Comfortable, but not too comfortable

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There will be no buses this weekend. No goodbyes to friends and family. No eyelids propped open, squinting at Marketing slides as the rest of the team slumbers in a dimmed cabin. This weekend, things will be comfortable.

In the midst of a rare two-week home stretch, the Penn men?s basketball team will remain at the Palestra this weekend to face Ivy foes Cornell and Columbia. Having already stolen two victories on the grueling road trip through the Empire State in mid-January, the Red and Blue get to play host this time around.

Though the first matchups between the schools clearly showed home court isn?t always an advantage, comfort is a fortune that Penn star point guard Zack Rosen doesn?t take for granted.

?Obviously it?s a bit of an advantage when you?re home,? he said. ?You?ve got a home crowd. You don?t have to pack. You don?t have to get on a bus. You know the rims, you know the court, you know the depth. It?s basically just like playing in your home playground.?

If the Quakers can?t convert from the field, however, all the friendly bounces in the world won?t help them make it through the weekend unscathed. In its loss to Harvard, Penn shot just 32.1 percent from the field and a paltry 22.7 percent from distance.

?You still have to put forth the same effort and energy as far as getting better,? coach Jerome Allen said. ?There?s still a lot of basketball left, so whether we?re here for the week or on the road, we?ve still got work to do.?

?You?ve got to come out here and win these games,? Rosen echoed. ?We?re going to be comfortable, but not too comfortable.?

Despite some inconsistency as of late, the Red and Blue will look to capitalize this Friday and Saturday on an increasingly raucous home crowd. Over 11,000 fans combined came out to watch the Quakers host Harvard and Dartmouth, and though they split the series, the squad remains very much in the thick of Ivy title contention. With a second weekend homestand in the fold, there has never been a better time for the Red and Blue to build up some momentum.

?Last Friday night was ? and I?ve spoken to a lot of people ? the loudest they?d ever seen this place. Ever. So, for me, for us, that?s great,? Rosen said. ?It was really special. Overall, I think it just shows how much people care about the program and how far this thing has come in such a short time.?

Though fans came out in droves to watch the Quakers take on the nationally-ranked Crimson, this weekend?s attendance will perhaps be a truer barometer of the buzz surrounding the squad. No team in recent memory has been so close to the top of the standings this late in the season, and the team will need all the support it can get if it hopes to secure Penn?s first NCAA tournament bid since 2007.

?Here?s what I?ll say, and hopefully they print it,? Rosen said. ?We win these next few games, and where are we at the 2nd and 3rd of March? Spring break right? I hope people stay. I hope people book tickets [for break] on the 4th ? It?ll be on us to have our own party.?

But even with a title run in its sights, Penn must stick to the here and now. Cornell is on a three-game winning streak, while Columbia was a buzzer beater away from upsetting Penn the first time around.

There will be no easy wins at the Palestra this weekend, and they won?t find any cheap buckets. And at least for a second week, there will also be no buses.

 

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Corning men's basketball team aims to raise road record


Penn, Princeton will be tough



Fresh off a weekend home sweep of Yale and Brown and boasting its best conference record of the Bill Courtney era, the Cornell men's basketball team will try to exorcise its road demons when it travels to perennial Ivy League heavyweights Pennsylvania and Princeton.

Friday night, the Big Red (10-12 overall, 5-3 league) takes on the Quakers at the historic Palestra. Saturday, CU invades Jadwin Gym to meet the defending league champion Tigers; both games will tip at 7 p.m.

The Big Red is 1-10 away from Newman Arena but has lost just one of those games by double digits. But Cornell is playing its best ball of the winter, having won three straight on its way up to fourth place in the league, just a game out of second.

"The goal is to win every single game on the schedule," junior guard Johnathan Gray said. "That's what we want to do and that's what coach has been telling us. We want to take every single game with the same mentality that we (had) last weekend. Play aggressive, play loose, play free and play for each other."

Gray established himself as one of this season's top surprises in last weekend's home sweep, averaging 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, including a career-high 29 points in the 85-84 overtime defeat of Yale. The following night, the former walk-on posted his sixth consecutive double figure game with 16 points and nine rebounds in a 72-63 win.

Courtney credits Gray's emergence to "being in the gym more and becoming a student of the game," revealing that prior to his recent scoring streak the junior swingman had been demoted to the "second unit" in practice after a slow start.

"He really responded the right way to that," Courtney said. "He picked up his game and earned his way back into the rotation and eventually back into the starting lineup. In practice he's really made a conscious effort to make the right play.

"We kind of told him not to pass so much," the coach said. "He tends to make some mistakes when he's passing. When he's being aggressive and in an aggressive mindset he's much better."

Senior co-captain Chris Wroblewski has also been brilliant of late, earning Ivy League Player of the Week honors after averaging 16.5 points, 9 assists and 6.5 rebounds last weekend to put his early-season shooting slump well behind him.

"I think we got off to a bad start, and it was just bad matchups for him from the beginning," Courtney said. "We played St. Bonaventure and Buffalo, who both had big, athletic guards he struggled with. Once he got off to a rough start, it kind of snowballed a little bit and he may have put a bit of pressure on himself. But at no point did our coaches think he wasn't going to break out of it, and now he's playing phenomenal basketball."

Friday night, Wroblewski and the Big Red will be looking to avenge a 64-52 home loss to Penn (13-11, 5-2) on Jan. 14. Cornell hit just 3 of 17 from beyond the arc in that game -- the first Quaker win in Ithaca in four years.

Courtney will hope to find a way to contain Penn's Ivy League Player of the Year candidate, senior Zack Rosen, who collected 18 points, five assists and five steals in the first meeting. Rosen, who leads the conference in both scoring (18.0 points per game) and assists (5.8), hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left in a 58-55 victory over Dartmouth on Saturday.

On Saturday Cornell will try to go 2-for-2 against Princeton (13-10, 4-3), which the Red defeated, 67-59, in the conference opener. Freshman Galal Cancer scored 17 points in leading an effective four-guard lineup employed by Courtney, while classmate Shonn Miller showed early signs of becoming one of the brightest rookies in the conference with 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

 

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AROUND THE IVIES: Crimson Looks to Stay Perfect At Lavietes



Jeremy Lin. Jeremy Lin. Jeremy Lin. Jeremy Lin. Jeremy Lin.

There. It?s out of my system. Unlike every other media outlet in the country, that?s all I?m going to say about that. Because this column is supposed to be about the Harvard men?s basketball team, and there?s a lot to discuss on that topic as well.

Over my 20 years of life, there have been three constants: death, taxes, and the Crimson losing in Jadwin Gymnasium.

Actually, I haven?t died, nor have I started paying taxes yet, so those aren?t actually true. But the third one is, as Harvard hasn?t won at Princeton since 1989, and has never swept the Penn-Princeton road trip in its history.

Those demons held strong once again this past weekend, when the Crimson survived a rowdy Palestra with a 56-50 win, then succumbed, 70-62, to its buzzer-beating, heart-breaking, no-real-grad-school-containing, Carlton Banks-accepting, Woodrow-Wilsoning, club-eating New Jersey rivals. Again.

The loss knocked Harvard out of both Top 25 polls, likely for good this regular season, while leaving the door open for Penn and Yale to make a late-season run at the Ivy title.

Though the defeat will hurt its potential NCAA seed, Harvard is still in good shape for the league championship. With a one-game lead and four of its last six at home (where it hasn?t lost in its last 25 games)?and the other two contests at beatable Cornell and Columbia?the Crimson is still the favorite to win its first outright Ivy title ever. But for a team with larger aspirations?a squad that is talented enough to win games in the NCAA tournament?there is still a lot that needs to be improved.

Most importantly, while the defense has been great all season long, the offense has been incredibly inconsistent. Though Tommy Amaker loves to emphasize "our bench and our balance," such an alliteration has resulted in a team that has averaged just 63 points per game since New Year?s Day. That?s good enough to win Ivy contests or beat another defense-oriented team like Florida State, but not to top more offensively-talented opponents in the Big Dance.

Harvard desperately needs a go-to crunch-time scorer for close games down the stretch, like the one at Princeton last Saturday. The team tried to turn to Kyle Casey, but the junior missed a makeable layup and four back-breaking free-throws late in the contest.

Meanwhile, Keith Wright?s mid-range game has been largely nonexistent all year, hurting the Crimson?s ability to run the pick-and-roll and leaving Wright stuck in double-teams down low. Outside, Laurent Rivard shot a combined 0-for-8 from three last weekend, and the team simply can?t win if it?s not knocking down the long ball.

I?ve watched every single one of Harvard?s 24 games this season, and, quite frankly, if you asked me to name the best player on the team, I would have no idea who to say. For while they?ve all been good, nobody?s been great, as Wright was last season when he won Player of the Year.

Freshman Corbin Miller was the team?s best scorer last weekend, making up for Rivard?s woes from three-point range. Shooting 47 percent on the year from outside the arc, Miller continues to serve as the offensive spark Harvard often badly needs, and he should certainly be seeing more minutes in the future.

Expecting a freshman to emerge as a go-to guy is a lot to ask, but right now nobody else on the Crimson has shown the ability to generate points on a consistent basis. Someone needs to step up and emerge as a closer.

But enough about Harvard?on to the rest of the league.

BROWN (7-18, 1-7 Ivy) AT HARVARD (21-3, 7-1)

There was an Eric Carle book I used to read as a child entitled "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Let?s try it:

"Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"

"I see a terrible basketball team looking at me."

Yes, the Bears continue to underachieve and have lost five straight Ivy games by at least nine, including a 26-point shellacking at Columbia last Friday. This will be a nice way for the Crimson to bounce back from its Princeton loss.

Pick: Harvard 76, Brown 61

COLUMBIA (14-10, 3-5) AT PRINCETON (13-10, 4-3)

The Lions continue to impress. After hanging with Harvard for 40 minutes at Lavietes two weeks ago, they came home and dismantled Brown before losing by just a point to Yale.

He won?t win it, but Brian Barbour deserves serious consideration for Ivy Player of the Year for carrying Columbia by himself after Noruwa Agho went down earlier in the season.

But Princeton, as we know, is tough at home, and I?d expect it to pull out another close one.

Pick: Princeton 65, Columbia 59

YALE (16-6, 6-2) AT DARTMOUTH (4-20, 0-8)

Yale is 6-2 in league play, but it?s been extremely lucky to get there. Its 30-point home loss to Harvard was easily the worst of any team this conference season. Then, after barely squeaking by the Killer P?s at home, the Bulldogs had a rough road trip last weekend, being upset by a point in overtime at Cornell before barely surviving at Columbia.

Though Greg Mangano continues to dominate inside, things just haven?t fully clicked for the Bulldogs.

Luckily for them, they get to play Dartmouth.

Pick: Yale 69, Dartmouth 63

CORNELL (10-12, 5-3) AT PENN (13-11, 5-2)

Zack Rosen versus Chris Wroblewski.

The battle of the senior, redheaded, Jewish ballers. It?s going down like a dreidel after too many spins, an overly-dense matzo ball, or some Manischewitz after a long, hard day.

Because after Lin (okay, I mentioned him again) proved this month that Ivy-educated Asian-Americans can indeed play, it?s up to these two to do the same for the Ancient Eight?s Jews. The nation will be watching. Don?t let us down, gentlemen. You?re our best hope.

Pick: Penn 75, Cornell 67

YALE AT HARVARD

I would expect the Bulldogs to play better than they did the last time these two squads met, when Yale scored less as a team than Lin (yes, I know) did against the Lakers. Then again, I recently watched "Due Date," and considering the bulldog in that movie was hanging out with Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifinakis, I?ve come to the conclusion that they can be entirely unpredictable.

The Mangano-Wright matchup will be one to watch again. Mangano, though, will hopefully be a little bit nicer to Wright than he usually is, considering that?as the current Ivy Leaguer with the most NBA potential?he will probably be a big beneficiary of Lin?s (whoops) recent success.

I?d expect Yale?playing for pride after its prior embarrassment, and for its season?to actually show up for this one. But the Crimson doesn?t lose at home.

Pick: Harvard 68, Yale 62

BROWN AT DARTMOUTH

This is it Dartmouth. It?s your best chance. It?s now or never.

You?ve won one Ivy game in each of the last two seasons, and you?re going to do it again.

You don?t think you can? Of course you can! It?s Brown! You can beat Brown!

Yes, Dartmouth, I know Brown?s not a Division III team. But it plays like one! You can pretend!

This is your time. Every inspiring song and speech ever written was written for your moment, right now. This is "Eye of the Tiger," Al Pacino?s speech in "Any Given Sunday," and the 2008 Obama campaign all wrapped into one.

It?s right there in front of you, Dartmouth. Go out and seize the moment.

I believe in you, even though nobody else will.

Pick: Dartmouth 65, Brown 62

CORNELL AT PRINCETON

There have been a lot of great players to come out of these two programs recently, and many of them have found success playing ball elsewhere. Because while not all Ivy Leaguers are lucky enough to be the talk of the country and the biggest story of the NBA season (you don?t know that?s who I?m referring to!) it is certainly possible to continue one?s playing career around the world.

For example, Kareem Maddox is playing in Holland. Dan Mavraides is playing in Greece. Louis Dale is playing in Germany. Jeff Foote is playing in the NBADL. Ryan Wittman is playing in Poland.

What?s that? Wittman?s still at Morgan Stanley? Well, never mind then.

Pick: Princeton 65, Cornell 61

COLUMBIA AT PENN

I visited the Palestra for the first time last weekend, and it truly is all it?s made out to be. For one, it actually feels like a college basketball arena, rather than a high school gym (*cough* Lavietes *cough*). Second, you can just feel the history emanating from that place. And third, it?s built to allow noise to travel incredibly well. At times last Friday, even though there were only 7,500 people there, it sounded like there were 75,000. Just an awesome experience.

Also, it was fun to watch Rosen try to score in every way humanly possible, throwing up shot after shot after shot. Unfortunately for him, he finished just 6-for-21.

To be fair, not everyone can come up big in the most important game of his life. We can?t all be Jeremy Lin.

There. I?m done. 1,500 words and only 4.5 additional mentions of Linsanity. That?s way under the national average of 1,478 per 1,500. I?m very proud of myself.

Pick: Penn 70, Columbia 64

LAST WEEK: 6-2

SEASON: 19-3

?Staff writer Scott A. Sherman / harvard.edu.