Princeton starts their Ivy slate Friday night in Ithaca and princetonbasketball.com is here to prep you for the Tigers' swing through New York State. As part of our Know! Your! Foe! series please welcome Brian Delaney back to the site.
Brian was with the Ithaca Journal last season but has since moved on to 1160 ESPN. Check out what one of the best Ivy reporters out there and the top source on Cornell basketball had to say about the Big Red.
Our email exchange can be found after the jump.
A Columbia Lions preview will follow tomorrow.
If you cover a team the Tigers will face down the line, let us know. It would be great to talk with you.
I'm unaccustomed to seeing a Cornell team that's struggling on the offensive end. What are the Big Red missing?
That answer probably has to start with Errick Peck a 6'6" junior forward who hasn't played this year after offseason knee surgery has been slow to heal. They've really missed him. Also: Cornell is a poor free throw shooting team, and it's halfcourt offense has been hampered by the lack of a physically imposing option on the block and fairly inconsistent play by everyone but Drew Ferry. Other than that...
Where has senior Chris Wroblewski gone and who is the guy wearing #3 in his place? Wroblewski's shooting numbers (30.4% from the floor and 26.8% from three point range) are unexpectedly low for a veteran marksman like this.
It's certainly been bizarre to watch. There are times when he's playing off-ball and it looks like the freshmen aren't instinctive enough to get him the ball, and other times they find him off-ball like they should and the shot doesn't fall. I can't imagine it'll continue at this clip in the Ivies. I will say this: Wroblewski still does a ton of positive things. He's the team's second leading rebounder, steals leader and his assist to turnover ratio is nearly two to one.
It appears that Drew Ferry so rarely looks to score from inside the arc and infrequently goes to the line but he's still at 44.2% from three. How tough a matchup is he?
He kills mental lapses. He's got a lightning quick release, works tirelessly off the ball and he's got the green light in just about any transition situation. Cornell will push tempo whenever it can, and teams often lose Ferry when trying to get back on defense. However, Ivy teams are generally terrific in limiting mental lapses, so I think Ferry will have a tougher time getting his in league play.
What can people expect from freshmen Shonn Miller and Galal Cancer? What have you seen from them in these first 14 games?
Miller's a super athlete. Good rebounder, passer, and can occasionally knock down the three. Still learning how to play hard every single possession, but he will at times in the future be an impossible matchup for Ivies.
Cancer's a 6'2" guard, much more a penetrator than a perimeter threat. Plays passing lanes well. Rebounds well. Sets teammates up, but still makes a number of bad decisions each game with the ball. He's got a lot of leash to work through those mistakes though. Free throw shooting (18-38, 47.4%) is a complete head-scratcher.
The Big Red's opponents are shooting 28.0% from the perimeter, which is 16th-best in the land. How well has Cornell guarded the arc?
Very well. They chase you off the line aggressively, and the rotation is 12-14 deep so they're (usually) going to be a little fresher down the stretch. The absence of Miles Asafo-Adjei (lower leg infection) has hurt. He's the team's best on-ball defender at guard and he's gotten much better in transition. His return timetable is still unknown, but he's out this weekend.
It doesn't really apply to Friday's game, but what's the deal with this team on the road this season? How much of the 0-8 mark is due to the Big Red playing exclusively Top 180 teams in Pomeroy or is there something else afoot?
Youth and competition. Of the eight road games (St Bonaventure, Buffalo, Delaware, Illinois, Penn State, Stony Brook, Bucknell, Maryland), I'd count only Delaware as a bad loss. Lots of woulda-coulda-shouldas, but with so many freshmen in the rotation, and with such limited physicality up front, it hasn't been surprising.
Cornell kicks off their Ivy slate with a win over Princeton if...
It limits the Tigers' second chance opportunities and uses a good defensive rebounding night to spark transition. Princeton has a huge size advantage.
The Tigers start defense of their title with a victory in Ithaca if...
...they play their pace, force Cornell to play in the half court and relentlessly attack the offensive glass.
Since we last did a Know! Your! Foe! you've switched jobs. Let people know what you're doing now, where you're doing it and how they can best keep tabs on your work.
After 5.5 years at The Ithaca Journal, I'm now covering the same teams at the ESPN Radio affiliate here in town. I'm not writing as much, but I'm talking a lot more. For that, my family and close friends are telling me to shut up more.
Happy Ivy League season to all!
