The 2009–10 Ivy League men's basketball season was the 56th season of

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. The Cornell University Big Red won their third consecutive Ivy League Championship and were the league's representative at the

2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2009– ...

. Seeded 12th in the East Region the Big Red won their first two games over number five seed

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

78-65 and number four seed

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

87-69 before falling to number one seed

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

62-45 in the Sweet Sixteen. They were the first Ivy League team to reach the Sweet Sixteen since the 1978–79 Penn Quakers and set an Ivy League record with 29 wins.

Preseason

The Ivy League held its pre-season media day on October 28, 2009 in

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. The league's media unanimously voted

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

the preseason #1 for the second straight season. Cornell returned all five starters, three all-conference performers, and the Ivy League rookie and defensive players of the year from the 2009 Ivy League championship team. Two Ivy League seniors were named preseason candidates for the

Lowe's Senior CLASS Award The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," ...

. Columbia's Patrick Foley and Brown's Matthew Mullery were named to the 30-man preseason list.

Ivy League Media Poll

Regular season

Non-conference

Preseason #1 Cornell lived up to its billing by scoring the first Ivy League win over one of the six major conferences as the Big Red beat the SEC's

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

71–67 in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

, behind Ryan Wittman's 23 points. It was Cornell's first win over a current SEC member school since the Big Red defeated

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

(then a part of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

) during the 1972–73 season.

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

also got off to a fast start. After winning their opener against Holy Cross, the Crimson won a triple-overtime contest over the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...

, 87–85 on a half-court shot by senior guard

Jeremy Lin Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player for the New Taipei Kings of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL). He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knick ...

. Lin also made headlines in early December as he scored 30 points in a close loss (79–73) at #14

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, then came back to score 25 in the Crimson's very next game – a 74–67 upset of

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

. Lin started the New Year by being named to the Mid-season Wooden Award 30-man watch list and the

Bob Cousy Award The Bob Cousy Award, sponsored by the College of the Holy Cross, is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate point guard. It is named after six-time National Basketball Assoc ...

. The Ivy made news for some not-so positive reasons as the conference saw two coaches fired during the pre-conference slate. Penn fired coach Glen Miller after an 0–7 start, while Dartmouth's Terry Dunn resigned after a 3–10 start. But the biggest press of the non-conference season for the Ivy League came on January 6, as league favorite Cornell led #1 and undefeated

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

with under a minute remaining at

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...

. Ultimately, the Big Red lost to KU 71–66, but the Ivy stalwarts proved that they could compete with the top teams

Conference season

Cornell and Harvard were expected to compete for the league title, but the Big Red swept the Crimson. However, Penn stopped Cornell's bid for a perfect Ivy League season by beating the then 22nd ranked Big Red 79–64 at the

Palestra The Palestra, often called the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the Penn Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 235 So ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The win snapped an eight-game win streak by Cornell.

Conference awards & honors

All-Conference teams

At the conclusion of the season, the Ivy League all-conference teams were selected. Cornell placed a trio of seniors – Ryan Wittman, Jeff Foote and Louis Dale – on the All-Ivy first team. The Big Red threesome were joined on the first team by Harvard's Jeremy Lin and Penn's Zack Rosen. Wittman and Foote were the Ivy League player and defensive players of the year, respectively.All-Ivy Men's Basketball – 2009–10
/ref> *Player of the Year: Ryan Wittman, Cornell (unanimous) *Rookie of the Year: Kyle Casey, Harvard *Defensive Player of the Year:

Jeff Foote Jeffrey Bernard Foote (born July 14, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. College career Foote began his college basketball career at St. Bonaventure University. He redshirted his freshman season before he transferred to C ...

, Cornell All-Ivy League first team * Louis Dale, Cornell *

, Cornell (unanimous) *Ryan Wittman, Cornell (unanimous) *

, Harvard (unanimous) *

Zack Rosen Zack Rosen (born March 14, 1989) is an American former basketball player. Rosen, a point guard, played collegiately at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an All-American and Ivy League player of the year. College career Rosen is Jewi ...

, Penn (unanimous) All-Ivy League second team *Matt Mullery, Brown *Noruwa Agho, Columbia *Jack Eggleston, Penn *Douglas Davis, Princeton * Dan Mavraides, Princeton *Alex Zampier, Yale All-Ivy League honorable mention *

Chris Wroblewski Christopher William Wroblewski (born 1989/1990) is an American former college basketball player. He played college basketball for Cornell of the Ivy League, where he is the school's all-time career assists (482) leader and the school's only two ...

, Cornell * Kyle Casey, Harvard *Michael Sands, Yale

Weekly awards

Ivy League Players of the Week
Throughout the conference season, the Ivy League offices name a player and rookie of the week.

External links

Ivy League Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Ivy League Men's Basketball Season