SUPER BOWL 2012

• FlagrantFouls.com notes that "Braxston Bunce is pretty sure he'll sign with Cornell at some point during the early period but has some more details to finalize first. " Bunce (Kelowna Secondary School) Kelowna, BC, Canada, 6-11, is reportedly just waiting on his formal admissions decision before he can sign his Cornell enrollment papers.

• As common with many Ivy League basketball prospects, admissions can be a major hurdle. The New York Post notes that Shane Richards (York Prep) New York, NY, 6-5, G, signed with Manhattan after receiving some interest from Cornell, "but...needed to raise his SAT score."

• The Ivy League office has launched a new weekly radio show, Inside Ivy League Basketball.
  

• Cornell alumnus and former Cornell basketball manager, Yanni Hufnagel (currently an assistant at Harvard) was voted by his peers as a top mid major recruiter.

• In action above from last night, Louis Dale ('10) scored 10 points as his German club, Goettingen fell to Armia of Georgia, 82-76 in an opening round game of the Euro Challenge.
  

• Eamonn Brennan of ESPN ranks the Ivy League as the 15th best conference and writes that with Harvard aside, "Princeton and Cornell are the other two worth watching here"

• ESPN's Andy Katz writes:

Belmont had a choice for its opener. Maui Invitational organizer Dave Odom asked Bruins coach Rick Byrd if he wouldn't mind opening up at Duke. Byrd didn't hesitate, and his team will also play at Memphis next week. Belmont is expected to win the Atlantic Sun and a game in the NCAA tournament.

Byrd didn't mind the parallel to the Cornell at Kansas game two seasons ago. Cornell didn't win the game, but the near-miss did wonders for the Big Red PR machine as well as its confidence on the court. The same could occur for Belmont. A win of course gives the Bruins coverage through the season. "This is a chance to make a statement,'' Byrd said. "This is one of those games where we have everything to gain and very little to lose. It's an opportunity for these guys to have a night that will last forever. It's not impossible. We have a chance. I think we can be very competitive. We've got competitive kids, and they won't care if it said Duke on the front or Kentucky or North Carolina or UCLA.''

Byrd said he remembered the positive fallout from Cornell going to Kansas two seasons ago and nearly taking down the Jayhawks. "But we still haven't won an NCAA game,'' Byrd said. "We're knocking on that door. I think playing these two games [Duke and then Memphis] gives us a chance. We won't change how we play. We're used to so many guys playing uptempo. We won't fail to press. We won't fail to run. Hopefully we can wear them down. I don't think Coach K wants to play as many players as we do.''

• The Daily Princetonian writes of the Ivy League in 2011-2012, "The [Harvard[ Crimson returns all of its players from last season and adds a highly-touted group of freshmen, becoming the clear favorite to win the Ivy League and reach its first NCAA Tournament in nearly 70 years. And the rest of the conference will be no cakewalk — Penn and Cornell are on the rise, and Yale, featuring two forwards that played for national teams this summer, tied Princeton for second place in the preseason media poll."

• Cornell RPI Watch: The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider the margin of victory, but only whether or not a team won and where the game was played (home/away/neutral court). The formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). (See: CollegeRPI.com for a further explanation of the formula.) The RPI may be the most influential factor in NCAA Tournament seeding. Cornell's RPI rank as of November 9 is No. 8 out of 344 total Division I teams. While neither the Ken Pomeroy or Jeff Sagarin rankings are used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, the KenPom.com site ranks Cornell No. 120 in the nation, while the USA Today Sagarin rankings have Cornell at No. 134. Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

• Here is a look at Ivy League results and upcoming games. A full Ivy composite schedule may viewed by clicking here.

IVY LEAGUE COMPOSITE SCHEDULE

Friday, November 11
Johnson & Wales at Brown, 5 pm
Columbia at Connecticut, 7 pm [ESPNU]
Cornell at St. Bonaventure, 7 pm
MIT at Harvard, 7 pm
Dartmouth at Rutgers, 7:30 pm
Penn at Maryland-Baltimore County, 7:30 pm
Yale vs. Central Connecticut State, 8 pm

Saturday, November 12
Wagner at Princeton, 5 pm