I hadn't really given much thought to the personal significance of Saturday's game against Cornell, but when Mark McAndrew '08 asked me after the game if I was a senior and I said yes, I couldn't help but feel sentimental. It was the last game I would ever cover for The Herald.
While the game doesn't mark the end of my tenure as a writer - Mahrtian Encounters will still appear this semester - it will take some time for me to adjust to weekends of not showing up early at Stevenson Field, Meehan Auditorium, the Pitzzitola Center or even the Smith Swim Center, press pass in hand, ready to serve as that token annoying reporter from the campus newspaper.
So for everyone associated with football, men's basketball, men's hockey, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's lacrosse and women's water polo, I thank you for answering my questions and bringing me inside the game these past four years. It's been real.
But enough of my self-involved reminiscences - on to the game notes.
Practice pointers
I'm sure I don't need to tell Head Coach Craig Robinson or anyone on the team about this, but Brown needs to work on defending the three-point shot. In Brown's seven conference home games this year, there have been junctures in every single game where the opponents have shot the lights out from long range. The Columbia and Cornell games were probably the most stinging examples, particularly in the second half of each game. The Lions and Big Red shot 9-of-13 and 10-of-13, respectively, in the final 20 minutes - and yet Brown managed to escape the weekend with a split.
My guess is that the open threes are a consequence of the difficulty in switching between a full-court press and a 2-3 zone, as Brown tries to do. Or maybe the opposition's hot shooting was a result of the Bears running out of gas in the second half of its games. Regardless, defending the trey should be a big part of Bruno's practice regimen this week.
Not your typical Ivy League scoring leader
When people think about offense in Ivy League basketball, they tend to think of backdoor cuts and a bunch of undersized players hoisting three-point shots. Though he is proficient in both shooting and cutting, McAndrew is much more than a standstill shooter. He takes his opponent off the dribble, gets to the hoop and gets to the foul line.
In Saturday's loss to the Big Red, McAndrew went into the second half wanting to attack, attack, attack, and he brought his team to within three before he succumbed to cramping and the team succumbed to Cornell.
Good hustle
You know those crowd favorites who seem to come up with loose balls and important rebounds that energize the team and the fans? Well, before long, Robinson could find himself with an army of such players.
For much of the season he has preached the value of getting after an opponent and not ever letting up, and it definitely looks like his players have bought into that mentality. They rarely take a break from their full-court pressure, hit the floor for every loose ball and aren't afraid to play a physical game in general.
Two hustle guys that Brown will rely on next season are Chris Skrelja '09 and Steve Gruber '10. Skrelja can guard any man on the floor and may yet emerge as Brown's best rebounder. He had five offensive rebounds in Friday's win over Columbia. Gruber is an absolute pest to ball handlers in Brown's pressure defense, and in recent weeks Robinson has turned to him several times when his team has needed a boost.
Getting Bigger and Redder
Cornell is just a really good team, and they have been since I started following Ivy League basketball freshman year. Head Coach Steve Donahue runs a really scary offense up in Ithaca, and he seems to reload with good players each year. His latest stars are both great shooters, and unfortunately for Brown and the rest of the Ivy League, they're only freshmen.
Both Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale finished with 22 points in Saturday's 12-point win, and it seemed like neither missed in the second half. Dale in particular was on fire, going 5-of-5 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. It will be interesting to see if both Brown and Cornell find themselves fighting at the top of the Ancient Eight standings next season and what role Skrelja and Gruber and Wittman and Dale have for Brown and Cornell, respectively.
