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GAME INFORMATION
Game #1: South Dakota vs. Cornell
Tip off: Friday, Nov. 14, at 8:30 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2007-08 Records: South Dakota (22-7, 7-5 NCC); Cornell (22-6, 14-0 Ivy)
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: Teams have never met
Radio: 1160 ESPN Radio, WPIE (Barry Leonard)
TV: None
Live Stats: Available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: Available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Tickets: Available by calling (607) 254-BEAR
HEAD COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his ninth season at Cornell (96-123, .438) ... Donahue became the fourth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on Sept. 6, 2000.
ITHACA, N.Y. — In a glimpse back to the historic 2007-08 season, the Cornell men's basketball team will raise a banner. After the pomp and circumstance, head coach Seve Donahue's team will get back to work when the Big Red meets South Dakota on Friday, Nov. 14, at 8:30 p.m. at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall. Barry Leonard will provide the call on 1160 ESPN Radio, while live video of the game will be available on the RedCast subscription service.
Coming off its first Ivy League title and NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years, the Big Red has plenty of optimism heading into the new campaign. The unanimous preseason favorite in the media poll returns four starters and seven of its top eight scorers from the 22-6 squad that went a perfect 14-0 in Ancient Eight play.
The day will start with the Cornell volleyball team facing Ivy League foe Dartmouth at 6 p.m., followed by a banner unveiling ceremony honoring the 2007-08 men's and women's basketball Ivy League championship teams prior to the 8:30 tip-off.
Among the team's returners are 2007-08 Ivy League Player of the Year and honorable mention All-American Louis Dale as well as USBWA and NABC All-District selection Ryan Wittman. Both were unanimous first-team all-league selections a season ago. Joining them will be second-team All-Ivy center Jeff Foote and starting power forward Alex Tyler, as well as two-time all-league selection Adam Gore. Gore will miss the non-conference season with a knee injury. He joins fellow four-year seniors Jason Battle, Brian Kreefer and Conor Mullen as team captains.
South Dakota is making its first venture into the world of Division I basketball after a run as one of the most successful Division II teams in the country under 21st-year head coach Dave Boots. The Coyotes have gone 423-163 under Boots with six North Central Conference titles. South Dakota returns three starters from last year's 22-7 squad.
ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA: Provisional Division I newcomer South Dakota is playing an abbreviated schedule at the NCAA's top level this season after being one of the dominant Division II programs for more than two decades under head coach Dave Boots. Three starters return from last season's 22-7 squad, including leading scorer Dylan Grimsley (14.8 ppg., 5.6 rpg.) and leading rebounder Tyler Cain (9.3 ppg., 8.1 rpg., 4.1 bpg.). The Coyotes made their fifth-straight NCAA tournament appearance, falling in the first round to Northern State, 70-69. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.
CORNELL VS. DIVISION I INDEPENDENTS: This is the first and only meeting this season with one of the 10 Division I Independent teams. The only other Division I Independent program Cornell has ever faced is NJIT, with the Big Red going 2-0 with wins in each of the last two seasons. Other independent schools include Cal-Bakersfield, Chicago State, Houston Baptist, Longwood, North Carolina Central, Savannah State, Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley.
A WIN OVER SOUTH DAKOTA WOULD ...
• be the fourth straight season-opening victory for Cornell.
• extend the program's home win streak to nine games.
• make the Big Red 20-3 in its last 23 home contests.
• make Cornell 9-1 in its last 10 home non-conference matchups.
• give the Big Red 19 wins in its last 21 games.
• be the 1,125th in school history.
ALL ABOUT THE 2007-08 BIG RED:
• The 2007-08 Ivy League champion (automatic NCAA bid).
• Posted 13th undefeated season in conference history (14-0).
• First title in 20 years, and first non-Penn or Princeton Ivy representative at the NCAA tournament since Cornell in 1987-88.
• School record 22 wins (22-6).
• Posted a school-record 16-game win streak.
• Made third NCAA tournament appearance in school history.
• Head coach Steve Donahue was the USBWA and NABC district Coach of the Year and a finalist for collegeinsider.com's Hugh Durham Coaching Award as Mid-Major National Coach of the Year.
• Guard Louis Dale was named Ivy League Player of the Year and joined forward Ryan Wittman (forward) as unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections.
• Jeff Foote (center) and Adam Gore (guard) were second-team All-Ivy picks.
• Cornell was the only school in the country that matched or improved its win total overall and in conference in six straight seasons.
• The Big Red is the only school in the country to rank in the top 10 nationally in field goal, 3-point and free-throw percentages.
• Cornell led the Ivy League in 14 of 22 team statistical categories.
• The Big Red joined Davidson (Southern Conference, 20-0) and Memphis (Conference USA, 16-0) as the only schools to finish league play with an unbeaten record.
• Cornell was ranked as high as No. 18 in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major poll and received Associated Press top 25 votes during the last four weeks of the season.
FOR OPENERS: The Big Red has posted a 70-41 all-time record in season openers after beginning last year with an 87-83 win over Lehigh at Newman Arena. Cornell has won three consecutive season openers.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: The Big Red won its second Ivy League title in school history and its fifth conference title of any kind with an 86-53 win over Harvard on March 1, 2o08. Cornell was the first team other than Penn or Princeton to win the outright title since the Big Red captured the 1987-88 title.
TWO-TIME WINNERS: Only seven teams outside of perennial champions Penn and Princeton have won outright championships in the 53 years of Ivy basketball, with Cornell capturing the crown twice (1987-88 and 2007-08). Other non-P champions include the 1955-56 Dartmouth, 1956-57 Yale, 1957-58 Dartmouth, 1961-62 Yale and 1985-86 Brown squads.
HISTORIC RUN TO THE TITLE: Cornell was the 13th team in Ivy League history to post a perfect 14-0 Ancient Eight season, joining Penn (7) and Princeton (5) with undefeated squads. Here are the Ivy League's unbeaten teams:
Cornell (1 — 2007-08)
Penn (7 — 1969-70, 1970-71, 1992-1993, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1999-2000, 2002-03)
Princeton (5 — 1968-69, 1975-76, 1990-91, 1996-97, 1997-98)
20-20 VISION: The Big Red finished the 2007-08 season a 22-6 record, joining the 1950-51 team (20-5) as the only Cornell squads to post a 20-win season.
STANDINGS TALL: The Big Red was one of three men's basketball teams that sported a perfect conference record, joining Davidson (Southern Conference, 20-0) and Memphis (Conference USA, 16-0).
GENDER EQUITY: On the same day the Cornell men's basketball team found out it would be matching up with Stanford in the NCAA tournament first round last season, the Big Red women's team clinched the program's first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament. It was the first time in Ivy League history the NCAA tournament representatives for both the men's and women's teams were from the same school.
A WIN IS A WIN: Cornell's 22-6 record in 2007-08 was its second straight winning campaign (16-12 in 2006-07), giving the program consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1986-87 (15-11) and 1987-88 (17-10).
BIGGER, FASTER, STRONGER: Head coach Steve Donahue has methodically built a program at Cornell, improving both the talent level and the results in each successive season beginning with his first recruiting class, which came in during his second season. Cornell is the only school in the country to match or improve its win totals overall and in league play in each of the last six years.
HOME SWEET HOME: Cornell finished the 2007-08 season with a 12-1 record at home, including seven straight triumphs in front of the Newman Nation crowd. The Big Red fans came out in droves to support the team, averaging 3,992 fans for conference games and posting crowds of more than 4,000 in four of the final five home games, including sell-outs for wins over Penn (2/9) and Harvard (3/1).
NON-LEAGUE SUCCESS: The Big Red guaranteed itself a second-consecutive non-conference season with at least a .500 record in its win over Alvernia and finished 8-6. The last time the Big Red at least broke even out of league play in consecutive seasons was in the 1983-84 (7-5) and 1984-85 (6-6) campaigns.
MORE NON-LEAGUE SUCCESS: Cornell won eight non-league contests last season, the most by a Big Red team in a single campaign since the 1996-97 squad also won eight games.
DALE NAMED HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICAN: Louis Dale capped off an outstanding sophomore season in 2007-08 by earning honorable mention All-America accolades by the Associated Press. Dale is the first Cornell player to earn All-America honors from the AP since Ken Bantum was also an honorable mention pick in 1985. Prior to Bantum, Cornell hadn't had an All-American since Robert Gale was named to the second team by Helms in 1948. Dale is the Big Red's seventh All-American, with Gil Halstead earning first team honors twice (1913 and 1914).
WITTMAN NAMED ALL-DISTRICT BY USBWA AND NABC IN 2007-08: Sophomore Ryan Wittman was named to the USBWA All-District 2 team and to the NABC All-District 2 second-team. Wittman is the 10th player in school history to be honored by the NABC and the first since Ka'Ron Barnes was also a second-team pick in 2004.
WITTMAN NAMED ONE OF NATION'S TOP 10 SHOOTERS BY ESPN.COM: Junior Ryan Wittman was named one of the nation's top 10 shooters in a special article about the NCAA 3-point line being moved back from 19-9 to 20-9 this coming season according to ESPN.com college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla. Fraschilla placed Wittman No. 10 on his list that also included Davidson's Stephen Curry, Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney, Miami's Jack McClinton, Texas' A.J. Abrams, Drake's Josh Young, UAB's Robert Vaden, Cal State Fullerton's Josh Akogmon, American's Garrison Carr and Rhode Island's Jimmy Baron. In two seasons, Wittman has connected on 171 3-pointers at a 44 percent clip. His total of 93 as a freshman set a school record and the 6-6 sophomore has paced the Ancient Eight in 3-pointers made in each of his first two years. He already ranks fourth on the school's career 3-point list and is first in career percentage.
DONAHUE NAMED NABC, USBWA DISTRICT COACH OF THE YEAR: Cornell men's basketball coach Steve Donahue was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District II and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Coach of the Year in 2007-08. Donahue was chosen in a vote by his peers by the NABC and was one of 16 coaches who were finalists for the NABC National Coach of the Year. The USBWA also named him the top coach and was one of nine candidates for Coach of the Year. Additionally, Donahue was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com and was a finalist for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year.
DONAHUE NAMED COURT COACH FOR U-18 NATIONAL TEAM TRYOUTS: This summer, Cornell head coach Steve Donahue spent a week in July as a court coach for the U.S. Under-18 national team tryouts in Washington, D.C. The team, under the direction of Davidson's head coach Bob McKillop, also featured VCU's Anthony Grant and Georgetown's John Thompson III as assistant coaches. The team won the silver medal at the 2008 FIBA U18 championship in Formosa, Argentina, falling to the host team 77-64 in the gold medal game.
219 AND COUNTING: Cornell head coach Steve Donahue was on the sidelines for his 219th career game during the NCAA first round a season ago, moving him into third on the school's all-time list. Donahue coached in his 200th career game when the Big Red defeated Stony Brook 66-50 on Dec. 29 and became the fourth Big Red head coach to reach that mark.
GETTING UP THERE: Cornell head coach Steve Donahue enters the 2008-09 campaign with the second-longest tenure at the helm of their current team in the Ivy League. Only James Jones at Yale (10th year) has been at his current school longer than Donahue has directed the Big Red (nine years).
BOMBS AWAY: Cornell hit 228 shots from beyond the arc in 28 games last season to set a school record for most treys in a single campaign. The previous record of 200 was set in 2001-02.
TALL IVY: Over the last four seasons, Cornell's 39-17 record is second-best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn claimed the previous three Ancient Eight titles and has posted a 43-13 mark in conference over the same span.
TREY BIEN: The Big Red has hit at least one 3-pointer in 533 straight games entering the South Dakota contest. Cornell surpassed the 500-game plateau when the Big Red connected on six treys at Princeton on Feb. 16, 2007. The last time Cornell did not hit a 3-pointer was against Denison in the 1988-89 season opener (0-for-2). Since the 3-point shot came into effect in NCAA play during the 1986-87 season, Cornell has hit at least one shot behind the arc in 584 of 588 games, connecting on 3,379 treys, an average of 5.75 per game. The Big Red has hit a 3-pointer in all 219 games coached by Steve Donahue.
2008-09 CAPTAINS: Cornell's four-year senior class of Jason Battle, Adam Gore, Brian Kreefer and Conor Mullen will represent the Big Red as team captains for the 2008-09 season. It will be the second year as captain for both Battle and Gore and the first for Kreefer and Mullen.
BIG RED PICKED TO REPEAT IN PRESEASON POLL: After capturing its first Ivy League title in 20 years, the Ivy League media picked the Cornell men's basketball team to repeat as Ivy League champions by a unanimous vote in the 2008-09 preseason poll. The Big Red is the first team in the League's storied history not named Penn or Princeton to garner a unanimous first-place selection. Cornell returns four starters and seven of its top eight scorers from last season's 22-6 squad that ran through an undefeated league campaign (14-0) en route to its third NCAA tournament appearance in program history. Directly behind Cornell is traditional Ivy League power Penn, who received 110 votes as a near-unanimous second-place choice for the 16 voters. Each of the eight schools had two media representatives who cover Ivy League basketball eligible to vote. Yale (80 points) was picked third, followed by a resurgent Harvard squad (77 points) led by coach Tommy Amaker. Brown, last year's runner-up, was close behind the Crimson with 75 points for fifth place. Rounding out the poll was Columbia (45), Dartmouth (33) and Princeton (28).
RED-WHITE GAME: Junior Andre Wilkins drained a 3-pointer with two seconds to play to lift the Red over the White in the annual Cornell men's basketball Red-White game on Nov. 8 at Newman Arena. The victory gave the Red team four wins in the last five intrasquad matchups. Red was led by sophomore Max Groebe's 21 points, including a 4-of-5 effort from beyond the arc, while Jeff Foote ahd 18 points and seven rebounds and Geoff Reeves chipped in with 16. Pete Reynolds had seven points and tied Foote with his team-best seven boards. Junior Ryan Wittman led the White team with 30 points and added four assists, three rebounds and three steals, while Alex Tyler (17 points, five assists) and Chris Wroblewski (12 points, 4-of-7 on 3-pointers) were also in double figures. Senior Brian Kreefer chipped in with a game-high nine rebounds and six assists, as the team;s starting frontcourt combination of Kreefer and Tyler combined for 11 assists and just one turnover.
BIG RED ON THE RADIO: For the second straight year, the Cornell University men's basketball games will be broadcast live on WPIE-1160 AM out of Elmira, N.Y., with Barry Leonard on the call. A half-hour pregame show and postgame analysis will enable Big Red fans to follow Coach Steve Donahue's team throughout the season.
LIVE VIDEO: The Big Red's home contests will all be broadcast live with streaming video as part of the RedCast subscription service. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.
LIVE STATS: Cornell will use SIDEARM Live Stats for each of the Big Red's home games in 2008-09. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all of the official statistics.
NEXT UP: The Big Red begins play in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off with a first-round date against St. John's on Monday, Nov. 17, at 9:30 p.m. at Boston College's Conte Forum. It will be Cornell's first-ever meeting against its Big East foe. The winner will face the winner of the Eagles and Loyola (MD) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., while the losers square off at 4:30 p.m.
