Big Red Bafflement: Cornell Heading Toward NCAA Tourney?

Few things in sports surprise me nowadays. So, you can imagine it would take an event of nearly monumental proportions to catch our attention. That “something” happened while we were reading up on our beloved Cornell Big Red earlier this week.

ITHACA, N.Y. — The sophomore tandem of Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman combined for 49 points and 15 rebounds to help Cornell snap an 18-game losing streak to Penn, topping the three-time defending Ivy League champions 87-74 on Saturday evening in front of a sold-out Newman Arena. With the win, Cornell remained unbeaten in league play at 6-0 and bumped its record to 14-5. Penn slipped to 7-14 (2-2 Ivy) with the loss.

For those unfamiliar with the Big Red, our athletic prowess is…well…absent. Hockey and lacrosse are our traditional strengths. Football? Baseball? Basketball? Not so much. Hence, why the paragraph above floored us. There is so much in there that is foreign to us as Cornell alums.

First, there is the snapping of an 18-game losing streak to Penn. So, basically this is the first time we’ve managed to beat the Quakers in about a decade. That makes us smile. We never really liked Penn. If we have an Ivy “rival,” it would be those folks. Nice to see them struggle.

Second, I’ve never seen the words “sold out” and “Newman Arena” in the same sentence. Ever. Apparently, such an event occurred back in 2004. I certainly don’t recall many (meaning any) basketball sellouts during my four years in Ithaca.

So, what does it all mean? Pending an enormous disaster my alma mater is making a trip to the Big Dance. Hold on, just had another one of those blogging moments where I can’t believe what I have just written. OK, better now.

Yes, the Mighty Big Red of Cornell University are poised to head back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1987 (according to our records). Their fate 21 years ago? A first round battle with #1-seeded Arizona. A nail-biting barnburner with Lute Olson’s crew. Final score 90-50. I actually remembered watching for that score at age 10. I hadn’t recalled checking for a Cornell NCAA tournament score since then. Turns out, there hasn’t been one.

This recent turn of events is good to see. While we know the Big Red have ample opportunity to flush this opportunity away, with a 15-4 record and 6-0 Ivy league mark, things are looking pretty good. It would be nice to see someone other than Penn and Princeton make the trip for a change. We’ll be keeping tabs and keeping our fingers crossed for another #16 seed come March and a date with…who knows…maybe Duke? By the way, the Big Red “hung” with the Dookies in Durham losing back in early January by 14. Wait, are you trying to tell us Duke got better? Oh, OK…