In the realm of men's sports across the nation, two sports reign supreme in terms of coverage, attendance and interest: football and basketball.
At Dartmouth, however, recent years have been marked by disappointing performances in both sports. Over the past four years, the football team has compiled a record of 8-32, a .200 win percentage. Over this stretch, the men's basketball team has a record of 29-80 and a marginally better win percentage of .266.
Coinciding with these abysmal records has been the relegation of Dartmouth's football program to little more than nationwide jokes, while Ivy League men's basketball has become terribly neglected. As much as I love these two sports, being from rural Indiana where both sports hold spots in all Hoosier hearts, it's been hard to get myself to attend games. And with men's hockey struggling this year, teams to root for have been noticeably lacking.
But this year's men's basketball team has fostered in me an excitement for Dartmouth athletics for the first time.
After stumbling out of the gate, the Big Green squad has hit its stride going into the bulk of Ivy League competition, winning three in a row to wrap up the non-conference schedule and even its record at 8-8, 5-1 at home.
At this same point last year, Dartmouth had little hope of competing in the Ivy League conference, especially factoring in all the injuries it had suffered. The team had no semblance of a home-court advantage, losing three of its first five Ivy home games. The team was mostly young and relatively inexperienced, a problem that was exacerbated by injuries. There was no consistent line-up capable of keeping pace with the upper-echelon Ivy schools. Most glaring was the Big Green's utter inability to win on the road, with its only Ivy League road victory coming at lowly Princeton, the only team to finish behind Dartmouth in the league.
The situation could not be more different now. Entering a brutal four-game road trip that starts Friday, Feb. 1, Dartmouth has more confidence than ever. The Big Green is healthy, and it has won five of six on its home court. It has strong senior leadership in co-captains Johnathan Ball '08 and Mike Giovacchini '08, and juniors DeVon Mosley '09 and Alex Barnett '09 have matured into a dynamic scoring duo. So far this season, the team has proved it can both dominate games from start to finish and bounce back from adversity. Had Dartmouth played like this to begin the season, its record could have been even better.
But no matter the past. This Big Green team has its eye on greater things, most importantly an Ivy League Championship and its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1959. Several current players on the team have parents that weren't even alive back in 1959.
Several players were optimistic about the Big Green's chances of capturing its first title since the Eisenhower administration.
"I do believe this is our best chance to win the Ivies," Ball said.
"We have a great chance at winning the conference," Mosley added. "I've never felt better at the beginning of conference play.
Assistant coach Shay Berry echoed his players optimism.
"Our team believes that in the end, we can be contenders for the championship," he said.
This is not merely lip-service. Head coach Terry Dunn sees something special happening with his team, reportedly calling a recent road come-from-behind victory a "defining moment" for the team and basketball program as a whole.
The statistical differences alone between this year's team and last year's are telling.
One year ago, Dartmouth finished seventh in the league competition in scoring offense, averaging just 58.9 points-per-game; this year, the Big Green is averaging 64.5. Dartmouth's scoring defense ranked sixth in the league last year, giving up 67.3 points per game; this year, the Big Green has the fourth best defense and is consistently improving, allowing just 59 points-per-game over the last three contests. Dartmouth is second in rebounding this year after finishing sixth last year. The Big Green is shooting better--42.3 percent from the field--and defending better as well, as it is currently the second best team in the Ivy League in its turnover-margin, second in blocked shots and fourth in steals. Dartmouth also has the Ivy League's leading scorer and rebounder in Barnett, averaging an impressive 16.3 points and seven rebounds a game.
Yet it is the intangible characteristics of this year's team that seem to have led to such a turnaround.
First of all, the senior leadership of co-captains Ball and Giovacchini is priceless.
"I've learned that this group is different in that it has an incredible amount of resilience, and it all starts with having guys who have persevered, like our captains," Dunn said.
This leadership has translated into something that everyone seems to be talking about in relation to this team: pride.
"[This year] we have a great sense of pride," Mosley said.
Ball added, "[Coach Dunn] told us he was proud of us."
This pride has manifested itself on the floor these past couple weeks. First, Dartmouth rebounded from a disastrous loss at Harvard to dominate the Crimson at home just a week later. Then the Big Green overcame a double-digit deficit in the final minutes of play at the hostile home of the Universit of New Hampshire Wildcats to win a thriller in overtime. Next, Dartmouth outclassed Maryland-Eastern Shore at home, playing with an intensity on both ends of the floor that the frustrated Hawks simply could not match. In each performance, the Big Green hustled for every loose ball, hit the floor whenever there was a scramble, helped each other out on defense and played with a confidence that proved contagious.
The fans are starting to become just as proud of their new Dartmouth team as the players and coaches are.
"I'm quite impressed with our basketball team this year," fan Kevin Pellecchia '09 said. "I would be proud to place Dartmouth into the second round of my NCAA tournament bracket, given the opportunity."
All the pieces seem to be in place for a run at the Ivy League Championship. Firstly, the personnel is capable.
"We have enough weapons where if I don't score, I know others are going to step up," Ball said. "We have the weapons to step up and win games."
Barnett and Mosley have established themselves as potent scoring threats. Ball provides arguably the most versatile play, balancing assists, points, and rebounds (4th in the Ivy League) day in and day out. Guards Marlon Sanders '09, Giovacchini, and Ronnie Dixon '11 provide stability at the point. Big men John Marciano '11, Elgin Fitzgerald '10, and Kurt Graeber '09 are all capable of establishing solid post presences against any competition. Other players such as Robby Pride '10, Brandon Ware '10, and Clive Weeden '11 are able to contribute productive minutes off the bench.
Secondly, the Ivy League has seen parity spread through the ranks. No one has established itself as the team to beat in the Ancient Eight. Cornell, picked by many pundits to win the conference, has started the season with the best record, albeit only posting a mark of 9-5 overall. With Brown posting a record of 8-7, Dartmouth is third-best with its 8-8 mark. While Cornell may still be the favorite, it is by no means a shoo-in. Any team in the Ivy League is capable of beating any other team on any given night. Plus, with the Big Green's sky-high confidence going into the bulk of conference play, it is easy to see why there is reason to believe that this is Dartmouth's year to return to the NCAA Tournament with an Ivy League Championship for the first time in almost 50 years.
Yet, a paradox exists: despite the Big Green men's basketball team having its largest expectations in decades, despite all its momentum, senior leadership, statistical advantages and intense on-court play, Dartmouth ranks dead last in overall season attendance amongst the Ivy League.
This is shameful.
Leede Arena is never packed, and while the fans that do attend the games are highly engaged and the players are able to feed off their intensity, the campus as a whole has yet to recognize just how skilled the current Big Green team is, just how much potential this season holds.
The importance of having fans in the seats at home games is obvious to all.
"[Fans] help us establish the type of atmosphere we need to have heading into the Ivy League [season]," Dunn said.
Dartmouth superfan Josh Drake '08 agrees.
"I think more people should support men's basketball, for sure, especially this year with a streaky men's hockey team," Drake said. "A strong home crowd lifts the level of [Dartmouth's] play, and the right combination of this team coming together and the student body getting behind them could see some special things happen with this team."
Ball believes the crowd has the ability to swing a game in the Big Green's favor.
"I can say now that our crowd can have the potential to be a sixth man for us on the floor," Ball said.
Just imagine the "potential" if the campus got energized about this year's basketball team, filling the stands and helping to ensure that Dartmouth holds its home court, which is of utmost importance if the Big Green is to make a run at the championship.
Furthermore, the lack of due campus respect for this Dartmouth squad mirrors the national lack of attention to Dartmouth and Ivy League basketball in general.
In Vegas, oddsmakers have predicted the Big Green to lose all but one game this year so far. Gary Parrish, a college basketball writer for cbssportsline.com, projected that Cornell would get the Ivy League tournament bid, but instead of offering at least marginal analysis in support of his claim, Parrish simply commented that Cornell opened up Ivy League play with a win over Columbia. Even the college basketball pundits haven't been able to pick a conference champion with certainty or credible rationale
In 2K Sports' College Hoops NCAA 2K8, a popular college basketball video game, the ratings for each Ivy League team show a complete lack of any sort of meaningful research. In contrast, the ratings seem completely arbitrary. Dartmouth is 7th amongst Ivy League teams with an overall rating of 67. Any superficial analysis of team strength would demonstrate that the Big Green is surely not 7th best in the league. While Brown, one of the better teams in this year's conference, has an overall rating of 69, so does Penn, a team that has posted an abysmal 5-11 record to-date. According to 2K Sports, Columbia and Yale are the teams to beat, yet they have posted mere 7-9 and 7-8 records, respectively.
But at least our basketball team is an available option on college basketball video games. In football games, although one can play as Dartmouth, there is no research done on the team as the number of the players are all wrong. Our baseball team, for example, is not even a playing option for recent EA Sports baseball games. And college hockey, of course, does not attract enough nationwide interest for a video game.
While I'll confess that analyzing video game ratings, betting odds, and amateur national sports writers may seem like odd ways of proving a point, it is difficult to deny the fact that the Ivy League, and Dartmouth basketball more specifically, simply does not garner the respect nationally that seems to deserve this season.
Dartmouth has played some big-name schools in recent years. This year, the Big Green faced the University of Massachusetts, a reputable college basketball program that has had plenty of success on the national level. Last year, Dartmouth hung with then-top 10 ranked Boston College, keeping the score within 10 points for most of the game, despite playing on BC's home court. Two years ago, the Big Green went up against Kansas, ranked in the top 10 at the time.
Comparatively, Can you imagine the Dartmouth football team playing LSU?
The moral here is that the Big Green men's basketball team has competed with big-name schools.
Now, as the program is fresh coming off its "defining moment," the team should be receiving the campus-wide respect and support that it deserves. Even with the improved talent and leadership on this year's squad, Dartmouth will need all the support it can get if it is to make history and win an Ivy League Championship.
To qualify for the NCAA tournament in March, the Big Green must to finish its season with the best record against Ivy competition, as there is no post-season Ivy League tournament to crown a champion.
Dartmouth's quest resumes Friday, Feb. 1 at Princeton, the start of an integral four-game road trip. Look for the Big Green to make use of its confidence in winning on the road to steal a couple away wins during the stretch to set itself up into a favorable Ivy position heading into the extensive home-court stretch of their schedule.
