Going into this season the boys from Ithaca do not have the kind of talent it takes to compete with those top two teams, not quite yet.  Small and slow is what you would categorize these hard-working kids.  But when you can shoot a little and when you work together good things can happen.  New Coach Steve Donahue is turning around this program and the best is yet to come.  He will slowly transition in new freshmen as the Big Red definitely takes seniority seriously.  The Big Red were still redshirting all freshmen up to just a few years ago, long after the powers that be allowed freshmen to be eligible again.  The upperclassmen will be counted on to take the Big Red to the next level.  They will need some help if Cornell is going to get out the nosebleed section in the mighty Ivy League. 

Coach Donahue had taken over a program of overachieving but not overly athletic hoopsters who played more for the love of the game than as possible profession.  These guys knew what their professions were going to be but they would gladly give it up for a few more years of the glory they felt on the hardwood like they felt in Ithaca.  

Before we get to the senior studs who helped build this program let’s look at some of the younger guys who also had a huge impact.  The Big Red were led by a solid pair of sophomores for most of the year.   Ken Bantum and John Bajusz are not the most talented players in the conference but they did make their presence felt.  Bajusz (rhymes with pay us) is cash money out to 24 feet.  He is a scorer by nature who does whatever it takes to get points as when he is not hitting from the perimeter gets to the hoop and draws harm and is almost automatic from the charity stripe.  A good shooter who just does not miss, Bajusz is one of the highest percentage shooters for a long range bomber in the country.  Bajusz has the kind of game that never goes in slumps.  When his jump shot is off he goes to the hoop and gets fouls.  He is hard to guard and will continue to get better as he matures.  Bajusz is one guy that Donahue did not think about replacing as he is one heck of a competitor and offensive player and almost as good on the defensive end (ask Pearl Washington about that).  This Chicago school kid chose Cornell over a football career as a quarterback and has never looked back starting from game one.  Bajuzs can flat shoot and you know Donahue loves that and will continue sending him out. 

Bantum is the prototype Ivy league overachiever.  Smooth as silk and willing to work, Bantum makes the most of his ability.  Bantum is undersized but is not too small for the Ivy.  At six seven he eats up space and is your prototypical post up on the block big man who had a wide arsenal of shots.  He is a bit of a black hole but is without question the number one low post option on this team.  Bantum is strong inside and uses that to his advantage.  He does not wander outside the key much but really does have a great touch around the basket.   He shot almost 60 percent from the floor and loves drawing contact inside and gets to the line often.  Bantum is not terribly gifted but does whatever it takes to get the job done on the post.  Bantum is just an okay rebounder but blocks more shots than he should.  Bantum relies on his strength a little too much and needs to become a bit more athletic but he is the best the Big Red have down low.  For the immediate future!  

Seniors George Farley and Big Ed Peterson man the post for the Big Red at least to start this season.  Peterson got most of the starts early on last year and has the size (six nine) to compete down low but his game was a little archaic at times and he is not very quick.    Farley was another big man who was undersized (six seven) but contributed quality minutes.  He is far more athletic than Peterson and got the majority of starts down the stretch as he showed he can really hang tough down low.  Farley is a great rebounder who will bang underneath and showed in a game versus Princeton he can score when he pumped in 26.   

Senior Hank South is an undersized power forward who can score and board.  He got plenty of minutes early on but by the end of the year was barely playing.  He can score though and might get another shot if Donahue does not bring in someone better and bigger.   Speaking of bigger, junior Stan Brown is by far the tallest guy on the roster at 6’11 but is a full blown project even in the Ivy and will be lucky to play again this year after spending two years as a backup on the JV.  Donahue knows he needs his size so he will give this big kid every chance to play unless he has a true seven footer coming into Ithaca.  Seniors William ‘the General’ Schwartzkopf, Jack Sheehy and Steve Cram will be in the mix for minutes down low but are all (except Cram) too small for the Ivy.  Bo Roberson is another senior who might be the favorite to start as he scored 20 points 3 times last year in limited games as this is his moonlight gig.  Roberson is the best athlete in Ithaca but track and football call and he knows his future is there so he will skip playing this year to get ready for the pros in the other sports.  Spike Gerwin and Walt Eisdale are also 4th year players in the paint but are way down the totem pole though Gerwin led the team in scoring as a freshmen.  Spike has that nickname for a reason and is it not basketball as he is a gifted pitcher but this student-athlete can play hoops too.  Tougher choice now then when he came here as he wanted to play both but now things are getting serious and this kid will have to decide.  Donahue has made it clearn he wants his kids to make basketball their number one priority.

Senior wing Gregg Morris is probably the best athlete on the team now that Roberson has left the team.  Morris relies on his athleticism to get points and can play defense on the wings.   It seems like an impossilbe mission for Morris to keep his job with Donahue in town as the new coach is going to emphasize three-point shooters on his team.  Morris has had an up and down career in Ithaca but like some of his teammates he moonlights in other areas.  When Ethan Hunt calls,  ‘Barney Collier’ will jump into service!  Fellow Seniors Lee Morton and Louis ‘King of the Jukebox’ Jordan will battle for minutes.  Both of these guys started before Bajusz got to town but will still continue to play big minutes.  Somewhere.  Morton has point guard skills and can score and Jordan attacks the basket wil zeal. 

The position that is the most up for grabs for the Big Red is the point guard position.  It is for all intense purposes the most important position on the court and is for sure the leader of the team.   The Big Red start the season with senior Chuck Rolles manning the point and he will be counted on to do an outstanding job as he has done for the last three seasons.  Rolles is equally adept as a scorer and a passer.  Rolles is also only 5 foot 6 and has a tough time matching up defensively though he is tough as nails.  We will never give an inch and he showed he will never give up.  He missed a few games late in the year after running into big Rudy LaRusso of Dartmouth.  In the season finale versus Brown, he came off the bench for the first time in his career and hit a huge runner that turned out to be the game winner for the Big Red.   Fellow seniors Roger Chadwick and Jerry Szachura played a bunch of minutes and showed they can play.  Chadwick is also smaller at 5’10 but is a gamer and can really pass and Szachura is a combo guard who does everything well and has some size at 6’1.  Bob DeLuca is also in the mix but is a two guard and goes 6’2 but can play both ends.  Fellow senior Jimmy Bennett was once the star here but has faded since his glory days and will be lucky to get any PT with the new coach bringing in his kids to play. 

The Big Red are turning around their program.  Always stuck at the bottom of the Ivy league, Coach Steve Donahue has supposedly brought in some underclassmen who can play. Those cold winters in Ithaca will get a little warmer if this is true as there is a decent nucleus already coming back.  The Big Red had some of their biggest upsets ever last year in the Ivy league.  Now the key is turning those upsets into the normal and you might have a program that might someday challenge Princeton and Penn for supremacy of this conference more known for Wall Street tycoons than basketball ones!