The 2009–10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team represented Cornell University in the 2009–10 college basketball season. This was coach Steve Donahue's tenth season at Cornell. The Big Red competed in the Ivy League and played their home games at Newman Arena. They went 13–1 in Ivy League play to win the championship for the third year in a row and received the league's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. They earned a 12 seed in the East Region. They upset 5 seed and AP #12 Temple in the first round for the first tournament win in school history. They continued their success by upsetting 4 seed and AP #16 Wisconsin to advance to their first Sweet Sixteen where they lost to 1 seed and AP #2 Kentucky to finish their season at 29–5.
The Cornell Big Red were the first Ivy League team to reach the Sweet Sixteen since the 1978–79 Penn Quakers and set an Ivy League record with 29 wins. The team is the only Cornell basketball team to finish the season ranked in the polls and the only team to defeat two ranked opponents in a season. During the season they were able to give number-one ranked Kansas a real challenge at Allen Fieldhouse where Kansas was unable to secure the lead for good until just 41 seconds remained.
Roster Source #NameHeightWeight (lbs.)PositionClassHometownPrevious Team(s)1Jeff Foote7'0"265CSr.Lockwood, NY, U.S.Spencer-Van Etten HSSt. Bonaventure3Chris Wroblewski6'0"180GSo.Highland Park, IL, U.S.Highland Park, IL4Aaron Osgood6'9"230FJr.Overlake, WA, U.S.The Hill School5Errick Peck6'6"215FFr.Indianapolis, IN, U.S.Cathedral HS11Max Groebe6'4"200GJr.North Miami Beach, FL, U.S.Dr. Michael M. Krop HSUMass12Louis Dale5'11"180GSr.Birmingham, AL, U.S.Altamont School13Andre Wilkins6'5"198GJr.Toronto, ON, CanadaEmery HSBlinn15Geoff Reeves6'4"180GSr.Burlington, KS, U.S.Burlington HS20Ryan Wittman6'7"215FSr.Eden Prairie, MN, U.S.Eden Prairie HS21Peter McMillan6'7"220FFr.Brentwood, CA, U.S.Northfield Mt. Hermon HS22Miles Asafo-Adjei6'2"170GFr.Antioch, TN, U.S.The Ensworth School23Johnathan Gray6'3"175GFr.Tampa, FL, U.S.Berkeley Prep24Adam Wire6'5"222CJr.Southern Pines, NC, U.S.Pinecrest HS25Jon Jaques6'7"220FSr.Los Angeles, CA, U.S.Harvard-Westlake School33Alex Tyler6'7"235F/CSr.Clear Spring, MD, U.S.Mercersburg Academy34Josh Figini6'9"200FFr.Chisago Lakes, MN, U.S.Chisago Lakes HS40Pete Reynolds6'8"220FSr.Blair, NE, U.S.Blair HS42Mark Coury6'9"240F/CSr.West Bloomfield, MI, U.S.Detroit Country Day SchoolKentucky55Eitan Chemerinski6'8"195FFr.Potomac, MD, U.S.Charles E. Smith Jewish Day SchoolAnthony Gatlin6'8"180FFr.Pearland, TX, U.S.Pearland HSCentenary
Schedule and results Source All times are Eastern
!colspan=9| Regular Season
!colspan=10| 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Rankings
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.
Awards and honors Ryan Wittman – Ivy League Player of the Year, Honorable Mention AP All-American
References