They say good things come in threes. Well, the men’s basketball team will look to confirm the legitimacy of this claim, as the Red embarks on a 2009-10 campaign to capture its third consecutive Ivy League championship. If successful, the team will be only the fourth in Ancient Eight history to do so; as it stands now, Cornell is just the third school since Penn and Princeton to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years.

Cornell’s 2008-09 squad posted a 21-10 overall record and went 11-3 in conference play en route to setting team records for points (2,281), 3-pointers (241) and blocked shots (121). Although the Red’s Tournament exposure has proved short-lived these past couple years, there remains little doubt as to the team’s ability to contend on the national stage. In fact, just last Thursday it was announced that Cornell received three votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25 poll. While three may not seem like a significant number, to put this recognition in perspective, only 55 Division 1 teams received top 25 votes, with Cornell being the sole Ivy League representative among them.

Over the course of the Red’s climb to the top of the Ivy rankings, three starters have emerged as the team’s figurative backbone, while simultaneously establishing themselves as legitimate candidates for Ivy League Player of the Year. This senior trio includes reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Jeff Foote, and two-time first-team all-league selections Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman.

Foote leads the Ancient Eight in rebounding and shot-blocking and ranks among the team leaders in scoring and assists. Last season, he had three double-doubles and notched a career-high 25 points in Cornell’s win over La Salle.

Although a hamstring injury forced Dale to sit out the first eight games of the 2008-09 season, he still managed to rank among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals while posting 19 double-figure scoring efforts in 23 games.

As for Wittman, for the second year in a row he was a unanimous selection to the All-Ivy first-team and a first-team all-district pick by the National Association of Basketball Coaches –– the first Cornell player to earn a pair of all-district distinctions in a career.

Despite all the prevailing talk of three-peats, individual accolades and national attention, the Red is not getting ahead of itself, electing instead to focus on the intangibles –– such as improving in practice.

“I try to put it down in a way that we’re going to achieve things daily, and then the score takes care of itself,” said head coach Steve Donahue, who enters his 10th season at the helm of the Red. “We’re going to be the hardest working team in the league. We’re going to be a team that improves every day in practice. We’re going to be the most unselfish team.”

“It’s kind of qualitative rather than quantitative,” he added.

That’s not to say that the Ivy League crown and ensuing March Madness are completely out of sight and out of mind for the Red. Both Donahue and Dale spoke to the importance of “mak[ing] sure we take care of the Ivy League championship,” and then hopefully advancing beyond the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Foote, on the other hand, took it a step further: “We want to pick up a couple of signature wins, especially early in the season. We want to go undefeated in the Ivy League again and make a splash in the tournament. We believe we’re a Sweet 16 team.”

While Cornell returns all five starters, as well as eight of the Red’s top nine scorers, the departure of seniors Adam Gore, Jason Battle, Conor Mullen and Brian Kreefer will inevitably have an impact on the changing culture of the team.

“I think that’s something that goes understated in the public’s eyes. ... We were very bad before they came, and when they walked out they changed it completely. All four of them, and Khaliq [Gant] being the fifth, had a great impact on us daily,” Donahue said. “I hope that there is a carryover because it’s critical to our success.”

Looking to fill the void left by the graduated veterans will be senior forward Mark Coury and junior guard Max Groebe, as well as five freshmen who “will definitely make some noise,” according to Foote. Coury joins the Red after playing two seasons at the University of Kentucky, while Groebe, a transfer from UMass, had to sit out last season due to NCAA eligibility regulations.

“I think [the new additions] will help us a lot,” Dale said. “Max is a great shooter who will provide lots of scoring for us, and Mark Coury is a great defender; he really works hard –– he’ll make our team work hard as well on defense, and on the offensive end.”

“I think we’ve got more depth this year ... a lot more experience,” added Wittman, who –– speaking of threes –– enters his final season second in Ivy League history in field goals from beyond the arc.

Many members of the Red attribute the team’s recent success to the camaraderie that exists between players, explaining that such chemistry contributes to their knowledge of each other on the basketball court.

“All of the guys pretty much live together, and we all get along really well. We’re like a big family,” Foote said.

“We have a lot of talented individuals on the team, but [our success comes from] knowing what everyone does well, just playing together, moving the basketball on offense and playing good team defense, getting loose balls and trying to out-hustle other teams,” Wittman said. “I think that’s what a lot of people overlook –– we make a lot of hustle plays.”

As far as improvements go, Donahue identified Cornell’s field goal percentage defense as an area where his team could stand to be more consistent, explaining that most of the Red’s losses last season came when it relied too much on offense.

“One of the things we’re focusing on is always bringing energy, both offensively and defensively. Defensively, trying to disrupt the other team, make things difficult for them. And on the offensive end, really trying to control rebounding,” Wittman said. “We’re a pretty big team, a good rebounding team, but we want to become a great rebounding team.”

This season the Red faces perhaps its most challenging non-conference schedule in history –– and that’s not by accident. Donahue designed the calendar himself with a mind to challenge his team and prepare the players for the powerhouse opponent they are bound to encounter in the first round of the NCAA tournament, provided Cornell gets to that point. The Red opens its season at Alabama on Nov. 14 –– a homecoming game for Dale, whose friends and family will be able to watch him play. Then, on Jan. 6, Cornell takes on No. 1 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, where Foote will have to go up against junior center Cole Aldrich, who was highly recruited and is likely to be drafted.

“That will be a fun game for us,” Dale said.

Other iconic venues on the schedule include Madison Square Garden and the Carrier Dome, where Cornell had Syracuse on the ropes early in the 2008-09 season.

Assuming the role of tri-captains this year are Foote and senior forwards Alex Tyler and Jon Jaques –– all of whom were selected by Donahue and his coaching staff after meeting with every senior about the team’s makeup.

This year, if the captains –– or any team members for that matter –– find themselves in need of guidance, they can always look to someone who’s been there before. Kevin App ’07, a former captain himself, returns to the Hill as assistant coach Zach Spiker’s replacement.

“Coach [Donahue] talks to [the team] a lot about winning two championships in a row, not getting complacent, not forgetting what made you good. Remembering that every day you have to come in and work hard,” App said. “The guys, they know that, but they have to be reminded of that from time to time. It’s not a given that you’re going to be good; you have to work for it, you have to work every day at it.”