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HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth inadvertently flashed a graphic momentarily before Saturday’s pivotal game against Brown that read, “Ivy Madness Clinched.”.
Fortunately for the Big Green, there has been little to jinx them in the 2024-25 Ivy League season, as they shook off a dreadful start and halftime deficit to win by another lopsided margin, 78-58, and clinch its first Ivy League Tournament berth in school history at Leede Arena.
HANOVER, N.H. – Troubles with the Wi-Fi are not new at Leede Arena. It is a notoriously dreadful place to get a signal, even when the crowd can be counted in dozens.
But the line to the restroom that wrapped far outside the door at halftime? That was definitely something that hasn’t been seen in a long, long time.
HANOVER, N.H. – The hottest men’s basketball team in the Ivy League is Dartmouth.
Any controversy in the above statement lies only because of the school in question. The results speak for themselves, the latest an absolute obliteration of Cornell, 88-49, Saturday night at Leede Arena.
Dartmouth’s fourth straight win (by an average of 22.8 points) vaults them into solo second place in the Ivy League, heights the Big Green haven’t seen in the 21st century (and not too much before that, either). And at the moment Dartmouth looks like the main threat to Yale repeating its conference title in March, a strong statement from a team that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1959 and was picked dead last nearly unanimously in the preseason Ivy poll.
But, again, the facts and results speak for themselves. All that’s left is for David McLaughlin to channel Lou Brown and declare, “We’re contenders now.”
HANOVER, N.H. – It’s not often that Dartmouth has played the role of the hunted in the Ivy League in the last few decades. But they certainly looked the part Friday night at Leede Arena, beating Columbia in dominant fashion, 78-56.
HANOVER, N.H. – It’s getting to be Ted Lasso time for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team as we reach the midpoint of the 2024-25 Ivy League campaign.
The Big Green believe.
The Red and Blue got the late stop they needed down three, forcing a wild miss from the host Big Green’s Brandon Mitchell-Day with about 20 seconds left to play. But after securing the rebound, freshman point guard AJ Levine lost the handle as he crossed midcourt.
Dartmouth corralled the loose ball, and after an exchange of free throws and a missed desperation three from Penn’s Ethan Roberts, walked away with a 73-70 win.
The Quakers (4-10, 0-1 Ivy) dropped their Ivy opener for the first time since the 2019-20 season. They’ve only beaten the Big Green (7-7, 1-0) at Leede Arena once since 2019.
It could be a long slog of an Ivy season for the Red and Blue, which rank dead last in the conference in KenPom (307th). They got off to an 0-1 start because …
HANOVER, N.H. – If you think there’s nowhere to go but up for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team this season, you’re probably not alone. The Big Green won only four Division I games last season and were – to be kind – dreadful offensively: 351st nationally in efficiency, last in the Ivy League by a pretty wide margin. And Dusan Neskovic, who was fifth nationally in usage and third in shots taken, is now at Richmond.
The preseason Ivy League poll would agree with you as well. Dartmouth was picked dead last almost unanimously.
But internally, as the Big Green regrouped, it also marked opportunity for them. Outside of Neskovic’s departure, they are not necessarily starting over. And in their Division I opener Saturday afternoon at Leede Arena, with two seniors and two juniors in the starting lineup, they took an early punch from Sacred Heart and came back to win fairly comfortably (with the exception of the final minute), 81-76.
The lead-up to the season finale for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team was like no other in program history.
In fact, it was like no other in NCAA history.
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark breaks down a 68-56 win for Princeton (21-3, 9-2 Ivy) at Dartmouth (5-19, 1-10) and takes stock of the Ivy League Tournament race:
Yale men’s basketball put together its best defensive effort and perhaps most complete game of the season to defeat Dartmouth, 76-51, Saturday at Leede Arena.
Dartmouth (4-12, 0-3 Ivy) put up some early resistance and led 12-11 on two free throws by sophomore forward Brandon Mitchell-Day. But Yale (12-6, 3-0) went on a 10-0 run and led 38-28 at the half.
With the score 45-32, Yale went on a 16-0 run, culminating in a jumper by sophomore forward Casey Simmons.
The Bulldogs’ largest lead was 68-36.
Dartmouth mustered just 28.8% shooting from the field and 27.3% from three-point land.
“Extremely happy with our defensive performance,” Yale coach James Jones said. “Hope we can build on this effort.”