One blowout loss to a No. 3 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament shouldn't be enough to discourage Cornell from returning to the tournament next season.

After the Big Red suffered a 77-53 loss to Stanford in Cornell's first NCAA Tournament game since 1988, Big Red coach Steve Donahue put the experience in perspective.

"We'll play better the next time we're here," he said.

Donahue's faith is well-founded. Cornell finished 22-6 and 14-0 in the Ivy League with a team that will return all but one player. That one senior, forward Jason Hartford, was a role player who did his best work as a defender and rebounder.

The top four scorers -- small forward Ryan Wittman, point guard Louis Dale, guard Adam Gore and forward/center Alex Tyler -- will all have two seasons of eligibility remaining and 7-foot center Jeff Foote should be even better after showing considerable progress in his first full season.

Penn, the perennial Ivy League power with three consecutive league titles prior to the 2007-08 season, should be better in 2008-09. The Big Red took some big steps on the way to the first Ivy League title by a team other than Penn and Princeton in 20 years and should be in the debate about the team to beat in '08-09.

"We had a great season. Something to be proud of," Dale said. "And I think this game that, you know, we just played (against Stanford), kind of lets us know that we need to get better for next year, and that it's still going to be difficult to make it back here next year. And I think that's what we're going to focus on.

"And, you know, we're going to try to get better each and every day in the offseason. And hopefully we can improve our season next year."

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