Ivy League basketball players ought to relax over the next few days, because this upcoming weekend marks the beginning of the trademark back-to-backs that run until season's end.
But this past weekend the Ancient Eight was fairly busy, with seven of eight squads in action on Saturday alone. Even at the onset of conference play, it was clear that the storylines are beginning to simmer.
The Cornell Kids. After a disappointing 2005-06 campaign, the Big Red are bouncing back in a big way, and they've got a couple of freshmen to thank for this success.
Guard Louis Dale and swingman Ryan Wittman are helping Cornell recover from devastating injuries to star guards Khaliq Gant and Adam Gore during the past two seasons, leading the Big Red to a 3-1 Ancient Eight record that has seen two victories over Columbia and a win over Princeton.
During Cornell's 56-51 win at home over Columbia - which clinched a season sweep - the rookies combined for 29 points, including a crucial sequence late in the game to take the lead.
With under a minute to play and the game tied, Dale kept a loose ball alive by sending it to teammate Graham Dow, who fed Wittman for the three-pointer that iced the win.
Something the Big Red might have to get used to.
Eight semesters is enough. Harvard center Brian Cusworth had this weekend's contests against Yale and Brown circled on his calendar all year.
The games came early in the Ivy season, and wouldn't have had any special significance if it weren't for one simple fact - they were Cusworth's last in a Harvard uniform.
At the final buzzer of the Brown game on Saturday, the St. Louis native's NCAA eligibility expired, a result of his having taken three total semesters off - including the entire 2003-04 season - due to an injury suffered before his sophomore season, and family issues.
Cusworth returned to Cambridge, Mass. as the centerpiece of his squad, literally and figuratively: he was the rare Ivy League seven-footer.
And on Saturday, the big man, once underweight and under-recruited, proved that his career had come full circle. Cusworth dropped 19 points and grabbed six rebounds in front of a conspicuous fan base.
Cusworth, who has been impressive all season, averaging 17.6 points and 8.7 rebounds in 11 games, drew several NBA scouts to Lavietes Pavilion this weekend.
It was quite an end to a collegiate basketball career, even in mid-season.
"It was good closure for everybody," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "He finished really strong."
Teed off, teched up. The Harvard-Yale matchup wasn't only marked by the usual blue-blood-bad-blood or by Cusworth's departure - there were also flaring tempers on the sidelines.
Sullivan was assessed a technical foul during the halftime break, allowing the Elis' Eric Flato to hit two free throws. And if this wasn't unusual enough, the Harvard bench was given a technical later in the half, giving Flato two more opportunities from the line.
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