Randy Wittman probably expected to see his kid at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. The former Indiana All-American and current coach of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves got his wish on Sunday - only his son was wearing Cornell red, not Hoosiers' cream and crimson.
Wittman's son Ryan, a 6-foot-6 junior and unanimous all-Ivy first-teamer last season, led Cornell with 28 points in a 72-57 loss to Indiana this weekend. The swingman, who hit five three-pointers in the game, drew his father back to his alma mater for the first time in 25 years.
But the elder Wittman's rooting interests were somewhat nebulous.
"I wasn't necessarily rooting against Indiana. My heart is still here," Wittman told The Indianapolis Star. "But when your blood is out there on the floor, you're pulling for him. The Big Red won, it was just the wrong one."
If an Ancient Eight team was going to knock off a Big Ten team, this matchup would have been the perfect opportunity. The defending champion Big Red are the class of the league again this year, and Indiana basketball is in the midst of a serious crisis - former coach Kelvin Sampson was fired last season for committing multiple NCAA recruiting violations, and last Tuesday, the program was placed on a three-year probation.
Maybe coach Wittman's son chose the right Big Red after all.
Lin is in. Reigning all-Ivy second-teamer Jeremy Lin didn't enter this season as an off-the-radar player. But after the week he's had, the Harvard junior guard's play is shooting off the charts.
In the Crimson's victories over Holy Cross and Army, Lin dropped 30 and 24 points, respectively, and notched nine total steals.
The Palo Alto, Calif., native's performances were predicated on a turnaround from beyond the arc. While Lin's major deficiency last season was his perimeter shooting - he shot a paltry 27.9 percent from three-point land - this season it has been a major strength. He has shot a torrid 58.8 percent from downtown, including seven treys in his past two games.
Are you Agel-in'? When Brown head coach Jesse Agel stepped in for Craig Robinson - who departed for Oregon State this offseason - it was a familiar feeling for the team's seniors.
Agel, a former assistant at Brown and Vermont, is the third coach in four years for the Bears, who watched Glen Miller take the Penn head coaching job before the 2006-07 season.
And the verdict on the first-year man thus far? Call it a hung jury.
While Brown pulled off solid non-conference wins over Holy Cross, Army and Eastern Michigan, a crushing season-opening defeat to rival Rhode Island and a 89-52 destruction by George Mason were tough losses to swallow.
Senior forward Chris Skrelja has played under all three coaches, and acknowledges the difficulties that come with a transitional phase.
"Right now, we have a new coach and a new system, and I think we're learning a lot on a game-to-game basis," Skrelja told the Brown Daily Herald.
"We go through stretches where we look like a championship team, and at other times we don't look good at all. But overall we're doing pretty well, and it's a learning process."
