The Cornell men's basketball team has not exactly been having a magical season. In fact, ESPN.com's Power 16 feature cites them as being "awful" thus far.
However, they may not be as bad as they seem.
In the aftermath of its non-conference schedule and the first two games of the Ivy League season, the Big Red finds itself with a 6-9 overall record and a 1-1 mark in Ivy League play.
Cornell, armed with the experience gained from early defeats as well as from its first taste of Ivy League play, is looking to crash into the Ancient Eight schedule with a full head of steam. If recent play is any indication, the team does indeed seem poised to do just that.
"We learned a lot about our team in December, and since then I think we've played well," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "In particular, I think our defense has improved, which has prepared us well for the league."
Cornell played its first two league games against the same opponent: Columbia. The two battled for the first time this season at Columbia, and the favored Lions emerged with a 70-61 win.
"At their place, we were missing our starting four-man, and our backup four-man was hurt, so I think that had something to do with our strategy going into the game," Donahue said. "But they made shots in that game, they really shot the ball well at home and they did a nice job."
When the teams headed upstate for the second game of their doubleheader, the outcome proved drastically different. At home, the Big Red put on a show and demolished the Lions, posting an impressive 77-47 win.
"You know, it's hard to explain in all honesty," Donahue said. of the Columbia meltdown. "It's college athletics and basketball particularly. We played extremely well here. Everything went right. Everything went wrong for Columbia ... Up here, I thought we played extremely well on both sides of the ball."
Some, but not all, of the turnaround in the grudge match can be attributed to the friendly confines of Cornell's Newman Arena. The Big Red deserves credit, however, for the adaptability they displayed from one game to the next, and other Ivy League opponents would be foolish not to take note of it. In addition, Cornell's early sampling of Ancient Eight competition is a luxury that half the league has not had, and the Big Red has been given a head start in adjusting to league play.
"Those games are always a battle, especially down in Columbia," junior forward Lenny Collins said. "They're good to get ready for the rest of the Ivy League season because each Ivy League game is a battle in and of itself ... I think [the games] are going to help us in the end, definitely."
Yet another learning experience for the Big Red was the team's difficult non-conference schedule early in the season. There, the team posted an unimpressive 5-8 record, although players believe some of those games could have gone either way.
Cornell's first two losses came to Marist and Northeastern, arguably two teams that the Big Red should have dispatched. Instead, Cornell lost to the two by a combined eight points.
"The early losses, especially the Marist game and the Northeastern game, are games that we probably should have won," Collins conceded.
However, he sees both the losses and the wins of the early season as having strengthened the team and molded it into more of a contender.
"From each game I think we learned a lot," Collins said. "We learned how hard we need to come out and play for us to be successful."
Collins is a key contributor for this Cornell basketball team, and has been all season. He is currently leading the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game.
Despite the rough start, the Big Red is confident about its chances to be competitive in the Ivy League. The team knows it didn't perform up to even its own expectations early on, but the blowout of Columbia looks to be a sign of things to come.
At least the coach would like to believe.
"There's great balance in the league," Donahue said. "On any given night, in our league in particular, I don't think the talent is drastically different. So I just think it's one of those years where teams that get off to a good start get the momentum going and I think they'll be in the race. That being said, I don't think there's anybody in the league that can't beat us. We've got to play well to win games."
As far as expectations go, the Big Red sees no need to be timid.
"I don't think there's any reason why you don't lace them up to try and challenge for a championship," Donahue said. "That's the goal, I think, of all the other seven programs as well."
