On the NCAA tourney expansion debate

In the NYT:

But a small segment of coaches have said that bigger may not be better.

“It takes away from the special nature of it,” said Steve Donahue, who has coached Cornell to the N.C.A.A. tournament for three straight years. “It’s supposed to be an incredible award for a great, great season. If you expand it, it’s not that. Everyone thinks more is better. It’s not.”

Davidson Coach Bob McKillop went a step further.

“Isn’t this whole thing a window into society?” he said. “We’ve diminished so many other things. We’ve diminished test scores. We’ve diminished admission policies. We diminish so much for reasons that are not accentuating excellence and performance. It’s almost too inclusive.”

Probably not a coincidence that these comments come from two smart men who coach smart kids in programs that are more than just preprofessional way stations masquerading as institutions of higher education.

(More) how people talk

Tommy Amaker on Cornell: “That’s a team capable of making a Davidson kind of run like two years ago. You could see them in the Sweet 16, and from there, anything is possible. They are very talented and have a lot of seniors. They’ve been in the tournament. They’re legit. They pounded us. I voted for them in the Top 25 well before we played them.”

How people talk

Andy Katz: This Cornell team is Davidson-like and could go on a run come March.

The Davidson treatment?

Jameson Fleming:

Despite the not-so-great profile, most pundits argued Stephen Curry should go dancing no matter what if Davidson were to lose in its conference tournament. The argument never came to fruition as the Wildcats didn’t lose in their tournament.

Fast-forward to this season. Cornell, the preseason Ivy League favorite is following the same path as Stephen Curry’s Wildcats.

Not really. That year’s Davidson team lost their “big games” in the regular season. This year’s Cornell team has won some of them. The similarity: Davidson ’08 wouldn't have gotten an at-large, and neither will Cornell ’10. Sorry. If you’re Davidson, if you’re Cornell, win your league or else. The difference: The Southern Conference gives its bid to its best team over a weekend. The Ivy League gives its bid to its best team over a season.

See what Cornell did at No. 1 KU?

This. Self: “That’s the best team we’ve played this year.” Just saying.

UMass tonight at Belk

Game notes: The Minutemen and Wildcats share one common opponent -- Cornell. The Big Red topped UMass 74-61 Nov. 18, and defeated Davidson 91-88 in overtime in Madison Square Garden Dec. 20. UMass. The Republican.

Cornell’s Jon Jaques

On The Quad blog: “... a tough Davidson team ...” The Moment on The Quad.

Rush the Court on the Wildcats

Here:

Might Davidson be turning the corner a little in the post-Stephen Curry era? It’s entirely understandable that there would be a dropoff, but over the last two nights the Wildcats took Ivy League champion Cornell to overtime before losing on a last-second thirty-footer by Ryan Wittman, and got a solid win tonight over a solid CAA foe. Some of the 4-8 record is due to strength of schedule, but Bob McKillop is too good of a coach for this program to completely melt down. Jake Cohen had 18/6/4 blks in the winning effort, and keep an eye on this team as we hit the SoCon schedule next month.

The Cornell coach

Steve Donahue: “Davidson is a very good basketball team. I think we’re fortunate to catch them when their young guys are still growing. They are an excellent offensive team. I would not be surprised if they win their league. You don’t realize it until you play them. This is a great win.”

Cornell 91, Davidson 88

AP:

NEW YORK -- Ryan Wittman capped a season-high 29-point performance by hitting a 30-footer at the overtime buzzer and Cornell beat Davidson 91-88 on Sunday in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.

JP Kuhlman of Davidson made the first of two free throws with 6.6 seconds left to tie it at 88. Jeff Foote rebounded the miss of the second free throw and found Wittman, who let his game-winner go with plenty of time.

Cornell will play the winner of the Hofstra-St. John’s game in Monday night's championship.

The shame of it, of course, is that this could’ve been a galvanizing win for this group, against an experienced team that knows what it’s doing, and now it will have to be a galvanizing loss. McKillop put it bluntly with Kilgo after the game -- had a chance to win that game in regulation, had a chance to win that game in overtime, didn’t win that game -- and that’s disappointing. I feel bad for the coaches and the kids. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: For Davidson, always, but especially in years like this year, a season’s “success” or “failure” comes down to what happens over the course of three days in the first week of March. What happened this afternoon up at the Garden was a step in the right direction with that in mind. DavidsonWildcats.com.

Tough loss

Great game.

Listening to the Wildcats

Last Sunday: this buttery deliciousness before flying back to Florida. This Sunday: brunch in St. Pete with Kilgo on the computer.

Tomorrow in the big city

Against two-time defending Ivy League champ Cornell at the Garden. Game notes.

How people talk about Davidson basketball

Now it’s like this:

Heard of any of these teams? Kansas? Alabama? Syracuse? UMass? Davidson?

And like this:

Wozniak is being recruited by several schools, most notably ...

Used to be pretty much the opposite, of course -- the program was pretty darn good, and yet nobody knew, or only the avid, educated few. The power of March. The power of CBS. The power of a star in sports-info-tainment in a celebrity culture.

Holiday Festival

Next year’s field at Madison Square Garden: Cornell, Hofstra, St. John’s, Davidson. AP. Schedule: coming together.