After helping Cornell win its first Ivy League title in 20 years while earning league Player of the Year honors, what can Louis Dale do this year for an encore?
How about increase his average by 1.0 to 14.8 points per contest while shooting .548 from the field (.488 from three)? As a result, the Big Red have gone 10-2 (4-0 Ivy) when the guard has been on the court.
Clearly the Birmingham, Ala., native hasn't lost a step.
Although the 5-foot-11, 180-pound junior missed the team's first eight games due to a hamstring injury, he admitted that the personal setback actually was a positive for the team.
"You miss the live action," he said. "But at the same time Chris [Wroblewski] developed. . It made us better."
Although the Big Red only went 4-4 in those games, three of the losses were to teams from the major conferences (St. John's, Indiana and Syracuse).
Meanwhile, Wroblewski, a freshmen guard, earned six starts during that stretch, averaging 31.6 minutes per start. He now gives Cornell coach Steve Donahue a reason to rest Dale, though it's not like the nine-year coach wants his former POY to sit anymore than is necessary.
(Donahue did not return multiple voicemails seeking comment.)
Ironically, possibly the biggest challenge to Dale repeating as Ivy League Player of the Year wears Cornell carnelian as well.
Dale's classmate Ryan Wittman is the only Big Red player who averages more points (18.7) than Dale. Wittman is currently second in the Ancient Eight, while Dale would rank fifth if he had played in 75 percent of Cornell's games.
One reason these two juniors have POY-level talent is that both boast high shooting percentages from the charity stripe.
Wittman has shot .827 from the line this year, while Dale's .896 clip is the highest of anyone who has shot over 12 foul shots. In fact, since the start of the 2007-08 season, Dale has missed just 15 foul shots in 154 attempts.
"Foul shots can make or break a game," Dale said of his motivation to practice his free throw shooting. "You can win or lose on free throws."
Last year Penn found this out the hard way. In the Quakers' first game against Cornell, they lost by 13 in Ithaca, N.Y. How many points did Dale score on foul shots that game? Exactly 13 (while just missing one). Then, in the rematch at the Palestra, Dale went 7-for-9 from the line as Cornell prevailed 94-92. (Yes, that does mean that 20 percent of Dale's missed free throws over the last year and a half have come against Penn.)
Dale's accuracy from the foul line is enhanced by his ability to get there in the first place.
Although opposing fans are wont to yell for charging calls when Dale drives, it's not like he never gets called for an offensive foul: His average of 2.66 fouls per game is second on the team to Wittman (2.70).
"I love how physicality is a part of college basketball," he said. "The team that is more physical usually wins. That's what our entire team tries to do."
