Breaking down Dartmouth’s 2017-18 women’s and men’s schedules

Dartmouth women’s basketball looks to rebound in 2017-18

In 2013-14, coach Belle Koclanes started her career at Dartmouth with two conference wins and a 5-23 overall record.  By the end of the 2015-16 season, the Big Green had increased their total wins to 12 and Ivy victories to seven.  With a fourth-place finish, its best since 2009, the team looked to continue its upward trend and secure a spot in the first-ever four-team Ivy Tournament by the end of 2017.  Despite being picked fifth in the preseason Ivy media poll and expecting to challenge Cornell for the last spot in the post-season event, Dartmouth took a step backwards with a 3-11 (8-19 overall) last-place record in conference play.

The Big Green women released their 2017-18 schedule, as the squad looks to rebound from last year’s disappointing results and climb its way back into the upper division of the Ivy League.  Dartmouth loses Fanni Szabo  (10.6 points per game) to graduation, but returns senior guard Katie Letkewicz, 2016-17 honorable mention All-Ivy (11.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game),  junior forward Isalys Quinones, member of the 2017 Puerto Rico National Team (9.1 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game), senior center Olivia Smith (8.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game), and senior forward co-captain Andi Norman (7.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game).  While the team only brings in two first-years, center/forward Anne Luce was named Washington state’s Ms. Basketball and wing guard Elle Louie ended her high school career with 1,094 points, 725 rebounds, 438 steals, 301 assists and 133 blocks.

Dartmouth will play its first four games and six of its first eight contests at Leede Arena.  The Big Green open the season with Vermont, Boston College, Rhode Island and NJIT, before a short two-game swing in the Hudson Valley against Army and Marist.  After returning to the Upper Valley, the team will face UNH in the yearly “Battle for New Hampshire” on December 5 and Maine on December 9.  The Big  Green will then close out 2017 and their nonconference schedule with games at Colorado, Ohio State, Holy Cross, Albany, and Binghamton.

Dartmouth will look for a fast start in Ivy play with five of its first six games at home.  After opening up the conference schedule on January 6 and 20 with a home-and-away series against Harvard, the team will face Brown, Yale, Cornell and Columbia in Hanover.  Then the Big Green will close out the schedule with six of their last eight league contests on the road.  On February 9 and 10, they will face Penn and Princeton, the top two teams last season, before heading to Yale and Brown the following weekend. After a return matchup with the Tigers and Quakers at Leede on February 23 and 24, the Big Green will close out the regular season with an Empire State trip to Columbia and Cornell.

Dartmouth men’s basketball releases schedule for year two of the McLaughlin era

David McLaughlin’s first year as a head coach and a member of the Ivy League was a challenge as he learned about his team and his new conference.  Dartmouth began the season with a nine-game losing streak, the program’s worst start since Dave Gavitt’s 1967-68 squad.  After a three-game win streak, including a victory over 20-game winner LIU-Brooklyn, the Big Green lost six in a row, including their first five Ivy matchups.  The team bounced back over the latter portion of the conference schedule, going 4-5, including a sweep of fourth-place Penn and a playoff-spoiling overtime win over Columbia.  By the last night of the regular season, Dartmouth still had an outside chance at making it into the league’s postseason tournament.  Following a 37-point loss at league champion Princeton, the season ended with the team tying for sixth place in the conference with a 4-10 record (7-20 overall).

With the release of its 2017-18 schedule, the Big Green aim to avoid last year’s extended losing streaks as they attempt to build on their late-season momentum to earn a spot in the 2018 postseason Ivy Tournament. As it has been the last two years, Dartmouth will be led by junior forward Evan Boudreaux, who was the league’s second leading scorer (17.5 points per game) and top rebounder (9.5 boards per contest).  Joining the two-time second-team All-Ivy selection will be junior shooting guard Guilien Smith (12.0 points per game), and senior wing Miles Wright (9.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game), the 2014-2015 Ivy Rookie of the Year, as well as point guard Brendan Barry.  Coach McLaughlin had expected 6’10” first-year center Walker Miller to help out in the middle, but the Greensboro native decided to decommit from Dartmouth and enroll as a walk-on at UNC.  Instead, incoming first-year forwards Adrease Jackson from Rancho Santa Margarita (CA) and Chris Knight from De Forest (WI) will look to help Boudreaux down low.

On November 11, Dartmouth will start the season on the road against Quinnipiac, the first game for new Bobcat head coach Baker Dunleavy.  They will, then, return to Hanover for three games against Division III Emerson College, 21-game winner Albany and Loyola (MD).  Heading into their conference opener at league favorite Harvard on January 6, the Big Green will play six of the next seven games away from Hanover, facing Canisius, Sacred Heart, Maine, Illinois-Chicago, national power Notre Dame and New Hampshire on the road.  Their one home contest during this stretch will be a December 22 matchup with Bryant.  Between its follow-up with Harvard on January 20, the team will host Vermont on January 10 and travel down to Boston College on the 13th.

In conference play, Dartmouth will look to avoid another slow start as it hits the road against Brown, Yale, Cornell and Columbia, following its home-and-home with the Crimson.  In the second portion of its league schedule, Dartmouth will attempt to take advantage of its home court advantage as it welcomes Penn, Princeton, Yale and Brown before visiting the Killer Ps,  The squad will then host Columbia before ending the regular season and celebrating senior night against the Big Red on March 3.