Editor's Note: This is the ninth in a series of articles profiling members of the Class of 2004 on Dartmouth varsity sports teams
There are no math majors among the Big Green Men's Basketball Class of 2004, but the rising juniors have learned a great deal about subtraction in their first two seasons in Hanover. The end of the 2000-01 season saw the departure of guard Jordan Naihe '04, who left the team to focus on academics, and it seemed as if injuries had claimed the career of Brendan Herbert '04.
After sitting out all but nine games of his freshman year with an ankle injury, the 6'8", 245-pound pivotman found himself struggling with two herniated discs in his back. It was thought that the discs constituted a career-ending injury, and Herbert sat out the first two games of the 2001-02 season, a pair of losses to Binghamton and Vermont.
However, in the Big Green's game against New Hampshire, Herbert came off the bench to pull down six rebounds in 22 minutes. He proceeded to play the bulk of the season on a mixture of cortisone and sheer force of will, prompting several observers to praise him as the toughest player in the Ivy League.
Yet, toughness can only go so far. As Herbert prepares to enter his junior year, the discs that almost kept him from playing last year are now severely herniated, and the prospect of surgery (which could end Herbert's career) is quickly becoming a reality for the New Hampshire native.
Herbert pulls no punches when describing his two seasons at Dartmouth. "For me," said Herbert, "it's been kind of disappointing, because I've been struggling through injuries and everything."
However, Herbert is very appreciative of the experience that he has had playing for the Big Green. He describes his teammates as "a great group of guys to play with," and appreciates the opportunities that he has had under head coach Dave Faucher.
"I've had a great experience in terms of my teammates, and in terms of some of the opportunities to play at big-time schools like Minnesota and New Mexico, and of course, Penn and Princeton. It's been great."
If it is the end of the line for Herbert in a Big Green uniform, his '04 classmates will be sorry to see him go. According to center Scott Klingbeil '04, "I think it's definitely disappointing to lose anyone that you come in here with. You know, when you play a sport, you go through tough times with people. Freshman year was a really turbulent time, getting used to the system and the coaching staff, so you kind of forge relationships with those guys and seeing them leave makes it difficult."
Difficulty is a familiar theme for the '04s, as the Big Green men have posted Ivy records of 3-11 and 2-12 in the last two seasons. However, Ivy League men's basketball has experienced tremendous growth during the last two years, with Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale advancing to postseason play in 2002. In addition, the conference's ratings percentage index (RPI) was the 13th best in the NCAA last season.
The Big Green were a part of that showing, posting upset wins over Holy Cross and New Hampshire. According to forward Tyler Davis '04, the success of the Ancient Eight in 2002 is the beginning of a trend.
According to Davis, "There are a lot more kids that are athletic and very good basketball players that are coming up that actually want the academic side, which makes the Ivy League about to blow up. If anything, in the future, you're going to see the Ivy League become, not necessarily a powerhouse, but definitely a powerhouse within the mid-major schools.
"Because some schools can't offer as much academically and as much balance to their lives as Dartmouth and the other Ivy League schools can offer, you're going to see a drop off in those small mid-major schools that give scholarships. People see what an Ivy League education can bring to you."
Klingbeil agrees about the impact of an Ivy League education. "Playing basketball somewhere like Dartmouth," said Klingbeil, "or at any Ivy League school, there's so much more focus put on academics than you would think. You get more of a balance between [academics and basketball] that probably doesn't exist anywhere else."
In addition to the balance, Herbert feels that "the schools right now are starting to drastically improve their reputations as basketball programs,and that's only going to help them in terms of recruiting. You look at some of the great classes coming in this year: Columbia's got a good incoming class. Cornell is a really young program that could be very good in a year or two. Penn's always going to be good as long as Fran Dunphy's there as coach."
Herbert recognizes another mechanism for marking the League's growth. According to Herbert, "You also look at kids that transfer." In the past, that group has included first team All-Ivy selection Andrew Toole of Pennsylvania, and Ivy basketball teams are continuing to improve through transfer students. The next two seasons will see the Ivy debuts of transfer students from UCLA (Princeton's Spencer Gloger), Lehigh (Penn's Eric Heil), the University of Utah (Penn's Eric Osmundson), and the University of Denver (Dartmouth-bound Adam Warren '06).
The reality of the situation, according to Herbert, is that across the Ivy League, "programs are growing. Princeton's always been good, they're always going to be tough. Penn's been good as long as Fran's been there, and I don't think that's going to change. Yale's program has obviously grown tremendously since Coach [James] Jones has been there. Coach [Steve] Donahue at Cornell is going to do a great job with them. You look at the non-conference schedule he has them playing this year, it's great."
Herbert recognizes the importance of a team's non-conference schedule. The past two seasons have seen Dartmouth take on several powerhouse schools, including Virginia, Minnesota, and New Mexico. According to Herbert, "Things like that help recruiting. If you want to get high quality players, you have to play high quality teams.
"If there's a kid that's thinking, 'Maybe I want to go to the Atlantic 10, or maybe I'm going to go to the Big East,' and he's still looking at a Dartmouth, or a Harvard, or a Penn, Princeton, or Yale, he's going to want to still be able to play in atmospheres like that. If he has an opportunity to go play at Boston College, if he makes the decision to come to Dartmouth or Harvard, he's going to still want to have nights where he's going to go play in front of 20,000 people. Strength of schedule is so important."
In addition to contributing to the Ivy League's success in 2002, the Big Green also set a school record by connecting on 263 three-point shots, the second most in the country behind St. Bonaventure. When asked if the three-point shot will continue to play such a large role in Dartmouth's offense, Davis responded, "Three pointers are definitely going to be a big part of our offense.
"The way I see it working in the upcoming years is an inside-outside game; you've got to get the inside shots to open up the outside shots. I don't know if we're going to be setting records, but the three-pointer is definitely a key attribute to our offense."
According to Herbert, "The system that we run is very conducive to outside shooting. You look at a lot of Princeton's most successful teams, back in the early '90's, and they were great three-point shooting teams. We tend to recruit lanky perimeter players who can shoot the ball, and that's the style that we identify ourselves with. I really don't see it changing a whole lot.
"At the same time, we do have some talent inside that we can utilize, and I think that the more that we utilize that inside strength, the more that's going to open up shots for the perimeter players. If we show that we can score inside and that we can be tough inside, and you're going to have to play zone against us, then on a hot night, I don't think there's anyone that we can't beat when they're playing zone.
"You have guys like Charles [Harris '02] and Greg Friel ['03], and Mike McLaren ['05] and Steve Callahan ['05], and they can all shoot the hell out of the ball. I think it might change a little bit, but I don't think you're ever going to see a lot fewer three pointers."
No matter what kind of shots the Big Green '04s put up during the 2002-03 season, they will take on a new role on the team, that of the veteran player. With only two seniors on the roster, the '04s will be among the players that the incoming '06s (and eventually, the '07s) look to for support and guidance. According to Klingbeil, the '04s are ready for the role.
"When you make the adjustment from high school basketball to college," says Klingbeil "there are a lot of little intricacies you have to pick up along the way. I think our having gone through it for two years already, knowing what it's like to go through freshman year and all of that, it helps. It helps to have upperclassmen who can be understanding of that whole process, and hopefully we'll appreciate what they're going through while at the same time trying to push and motivate them, and not discourage them."
Herbert is also ready to contribute his experience. According to Herbert, one of the most important things for an incoming freshman "is that you have to keep positive when you're a young guy in the program, and I think that's true of college basketball.
"There aren't a lot of players that come in that will play as well as they expect to. Everyone who's putting on a uniform and playing on Friday and Saturday nights was a high school star, and you get to college basketball as an 18-year old kid playing against 20, 21, 22, 23-year-old men, and that's hard. It's a new atmosphere for you, a new style.
"A lot of kids aren't used to the quickness of it, aren't used to the physicality of Division I basketball, and a lot of kids can get down on themselves, and their attitudes can be affected severely. I'd say just stick with it, and I think that perseverance is a characteristic that you need to have."
In addition, says Herbert, he would like to remind the incoming players "to have fun. I think a lot of us take this for granted. We're being given an opportunity to do something that not many people are able to do.
"There are kids all across the country that dream about playing to college basketball, and we all have worked to the point where we put ourselves in a position where we can do that. I think that it gets so stressful, so competitive that I think a lot of people start to ask why they're there. You have to enjoy it, make the most out of it."
Certainly, the '04s will be looking to make the most out of their remaining years in Hanover.
