In the Blink of an Eye

While it took about 20 hours for Cornell's NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments to be over, it seemed to happen faster than that. That was why throughout this run, I've tried to savor it, and not take it for granted, because I knew it could end quickly, and it did. Certainly it's disappointing, in some ways more so for the hockey team, which entered the tourney as a serious contender for the national championship. I feel lucky to have been at both games, as the Big Red took on the Wildcats x 2(Kentucky and University of New Hampshire), so here are the recaps.

Cornell vs. Wildcats, part 1
During the week, there was a lot of chatter about the plans for Syracuse. It seemed all kinds of Cornellians were coming out of the woodwork to cheer on the Big Red at the Carrier Dome. While there were points during the week when it looked like tickets would be hard to come by, the day of the game, I found they were still available on ticketmaster and passed the tip on to my colleague Calto, who made a game time decision to go. His seats were actually better than mine and though I toyed with the idea of buying better ones and then selling mine, I think I made the right call.

On Thursday I left the office midday and scooped up my brother Michael in Clinton. Once he'd gotten things squared away at the farm and after handing off a ticket to my buddy Howie at the Westmoreland toll booth, we were on our way. We parked at the Skytop lot, and while remote, it's actually fairly user friendly. We didn't tailgate for long as we still had one ticket to deliver, to my pal Joe Moran, and I wanted to get to Big Redpalooza. (I'd prepared an elaborate tailgate which consisted of a 12-pack of Utica Club, or as I dubbed it, "tailgate in a box")

After the shuttles dropped us on campus, we scurried through the cold rain, triangulating our way to Cornell headquarters at the Sheraton just off campus a couple blocks from the Dome. We were running late enough that many of the Cornell fans were already heading toward the Dome to catch the undercard, West Virginia vs. Washington.

We located Joe who was with Lee Winters, a former roommate of mine, and it was great to see him as it had been several years. We went into the Cornell party, which while technically over, still had a cash bar and food on the buffet line. Undoubtedly the crowd had thinned, but there was still a strong Red-clad contingent in a large hotel ball room and foyer, noshing and drinking under a large Cornell banner. I heard the AD had warmed up the crowd and figured this must be what it would be like to be at a big time sports school, with a pre-game reception before all the big games. Not sure if it was a who's who of Cornelldom, but I think it might have been as I didn't know anyone. Michael ran into one of his best buddies from his undergrad days, Buck Briggs, who teaches at Cornell and well known in the community.

Many folks at the Sheraton were watching the Syracuse game, who got off to a poor start against Butler, and eventually lost (note foreshadowing). I found it difficult to focus on that game just as I found it difficult to focus on West Virginia-Washington once we got to our seats. Before we left, I bought the gratuitious East Regional t-shirt (to go with the gratuitous souvenir program I would obtain later), and headed over to the Dome.

We got there at halftime of the first game, found our seats way up in section 316, right behind one of the baskets. Not the worst, not the best. As the Dome filled you could see more than half of the crowd was wearing Red. While it was a good crowd, it looked like there were seats available, so I'm glad I didn't try to trade up (actaully down) in the ticket department.

Before the game a Kentucky fan asked me if I wanted to do a ticket swap wager -- if Cornell won, he'd give me his tickets and if Kentucky won, I'd give him mine. I suppose this is the type of thing that happens at Regional finals, but I begged off.

Before the game I caught up with Calto, and later Howie arrived, followed by Jim Ward, another classmate of mine. Joe had craftily swapped tickets with him when they were passing them out so he could sit on the lower level.

And then there was the game -- yes there was a game, but as you probably gather from this post, this trip was about more than the game. It was about whole experience, connecting with old friends and swimming in the Big Red sea of fans. Yes, we were excited for the game, and while expectations were in check we all thought we had a chance.

We got off to a great start, and the Dome was rocking when we opened up a 10-2 lead, but you could tell our opponent was a notch above Wisconsin or Temple. As the half wore on, Kentucky figured out how to stop us, though our underrated defense kept it close for most of the half until Kenucky built a double digit lead in the last few minutes. Kentucky finished the half on a 30-6 run over about the last 15 minutes and even ran some fast break against us, which I hadn't seen all year.

We were down 32-16 at the half, though the deficit seemed larger than that. I was disappointed I missed singing the alma mater with Howie, which I recall belting out with him at hockey games 20 years ago.

I told everyone within earshot we would make a run late in the second half and we did, getting to within 6, at 40-34, after Dale hit one from behind the arc and again within 9 at 46-37 after Wittman buried a three for one of his few highlights. For a few minutes we kept it around 10 before Kentucky pulled away in the final minute. In some ways, it was closer than the 62-45 score indicated, but we'd struggled so much on offense, that just getting close seemed like a major feat. As the game ended I sold two of our group's tickets to the Kentucky fan I spoke to before the game and two to an older man wearing an autographed Jerry West jersey, so hopefully all the Kentucky and West Virginia fans can nicely in the sandbox together.

Wittman really struggled finding his shot. Dale looked very good. He turned the ball over a few times, but he generally got us into our offense and was one of our few scoring threats. Foote had some success early in the game before they shut him down, but he held his own defensively throughout. In the second half I kept thinking that if Foote could have fed Wittman or Dale from the post, it might open them up for a three, but the truth is we got a few more looks in the second half and we just didn't hit them. Say what you want about Kentucky, as many people did during the week, contrasting the Cornell student athletes, with Kentucky's one and done future NBAers and coach Calipari who left Memphis under a cloud of controversy. The bottom line is they played hard, tough defense and with their superior athleticism, stifled Cornell's offense.

It was disappointing, but hearing the Dome erupt at the Cornell introductions, early in the game and when we made our run in the second half and being there with Michael, Howie and some of the boys was worth the trip. We got home about 1:45 am and I was so wired I read my program for a while before drifting off.

Cornell vs. Wildcats, part 2
I feel for my brother who had to get up at 6 to milk the cows. He caught a little nap on the ride home, but I felt beat down just getting up at 8.

I slogged into our Sangerfield office to bang out some work before heading to Albany. I could feel that the wind had left my sails.

I got to Albany about 4:30 and my wing man Joe and I met up my brother Peter and has pal Mason at Broadway Joes, just under the Times Union Center. Pete's end of the work week enthusiasm lifted my spirits for a while. Joe wouldn't be able to find better seats tonight, as we had tickets in the First Niagara box and we headed upstairs to watch the end of RIT's upset of number one seed Denver.

Even before the Cornell-UNH game started I thought something was off. For one thing, I was beat, and could sense many others in the Cornell crowd felt the same. The Cornell crowd was significantly smaller than for the ECAC championship, with a much smaller student section. The attitude and edge seemed to be lacking too.

The game started well enough and the two teams skated evenly throughout the first. Scrivens played well, and the Big Red got a lift by scoring late in the first stanza. The second was evenly matched as well, but toward the end of the second, things got off track. After a turnover in the Cornell zone, UNH appeared to score, but play continued as the puck went into the corner. As it turned out, the puck had actually gone through the net, and at the first stoppage of play, the officials reviewed the play and confirmed the goal. I don't know if it was the long wait while the play was reviewed, but Cornell seemed to lose its legs and within 30 seconds after play resumed, UNH scored again, taking a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

Peter's friend Ken and his Dad, Herb were there. In an effort to rouse the Cornellians, he gave us 4:1 odds against Cornell coming back, and badgered us into the bet. Peter, my brother Jerry who was also there, Joe and I begrudgingly accepted, and no sooner than we did, it seemed, UNH scored to make it 3-1, a lead that grew to 5-1 until Cornell scored late in the game. An empty net goal made the final score 6-2. It usually takes about 4 games for Cornell to give up 6 goals, and while Scrivens might have made some of the stops, as Coach Schafter put it, "we hung our goalie out to dry" with bad turnovers in the zone and one breakaway.

This one hurt, because I think Cornell had a solid team that could have made a run to the Frozen Four, especially with Denver out of the way. I felt like we let the team down a bit with our lackluster support during the game, though I guess they just got outplayed. UNH just seems to have our number in the NCAAs.

Conclusion
And so like that, it was over in the blink of an eye. A good run, and great to be able to share it with some old buddies and my brothers. I'm thankful to Jen for holding down the fort with Will while I trapsed around New York following the Big Red. And while disappointed there was no return trip to Albany to see Cornell play for a Frozen Four berth, it was awfully nice to get home today and do pine cone patrol with Jen and Will this afternoon in Forest Park.

I know the hockey team will be back. Schafer has a great program and while Scrivens and several others are departing, the Big Red hockey program seems to be in a mode where it simply reloads each year.

The basketball team was probably a once in a generation team for Cornell, especially having players like Wittman and Dale and given his improvement over the years, you might put Foote in that category too. I'm not sure if he'll get offers, but this might be coach Donahue's chance to leave for a bigger school -- hopefully he and his family like Ithaca. I do think they'll be competitive in the Ivies next year. Wrobleski is the only starter who will be back but he'll be joined by scapper Adam Wire who played quite bit, along with UMass transfer Max Groebe and Errick Peck is an athletic freshman who played sparingly late in the season but did get some quality minutes vs Kentucky for that very reason. I understand they've got a couple of good recruits coming too, and I'm sure the notariety Cornell got this year will help on that front.

I'm going to miss this 2009-10 team. I enjoyed their success, but more than anything I enjoyed watching them play. Toward the end of the season, I often thought, this is how basketball should be played, with unselfish precision, pinpoint passing and fearless shooting.

So there may be some radio silence from the 20th hole for a while. Not quite ready to dive into lacrosse season, though the Big Red are in the top 10. The 20th hole may get back to its golfing roots as I noticed today that Ernie Els, Davis Love, Phil Mickelson are all in contention at Arnie's Bay Hill tournament and Augusta is right around the corner. I'm working on an entry for a golf design contest, which I'll post when I'm finished, and spring appears to have arrived in Western Mass, so I may even play a little golf too, some of which may end up here at the 20th hole.

So stay tuned, and thanks for a great season -- Go Big Red!