Day 5: Cornell Big Red vs Virginia Military Institute Keydets

Kaplan Arena (capacity 8,600)
Williamsburg, Virginia

The Result: Cornell 99, VMI 94
This was the early game in William and Mary’s “Tip-Off Classic.” (The late game pitted the host Tribe against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.)

Perhaps out of embarrassment, the attendance for this game may never be known. Like missing passages on the Watergate tapes, the box score omits this particular stat. Looking around Kaplan Arena at the tip, I estimated there were roughly 125 spectators--about what you would guess for a 6pm tip on a neutral court.

Even with the lack of an audience, it was an entertaining game, largely because of VMI’s style of play. The Keydets entered tonight’s game averaging over 100 points per contest. Their recipe has two ingredients: full-court pressure and a heap of three-pointers. Their games against Virginia Intermont and Southern Virginia must have been an incredible thing to behold--they won the first 156-95 and the second 144-127.

Early on, VMI was on pace to end in the 120’s, but Cornell was able to "slow" the pace of the game all the way down to the high 90’s. The Keydets attempted 54 three-pointers, but connected on one too few.

Venue Rating
Because this was a game played on a neutral court, I’ll only evaluate the facility itself, foregoing the “Attendance” and “Basketball Environment” aspects.

Facility: C. Built in 1971, Kaplan Arena is a large facility with seats featuring the team’s yellow and green colors. I gave it average marks because of its lack of bleachers and utilitarian, early 1970’s feel…something akin to the old Veteran Stadium in Philly. Also, the low angle at which the seating rises from the floor rapidly pushes spectators away from the action.

William & Mary’s logo adorns the floor, featuring a large “W” and “M” and two feathers. Ahhh, those controversial feathers: The NCAA has deemed them “hostile and offensive” to native Americans, and ordered William & Mary to remove them from Kaplan’s floor and anywhere else they appear.

Good intentions aside, the NCAA’s campaign against native American mascots and imagery has featured astonishing inconsistencies. Chief among them—oops! I meant to say—the best illustration of this is the NCAA’s disparate treatment of William & Mary and Florida State. The NCAA found William & Mary’s two feathers “hostile and offensive,” while Florida State is free to have someone dress up in native American costume, gallop into a stadium on a horse and throw a flaming spear. (Read William & Mary’s reply to the NCAA.)

Fan Face-Off: Cornell Big Red
No chants tonight from either team, and there was little to distinguish the small groups of fans supporting the teams. Cornell edges VMI on the strength of a sharp-looking banner hung by some boosters on the mezzanine level.

Best Mascot: Big Red
While I don’t find “Big Red” especially interesting, VMI’s mascot situation is a little perplexing. “Keydet,” according to VMI, is “derived from a southern drawl pronunciation of…cadet.” Shouldn't an institution of higher learning be bent on eradicating southern drawls rather than embracing them? Stranger, however, is VMI’s use of a kangaroo mascot to go with its mispronounced military moniker.

Graduation Success Rate: VMI by forfeit
Like the rest of the Ivy League, Cornell keeps its graduation success rates to itself. VMI may well have beaten Cornell outright even if the Big Red showed up. The Keydets have a sparkling 92% NCAA graduation success rate, the highest of any 10-10-10 team so far.

Life on the Road
Today I left suburban Philly, picked up fellow Bucknell grad Forrest Chilton at the Alexandria elementary school where he teaches, and continued to all the way to Williamsburg.

The highlight of today was an opportunity to chat with former Bucknell coach Charlie Woollum. Woollum coached Bucknell during our time on campus, leading the Bison to their first two NCAA tournament appearances, in 1987 and 1989. He left to coach William & Mary, his alma mater, and now does color commentary for William & Mary and other games, too. He made my week when he said he had enjoyed a piece I wrote for Bucknell’s alumni magazine about my experience attending Bison NCAA tournament games (last page on this PDF.)

On the way back to Alexandria, we stopped for a post-game meal at Waffle House. I first discovered these wonderful, breakfast-at-any-time diners while I was completing officer training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. There are no Waffle Houses in San Antonio, nor in Chilton's northern Virginia. I ordered my usual: three eggs over light with grits, toast and orange juice. (The last time we ate at a Waffle House was during last season’s trip to Durham, North Carolina to see Bucknell take on Duke.)

My brother, Sean, has been a hidden hero during my adventure, sprucing up the blog format and features, adding the audio clip of my Iona halftime interview, and being an all-around good guy. Today I called him from the road to confirm I was on course.

Total Miles To Date: 1,700

Next Game: The Bucknell Bison host Northern Iowa, looking to avenge a painful double-OT loss at UNI in February.