Cornell did it again

I said yesterday that St. Mary's was the leader in the clubhouse to be this year's NCAA Tournament darling.

Northern Iowa played their way into the nation's heart on the back of a kid whose name no one can pronounce. Washington played their way into the Sweet 16 looking like the Washington we expected to see three months ago.

But if this year's NCAA Tournament is Augusta National, than Cornell just pulled a Tiger on the 18th.

The Big Red were very impressive offensively against Temple on Friday. Today's performance, however, was Jay-Z to Friday's Soulja Boy.

Look at these numbers Cornell put up, and keep in mind that this came against Wisconsin.

• Cornell's offensive efficiency was 146.5, their highest of the season. Wisconsin hadn't allowed an efficiency higher than 127.5 this season. Cornell plays in the Ivy League, and Wisconsin plays in the Big Ten.
• Cornell's effective FG% was 68.5%. Prior to today, the highest that Wisconsin had allowed this year was 60.0%. Again, this came against one of the ten best defensive teams in the country.
  
• Cornell's 87 points were the second most that the Badgers have given up this year. The most was the 88 points they allowed Wisconsin-Green Bay in an overtime loss.
  

Spin it however you want. Cornell has been nothing short of legendary offensively.

Up next for Cornell is another top ten team defensively in the Kentucky Wildcats. There are so many intriguing storylines heading into this game (which I will get into during the week) -- the contrasting styles of play; the difference in athleticism between the two teams; a team from a conference that hadn't won a tournament game in 12 years playing a team with seven national titles; lottery picks versus investment bankers.

Perhaps the most interesting is that Cornell, the 12 seed, will be playing essentially a home game against Kentucky, the 1 seed.

The East regional semis and finals are played at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY. Cornell calls Ithaca home, which is all of an hour from the Dome. Lexington, KY, is some 700 miles from upstate New York.

Kentucky fans travel as well as any fans in any sport, especially at this time of year. It will be interesting to see how many Big Red supporters will be in the Dome.