Here?s a scouting report from an assistant coach familiar with Cornell:
"They?ve a very methodical team that really likes to spread you out. They play in the Princeton mode where they?re really deliberate with the basketball. They have confidence in their system. They have very good perimeter shooters.
"Their offense can dictate the tempo of the game. When they get the game in their tempo, they?re pretty good. "They really spread you out. They try to get backdoor cuts. Their top two scorers (Lenny Collins and Eric Taylor) can definitely hurt you in a variety of ways.
"(On defense) They played man-to-man and zone. It was just a sagging man-to-man and a 2-3 zone. When run the Princeton offense and the Syracuse zone defense. They did a 2-2-1 press, but not very often. "They?re an average rebounding team. They don?t have great size. I would say they?re a bunch of overachievers."
Player to watch: Lenny Collins, junior forward
Collins is doing everything right now for the Big Red. He's the team's top scorer (17.0 ppg), second-leading rebounder (4.9 rpg), passer (2.6 apg) and 3-point shooter (50 percent).
He's capable of exploding for some serious offense (30 points in a season-opening loss to Marist), but he's going to need to find his offense against the more athletic Orange. The California native has a knack for getting to the free-throw line (28 trips in seven games).
Cornell, which has two other players averaging double-digits, will need Collins' play-making ability to stay close with Syracuse.
"They?ve a very methodical team that really likes to spread you out. They play in the Princeton mode where they?re really deliberate with the basketball. They have confidence in their system. They have very good perimeter shooters.
"Their offense can dictate the tempo of the game. When they get the game in their tempo, they?re pretty good. "They really spread you out. They try to get backdoor cuts. Their top two scorers (Lenny Collins and Eric Taylor) can definitely hurt you in a variety of ways.
"(On defense) They played man-to-man and zone. It was just a sagging man-to-man and a 2-3 zone. When run the Princeton offense and the Syracuse zone defense. They did a 2-2-1 press, but not very often. "They?re an average rebounding team. They don?t have great size. I would say they?re a bunch of overachievers."
Player to watch: Lenny Collins, junior forward
Collins is doing everything right now for the Big Red. He's the team's top scorer (17.0 ppg), second-leading rebounder (4.9 rpg), passer (2.6 apg) and 3-point shooter (50 percent).
He's capable of exploding for some serious offense (30 points in a season-opening loss to Marist), but he's going to need to find his offense against the more athletic Orange. The California native has a knack for getting to the free-throw line (28 trips in seven games).
Cornell, which has two other players averaging double-digits, will need Collins' play-making ability to stay close with Syracuse.
