Cornell Nearly Defeats Kansas

Wow, this was a hell of a basketball game.

Cornell went to Lawrence, Kansas, tonight, to play the undefeated No. 1 team in the country, on a court on which they've won 50 consecutive games.

And the Big Red led for most of the game, including a one-point lead with 50 seconds remaining.

It's a shame Cornell lost, but they played a great game. Kansas was the better team, and they should be, with their ability to recruit across the country, give full scholarships, have no academic requirements, etc. But the Big Red proved tonight that they are a legitimately good basketball team. It was perhaps a little too much to have hoped for Cornell to hold on.

The worst part of the game wasn't the result, but the experience of listening to the homer television announcers on ESPN360. Every shot Kansas made was unbelievable, exciting, and a game-changer, and the crowd was always back in the game, and Kansas was always making the shot of the game, even though they were losing the whole time. Every Kansas basket was replayed; the only Cornell shots which were replayed were the ones which were blocked. Rarely was any credit given to Cornell for accomplishing what they did tonight.

As Kansas finally took the lead in the final minutes, from listening to the announcers you would have thought that the Jayhawks were the underdogs. Man, poor Kansas, they had everything going against them. Missed shots which hit the rim? Just one of those nights. Foul called on Kansas? A questionable call.

The worst was when Alex Tyler scored a basket in the first half, but the Kansas coach thought he had shuffled his feet. We were forced to watch the replay several times (one of the only replays of Cornell baskets) as the announcers jumped all over themselves to agree that it was a missed call. Here's the good part: we shift to a shot of the officials conferring on the court after calling Self for a technical, and although it's impossible to hear what they're saying or read their lips, the announcers matter-of-factly state that the one referee is scolding the other one for missing the traveling call. Give me a break!

Truth is, Cornell shot below its season average for field goal percentage, three point percentage, and foul shot percentage, so you can't explain this away by saying that Cornell played out of their minds and Kansas had an off night.

Rather, Cornell is a legitimately good basketball team this year. It might be a stretch to expect us to beat Kansas in Kansas, but we can play with anyone in the country and win a game or two in the NCAA tournament.

Let's hope there's no letdown at South Dakota in a couple of days, and there's still a difficult Ivy schedule standing between here and the NCAA tournament.