ANYONE'S KESS: Harvard Has Chance To Challenge Big Red's Dominance

En route to the nation’s capital to watch the Harvard men’s basketball team try its hand at upsetting No. 13 Georgetown, former Crimson Sports Chair Loren Amor and I made a pit stop in New York City to watch another Ivy team take a shot at a Big East opponent.

In what Harvard hopes is a foreshadowing of things to come in tomorrow’s matinee against the Hoyas at the Verizon Center., Cornell defeated St. John’s last night, 71-66, to win the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.

Just as my path to Washington has taken me through the Concrete Jungle, Harvard’s road to an Ivy League championship must certainly go through Cornell.

And judging from last night’s contest, the journey won’t be an easy one.

Entering the 2009-’10 season, media outlets across the country unanimously agreed that the Big Red would handily walk away with its third-straight Ancient Eight championship while the rest of the league battled for second place.

That all changed two weeks ago, when Harvard played UConn tough on the road, losing by six, and then defeated Boston College for the second-straight time. Suddenly the Crimson—which was initially projected to finish fourth in the league—became a trendy pick to sneak up on Cornell and win its first-ever Ivy League title.

But the Big Red has jumped out to a solid start as well this season, with road wins over Alabama and Massachusetts. Last night Cornell added to its list of impressive victories with its defeat of St. John’s.

In a sparsely filled Madison Square Garden, the Big Red made a strong case for why it still deserves to be recognized as the team to beat in the Ivy League.

Cornell’s most impressive attribute on display was its poise. The Big Red trailed by double digits for much of the first half, but managed to claw its way back into the game, despite lacking its opponent’s athleticism. Down by five at the start of the second half, Cornell came out firing and took a 49-47 lead midway through the frame off a post move from seven-foot center Jeff Foote.

The Big Red’s comeback was a product of its consistent and disciplined play—rather than desperately chucking up bad shots to cut down the deficit, Cornell continued to look for the open man. When St. John’s started to fire low-percentage shots, the Big Red took advantage.

Cornell’s focused, even-keeled approach is not surprising, given the squad’s experienced roster, led by the senior trio of Foote, Ryan Wittman, and Louis Dale.

But Cornell’s success is not bred from poise alone. Against St. John’s, the Big Red also lived up to its billing as a team that can shoot the lights out. Cornell shot an absurd 61.1 percent from deep, with four different players netting at least two treys. This hot-handed effort spells trouble for opponents, since the Big Red goes out of its way to find looks from beyond the arc. Twice early on last night, Cornell ran a play where Foote faked a screen and then cut to the basket as he received the pass. Instead of taking it to the hole, Foote redirected the ball out to the perimeter where his teammates stood open as their defenders collapsed on the big man.

This ability to dominate in many respects of the game will be crucial in Ivy League play, where the lack of a postseason tournament makes each league contest critical. For its part, Harvard proved last season that it could play with anybody, defeating Boston College and Cornell, but its inability to match the Big Red's steadiness led to disappointing losses against lesser opponents like Dartmouth and Brown.

This season, the younger and healthier Crimson has looked more dependable, with its only slip-up coming against Army. But Harvard must be wary of other Ivy opponents such as Princeton and Columbia, which could end the Crimson’s title hopes early on.

Yet, while Harvard still has to prove it can play at a high level for the entire season, even the favored Big Red is far from flawless.

Last night, Cornell’s lack of depth was exposed. The Big Red went to its reserves early on, but the bench contributed just six points in 50 minutes of play and was outscored by St. John’s backups, 25-6. Meanwhile, Harvard’s bench has outscored its opponent’s reserves in each of the Crimson’s nine matchups.

Cornell also struggled to attack the basket, scoring nearly all of its points off three pointers and post moves from Foote. While Foote’s tall frame makes it difficult to stop him under the basket, the Big Red cannot expect to shoot over 60 percent from long distance every night, and will eventually be forced to rely on some penetration from its backcourt.

The Crimson, on the other hand, has scored at least 38 points in the paint in each of its last three contests, relying on its ability to get to the rim and find high-percentage looks.

But while Harvard appears to hold certain advantages over Cornell on paper, the Big Red still reigns as the Ivy League’s top dog. The Crimson will have a chance to change that perception on Jan. 30, when the two squads square off in Ithaca. But for now, we’ll see if Harvard can live up to the precedent set by the Ancient Eight’s defending champion by defeating its own talented Big East opponent tomorrow.