This weekend promises to be perhaps the most exciting one of the year for Dartmouth hoops fans. Perennial Ivy powerhouse Princeton pays a visit to Leede Arena this Friday and 24 hours after that, the Big Green men face juggernaut Penn, ranked 25th in the latest Associated Press poll.
If it beats Harvard on Friday, Penn will be gunning for a record 13th straight Ivy League victory. As Dartmouth coach Dave Faucher described this weekend's action, "If you had to write a script, this is what you would put in it."
Recently, the Big Green have been down on their luck, with their latest defeat coming Monday night at the hands of the Vermont Catamounts, 82-70. The Green's record now stands at 3-7 with Ivy League play beginning in earnest this weekend.
Penn won the Ivy League the last two years and won a game in the NCAA tournament last year, stomping Big Eight champion Nebraska in the first round. Penn may be peaking this season, with five seniors starting.
The Quakers have reeled off six straight wins, including eye-opening victories against a Michigan team only a few years removed from the Fab Five, and against Felipe Lopez's up-and-coming St. John's team.
The Quakers also steamrolled Ohio State, 91-71, gaining a measure of revenge; the Buckeyes dealt Penn its first loss last year, 83-80.
Princeton is no pushover either. The Tigers have topped the NCAA six years straight in scoring defense and are odds-on favorites to do it again. Recently, they took a powerful Syracuse team to overtime before falling, 67-65.
The well-coached Tigers, with their suffocating defense and patient offense, have always frightened higher-ranked opponents and beaten lower-ranked ones. Wily Pete Carril, a stellar strategist, always seems to have his teams at or near the top of the league.
Both Penn and Princeton have a few stars on their rosters, including a combined four All-Ivy First-Teamers. Penn boasts two-time Ivy Player of the Year Jerome Allen, and two-time All-Ivy Matt Maloney. These two direct the offense as the shooting guard and point guard, respectively, while another All-Ivy player, Shawn Trice, controls the boards from the power forward position.
The Princeton lineup is a mixture of youth and experience. All-Ivy center Rick Hielscher patrols the paint for Princeton while supersoph Sydney Johnson is a sparkplug at shooting guard. However, graduation clawed away three starters from the Tigers, and they often start three freshmen.
The Dartmouth men have quite a bit of talent on their team, as well as some inexperience. The stellar recruiting class of a year ago produced four current starters, most notably last year's Ivy Rookie of the Year, Sea Lonergan '97. In addition, senior captain Jamie Halligan has been a steady contributor from the small forward position.
When asked how to play against Penn and Princeton, Lonergan said, "As always, we are focused on our own stuff, making sure we execute our offensive system on one end, and taking care of the dirty work of defense and rebounding on the other end."
Defensing Penn's backcourt, tabbed as one of the best tandems in the country, will be the toughest task that the Green will face this season.
Point guard Kenny Mitchell will probably be sticking with Jerome Allen while Lonergan will try to shut down Matt Maloney.
"Completely containing them is a long shot," said Halligan, "but as long as we don't allow either one to explode, we'll have a decent chance to win."
Dartmouth will also have to keep an eye on bomber Scott Kegler, who hit on all five of his three point attempts in the win over Michigan and went 3-4 from three-point land against St. John's.
According to Halligan, the Big Green will be looking to exploit their size advantage against Princeton, yet will try not to "slow the game to a pace that suits [Princeton] better." He added that the Big Green will have to "concentrate every time down the court" against Princeton's patient offense.
The Big Green will have to shift into high gear against these Ivy powers, but if things do go right this weekend, Dartmouth could find itself in the thick of the Ivy race.
Fans still remember that last year, the Green began the season 1-12 before righting themselves and going 9-4 the rest of the way. This year's team began sluggishly, but if it hits a hot streak, Princeton and Penn beware. As Sea Lonergan put it, "If we play up to our potential, we could pull out some big upsets this weekend."
