The Cornell Big Red was coming off a 13-14 straight up and 10-8 against the spread record for their 2004-05 season in which they scored four payoffs in their final five games to finish in the black.
Tough read early
Cornell’s non-conference schedule would be front loaded with a multitude of unlined games, which meant that they would be a tough read early on. For many college basketball handicappers, the Ivy League has proven to be poison ivy over the years as a schedule such as Cornell’s did not make the task any easier as far as finding profits on the board.
In their first game of the season against St. Francis-PA as 6.5-point neutral court chalks, the Big Red scored a 75-54 blowout win and payoff for a promising start. In their next game at Syracuse, the Big Red got the cash easily in a 62-67 loss/cover as 21-point dogs. That was followed by a 54-66 loss at Penn State as 5-point dogs for a 2-1 mark against the college basketball betting lines to start the year.
Out of sight out of mind Cornell Big Red
Cornell would now begin a string of seven consecutive unlined games, which would extend to nine of their next eleven games overall.
The string began with a 69-56 home win over Colgate. That was followed by a 71-73 loss at Hartford. Next was a most discouraging 43-57 win at Lafayette and then another poor loss at home to Quinnipiac 45-55.
Cornell finally got in the win column with a 57-53 triumph over Lehigh before losing at Bucknell 39-83. The unlined stretch ended with a 74-39 blowout home win over Army.
After being out of sight and out of mind with gamblers during that stretch, the Big Red returned to the board with a 65-79 loss at Long Beach State as 5-point dogs. That was followed by a 71-87 loss at Washington as whopping 27-point bargain dogs.
Back off their board for the final two times in 2005-06, the Big Red first dispatched of Keuka College 78-52 and then lost at Albany 59-68.
Poison Ivy
Ivy League play began in earnest in most ugly fashion as Cornell was blown apart at conference chalk Pennsylvania 44-84 as a 15-point dog. The Big Red did rebound, however, was a 57-49 win at Princeton as 5-point dogs. That was followed by a 57-58 home win over Columbia as 6-point overlays. The Big Red got a taste of poison ivy at 1-2 against the board to start conference play.
Back in black Cornell Big Red
Cornell recovered from their slow start against the board, however, with a strong 81-59 win at Columbia as 3.5-point dogs. That was followed by a 63-47 home win over Dartmouth as 8.5-point chalks. Next was a 79-77 home win over Harvard as 2-point dogs and then a 63-59 win at Brown as 1-point chalks as the Big Red was operating back in black with four consecutive payoffs.
Value depletion
Cornell’s nice streak against the board didn’t go unnoticed as they suffered a brief value depletion as a result starting with a 65-74 win at Yale as 3.5-point dogs. That was followed by a 68-76 overtime home win over Princeton as 4.5-point chalks. The Big Red then suffered a third straight defeat both straight up and against the spread against conference leader Pennsylvania 56-67 as a 9.5-point dog for a third consecutive game in which they came up with no cash.
Nice finish
Penn returned home to face Yale, with some of their value restored as they scored a 68-64 home win as 3-point chalks. That was followed by a 64-69 home loss to Brown as 6.5-point chalks.
The Big Red recovered to win their final two games both SU&ATS at Harvard and at Dartmouth for a nice finish.