The recruits:
PG Louis Dale III – 5-11, 170 lbs – The Altamont School (Birmingham, AL)
Dale was the final piece of Steve Donahue’s recruiting class, making his commitment public late in the spring, and he may turn out to be the steal of the class. He may not have great size at 5-11, but those who have seen Dale play rave about his athleticism. This past spring he won the state title in the triple jump and finished runner-up in the high jump. Therefor it’s not surprising that despite being small in stature and playing the point, Dale led his team in rebounding on a number of occasions. He chose Cornell over interest from UAB — where his father is a professor and associate provost — and a number of other Southern schools.

PF Jon Jaques – 6-7, 210 lbs – Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles, CA)
Jaques brings an interesting package to Ithaca in that he has big man size, but a wing’s game, doing most of his damage from the outside as a high school senior. He comes to Cornell from one of the better prep programs in the nation in Harvard-Westlake, where he was a teammate of highly touted North Carolina recruit Alex Stepheson. There are concerns about Jaques’s reliance on his perimeter game and a lack of quickness and foot speed, but he has an excellent shooting touch for a frontcourt player.

G/F Geoff Reeves – 6-5, 185 lbs – Burlington HS (Burlington, KS)
Along with high school teammate and Kansas recruiting target Tyrel Reed, Reeves led Kansas small-school basketball powerhouse Burlington on an amazing three-year run that saw them lose just once prior to being upset in overtime in the Class 3A state quarterfinals this past March. When the 6-5 wing committed to Cornell back in December, Scout.com Kansas Jayhawks writer Eric Bossi called Reeves a “major steal” for the Big Red. Bossi felt Reeves should have garnered interest from Missouri Valley programs, but in the end he chose Cornell over Dartmouth and Yale. He is a versatile player with athleticism, a nice shot, and scoring abilities, making him the most highly regarded member of Steve Donahue’s 2006 recruiting class.

PF Pete Reynolds – 6-8, 210 lbs – Blair HS (Blair, NE)
Dale isn’t the only track and field athlete in the class, as Reynolds also excelled at the high jump in high school, winning the state title this past spring. As a senior, he led Blair to the district basketball title and was named to the Nebraska Coaches Association all-star team. Reynolds is a pure big man, with the vast majority of his shots coming from in close to the basket, as evidenced by an average shooting percentage of over 60 percent his final three seasons of high school. He averaged 14.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as a senior at Blair.

PF Alex Tyler – 6-7, 240 lbs – Mercersburg Academy (Clear Spring, MD)
Tyler will look to follow in the footsteps of two other quality big men from Mercersburg who starred in the Ivy League: Ugonna Onyekwe and Adam Chubb. His bulk makes him difficult to handle down low, and were it not for concerns about the health of his knee, he likely would have garnered more recruiting interest. Knee trouble can be a major issue for big men — especially when we’re talking about 240 pounds. If he’s able to get past the injuries, Tyler could become a contributor in the Cornell frontcourt down the road. On an interesting note, a number assistant coaches around the league have commented that Tyler could end up being a huge get for Cornell.

SF Ryan Wittman – 6-6, 190 lbs – Eden Prairie HS (Eden Prairie, MN)
The son of former Indiana star and NBA wing Randy Wittman made quite a name for himself in Minnesota high school basketball circles, finishing as a finalist for the state’s Mr. Basketball award this past spring. The younger Wittman is a pure shooter, hitting on over 50 percent of his three-point attempts as a senior. He averaged 20.3 points per contest and was named first team all-metro and second team all-state by the St. Paul Pioneer Gazette. Wittman may not have Reeves’s athleticism or all-around game, but has to be considered one of the top shooters in the Ivy League’s freshman class this season.

The fit:
The Big Red sustained two key graduation losses in wing Lenny Collins and forward Ryan Rourke and took a third hit with the graduation of versatile reserve David Lisle. Collins and Rourke ranked in the top three on the team in points, rebounds, and assists last year. The Big Red finished near the bottom of the league in both rebounding and assist percentage in Ivy League contests, so their replacements will need to help improve both areas if Cornell wants to take the next step of challenging for the Ivy title.

Senior Jason Hartford is the obvious choice to take Rourke’s place, but Hartford is expected to miss possibly the first month of the season with an injury. Brian Kreefer and Ugo Ihekweazu almost certainly will get the first crack at starting for Hartford while he’s out and then backing him up when he returns, but if Donahue feels he needs another shooter (Jaques), an inside scoring threat (Reynolds), or a big body inside (Tyler), the freshmen big men could see some action early on with a chance to carve out a role for themselves this season.

There are no strong contenders returning for Collins’s small forward spot. Ihekweazu might be able to play some occasional minutes at small forward, but he has an inside game and is more of an undersized post player. Jason Battle could be part of a three-guard lineup, but he might be more suitable for providing guard depth. This leaves Reeves and Wittman to battle for the majority of the minutes at small forward. Reeves is considered the better all-around player — particularly on defense — and may end up with the starting nod this year, with Wittman coming off the bench as a shooter at both wing positions.

With no backup point guard on the returning roster, Dale also steps into a vacuum behind Graham Dow on the depth chart. Given the injury that has dogged Dow and the uncertainty of his condition entering the season, the freshman may find himself playing an even larger role this season.

Back in November and December, it was looking like an off year for Cornell’s recruiting, but Donahue ended up putting together a very decent class, with recruits at all five positions. The perimeter recruits are centerpieces of the group, with all three projecting to start during their time in Ithaca. Tyler is the most promising of the frontcourt recruits and if he’s able to come back fully from his injury, he could be a potential fourth starter eventually.