I don’t know either team very well. I know Columbia fans were very high on their new coach and the current team, and Cornell was projected to finish high in the standings. Each is now 2-3.
I looked at the stats for each team; each starts several seniors, and the bench appears to be deeper than ours. Cornell will try to run us out of the gym. Don’t know what to expect from Columbia.
We have a 5 hour bus ride to Ithica. Should be 9-10 degrees on arrival.
Against Yale, Cornell’s offense looked great for the first 8 minutes – high-motor, effective cuts, shots going in. They are certainly capable of playing like that for the entire game, but are very inconsistent. Yale made some defensive adjustments to take away cutting lanes and disrupt Cornell’s guards in the half court, and ran off with the game. Cornell also plays zero defense, and their lack of any rim protectors could help Hicke or whoever else can drive to the rim or crash the O boards. I like Princeton’s odds, even on the road.
I believe Columbia is a tougher matchup for Princeton, both physically and with the balance in their scoring, even with a few injuries (including frosh Miles Franklin). Cornell/Columbia is a long road weekend; the 5-hour drive to NYC on Friday night does not help.
So I like Princeton’s chances to split the away weekend and stay in strong contention for the ILT, potentially moving up the rankings. Dartmouth and Harvard have to play on the road at Yale (a challenging game for both teams) and Brown (who have enough defensive toughness to upset either team, particularly at the Pizz).
My first instinct is that this team won’t be able to keep up with Cornell’s pace. Then again, this current squad of Tigers is a lot more physical than the usual MH squads. Maybe they surprise us. As for Columbia, they’re so up and down, I have no idea which Lions team we’re getting.
I’d happily take 1 of 2, but I’m expecting 0-2. Hard to imagine making Ivy Madness without winning at least 1 road game. Might not take more than that, though.
Tigers could win both or lose both of these games. This is probably the most challenging back to back from a travel perspective.
Cornell lost to Columbia by 5 at home, lost to Dartmouth by 11 at home, was crushed by Yale by 34 away, then won its last 2 on the road by 22 at Brown and by 7 at Harvard. Two game road win streak in the league this year seems impressive.
Columbia beat Cornell by 5 on the road, dropped a home game against Harvard by 25, lost to Brown away by 6 and Yale away by 17 before beating Dartmouth away by 10.
I anticipate big games from Stanton and Clark in this road trip. I think Stanton is due for a 4/6 type of shooting game and Clark’s confidence grows every game. I will be interested to see if offensively they can maintain some discipline to feed the hot hand and turn down good for better shot opportunities against Cornell. They allows the highest 3pt FG percentage – teams are shooting over 43% and offensively they lead the league in attempts… 30% more attempts then Princeton. Hopefully they have some patience to keep getting a paint touches to Malik and Hicke.
I think key stat will be owning the boards. Columbia is #1 and Cornell #4 in offensive rebounding. We gave up 11 offensive rebounds to Dartmouth. Need to find bodies and hold them to 1 shot. Like our chances if we can do that and they avoid the stand and watch DD offense.
One of the advantages of Cornell’s pace of play is getting off the shot before the defense is set to box out. Oh, yeah, and wear out the bigs running up and down the floor.