Men's college basketball: Cornell, Stanford ready to tip
From 7-footers to tournament pitfalls to ?The Battle of the Nerds,? players and coaches from Cornell and Stanford covered all topics Wednesday at the Honda Center, site for the Big Red's first-round NCAA tournament game.
Both teams went through the annual day-before-the-first-game rituals, which included separate news conferences and an open 45-minute shootaround at the arena.
For Stanford, a No. 3 seed, this is business as usual.
The Cardinal will be making its third NCAA appearance in four years under coach Trent Johnson, who replaced the highly successful Mike Montgomery in 2004 after a five-year stint at Nevada.
The results so far, however, haven't been what Johnson envisioned.
In 2005, Mississippi State routed Stanford, 93-70, in a first round 8-9 game. Last year, Stanford was a bubble team given one of the tournament's last remaining at-large berths ? an 11th seed ? and subsequently got drilled by Louisville, 78-58.
For that reason, the chances of Stanford (26-7), ranked 11th in the country, looking past Cornell this afternoon are slim.
?We know that Cornell's a tough team,? said Taj Finger, a Stanford forward out of Fox Lane High School in Westchester County.
?Obviously, they won the Ivy League. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night, if you are not going to ... play real hard. So everyone's real focused.?
Stanford's impressive size was on display during its shootaround Wednesday.
All week, Cornell players and coaches have been asked about playing Stanford's two sophomore 7-footers, twin brothers Brook and Robin Lopez.
But Stanford's frontcourt rotation also includes Finger, a blue-collar 6-8 forward, 6-10 senior center Peter Prowitt and 6-8 swingman Lawrence Hill. Collectively, that group comprises the fifth-best rebounding team in the country, and best in the powerful Pac-10 Conference.
Brook Lopez leads the Cardinal in scoring (19.2 ppg) and rebounding (8.5 rpg), and was a first-team all-league selection. Robin Lopez, the team's leader in blocked shots, is an all-conference defensive presence in the middle.
?We've been watching a lot of film on them, and we have a couple strategies,? said Cornell senior Jason Hartford, who at 6-9 starts at power forward. ?But they're two big kids; a lot bigger than what we're used to in the Ivy League.?
Cornell has two opponents it must contend with today.
Aside from Stanford, the Big Red must also overcome the ?just happy to be here? syndrome that has plagued lower-seeded teams in previous tournaments. Cornell is making its first NCAA appearance since 1988, when the Big Red dropped a 90-50 decision to Arizona down the road in Los Angeles.
?That's something you have to worry about coming in here,? said junior guard Adam Gore, who averaged 12 points during Cornell's undefeated run through the Ivy League. ?A lot of teams, maybe at all levels ... are just happy to be in this situation. But I think coach (Steve Donahue) has done a good job of explaining to us that we're a good team. We think we have a chance to win a game out here.?
Donahue referenced Cornell's 81-67 loss to on Jan. 6 as the reason he doesn't think his players will be fazed by the national spotlight.
In that game, Cornell played with the Blue Devils until the final minutes. Since then, the Big Red has won 16 straight, including all 14 Ivy League contests.
?We had a chance to win that (Duke) game,? Donahue said. ?It's just not a group that's ? amazingly as young as we are ? they're not overwhelmed by this situation. If we lose, I feel real confident that we're going to lose because Stanford's a better basketball team and not that we're overwhelmed with this stage.?
Questions from the media didn't seem to overwhelm them, either.
The two universities' strong academic reputations prompted questions like, ?Some people are calling this The Battle of the Nerds. What's your take on that?? or ?Who would win in a classroom matchup??
When asked the latter, Finger gave the nod to Cornell.
?Hopefully (today) we'll show we're the better basketball team,? he said. ?We have a ton of smart guys on the team, but I think we might be a little bit more geared to basketball.?
On the court, Donahue said Cornell might have an advantage when it comes to fresh legs. Stanford lost to UCLA on Saturday in the Pac-10 Conference Championship game, marking the end of a stretch of three games in three days.
The Ivy League doesn't host a postseason tournament, which means Cornell last played on March 8 in its season finale at Princeton.
?That's an advantage,? Donahue said. ?I love that our guys are fresh, I really do. Especially the way we've got to play. To play a team that's as physical as Stanford, we're going to need our legs. We're going to need to be able to shoot the ball from far late in the game. I think all of that is an advantage for us.?
