Cornell and Siena losing completes Friday's craziness

The Pitt-West Virginia game wasn't the only bit of craziness from Friday night.

You see, Cornell lost their first game of the year in the Ivy League.

By 15 points.

To Penn.

That's right, Penn. The team that came into the game with three wins on the season. The team that fired their coach midway through December. The team that didn't pick up a win in the 2009-2010 season until it was actually 2010.

Penn got 24 points from Sam Eggleston and 22 from Zach Rosen as they used a 15-0 run to open up the second half. Cornell, who looked frustrated throughout most of the game, never was able to recover from that deficit.

This is a huge loss for Cornell. They are now in second place in the Ivy and half to face league leader Princeton on the road today. In fact, five of their last seven games in conference play are on the road, which includes a trip up to Harvard. Big Red fans shouldn't be so sure about their teams chances of making the tournament. As we all know, the Ivy doesn't have a tournament; their auto-bid goes to the regular season champ.

But that isn't all.

Siena had their 15 game winning streak, the longest in the nation, and their perfect 14-0 record in the MAAC snapped on the road at Niagara last night as well. The Purple Eagles forced 16 turnovers, and used a 21-3 run midway through the second half to pull away.

Siena has already clinched their league title, but this loss is significant because now the Saints have no margin for error when it comes to earning a trip to the dance. They whiffed against all their major out of conference opponents, meaning that the only way they had a chance at an at-large bid was if they went unbeaten through the league.

That didn't happen thanks to Niagara.

Which means Siena is probably going to have to win the MAAC tournament if they want to make the big dance.