News and Notes: Monday Edition

Post by Mr Seng in | 0 comments
During 2012-2013, Cornell will have a rematch with Wisconsin. The Big Red knocked off the Badgers in the 2nd round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament catapulting Cornell into the Sweet 16. Below, some news and notes for Monday...
  • The Times Picayune of New Orleans notes that the New Orleans Hornets are limited on their play calling when Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) takes the floor due to his unfamiliarity with the team's system.
  • Foote and the Hornets have a busy week. They host the Charlotte Bobcats tonight and then host the Los Angles Lakers on Wednesday followed by Randy Wittman's Washington Wizards on Thursday.
  • Spoctrac purports that Foote is earning $43,056 for his ten days of work in New Orleans.
  • SB Nation notes that Cornell ended a 6 game winning streak early in the season for Lehigh before the Mountain Hawks ultimately clinched the Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament bid.
  • Not a member of Twitter? See what The Cornell Basketball Blog is tweeting and retweeting each day by visiting our Twitter Timeline.
  • So how did Cornell finish the 2011-2012 season? Cornell's RPI rank as of March 12 is No. 180 out of 344 total Division I teams. The Ken Pomeroy and Jeff Sagarin rankings are No. 206 and No. 204 respectively. Below are links to our game recap sections from each of Cornell's games this season along with notations of postseason bids received by Cornell 2011-2012 opponents.
  1. November 11, 2011 at St. Bonaventure L 58-79 (NCAA Tournament)
  2. November 14, 2011 vs. Binghamton W 76-61
  3. November 16, 2011 at Buffalo L 59-68 (CollegeInsider.com)
  4. November 20, 2011 vs. Boston University W 71-66
  5. November 22, 2011 at Delaware L 68-76 (CBI)
  6. November 27, 2011 vs. American L 63-65 (CollegeInsider.com)
  7. December 3, 2011 vs. Lehigh W 81-79 (OT) (NCAA Tournament)
  8. December 17, 2011 vs. Albany W 85-82 (OT) (CollegeInsider.com)
  9. December 19, 2011 at Illinois L 60-64 (TV: ESPN3)
  10. December 21, 2011 at Penn State L 67-74 (TV: Big Ten Network)
  11. December 28, 2011 at Stony Brook L 58-69 (OT) (TV: Cablevision 118) (NIT)
  12. December 31, 2011 at Bucknell L 60-63 (CBI)
  13. January 3, 2012 at Maryland L 62-70 (TV: ESPN3)
  14. January 7, 2012 vs. Albright W 78-60
  15. January 13, 2012 vs. Princeton W 67-59 (CBI)
  16. January 14, 2012 vs. Penn L 52-64 (CBI)
  17. January 21, 2012 at Columbia L 56-61
  18. January 28, 2012 vs. Columbia W 65-60
  19. February 3, 2012 at Harvard L 60-71 (NCAA Tournament)
  20. February 4, 2012 at Dartmouth W 68-59
  21. February 10, 2012 vs. Yale W 85-84 OT (CollegeInsider.com)
  22. February 11, 2012 vs. Brown W 72-63
  23. February 17, 2012 at Penn L 66-73 (CBI)
  24. February 18, 2012 at Princeton L 57-75 (CBI)
  25. February 24, 2012 at Brown W 69-63
  26. February 25, 2012 at Yale L 40-71 (CollegeInsider.com)
  27. March 2, 2012 vs. Dartmouth W 70-57
  28. March 3, 2012 vs. Harvard L 63-67 (NCAA Tournament)

While "Linsanity" swept across the nation, all I kept thinking was how Jeremy Lin was quite possibly the fourth-best player on the court when Cornell HAMMERED his Harvard team at Newman Arena two years ago.

Jeff Foote, Louis Dale, and Ryan Wittman looked more polished, more fluid - and without a doubt more successful.

Lin has obviously made great strides since that time, and his story really is incredible - but I'd say Jeff Foote's path to the NBA is even more unlikely.

Remember, this was a rail-thin kid out of Spencer-Van Etten who posted solid high school numbers, but nothing that made you think he'd have a D-I (or even D-III) future on the court. Coaches agreed.

When he grew to seven-feet tall, I understood how he could earn a walk-on spot at St. Bonaventure.

Then, when Foote transferred to Cornell, I got a chance to watch him in practice before he became eligible his sophomore season. That's when I knew the Big Red was on the verge of something special.

Wittman and Dale were becoming known commodities, but as hard as Foote was working on improving in the post, he might have been the key to their success.

His former coach, Steve Donahue, mentioned on Twitter the other day how incredibly hard Foote worked to get to this point. He's dead-on.

Once he earned a spot in the D-League this year, after toiling overseas for a season, I figured it would only be a matter of time before he got the call. I said it in training camp - there is always a market for an agile seven-footer. He's a great passer out of the post, a sound shot-blocker, and has a soft touch around the basket.

Now the key becomes working on his weaknesses - that will decide whether Jeff will stick. He looked a little lost at both ends of the court this weekend, which is understandable when you get thrown right into the fire. Getting some bulk to that frame has long been the main knock again him, but he looks like he can hold his own right now.

Either way, he is likely the first player from New York's Section IV to make the NBA, and he earned the right to enjoy every minute.








  • Below is an updated directory listing of some Twitter feeds associated with the Cornell basketball program. You can also follow The Cornell Basketball Blog on Twitter.
-Josh Wexler ('88)
-Bo Buttenback ('98)
-Steve Cobb ('05)
-Ryan Rourke ('06)
-Andrew Naeve ('07)
-Jason Canady ('08)
-Khaliq Gant ('09)
-Conor Mullen ('09)
-Brian Kreefer ('09)
-Ryan Wittman ('10)
-Pete Reynolds ('10)
-Jon Jaques ('10)
-Louis Dale ('10)
-Alex Tyler ('10)
-Geoff Reeves ('10)
-Jeff Foote ('10)
-Andre Wilkins ('10) (inactive)
-Aaron Osgood ('11)
-Adam Wire ('11)
-Max Groebe ('12)
-Chris Wroblewski ('12)
-Andrew Ferry ('12)
-The Cornell Rebounders Club
-Jonathan Grey ()
-Miles Asafo Adjei ()
-Peter McMillan ()
-Errick Peck ()
-Josh Figini ()
-Galal Cancer ()
-Ned Tomic ()
-Dominick Scelfo ()
-Jake Mathews ()
-Dwight Tarwater ()
-Manny Sahota ()
-Dave LaMore ()
-Shonn Miller ()
-Devin Cherry ()
-Nolan Cressler (committed recruit)
-Braxston Bunce (committed recruit)
-Holt Harmon (committed recruit)
-Tim Higgins (committed recruit)
-Robert Mischler (committed recruit)
-Assistant Coach Mike Blaine ()
-Assistant Coach Marlon Sears ()
-Assistant Coach Arlen Galloway ()
-Brian Delaney, WPIE/ESPN Radio Ithaca ()
-Ed Boulat, Ithaca Journal
-Cornell Daily Sun Sports ()
-Slope Sports ()
-WVBR Sports ()
-Former assistant coach, Jay Larranaga ()
-Former head coach, Steve Donahue ()
-Former assistant coach, Nat Graham ()
-Former assistant coach, Woody Kampmann ()
-Former Assistant Coach Ricky Yahn ()
-Former Intern Assistant Ryan Woerner ()
  • Throughout the year we provide periodic updates on Cornell's alumni playing professionally. Below, some updates:
-Jeff Aubry ('99) (Halcones Rojos, LNBP Mexico premier league/Arecibo Capitanes, BSN Puerto Rico premier league)-As of March 12, Aubry is averaging 4.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for Arecibo in the BSN Puerto Rico premier league. Arecibo is 1-3 and in 7th place out of 8 teams in the league. Aubry, a 6'11" center, splits his time in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican professional leagues. He is also a member of Puerto Rico's national team joining several NBA stars. A well traveled pro player, Aubry spent several seasons in the NBA D League in the early part of his career with the Fayetteville Patriots and Florida Flame and earned honorable mention all NBA D League in 2002. During his more than a decade of pro experience, Aubry has also played professionally in the ABA (Miami Tropics) and abroad in Puerto Rico (Arecibo, Leones de Ponce, and Santurce, BSN Puerto Rico), Spain (Tarragona, LEB Gold Spain 2nd Division), Mexico (Halcones Rojos and Chihuahua Dorados, LNBP Mexico premier league), Poland (Slask Wroclaw, PLK Poland premier league), Argentina (Libertad Sunchales, Liga A Argentina), Uruguay (Hebraica, LUB Uruguay )and Peru (Alas Peruanas, Peru).

-Cody Toppert ('05) (Logitravel Mallorca, LEB Gold Spain 2nd Division)-As of March 12, Toppert is averaging 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Mallorca is 12-15 and in 14th place out of 18 teams in the LEB Gold (2nd Division). Prior to joining Mallorca midseason, he averaged 6.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game during 2011-2012 for Ourense in the Spanish LEB Silver (3rd Division). During his pro career, Toppert, a 6'4" wing forward, has played in Spain (Ourense, LEB Silver Spain 3rd Division), England (Plymouth Raiders, British Basketball League), Italy (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd division), the CBA (Great Falls Explorers), as well as in Portugal (Barriernese, LCB Portugal premier league), Bulgaria (BC CSKA Sofia, NBL Bulgaria premier league), Germany (Goettingen/Scholz Weissenhorn, BBK Bundesliga Germany premier league) and New Zealand (Taranaki Mountain Airs, NBL New Zealand premier league).

-Jason Hartford ('08) (Unsigned free agent)-As of March 12, Hartford is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season. He was cut during the week of October 17 by Cader Rocha, LUB Uruguay premier league and is now a free agent. He was averaging 12.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, second on the team in both categories. The 6'9" Hartford previously played professionally in Portugal (Ginasio, LCB Portugal premier league), Finland (Huima, Korisliiga Finland premier league) and Mozambique (Maxaquene, D1 Mozambique premier league).

-Louis Dale ('10) (Goettingen, BBK Bundesliga Germany premier league)-As of March 12, Dale is out for the season with a torn ACL. He was averaging 11.9 points, 2.2 assists, and 2.0 rebounds per game before the injury. Dale is in his second professional season, both seasons in Germany with Goettingen.

-Ryan Wittman ('10) (Unsigned free agent)-As of March 12, Wittman is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season after he terminated his contract on September 26 with Zastal of the PLK Poland premier league. He played the 2010-2011 season in Italy (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd division) and in the United States (Fort Wayne Mad Ants, NBA D-League).

-Jeff Foote ('10) (New Orleans Hornets, NBA/Springfield Armor, NBA D-League)-As of March 12, Foote is averaging 2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Hornets which signed him during March. New Orleans is 10-31 and in 15th place out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. Prior to joining the Hornets, Foote was averaging 14.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 55% from the floor in the D-League. He participated in the Portland Trailblazers' 2011-2012 training camp and was an NBA D-League 2011-2012 All Star. Springfield is 22-16 (1st place out of 8 teams in the Eastern Conference). He played the 2011-2012 preseason with with Zastal of the PLK Poland premier league and the full 2010-2011 season in Spain (Melilla, LEB Gold Spain 2nd division) while on loan from Euro League powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel.

-Adam Wire ('11) (Unsigned free agent)-As of March 12, Wire is an unsigned free agent. He was waived by Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league during December. He was averaging 11.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 1.9 assists per game. On November 4, 2011 he was named the Eurobasket Player of the Week for Denmark. The 2011-2012 season is his rookie year.

-Aaron Osgood ('11) (Unsigned free agent)-As of March 12, Osgood is an unsigned free agent. He was waived by Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league during December. He was averaging 11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The 2011-2012 season is his rookie year.
Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board to interact with other fans of Cornell and Ivy League basketball. Membership is free! You may also follow us on Twitter.

Blueprint for Success, the yearbook commemorating Cornell's memorable 2009-2010 season is on sale. Visit the Cornell Athletics website to order your copy today! Or pick up a copy sold in the Cornell Store on campus.

Fans of the basketball program in the Ithaca area should not miss the opportunity to join the Cornell Rebounders Club.
Posted by Mr Seng at Monday, March 12, 2012
Labels:

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)