisville Courier Journal

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March 21, 2010

Go, Cornell!

Forget about objectivity.

Who cares about a stupid ol’ bracket anyway? Unless you were born in Lexington, Louisville or Paducah, how can you not pull for Cornell tonight when it faces hoops factory Kentucky? No offense to the Wildcats, who have some great young basketball players. John Wall in particular is a joy to watch. But Cornell is a true team in every sense of the word. Its offense is beauty in motion, its shooting is textbook, its decision-making point guard is wonderful. Backdoor cuts, give-and-goes, confident 3’s, that unusual high-post play in which the man with the ball fakes handoffs to fast-moving guards before finally giving it up, almost like a Wing-T in football — Cornell is a full-course basketball meal for those of us who have grown hungry for that style of play over the years. Most of all, Cornell is a symbol of true collegiate sports as they were meant to be. The Ivy League doesn’t give out athletic scholarships. Its players are true student-athletes, not hoops mercenaries who take “Theories of Coaching 101” for a semester, then high-tail it to the NBA after one season.Chances are, blue will trump red tonight. In sports, talent is usually the most important ingredient. But you never know. And that is why we will watch. And root for the guys in Red. from Sheboygan Press, March 25, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 67

n ”

ss, 10

Big Red IS a throwback to a bygone era I am rooting for Cornell.

game and not the program.

I am rooting for the Big Red because I once played in the Ivy League and know all too well about the league’s idiosyncrasies, the Friday-Saturday schedule, the long bus rides on cold winter nights around the Northeast, a league with no frills.

And maybe most of all, I am rooting for Cornell because this is one marvelous fluke.

I am rooting for Cornell because the Ivy League is the only Division I conference in the country without athletic scholarships, in a sense the last true amateurs.

I am rooting for Cornell because in a sport that’s all about bigness and how many times you’re on television, a sport that’s all about seat licenses and boosters, as much about business as it is about basketball, the Big Red are a throwback to a time gone forever; a time when college basketball really was about the 68 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

The last time an Ivy League team won a game in the NCAA Tournament was 11 years ago, and that was Princeton with its unique style, one that had opposing teams looking as if they were looking at mysteries without any clues. The last time an Ivy team made this deep a run into the tournament was 31 years ago when Penn got all the way to the Final Four.

Ivy League teams are not supposed to be in the Sweet Sixteen.

Not now.

Not in this day and age.

One where the Ivy League seems more and more rooted in some lost time.

This is the basketball world Cornell has come out of to shock this tournament.

Gone are the days of Bill Bradley taking Princeton to the Final Four in 1965, beating the Friars to get there.

And it’s a marvelous fluke.

Long gone.

Case in point: Cornell and Syracuse are only 60 miles apart, and first began playing way back in 1901. For years they played home and home every year. But all that ended in 1982 when Syracuse basically said forget it, it wasn’t going to Ithaca anymore, a symbolic reminder that the two schools now lived in two different basketball worlds.

Now they’re even more so, even if they are both in the Sweet Sixteen.

But as big-time college basketball keeps getting bigger, with no end in sight, the Ivy League seems more and more to live in some different era. And it’s more than just the fact that the Ivy League plays in gyms, while the others play in arenas. Or even the scholarship issue, which obviously makes the playing field inherently uneven.

It’s also the schedule.

When I was playing at Brown, the Columbia-Cornell weekend trip was dreaded. Now, of course, the Friars go the day before when they play at URI, never mind UConn. Back then, we took a bus to New York on Friday, played Columbia that night, got on a bus afterward and drove halfway to Cornell. The next night, we played the game and then drove back to Providence, getting in about four in the morning.

Ah, the big time.

That is the league, and in many ways it’s remained timeless, while everything else about college basketball has dramatically changed. Friday and Saturday bus rides in January and February. Count on it.

And the Big Red’s strength?

They shoot the ball. I mean they really shoot it. All of them.

They came into Brown three weeks ago and lit up the scoreboard as if it were some old pinball game, raining down threes.

Call them the anti-UConn.

But take away the Ivy League pedigree, take away the back-to-back league games, take away all the quirks in this quirkiest of leagues, and they are just basketball players.

Or listen to Pete Carril, the iconic former Princeton coach, who said this as a blurb on the back of an excellent book on Ivy League basketball called “Outside the Limelight,” by Washington Post reporter Kathy Orton.

“In my book, there’s no such thing as an Ivy League player,” Carril said. “There is such a thing as a basketball player who happens to play in the Ivy League.”

Certainly that’s now the case for Cornell.

Rest assured, they go into the Sweet Sixteen as a team that’s proved it belongs there.

So I am rooting for Cornell because I know how unbelievable its ride has been, how many odds it had to overcome just to get to this tournament, never mind win two games.

And I am rooting for it because I once took those long bus rides too, all those long dark winter nights when all the glitz and the glamour was somewhere else, and the NCAA Tournament seemed as far away as the moon.

by Bill Reynolds, Providence Journal March 22, 2010 Note: Condensed version of original article A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 69

Cornell’s magical season closes in a dreamlike setting against talented Kentucky

W

ithout looking past their first two NCAA Tournament opponents, the Cornell players and coaching staff knew all along that, should they make the Sweet Sixteen, they’d be playing in their backyard. The Carrier Dome, the home court for Syracuse University that Cornell was accustomed to playing in as a visitor, would provide the Big Red with one of the largest home court advantages in the 2010 NCAA Tournament—if, in fact, the Red made it out of the Jacksonville regional.

After the decisive victories over Temple and Wisconsin in Jacksonville, the team’s wish had come true. For this one evening, the Dome would be transformed from a normally hostile, anti-Cornell environment to a major basketball facility filled with Cornellians and Big Red fans of all ages and from all over the country who came to cheer on the underdog and witness history.

70 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

But nothing could have matched the scene that unfolded that night in Syracuse. At the start of the evening, many of the Cornell players sat in a reserved section to watch the preceding East Region Sweet Sixteen match-up between West Virginia and Washington, and though there were more Cornell fans in one place than anyone had ever seen, it was not overwhelming. Half an hour later, however, the players emerged onto the court for the pre-game warm-ups to an almost blinding sea of Cornellian Red. Nearly 80 percent of the Carrier Dome capacity crowd was supporting Cornell, dwarfing the historically loud contingent of Kentucky fans.

For the seniors, it was almost dreamlike to witness how the growth in fan support during their fouryear run had culminated with such a backdrop.

When asked to describe the atmosphere after the game, players all used adjectives like: awe-inspiring, emotional, and surreal.

After settling down their nerves through the first few possessions, the Cornell players began to feed off the energy of the wired crowd. Jeff Foote broke the stalemate with his patented hook shot. Then Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale converted three pointers, and the Red opened up a 10-2 lead five minutes into the game to raise the decibel level of the fans in the Carrier Dome through the roof.

But then Kentucky’s unparalleled quickness and athleticism began causing serious problems for the Red. A few turnovers in the open court led to breakaway dunks and lay-ups for the Wildcats, enabling them to overcome the early deficit. And when Cornell offense was running smoothly, an

“

What this group accomplished is almost surreal, what’s gone on the last two weeks. I’ve been in this league for 20 years and I have had three NBA players on one team that didn’t accomplish nearly what this team accomplished. I know it sounds corny, but they love each other more than any other team in this tournament, in my opinion.”

Coach Steve Donahue, Ithaca Journal, March 26, 2010

CORNELL vs. KENTUCKY

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 71

apparent open shot became contested at the last instant due to Kentucky’s unbelievable length at every position. Dale did all he could to carry the cold-shooting Red in the first half, and the Cornell’s overlooked defense held up against the athletes of Kentucky, but the Wildcats went on a couple pivotal first-half runs to go into the locker room with a 32-16 lead.

The message at the half from Coach Donahue was simple: Play our game, and we beat Kentucky.

Unfortunately, Cornell’s cold shooting continued.

While the offense sputtered, the defense held Kentucky in check and the deficit was still 17 with 12:30 to play. Not willing to go down without a fight, the Red kept chipping away at the Wildcats’ lead. Dale and Wittman led a charge that whittled the lead down to 10 with 9:27 to go, and a jumper from freshman Errick Peck cut the lead to eight at 38-30. The Red cut the lead to six on a clutch Louis Dale three-pointer from the wing with 5:24 to play, and the Cornell fans cheered wildly, sensing the possibility for a dramatic rally.

But that would be as close as Cornell would get.

Every time the Red made a charge, Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins answered with a lay-up. The big

72 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

man also uncharacteristically made his free throws at the end of the game to seal Cornell’s fate. In a game that was tighter than the final score indicates, Kentucky defeated Cornell 62-45 to end the Big Red’s magical run.

Words can’t describe the pain felt by every single person in the locker room after the game. For the seniors, knowing they had just played their last college basketball game together was unimaginable.

The underclassmen were hit with the reality that they may never get to play with a group like this again. The coaches too seemed to realize that there was a chance this could be a “goodbye”. Even after the media had come and gone, no one moved from their seats for another half an hour, because leaving the locker room meant it was actually over.

The two-week NCAA Tournament run that had captivated college basketball and made the Big Red “America’s Team” may have ended that night in Syracuse, but its impact on Cornell and Ivy League basketball will last forever.

CORNELL vs. KENTUCKY

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 73

RELISH THE MOMENT

So, after the 62-45 defeat, Cornell Coach Steve Donahue gathered his players for the final time this season. He tried in vain to hold back tears as he told the group how proud he was of them.

“He cried a little bit, but he was holding it back,” Alex Tyler, a senior, said. “A lot of us were.”

Donahue said that he hoped he could someday coach another senior class that was as unselfish and dedicated to winning.

“It’s hard to explain how great these guys are in this day and age, it’s like they’re from the 1950s,” he said. “They’re a throwback. They’re corny and goofy and fun-loving, yet they compete like animals when they’re on the court. It’s the best as a coach.”

At the end of his nearly 10-minute speech, Donahue told his team to relish the moment rather than dwell on the loss.

“It hurts,” he said. “But there’s a lot of other things to worry about in life than losing a basketball game to the No. 1 team in the country.

This was unbelievable, and I’m so darn proud of them. I’m good enough to put this pain away for tonight. Go embrace this, and go have some fun with your families. This was unbelievable.”

by Pete Thamel New York Times March 26, 2010

74 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

If It’s About the Journey, Cornell Didn’t Lose

“

Yes, it’s kind of hard to look at it right now, obviously coming off a loss. But I think the next couple of weeks, days or months, whatever, I think we’ll be able to appreciate it more. Obviously, it’s been a tremendous run for us. A ton of fun. Just playing with this team, the guys on the team, we’ve been enjoying every moment of it.”

Ryan Wittman Post-game Press Conference

CORNELL vs. KENTUCKY

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 75

The Big Red returned to a large reception of fans who wanted to say thanks

A

fter the loss to Kentucky, the Cornell players and staff spent the night in Syracuse collecting their thoughts, gathering with family and friends, and looking back on a historic season. The Big Red boarded the bus back to Ithaca the next morning and expected to return to a mostly empty campus because Spring Break was still in session.

But just as they were overwhelmed with the scene at the Carrier Dome as they took the court for warm-ups, the players were astounded by the reception they received from fans and supporters as they arrived at the University.

Ithacans and the staff and students remaining at Cornell made sure that, upon its arrival back in town, the team knew how appreciative the community was of its efforts.

A police escort greeted the team bus as it exited Route 13 and guided the Big Red players and coaches to campus and into an eager throng of Cornell fans gathered around Day Hall. While campus roads were blocked for the reception, hundreds of people gathered to get a glimpse of their heroes. People clamored for autographs and photos. Spec-

76 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

tators leaned out of windows, climbed in trees, and lined the streets to welcome their team home. Vice President of Student Affairs Susan Murphy greeted the team and, with megaphone in hand, congratulated them on a fine season and their dignified representation of Cornell.

Though the team had won over fans with its talent, execution, and performance in clutch situations, what made Ithacans and Cornellians especially proud was the classy, sportsmanlike, and unselfish way the Red represented the school and the community.

The welcome home reception meant everything to the team. Especially for the seniors, who symbolized the program’s transformation from an Ivy League also-ran to Sweet Sixteen participants, seeing how significant and powerful basketball had become in Ithaca was unbelievably gratifying. Thanks to the hard work of Coach Donahue and every current and former player who made contributions to the Cornell basketball program, one thing rang true: Ithaca is now, without a doubt, a basketball town.

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 77

Coach Donahue taught his players the value of helping others in the community

O

nly minutes remained before one of their greatest moments on the basketball court and the Cornell players were amazingly relaxed. Coach Steve Donahue? Not as much.

Until he received a text message just before he took the floor to face the Wisconsin Badgers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

“The guys were really calm in the locker room,” Donahue said in recalling the pre-game mood. “But I was anxious. I don’t normally have my phone on right before a game, but I did then to make sure my family got to the arena without problems. So I had my phone with me when the text message arrived, and it really got me focused—as much as the players were.”

The message was short, yet powerful. It said, “If you don’t dream to become a champion, you won’t become a champion.”

The author of the text? Jason McElwain, a 21-year-old high school assistant basketball coach who has inspired millions with his actions.

McElwain gained notoriety in 2006 when he was a senior at Greece High School in Rochester, N.Y., and the

team manager of the Greece Athena boy’s basketball team. For the team’s final home game of the season, Coach Jim Johnson wanted to really honor McElwain, who is autistic, by having him put on a uniform and providing him with the opportunity to play in the game. McElwain entered the game with about four minutes to play and, in workmanlike fashion, hit six three-point shots and finished with 20 points as the home crowd cheered wildly. After his breathtaking performance, McElwain was carried off the court on the shoulders of the Greece Athena players.

The performance made headlines across the country and later that year McElwain won the “Best Moment in Sports” Award at the ESPN ESPY’S awards event.

Donahue first heard about McElwain’s exploits while watching a TV feature on him. He was watching with his wife, Pam, and they were both brought to tears, overwhelmed with emotion. One of their four children, Matthew, has a form of autism.

Donahue began corresponding with Coach Johnson after watching that feature, and he has since continued to communicate with Johnson and McElwain—who now serves as an assistant coach for Johnson—on a regular basis. After the plans were made to celebrate Cornell’s selection to the 2010 NCAA Tournament with a special Selection Show Party, Donahue decided to invite Johnson and McElwain to the event.

Both McElwain and the Cornell players enjoyed their interaction that day, and McElwain was hooked: he became both a Cornell basketball fan and a Steve Donahue fan. “[Coach Donahue] is not just

78 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

The interaction with McElwain is one of many ways that Donahue has involved the Big Red players in community causes and helping others to make their lives as bright as possible. When Donahue first took the job at Cornell in 2000, he developed a close relationship with an autistic boy named Jeff who spent time around the athletic department, and the players got to know Jeff as well; Donahue even took him as a guest to the Penn-Princeton away game one year. During his 10 years as Big Red coach, Donahue and his players

regularly gave their time and their hearts to Special Olympics, events for The United Way, as well as other local charities.

For Donahue, it’s all part of teaching his players perhaps the most valuable lesson they will learn during their time at Cornell: being a champion involves more than having success on the basketball floor.

“Life presents itself with a lot of different challenges and circumstances, and it’s important for our players to understand this,” he said. “We’re all in a position to make a difference in people’s lives, whether you’re an athlete or not. Still, athletes have a special advantage in this regard because of their stature. It’s important to remember these things every single day.”

Mark Goldberg

CORNELL vs. PRINCETON

a parent, but a parent of a child with autism,” McElwain told the Washington Post. “He’s really brought a lot of inspiration to the community out there in Ithaca and other parents of children with autism—that they’re able to support a child with special abilities or needs.”

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 79

a house united

D

uring its well-chronicled run to the Sweet Sixteen, the unique living arrangements of the Cornell basketball players became nearly as famous as the team itself. Fourteen players and one team manager lived in an old, weathered house on Dryden Road in Collegetown. At times, the scene resembled a frat house more than anything else: empty soda cans, wrappers on the floor, and packages and pizza boxes scattered around.

But the house symbolized an amazingly close bond between team members. Without question, the secret to Cornell’s unbelievable success on the court may have been rooted in this weathered, 15-bedroom apartment building.

While certain coaches around the country might try to arrange for such a living arrangement to nurture a winning formula for their program, those coaches are likely to cause the opposite to happen by controlling the environment. At Cornell, the team’s off-campus living situation was inspired by the players, and the Big Red players and coaches insist that it would not have worked otherwise. Off-the-court chemistry cannot be forced and for the Big Red, the relationships and trust built within the flimsy walls of the Collegetown house produced an unselfish brand of basketball on the court.

As Randy Wittman, the father of Ryan Wittman and former NBA coach described to the New York Times, “I think that’s why they’ve done what they’ve done over the course of their careers–the closeness and caring they have for one another.”

“

The habitants in this house were as geographically diverse and random as you could get (they hail from Los Angeles to Kansas to Birmingham to Toronto), but there is nothing random about how the team meshed on the court—and why the team played with an uncanny gracefulness and selflessness on the hardwood.

The unselfishness of this team is typified by the uncommon relationship between seniors Alex Tyler and Jon Jaques. Though Jaques took Tyler’s place in the starting lineup and flourished when the two-year starter injured his leg early in the season, the reversal of their roles did not change their relationship at all. Instead of spoiling team chemistry, as Steve Donahue told the New York Times, “the opposite happened. Alex Tyler is the first one off the bench, hugging Jon. I think that comes with the bonding with what they’ve done off the court. It would be foolish in their minds to worry about basketball before their friendship.”

Though the house may make some fraternities look pristine, the players wouldn’t have changed a thing about their humble abode. It is no coincidence that once Cornell men’s basketball players began the tradition of living together off-campus three years ago, Ivy League championship and NCAA Tournament banners began appearing in the rafters of Newman Arena.

by Jon Jaques

We have the whole team living in close quarters,” said starting guard Louis Dale. “There are going to be occasional arguments and disputes every now and then.

“But we’re all like brothers. We have so much love for one another. So, it’s a good thing for us.”

80 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

Louis Dale The Patriot-News (Pa.) March 21, 2010

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 81

Coach “D” energized the Cornell community with his caring and passion Note: This article appeared in the Cornell Daily Sun on April 9, 2010

A

round 9 p.m. on March 31st, after interviewing for the Boston College head coaching position, Steve Donahue sent a text message to a group of Cornell student reporters. It read, “You guys are awesome.”

The four words didn’t take much effort or likely much thought, but that act of reaching out to a few mere aspiring journalists which was second nature to Donahue, is symbolic of what sets him apart in a business where anyone else would have already had one foot out the door. There is no other Steve Donahue in college basketball.

82 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

His job, when he took it 10 years ago, was to coach a basketball team, make it respectable and bring the winning tradition he had been a part of at Penn.

His success on the court in the decade is undeniable, his original goals, no doubt, long fulfilled. Before and after snapshots paint the picture of one program that finished with a winning record just twice in the 12 years before the Donahue era, and another that has been to three consecutive NCAA tournaments as he departs.

But coaches all around the country make a living off of miraculous 180-degree turn-around efforts. What makes Donahue unique is his ability to energize an entire community with his caring and authenticity.

Steve Donahue is not one to hold back tears, and the man who wears his heart on his sleeve made no exceptions during his last run at Cornell. In a postgame press conference following a win over Drexel last November, Coach D broke down while talking about the emergence of senior captain Jon Jaques.

When a win over Wisconsin secured the Big Red a spot in the school’s first ever Sweet Sixteen, Donahue again got emotional. And after his final game at the helm, Donahue answered questions red-eyed, having just said goodbye to the eight seniors that have helped to transform Cornell basketball. But the passion and emotion that Donahue has shown emanates far beyond the team’s official members.

He’s fostered close relationships with members of local Special Olympic groups. He’s connected with students, faculty and staff. Most of all, Donahue has garnered and cherished support from Ithaca as a whole. In a town in which strained student-resident relationships often hold court, Donahue has created

an environment each of the last few winters at Bartels Hall with equal support: townie and Newman Nation.

There’s no replacement for winning. Fans generally don’t flock to losing teams. But Coach D’s teams go far beyond the victories. They play hard. They play smart.

They have fun. They play a brand of basketball and carry themselves on and off the hardwood in a manner that makes the entire community proud.

He’s put a premium on recruiting “good guys” and you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer, more polite, more modest team in the country, no doubt a tribute to the players, but equally so, a tribute to the guy who brought them all together.

As Coach Donahue leaves East Hill for Chestnut Hill, one of the main questions surrounding his coaching ability centers around just that, his recruiting. Simply put: Can he recruit ACC level athletes? But to anyone that has been around Donahue and the Cornell program in recent years, this uncertainty must seem absurd. Without athletic scholarships or the major conference frills, Coach D recruited and developed a team that competed on a higher level than Boston College this past year. With athletic scholarships to

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 83

offer, in addition to the high profile league, anything short of top tier recruiting classes in terms of athletes, students and all-around people would be shocking.

The day after committing to follow Coach D to Boston College, former assistant Nat Graham drove 10 hours to support a pair of graduating seniors, Ryan Wittman and Jeff Foote, as they played in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Graham’s commitment to his players’ futures even after he left the program and they had played their last games for the Big Red is indicative of the attitude that Donahue has coached with and projected upon all of Cornell basketball for the last decade.

As Donahue leaves the program, Cornell is truly a basketball school and nobody more than Coach D deserves credit for that transformation. For that feat, Donahue deserves a text message too, signed by the entire Cornell and Ithaca communities: We wish you the best of luck. You are awesome.

by Sam Aleinikoff Cornell Daily Sun April 9, 2010

84 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 85

DATE OPPONENT SCORE HIGH POINTS HIGH REBOUNDS

11/14/09 at Alabama W 71-67 (23) Wittman, Ryan 11/18/09 at UMass W 74-61 (24) Dale, Louis 11/20/09. SETON HALL 79-89 L (24) Wittman, Ryan 11/24/09 at #9/10 Syracuse 73-88 L (20) Wroblewski, Chris 11/27/09 vs Toledo W 78-60 (20) Wittman, Ryan 11/28/09 vs Vermont W 67-59 (12) Foote, Jeff

(12) Dale, Louis

(12) Wittman, Ryan 11/29/09 at Drexel W 61-54 (18) Wittman, Ryan 12/02/09 at Bucknell W/OT 104-98 (28) Foote, Jeff 12/06/09 SAINT JOSEPH’S W 78-66 (17) Wittman, Ryan 12/20/09 vs Davidson W/OT 91-88 (29) Wittman, Ryan 12/21/09 at St. John’s W 71-66 (20) Jaques, Jon 12/29/09 at La Salle W 78-75 (34) Wittman, Ryan 12/31/09 PENN STATE BEHREND W 73-49 (22) Foote, Jeff 01/02/10 BRYANT W 75-49 (19) Wittman, Ryan 01/06/10 at #1/1 Kansas 66-71 L (24) Wittman, Ryan 01/08/10 at South Dakota W 71-65 (19) Dale, Louis 01/11/10 CLARKSON W 82-37 (15) Wittman, Ryan 01/16/10 *COLUMBIA W 74-53 (13) Wroblewski, Chris

(13) Wittman, Ryan 01/23/10 *at Columbia W 77-51 (16) Dale, Louis 01/29/10 *DARTMOUTH W 71-37 (15) Groebe, Max 01/30/10 *HARVARD W 86-50 (16) Foote, Jeff 02/05/10 *YALE W 90-71 (17) Jaques, Jon 02/06/10 *BROWN W 74-60 (17) Foote, Jeff 02/12/10 *at Penn 64-79 L (16) Wittman, Ryan

(16) Dale, Louis 02/13/10 *at Princeton W 48-45 (13) Wittman, Ryan 02/19/10 *at Harvard W 79-70 (27) Wittman, Ryan 02/20/10 *at Dartmouth W 88-70 (23) Wittman, Ryan 02/26/10 *PRINCETON W 50-47 (19) Foote, Jeff

02/27/10 *PENN W 68-48 (18) Wittman, Ryan 03/05/10 *at Brown W 95-76 (20) Jaques, Jon

03/06/10 *at Yale W 79-59 (20) Wittman, Ryan 03/19/10 vs No. 12/13 Temple W78-65 (21) Dale, Louis 03/21/10 vs No. 16/19 Wisconsin W 87-69 (26) Dale, Louis 03/25/10 vs No. 2/2 Kentucky 45-62 L (17) Dale, Louis * Conference game

86 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

(7) Foote, Jeff (9) Foote, Jeff (10) Foote, Jeff (10) Foote, Jeff (12) Foote, Jeff (13) Wire, Adam

(6) Wittman, Ryan (18) Foote, Jeff (6) Coury, Mark (14) Foote, Jeff (11) Foote, Jeff (9) Wire, Adam (7) Foote, Jeff (8) Foote, Jeff (7) Coury, Mark (12) Foote, Jeff (8) Foote, Jeff (10) Foote, Jeff (8) Wittman, Ryan (5) Jaques, Jon (9) Foote, Jeff (13) Foote, Jeff (9) Foote, Jeff (11) Foote, Jeff (6) Dale, Louis (8) Wittman, Ryan (6) Jaques, Jon (5) Wittman, Ryan (5) Foote, Jeff (11) Foote, Jeff (7) Jaques, Jon (7) Wittman, Ryan (7) Foote, Jeff (7) Foote, Jeff (7) Foote, Jeff (6) Foote, Jeff

RECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL ALL GAMES 29-5 11-1 13-3 5-1 CONFERENCE 13-1 7-0 6-1 0-0 NON-CONFERENCE 16-4 4-1 7-2 5-1

2009-2010 MEN’S BASKETBALL

RO S T E R

No. Name

Pos. Cl. Ht. Wt. School/ Hometown

1

Jeff Foote

C

Sr.

7-0

245

St. Bonaventure Univ./ Spencer-Van Etten HS/Lockwood, N.Y.

3

Chris Wroblewski

G

So.

6-0

180

Highland Park HS/ Highland Park, Ill.

4

Aaron Osgood

F

Jr.

6-9

230

The Hill School (Pa.)/ Overlake, Wash.

5

Errick Peck

F

Fr.

6-6

210

Cathedral HS/ Indianapolis, Ind.

11

Max Groebe

G

Jr.

6-4

200

Univ. of Massachusetts/ Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior HS/North Miami Beach, Fla.

12

Louis Dale

G

Sr.

5-11 180

Altamont School/ Birmingham, Ala.

13

Andre Wilkins

F

Sr.

6-5

198

Blinn College (Texas)/Emery HS/ Toronto, Ontario

15

Geoff Reeves

G

Sr.

6-4

180

Burlington HS/ Burlington, Kan.

20

Ryan Wittman

F

Sr.

6-6

215

Eden Prairie HS/ Eden Prairie, Minn.

21

Peter McMillan

F

Fr.

6-7

220

Northfield Mt. Hermon School/ Brentwood, Calif.

22

Miles Asafo-Adjei

G

Fr.

6-1

175

The Ensworth School/ Nashville, Tenn.

24

Adam Wire

F

Jr.

6-6

222

Pinecrest HS/ Southern Pines, N.C.

25

Jon Jaques

F

Sr.

6-7

220

Harvard-Westlake School/ Los Angeles, Calif.

33

Alex Tyler

F/C

Sr.

6-7

235

Mercersburg Academy (Pa.)/ Clear Spring, Md.

34

Josh Figini

F

Fr.

6-9

200

Chisago Lakes HS/ Chisago Lakes, Minn.

40

Pete Reynolds

F/C

Sr.

6-8

225

Blair HS/ Blair, Neb.

42

Mark Coury

F/C

Sr.

6-9

240

Univ. of Kentucky/Detroit Country Day School/ West Bloomfield, Mich.

55

Eitan Chemerinski

F

Fr.

6-8

195

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School/ Potomac, Md.

—

Anthony Gatlin

F

Jr.

6-8

180

Centenary College/Pearland HS/ Pearland, Texas

Tri-Captains: Jeff Foote, Jon Jaques, Alex Tyler | Head Coach: Steve Donahue | Assistants: Nat Graham, Woody Kampmann, and Kevin App

A BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS 87

THE NEXT CHAPTER

“I have every reason to believe that great success will continue for Cornell Basketball” On April 7, an announcement came that many Cornell fans had been anticipating: Steve Donahue was leaving Cornell to become head coach at a university in a major basketball conference. Donahue had previously said no to many inquiries from Division I scholarship basketball schools, but the offer to lead Boston College and compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference against the likes of Duke and North Carolina was too good an opportunity to pass up.

As he said goodbye to the Big Red players and fans, Donahue stressed two things: 1) Leaving Cornell for BC was a tremendously difficult decision because of his feelings for the university and the Cornell community; and 2) The program is in position to continue the type of success that was realized in 2009-10.

“I have every reason to believe that great success will continue for Cornell Basketball,” said Donahue. “In speaking with Cornell players, former players and fans, I’ve always said that the program is not mine—it’s theirs.

They are the resources that enable a program to achieve longstanding success. Cornell is made up of incredible people, great academics and reputation in such diverse areas of studies, and a beautiful campus. The passion of Cornellians is something that separates the university from other institutions. That’s why it was extremely difficult for me to leave Cornell.”

In selecting Bill Courtney to lead the Big Red program, Cornell Athletic Director Andy Noel found someone with the qualities necessary to continue the success of Donahue’s 10-year reign. It didn’t take long for Noel and the current Cornell players to get excited about Courtney’s

88 2009-10 CORNELL MEN’S BASKETBALL

infectious optimism and passion—and his firm belief that the Big Red can have other seasons like the one it enjoyed in 2009-10.

“Bill Courtney brings an array of qualities to Cornell Basketball that I am confident will lead the Big Red to continued success within the Ivy league and beyond,” Noel said. “His energy and enthusiasm are infectious, but his attention to the details of coaching and recruiting are what makes me confident that we have hired a winner.”

Big Red point guard Chris Wroblewski was involved in the selection process for the new coach. One of the points that stood out to Wroblewski from their meeting was that coach Courtney truly believes the Big Red can make it to the Sweet 16 again, or even the Elite Eight -- like George Mason did on its way to the Final Four in 2006. Courtney had recruited most of the players who led George Mason to the Final Four.

“His will to win is something that is important to us because a lot of people are writing us off, the one-year wonder kind of thing,” Wroblewski said. “I need that kind of motivator and believer in us.”

“I’ve looked into the eyes of the players and I see they have tasted that success and they want it again,” Courtney said. “We’re going to work our tails off to make it happen again. I told the players to put no limits on what they can accomplish because I certainly won’t. This run has been the best in school history, but I like to think that the best is yet to come.”

Mark Goldberg

myTEAMBOOK.net

cornell men’s basketball 2009-2010

$29.95