For the men’s basketball team this season, the first rule of the NCAA tournament, might as well have been you do not talk about the NCAA tournament. Well ... sort of.
The Red opens its season by defeating Alabama on the road, 71-67, for its first win over an SEC team in 37 years. Senior forward Ryan Wittman drops a game-leading 23 points, which, looking back, could be considered an early preview of what was to come from the senior forward in 2009-10.
Faced with the impending graduation of good friend and former “10 Questions Girl” Jasmine Marcus, Sun Sports Editor Alex Kuczynski-Brown had no choice but to tap a successor. While Jasmine will undoubtedly prove a tough act to follow, Alex thinks she’s found a replacement who’s up to the task in freshman Katie Schubauer: she’s young, she’s ambitious and she’s not afraid to ask the hard-hitting questions. In this special March Madness Edition of 10 Questions, Katie sits down with three-time First-team All-Ivy selection Louis Dale. They discuss everything from a certain Cornell rite of passage Lou has yet to complete, to real-life “bromance” and Lou’s strategy for wooing women (hint: it’s all in the pick-up line –– or maybe not).
Take a talented 6-7 athlete with a pure shooting stroke, add hard work and determination, sprinkle in a new mindset and a few fortuitous breaks and what emerges is the feel-good story of the men’s basketball team. After spending his first three years at Cornell mired on the bench –– he played just over 100 minutes total during the three seasons –– senior tri-captain Jon Jaques has perfected that formula. Seemingly out of nowhere, Jaques has emerged as a starter and vital cog on a Red basketball team that has taken the Ivy League –– and the nation –– by storm.
Does it seem as if Cornell head coach Steve Donahue and Temple head coach Fran Dunphy would rather play the ’95 Chicago Bulls than square off against each other in the NCAA tournament? Regardless of their close friendship, Donahue’s No. 12-seeded Red and Dunphy’s No. 5 Owls are slated for a 12:30 p.m. tipoff Friday afternoon in Jacksonville, Fla.
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