FACTS & STATS: Site: Carrier Dome (33,000) -- Syracuse, New York. Television: ESPNU. Home Record: Cornell 0-0, Saint Francis 0-0. Away Record: Cornell 0-0, Saint Francis 0-0. Neutral Record: Cornell 0-0, Saint Francis 0-0. Conference Record: Cornell 0-0, Saint Francis 0-0. Series Record: Saint Francis-PA leads, 3-2.

GAME NOTES: The very first game of the 2005-06 basketball calendar involves a couple of unlikely opponents, as the Cornell Big Red match wits with the Red Flash of Saint Francis-PA in the opening game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Neither program has ever been involved in this event, a tournament that began in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1995 with just four schools and is now 16-teams deep in four separate regions before arriving at Madison Square Garden next week. Last year Cornell finished a game under .500 at 13-14 but was 8-6 versus the rest of the Ivy League. As for Saint Francis, a member of the Northeast Conference, it was tied for fourth place in the conference standings with both Long Island and Wagner with a record of 10-8 and was 15-13 overall, making the Red Flash just one of three programs in the league to finish above .500 overall. As far as the all-time series between these two is concerned, the Red Flash hold a 3-2 edge over Cornell heading into the season opener. The most recent meeting took place last season, with the Big Red capturing a 70-62 victory. The winner of this bout will take on the winner of the Bethune-Cookman/Syracuse matchup in the next round on Wednesday night, also at the Carrier Dome.

Head coach Steve Donahue saw the best and worst in his Cornell squad last season as the team finished second in the Ivy and posted its most victories in eight years. But those were the days of 1,000-point scorers Cody Topper and Eric Taylor who have now departed and left Lenny Collins as the lynch pin in the Big Red machine. Last season Collins led the team in scoring and assists with 13.3 points and 2.4 dishes per game and also collected close to five rebounds per outing to earn first-team All-Ivy attention. Ryan Rourke, a transfer from Mesa C.C., started out a bit slow a season ago but came on strong down the stretch, leaving him with almost 10 ppg as the second-leading scorer. Senior David Lisle, the third of the tri-captains this season, isn't a numbers sort of guy (2.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg), instead focusing on the intangibles that don't show up in the box score from game to game. Junior Graham Dow chipped in with just over six points, four assists and nearly three steals per outing, another reason why the defense up front will be tough for Cornell this season.

The Red Flash are listed as the home team in this contest, which is just in name only, but it could be to their advantage considering the squad was a healthy 11-2 in their own building last year. Darshan Luckey, one of the most decorated players in recent years, decided to forego his final season of eligibility with Saint Francis, which leaves head coach Bobby Jones trying to fill a hole that he wasn't expecting to have necessarily. Even more pressure is going to land on the backcourt of Garrett Farha and Rahsaan Benton, a couple of seniors who have seen it all with the red Flash. Farha, although just 5-10, doesn't miss an opportunity to get his teammates involved, resulting in a league-high 6.9 apg last season. Benton complements Farha out on the wing as he connected on a team-high 57 three-pointers in 2004-05, while Farha led the conference in that area at 46.7 percent. Senior forward Winston Robinson has experience with the group by doesn't have the stats to show for it, while Nebraska transfer J.R. Enright has to give the program a little more effort in the post.

Although Saint Francis holds the series lead against the Big Red, that's all ancient history as far as Cornell is concerned. Expect to see a disciplined Ivy League program pick its spots on offense and challenge the Red Flash on defense every time down the floor as the squad from New York picks up the win and moves on.

Predicted Outcome

Cornell 61, Saint Francis-PA 53