Sweet on March Madness

 I grew up on basketball.  My mom went into labor at a University of Minnesota basketball game.  I not only attended every Canisius College home game as a kid, I wore blue and gold, I knew what a “Griffin” was and I got autographs from the (very embarrassed) team. 

March was always bittersweet.  I watched hopefully as Canisius lost in the conference championship or in the play-offs.  I watched as other teams in the conference, powerhouses such as Northeastern and Siena, went on to the “big show.”  When I was a teenager, I found myself “adopting” other teams - Syracuse, who I saw play Canisius once a year (they were so shiny in their orange brilliance!) and Duke, whose star player was from Buffalo.

By the time I went to Cornell, I had given up on the idea of my team participating in March Madness.  Well, the angels are singing!  Sure, I might need to adopt Tennessee (because my Grandma used to live there) in a few days … but for now, I’m all about Cornell!

How did Cornell do it?  Ivy leagues can’t hire talent (no scholarships) and it certainly didn’t have a legacy program.  Well, it appears that they’ve taken Mark’s messages to heart and focused on differentiating themselves on something they could impact - shooting, and particularly shooting 3-pointers.  How will this strategy fare against a couple of 7 footers and a legacy program?  We’ll be watching …