I’m doing the walk of shame away from Cornell’s apartment

Man oh man, did Cornell look confident this week.  They posted two impressive wins to get to the Sweet Sixteen and strutted around like they knew all along it would play out this way.

The Cinderella label?  They refused it, insisting that they shouldn’t be judged by their Ivy League roots.  Heck, the Onion even did a parody of them this week, that’s how far into the nation’s sporting consciousness this group of guys had managed to insert themselves.

Everyone started loving this nerdy bunch…including me.  I saw their shots fall with ease against Temple and Wisconsin and figured what the heck, they should keep on falling against Kentucky as well.

And for a couple of minutes after the opening tip I thought the Big Red were poised to do it again.  They were up 10-2 and the Carrier Dome was rocking. Cornell faithful from all over the region had descended on Syracuse and a good time was being had by all in the House of Boeheim.

It’s at that point that Kentucky started playing a perimeter defense so stifling that Cornell couldn’t even rotate the ball around, much less get good looks.  I haven’t seen a disappearing act like the one Cornell pulled in the first half since this outfit.

UK’s Darius Miller played the role of white while Cornell’s Ryan Wittman played the rice.  In other words, Wittman was blanketed.  And his teammates weren’t faring much better.

By halftime it was 32-16 and I honestly thought the Wildcats had a shot at winning by 30.  All the fan adulation and media hype melted away for Cornell, and they looked as Ivy League as an Ivy League team can get.

They showed a little pride in cutting it to 40-34 following a Louis Dale 3-pointer.  But by that point I knew that no comeback was at hand.  To borrow a Barry Switzer term, they just got out-athleted.

When the dust settled Kentucky had won by a 62-45 count and held Cornell to a 5-for-21 shooting night from behind the arc.  That 17-point margin of defeat could have been much worse had the Wildcats not started so slowly.

Fool me once, Cornell, shame on me.  But with eight seniors on its roster, I doubt Cornell will get a chance to fool me twice…well, at least not in 2011.