Don’t be fooled since Cornell is winless and Syracuse undefeated. Don’t be fooled since Cornell is a mediocre Ivy League team and Syracuse a Big East power. Don’t be fooled since Syracuse has beaten Cornell the last 25 times.

When the Big Red travel to the Carrier Dome to face the Orangemen at 7 tonight, both teams will benefit.

Sure, Cornell will probably get creamed and the game will boast as little intrigue as it does competitiveness, but financially, the two schools are a perfect fit.

‘It becomes a real money issue,’ Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. ‘Financially, games like this pay off for both schools.’

Syracuse gets another home game and all the revenue 17,000 fans bring. Cornell gets a guaranteed $30,000 for making the trip.

Syracuse gets an automatic win. Cornell gets exposure.

Still, Cornell hasn’t made a trip to Syracuse since 1993. But, when Cornell coach Steve Donahue was hired before last season, he vowed to schedule high-profile opponents. He called Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Notre Dame. All three schools agreed to play Donahue’s team.

‘It is real important to schedule those big programs,’ Donahue said. ‘Playing teams like that, we are going to get better and eventually challenge to win the league here. That is what I am going to try to do. We’ll keep scheduling teams like that.’

And, as long as they do, Cornell will keep drawing better recruits. Donahue uses the impressive schedule as a selling point for high school players. When he goes recruiting, he points out that his players will compete against nationally recognized teams.

So far, the strategy has worked. Donahue’s first recruiting class – this year’s freshmen – is one of the best in Big Red history, Cornell Associate Athletic Director Bob Chaddock said. Of Cornell’s 10 most utilized players, seven are freshman.

Cody Tobbert, a guard from New Mexico, is the team’s second leading scorer. Canadian prospect Chris Vandenberg, who Donahue said could be the Ivy League’s best player in a few years, is the most highly touted recruit to attend Cornell in years.

‘Playing big teams is a great experience for the younger guys,’ Cornell assistant coach Mike Burden said. ‘Donahue tells the kids who we are going to play, and they are just like ‘Wow.’ That is a big reason why they are coming here now.’

But Donahue’s prized freshman class took a devastating blow at practice late Wednesday night. Vandenberg, who Burden thought would match up well with Syracuse freshman center Craig Forth, hurt his knee badly. Vandenberg will not play against Syracuse and could be out for significantly longer, Donahue said.

‘Unfortunately, he just hurt his knee today, and he won’t be playing,’ Donahue said. ‘He is going to be one of the better players in our league. It would have been fun to see him go against Forth.’

But Donahue and his young players will make the most of their trip to Syracuse.

‘They get a chance to play the very best teams in the best arenas in the nation,’ Chaddock said. ‘How can that not be fun?’

And Cornell players will enjoy top competition for as long as Donahue is around. The former Pennsylvania assistant has already scheduled trips to Colorado, Syracuse and Villanova next year. Even more impressive, Donahue convinced Georgia Tech to play at Cornell next season, a rare accomplishment for a small school.

Donahue doesn’t think that such a deal with Syracuse is likely, but he knows it would do wonders for the Cornell community.

‘Jim (Boeheim) and I kind of joked about that happening eventually,’ Donahue said. ‘I am real appreciative that he is giving us the opportunity to come up there. If they could come down here sometime, that would obviously be great. Not just great for our team, but for basketball down here in general.’

But the games, while crucial to Cornell’s future, still aren’t glamorous. Notre Dame pasted Cornell in the Big Red’s first big-name game of the year. And, though the same result will probably come from Cornell’s trip to Syracuse, both teams prepare for a competitive game.

‘You get jacked to play in big arenas and play good games,’ Hopkins said. ‘Guys come in here and try to win. I don’t think they think ‘Oh, we are going to go in there and lose.’ They think ‘If we play really well we could win.’ That is the great thing about college basketball.’

‘There is a fiscal component to these games that cannot be overlooked,’ Chaddock said. ‘But these games also help our student-athletes mature in preparation for Ivy League play. It gives them exposure. The more of these games we play, the better we will do. And, we will be playing more of them.’

Published on November 28, 2001 at 12:00 pm