For a team that has become nationally recognized for its 3-point shooting, it’s odd to think of the men’s basketball team trying to run its offense through guys on the block.

“We’re going to take advantage of our size and our ability inside, play inside-out as we always did, but maybe even more so this year in terms of getting the ball inside,” said head coach Steve Donahue.

With senior guard Adam Gore out until at least January with a torn ACL and backcourt mate, junior Louis Dale, nursing a hamstring injury, the Red’s strength may lie in its forwards, at least to begin the season.

Though the guard/big man relationship has often taken center stage in elite basketball — Cornell has grasped the importance of chemistry in the post. The men’s basketball team has developed its own oversized combo in senior center Jeff Foote and junior forward Alex Tyler.

A key component of last year’s success was the play of Tyler, who started in 27 of 28 games, and Foote, who came off the bench in 22 games.

Tyler is known to pounce on opportunities. This aggressive style led to 11 steals last year, but also the third-highest turnover total (45). Along with classmate Louis Dale, he led the team with 2.9 fouls per game, fouling out three times.

“I think I just need to be a little bit smarter at the beginning of games,” Tyler said.

Ask any of the players or coaches and they will tell you that it wasn’t the sharp shooting or rim-rocking dunks that allowed the Red to sweep its Ivy League schedule, it was the team’s defense. However, this defense wasn’t without its imperfections.

“We were a good defensive team last year,” Donahue said. “We weren’t great. We made people shoot challenged jumps shots for the most part and that strategy works unless someone’s making shots.”

Superficially, it seems Ivy teams weren’t making shots against Cornell last year — the Red led the league in field goal defense. However, Donahue points out that his squad was second to last in 3-point field goal defense.

The crisp red stripe traces the same gentle arc of a dull-by-comparison white line exactly one foot away. The ridges on the sides of the red line reveal it to be a recent addition, placed on top of the floor’s smooth finish.

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Men’s basketball senior center Jeff Foote is thinking about the foot between those two lines and smiling. He’s thinking about the possibility of that one foot — the mere 12 inches that separate the NCAA’s new 3-point line from the old one — spreading defenses out.

“I like it a lot because our guys aren’t so close when I catch the ball,” he said. “So it’s good for me.”

The men’s basketball team brought something rare to Ithaca last year — excitement about an NCAA tournament basketball team. Keeping up that momentum, the team put on a show for the Red faithful Saturday afternoon in the annual Red-White scrimmage. The contest would go down to the final buzzer, as junior Andre Wilkins hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give the Red the 74-71 victory.

Man of the hour: A trey by junior Andre Wilkins (13) with two seconds left gave his Red team the win in the men’s basketball team’s Red-White scrimmage.

Tomorrow afternoon in Newman Arena, the men’s basketball team will take its first baby steps toward defending its first Ivy championship in 20 years. The annual Red-White game — a full-court, five-on-five intrasquad scrimmage with referees and all official rules — will begin at 4:30.

While official practice has only been underway for three weeks as of today, the Red’s first game is right around the corner. The Red-White scrimmage will be a final tuneup before opening the season at home against South Dakota next Friday.

Last Tuesday, nearly 22 months after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a game against Northwestern, men’s basketball senior guard Adam Gore tore the same ligament in his other knee. While some estimates have him back as soon as January, there is no real timetable on his return. He will have surgery on Sept. 18.

[video:node=31564:fids=all] “I don’t necessarily expect him to come back, but the doctors said that if he works hard, four months from now is mid-January [and he could be back],” said head coach Steve Donahue. “It wouldn’t surprise me with how tough he is and how hard he works if Adam will be able to help us in the Ivy season.”

Madness? THIS IS SPARTA … I mean ITHACA!

I am not even kidding: if there has ever been a time to show your school spirit and attend a Cornell sports event, this is it. Cornell sports are absolutely amazing this Friday through Sunday.

You have a chance to see three teams with projected NCAA entrants: that’s three teams with some of our nation’s best athletes, right here, at Cornell!

THIS IS BLASPHEMY!

Cornell sports … advancing on a national level?

The Duke and Cornell men's basketball teams will face off on Jan. 6 in Durham, N.C. (Photos courtesy of goduke.com and cornellbigred.com.)