Ivy Hoops | Big Red not surprising with early domination

Everyone knew Cornell was the favorite to win the Ivy League title this year. But who knew they could be this good?

At least that's the question after this past weekend, when Cornell (14-6, 4-0 Ivy) followed up its sweep of Columbia by smoking Brown and then Yale at home by a combined margin of 60 points. They are now way out in front of the rest of the league in the win-loss columns.

The other big storyline was the return of Big Red senior guard Adam Gore, who stepped on the floor for the first time since the end of last season. He had torn his anterior cruciate ligament during the preaseason (after missing his entire sophomore year because of the same injury).

Gore, who burst onto the scene as a freshman four years ago, was expected to be a reliable producer in the backcourt with a deadly three-point shot. He may yet fulfill that role in conference play, although he saw just 10 minutes Friday and 12 Saturday, netting a combined four points and one field goal.

Cornell put Brown away early and was able to rest its starters, helping to avoid the Saturday-night fatigue that is a hallmark of the conference's double round-robin format. If the Big Red do that again next week, Penn could suffer, since Cornell faces Princeton on Friday and the Quakers the next evening.

"If you have a tough Friday night game and you're scrapping it out to the end, you come back on Saturday a little bit tired," junior forward Ryan Wittman told The Ithaca Journal Saturday night. "We had that last year a couple times. We definitely were a little more fresh tonight."

Tigers bouncing back? Princeton, meanwhile, is also looking hot. With their first weekend sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth in three years - on the road, no less - the Tigers (7-8, 2-0) have already surpassed their victory total from last year's disastrous campaign despite returning just two seniors, one of whom is a bona fide benchwarmer.

Freshman guard Douglas Davis and sophomore guard Dan Mavraides are both averaging double-digit scoring. Princeton is last in the conference in scoring offense but first in defense, a stat line that has never been unusual given their (in)famously deliberate style of play.

Still, it seems that coach Sydney Johnson, who was hailed as a savior when he was hired to turn around the program two years ago, might now have the personnel to make a difficult system work.

Loose balls. On the other end of the spectrum is Brown (6-12, 0-4). Who thought they would be this bad? Obviously not the media, which picked the Bears to finish fifth in the league in their first year of the post-Craig Robinson era.

It's no secret what their biggest fault has been: turnovers. The Bears had 18 turnovers in both their 65-59 loss to Columbia and their blowout defeat at Cornell. At the same time, they are last in the league in steals, and their average turnover margin, the worst in the conference by a huge margin, approaches negative-five.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.