Juco transfer McCord takes city hoops to Ithaca, N.Y.

After growing up in New York City and playing hoops for Monroe Junior College, John McCord is an Ivy force at Cornell. After honing his skills on the streets of New York, Cornell's John McCord has quickly turned the Ivy League into his own personal playground. His play has led the Big Red in this, his first –– and last -- season in Division I basketball. The numbers McCord has posted thus far place him high on a short list of candidates for Ivy League Player of the Year. Through 16 games, the 6-foot-6 forward is second in the league with 17.8 points per game and second in field goal percentage at .563, all while pulling down a team-high 8.6 rebounds and blocking 1.5 shots and laying out 1.4 assists per game. McCord is no stranger to being the team leader. While at Monroe Junior College in The Bronx, he led the team to a 28-3 record during the 1994-95 campaign. His efforts were recognized by the National Junior College Athletic Association, which named him Player of the Year. McCord, who takes pride in his studies, was also named to the first-team Academic All-America squad. His accomplishments on and off the court speak for themselves, but they are made even more impressive when one considers that he never played high school basketball. "I played in several leagues and tournaments, for fun," McCord said. "But I was working while I was in high school, and there were just certain things that I wanted to do in my life, and I didn't think that basketball was one of them. I chose to work and experience other things." It was only through close friend Stanley Green's encouragement that McCord got into college basketball. Green, a former playing partner of McCord's in tournaments throughout the city, was enrolled at Monroe and told coach Steve Demeo to give McCord a chance. "Stanley told me that I was wasting my talents by playing in the parks and playing at tournaments," McCord said. "He said, 'Why don't you come to junior college and play basketball with me?'." Once at Monroe, it was impossible to keep McCord's natural skills hidden. In addition to teaching McCord the fundamentals that were missing from his game, Demeo and his staff at Monroe were integral in getting the word out to Division I programs that they had found a real talent. "I thought I could get over with my athleticism and with doing the things that I had done in the park," McCord said. "College basketball was much different than that. Their guidance really helped me a lot to get the fundamentals down." After evaluating both his basketball and academic excellence, a number of schools -- including hometown Columbia -- expressed interest in McCord, with Cornell eventually offering him a chance to play. Taking Cornell's offer forced McCord to sit out his junior season, which he said was very difficult, but living with his teammates helped make it an easy adjustment into the school and created a family atmosphere among the team. Cornell's first-year coach, Scott Thompson, ended up the recipient of former coach Al Walker's recruiting powers. Citing the chance to grow and adjust together, the two first year members of the program have a great deal of respect for one another. "He's a real good player and a great kid," Thompson said. "He acts like a veteran -- obviously he's had a big impact on the team. It's very evident to me that he's a good person and has lived up to the expectations." Despite the expectations that arrived at Cornell with McCord, his dominant play has certainly been a surprise. Cornell is a vastly improved team with McCord in the line up. His teammates have looked to him as the centerpiece of the offense -- as shown by his 206 shot attempts, 70 more than any other Big Red player -- and as a role model. Despite not playing for Cornell before, he was named team co-captain. "There are times in practice where I try to get other people involved and they yell at me when I don't shoot the ball," McCord said. "They tell me that I'm the leader. I have a great deal of respect for my teammates because they are the ones that get me the ball." While his statistics are impressive to everyone else in the league, McCord professes to only be concerned with wins and losses. Saying that he has had plenty of individual recognition in the past, his only goal is to win a league title. "I'm not looking for individual awards right now," McCord said. "I would rather give up any individual awards just so I could have a championship. That's what we are focused on. All individual stuff can take a back seat right now." Thompson, however, isn't bashful about saying that McCord will earn consideration for Player of the Year honors. "In my mind he does a lot of good things," Thompson said. "There's a lot of the season left and he's capable of more good things." Faced with tough matchups this weekend against both Penn and Princeton, McCord is prepared to head into the toughest part of the Ivy season. "Last year I saw when we played Penn here and they were a good team, but that's last year. This is this year," McCord said. "We're different. Penn is different. Everyone here is here to help each other grow, and I think that's been a big part of our success so far. We feel that we have to come out and play our game and execute our plays and play our defense and we'll be fine." McCord has dominated the junior college ranks and has been a major force in the Ivies so far this year, but the one thing he hasn't done is throw up a three-pointer this season. With a laugh, McCord said that while he has been joking around with his teammates about that, he will only try one if he has to and is happy with his role on the team the way it stands now.

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