Funny, guys ...

Senior tri-captain/center Jeff Foote left many reporters scratching their heads following today’s player press conference. When asked about how the team balances basketball with the academic rigors of Cornell, Foote responded by talking about yesterday’s bus ride to the hotel and police escorts –– adding that tomorrow’s matchup with No. 5 Temple is “anyone’s game” and that he’s “really looking forward to it.”

Practice Makes Perfect

The consensus among college basketball circles tends to be that there’s really no way to practice hitting game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointers. Well, in some cases, maybe there is.

After a convincing win over fifth-seeded Temple, the men’s basketball team continued to clown around.

The men's basketball team leads the fifth-seeded Temple Owls, 37-29, at halftime. Senior guard Louis Dale leads both teams with 11 points, while senior forward Ryan Wittman and senior center Jeff Foote are tied for second with nine apiece. Cornell is shooting just 2-for-7 from 3-point range, but is connecting on 68.4 percent overall and is 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.

Between a routine morning press conference (more questions about the Donahue – Dunphy showdown) and a standard media practice (lots of lay-up drills), what stood out most today was the atmosphere in the men’s basketball’s team locker room in Jacksonville, Florida.

When freshman midfielder Roy Lang scored to put the men's lacrosse team up 9-6 with 5:37 left in the NCAA finals, it seemed like things were going too smoothly against defending national champion Orange. It had been a close, hard-fought game, but the Red was getting all the breaks — Syracuse attackman Stephen Keogh's goal in the fourth quarter was waved off because of a nearly imperceptible crease violation, Cornell was drawing penalties to keep possessions going and the team's senior goalie Jake Myers was at the top of his game, holding Orange attackmen Kenny Nims and Keogh to just one score in four shots on goal.

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Cornell had the lead from beginning to end until Syracuse senior attackman Kenny Nims scored at the end of a circus play with four seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 9. The Red was attempting a clear but the Syracuse ride forced the turnover and several looping passes later, Nims fired a low shot past Cornell senior goalie Jake Myers from point-blank range to force overtime.

Cornell won the face-off in overtime but a quick turnover led to a goal by Syracuse's Cody Jamieson, who was academically ineligible for most of the season but made a huge impact in his few games with the team. Jamieson's goal handed Syracuse the 10-9 overtime win.

The men’s lacrosse team’s 2009 season came full circle when it upset top seed Virginia for a chance to play in the national championship game against No. 2 seed Syracuse. The Red shocked the Cavaliers, 15-6, by playing intelligent team defense and, above all, controlling possession and showing discipline on offense. Those talents, however, weren’t always in the 2009 team’s repertoire — they appeared out of necessity after the Red’s 15-10 loss to the same Orange squad that will take the field on Monday looking for its second consecutive (11th overall) national title.