The Red continues to show that skill and experience can overcome athletic disadvantages. On Wednesday, Cornell defeated UMass on the Minutemen’s home court. The Red (2-0, 0-0 Ivy) used superior execution and shooting ability in overcoming noticeable disadvantages in quickness and athleticism against its Atlantic 10 foe.

Cornell will attempt to prove its season-opening victory at Alabama was not a fluke as the Red strives for back-to-back road victories against the University of Massachusetts tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Cornell basketball opened up the 2009-10 campaign with a win in Tuscaloosa, Ala., against Alabama, 71-67, on Saturday. The Red (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) showed its dominance in the heart of the SEC, and picked up its third-straight season-opening victory. Senior Ryan Wittman led the Red, picking up 23 points, three rebounds and five from beyond the arc. The pentagonal efforts of Wittman, senior Jeff Foote, senior Louis Dale, sophomore Chris Wroblewski and senior Alex Tyler combined for 59 of the Red’s 71 points on Saturday afternoon.

The men’s basketball team is headed to Alabama to open the 2009-10 season. High expectations accompany a Red squad that some expect to have a year for the ages in the Ivy League. Although Cornell’s roster is loaded by Ivy League standards, a season-opening matchup against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference will provide an early measuring stick by which to gauge the team.

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.”