As the winter sports season approaches a lot of focus will be on the Cornell hockey team that almost went to the Frozen Four a year ago. Undoubtedly the “Lynah Faithful” will be in full force this season, yelling “sieve” with the best of them. Do not overlook, though, the Cornell basketball team’s evolving “Newman Nation.” Cornell is looking to win its third straight Ivy League championship this season, and with five returning starters, Newman Nation will be an overwhelming force as a “sixth man.”

The decision was an easy one for head coach Steve Donahue at the outset of last season. With Louis Dale, the 2007-08 Ivy League Player of the Year, sidelined for the first eight games due to a sore hamstring, Donahue inserted freshman Chris Wroblewski into the team’s starting lineup at point guard.

This year, the decision making process is a bit more complex as it appears Wroblewski and senior Geoff Reeves will compete for the starting nod. Reeves, who started all but one game last season, seems to hold a slight edge over the sophomore, but Donahue says it is too early to tell.

Less than three years after graduating from Cornell in 2007, Kevin App has returned to the Hill ready to once again imprint his mark on Cornell athletics –– accepting the position of assistant coach of the men’s basketball team. App, who served as a tri-captain his senior year, graduated with a degree in civil engineering and spent one year working as project manager for a construction company in Bethesda, Md. Upon realizing that he missed being around basketball, App, with the help of Cornell men’s basketball head coach Steve Donahue, secured a position as assistant coach at Williams College for the 2008-09 season. However, after former Cornell assistant coach Zach Spiker accepted a job at Army, Donahue contacted App about rejoining the Red as a member of the coaching staff.

While the NBA season began last night, college basketball is still a little ways off. The Red is anxious to face real competition; however, the team will have to wait another two and a half weeks for its season to begin. In the meantime, the team is practicing hard in hopes of meeting the sky-high expectations that have been placed upon Cornell basketball.

Zach Spiker, a five-year assistant coach for the men’s basketball team, was hired to the head coach position at Army, the school announced on Saturday. Spiker replaces Jeff Crews, who was fired on Sept. 24 following a confrontation with a player, according to ESPN's Andy Katz. Crews signed a three-year contract with a two-year option over the summer, but Army athletic director Kevin Anderson said there was an issue involving Crews that he “couldn't ignore.”

The two-time defending Ivy League champions will have their work cut out for them in 2009-10 — men’s basketball head coach Steve Donahue announced the team’s schedule on Friday, and it appears to be possibly the toughest non-conference schedule in Cornell history. Donahue has a history of challenging his players before the Ivy season begins — the Red has played Syracuse in four of the last five seasons, and took on powerhouses like Duke in 2007-08 and Indiana and Minnesota in 2008-09. With all five starters returning, Cornell (21-10 overall in 2008-09, 11-3 Ivy League) might just be up to the challenge.

“Announce the Princeton score,” fans yelled excitedly.

“Donahue doesn’t want it announced,” came the reply from press row.

But with less than two minutes left, men’s basketball head coach Steve Donahue’s wife decided it was time for him and his team to know what everyone else already did — the Red was mere minutes away from its second straight Ivy title.

“I guess everyone else knew [that Princeton was losing],” Donahue said, laughing. “My wife yelled something at me, and I find out I’m the only guy that didn’t know. I was thinking since I didn’t hear anything, that Princeton had won.”

Maybe they wanted to see what the new guy could do. Maybe he just happened to be standing at the front of the line. Whatever the reason, men’s basketball freshman Chris Wroblewski was the first player out in the first drill of the first basketball season of his collegiate career.

“My very first practice. My first official practice,” Wroblewski laughed at the thought.

It was a full court drill that started out as a one-on-one breakaway, then proceeded into a two-on-one breakaway, a three-on-two breakaway, etc.

“That was the first drill we did in the first practice,” he said.

And Chris was the first out, dribbling down as the offensive player. Lanky rising senior Andre Wilkins waited at the other end with five extra inches and 20 extra pounds.

Athletically speaking, Cornell may have one of the most unfortunate academic calendars.

Like many young sports fans, I grew up mesmerized by the college basketball tournament every March. I got so excited, so wrapped up in the story lines of the various schools I might not have even heard of before. I literally spent time just sitting in my living room, or lying on my bed, imagining what it would be like to be a student at any one of these Cinderella schools — wondering what it would be like to be surrounded by such energy and enthusiasm.

BOISE, Idaho — Shots did not fall fast or accurately enough for No. 14 seed Cornell as it was bounced out of the first round of the NCAA tournament by No. 3 Missouri, 78-59, Friday afternoon.