Whit's Hits

Just received a note and had to pass it along.

John Griffin was a two-time lacrosse All-American as a goalie at Cornell, leading the Big Red to their last NCAA title, back in 1977.  Inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame in ‘08.  Was also a teammate of Eemon McEneaney, widely regarded as one of the best players in Cornell history and a member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.  A golden era for Cornell lacrosse, with national titles in ‘76 and ‘77 and appearances in at least the national semifinals every year from ‘74 through ‘78.

John Griffin’s nephew is Mike Griffin, who is one of the lead producers on Sun Sports and Fox Sports Florida for Rays baseball, Magic basketball, college hoops, FHSAA Finals, you name it.  Griff sent me a note this morning reminding me that A.) his uncle was the last goalie to lead Cornell to a national title and B.) I was a lame alum for not mentioning today’s championship game in the blog.

So: the Big Red play for another national championship today at 1pm against Syracuse.  As Mike said to me, turn it on during the barbecue.  I’d love to lay down some smack about Syracuse, but their broadcasting graduates are everywhere and I’ll probably end up needing a job from one of them someday, so…

Let’s Go Red!

Cheapest round-trip ticket from Orlando to Boise, according to Expedia: $654, including taxes and fees. Meh.

So much for that.

The wild hair was prompted, of course, by Cornell’s second straight Ivy League title and subsequent bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Big Red earned a little respect this year, once again receiving a 14-seed, earning a first-round matchup with 3-seed Missouri. As my friend and fellow alum Jeff has pointed out, at least we’re not dealing with 14 feet of Lopez twins, as was the case last year when Cornell jetted to Anaheim to get throttled by Stanford.

This year, it’s 28-6 Mizzou, champions of the Big 12. Their RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is 10, which means the Tigers have played just about everyone up to and including the Lakers and Celtics this year. Cornell’s is 115, meaning, well, we played the Ivies and Ursinus.

(Actually, there were some decent games on the Big Red’s calendar this year—an 11-point loss to St. John’s, a 10-point loss to a ranked Syracuse team, non-conference wins over La Salle, Boston University, and Eastern Michigan. Plus, they beat Harvard, Princeton, and Yale at least once and beat Penn twice, which is all we really care about anyway.)

As fate would have it, Boise is also the first-round destination for Florida State, a 5-seed in the East, facing 12-seed Wisconsin. Seeing the Seminoles in the Big Dance for the first time since 1998 at the same venue where Cornell makes a second consecutive appearance would have been fun, but not $654 worth of fun (plus hotel).

I have, however, been to Boise, and it’s lovely. Honestly. Much rockier and mountainous than you probably think.

While I’ll be rooting hard for Cornell to make a game of it against Mizzou, I’ve got a keen interest in how Florida State does in the tournament. I’ve had the good fortune to call a couple of their games for Sun Sports over the last few seasons, including one this spring, and they strike me as an official Team Nobody Wants To Play. Their defense is downright salty—among the ACC leaders in field goal percentage allowed and scoring defense all season long—and they’ve got some depth (I love Ryan Reid). They’re long, big, energetic, cohesive, and have Toney Douglas, who is precisely the kind of Bryce Drew - Juan Dixon - Shane Battier experienced-leader-type who could shoulder a team throughout the tournament. In short, a perfect recipe for the NCAA’s, especially when you consider that they don’t have to score to win. I really like their chances of a Sweet 16 or even better.

Of course, our fair state’s sexiest team, Florida, is NIT-bound for a second straight season, which has created its fair share of hand-wringing among the Nation. Those who follow the Gators closely look at the roster and mouth the word “thin”—literally and figuratively.

In a weak year for the SEC, Florida was the worst rebounding team in the league, and sported the lowest blocked shot average in the conference as well. That’s been the largest concern for Florida all season—a lineup that is thin, as in not much depth, as well as a lineup that is thin, as in physically unable to prevent themselves from getting pushed around. The Gators need size, and they need glue guys. In short, they need what Florida State had this year.

(Sidebar: if this season taught us anything about Florida basketball, it should be a testament to how special that Noah-Horford-Brewer-Green squad was. We may never see such a combination of size, skill, toughness, and cohesiveness in college hoops ever again.)

Anyway, root for the Red, and watch out for the Noles. That is all.